ORIENTAL SERIES.

202 MANWANTARAMARISHA.
traditions long before, It is commonly called the Code of Manu,
and was current among the Manavas, a class or school of Brahmans
who were followers of the Black Yajur-veda; "but it deals
with many subjects besides law, and is a most important record
of old Hindu society. It is said to have consisted originally of
100,000 verses, arranged in twenty-four chapters; that Narad a
shortened the work to 12,000 verses; and that Sumati made a
second abridgment, reducing it to 4000, but only 2685 are extant.
It is evident that there was more than one redaction of the laws
of the Manavas, for a Bnhan or Ynhan Manu, 'great Manu/ and
Yr/ddha Manu, old Manu/ are often referred to. Sir W. Jones's
translation, edited by Haughton, is excellent, and is the basis of ali
others in French, German, &c. The text has often been printed.
MANWANTARA (Manu-antara). The life or period of a
Manu, 4,320,000 years.
MARICHA. A Rakshasa, son of Taraka. According to the
Ramayawa he interfered with a sacrifice which was being performed
by Yiswamitra, but was encountered by Rama, who
discharged a weapon at him, which drove him one hundred
yojanas out to sea. He was afterwards the minister of Ravawa,
and accompanied him to the hermitage where Rfima and Slta
were dwelling. There, to inveigle Rama, he assumed the shape
of a golden deer, which Rama pursued and killed. On receiv,-
ing his death-wound he resumed a Rilkshasa form and spake,
and Rama discovered whom he had killed. In the meanwhile
Ravawa had carried off Slta.
MARICHI. Chief of the Maruts. Name of one of the
Prajapatis. (See Prajapati.) He is sometimes represented as
springing direct from Brahma. He was father of Kai'yapa, and
one of the seven great 7&shis. See JSislii.
MARISITA. Daughter of the sage Kawrfu, and wife of the
Prachetasas, but from the mode of her birth she is called
" the nursling of the trees, and daughter of the wind and the
moon." She was mother of Daksha. Her mother was a celestial
nymph named Pramlocha, who beguiled the sage Kawrfu from
his devotions and lived with him for a long time. When the
sage awoke from his voluptuous delusion, he drove her from his
presenca "She, passing through the air, wiped the perspiration
from her with the leaves of the trees," and " the child she
had conceived by the Ri&hi came forth from the pores of her skin