[Advaita-l] Is this really in the 'Manu-smRti'?

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Tue, 10 Jul 2012, V Subrahmanian wrote:

> Long ago I had heard the following verse which says: From the 'brAhmaNa-s'
> of 'this' country all the other people from the world over learn/ed the
> rules of conduct.

Yes.  In the edition of the manusmrti I have, it is 2.20.

2.17 describes the boundries of Brahmavarta between the Saraswati  and
Drshadvati rivers. (Both now dried up.)

2.19 calls Kurukshetra and the lands of the Matsyas, Panchalas, and 
Shurasenakas[1] as Brahmarshidesha.  And as 2.20 says it is from the 
Brahmanas of this country (along with Brahmavarta) that the entire earth 
should learn their acharas.

Needless to say, the center of gravity of Vedic culture has moved since 
that was written.

[1] The Kurus were based around Hastinapura - Indraprastha where modern 
Delhi is.  The Panchalas around Kanyakubja (Modern Kanauj in U.P.), The 
Matsyas to the north of Panchalas, and the Shurasenakas around Mathura. 
So we are basically talking about modern Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhanda, 
Western UP and the northernmost parts of Rajasthan and MP.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>