Note 6 — Chapter I
Reading edition
5. The present system of castes cannot, in fact, be dated before the time of Manu’s “Institutes” which “was originally a local code, embodying rules and precepts, perhaps by different authors, some of whom may have lived in the 5th Century B.C., others in the 2nd Century B.C., and others even later. It was at first current among a particular tribe of Brâhmans, called Mânavas, who probably occupied part of the North-Western regions between the rivers Sâraswati and Drishadvati, but afterwards became generally adopted.”6