manu

manu — noun

1. In Hindu mythology, the first man and the sage who handed down the religious and

1.nounC2
Definition

In Hindu mythology, the first man and the sage who handed down the religious and social code known as the Laws of Manu, which shaped Indian society for centuries.

Example

Saira read about Manu in her world religions class last semester.

Leo found the Laws of Manu on a dusty shelf in the university library.

collocation: Laws of Manu

Common collocations
  • Laws of Manu
  • Manu Smriti

Usage Note

Always capitalised as a proper name. In Hindu cosmology there are fourteen Manus in each world cycle; the current era belongs to the seventh, Vaivasvata Manu.

Common Mistakes

The manu gave laws to the people.
Manu gave laws to the people.
Manu is a proper name, not a common noun, so it must be capitalised and used without an article.

Word family

  • Manusmriti
    nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Manu is the Hindu tradition's counterpart to first-man figures in other mythologies: Adam in Abrahamic faiths, Purusha in Vedic cosmology, and Askr in Norse myth. Unlike Adam, who is formed directly by God and placed in Eden, Manu is both the first human and a sage-lawgiver whose legal code (the Laws of Manu) governed Hindu society for centuries. Purusha is more abstract — a cosmic giant whose sacrificial dismemberment creates the universe — while Manu is a concrete ancestor figure. Askr, carved from driftwood by the gods Odin and his brothers, shares the 'first human' role with Manu but lacks the lawgiving dimension. If you are studying comparative mythology, note that Manu also parallels the flood-survivor motif: like Noah, he is warned of a great deluge and builds a boat.

Adam ↗PurushaAskr

Common collocations

Nouns

  • Laws of Manu
  • Manu Smriti

Etymology

SanskritEnglish

From Sanskrit मनु (mánu), meaning 'man, mankind, the thinking being', derived from the verbal root man- ('to think, to reflect'). The word is distantly related to English 'man' through the Proto-Indo-European root *man- ('human being'). In Hindu cosmology, fourteen Manus preside over successive world ages; the present era is ruled by the seventh, Vaivasvata Manu, who is the Manu most often referred to in English texts.

First known use

1785

1785, in the meaning defined above