Manu Quotes

“Evidently the narrator himself, who at one level can be identified with the historical author of the text, heard the text presumably from the seers; or he has been eavesdropping on Bhṛgu’s instruction of the seers. This narrator is the fourth ‘hearer’. There is then the implied fifth ‘hearer’, that is, all those who listen to or read this text, including modern scholars. The last verse of the book, possibly part of an interpolated section, is directed at this audience: ‘When a twice-born recites this Treatise of Manu proclaimed by Bhṛgu, he will always follow the proper conduct and obtain whatever state he desires.34
It may also be worth noting that Manu was not a brāhmaṇa but a kṣatriya, a king. Did this also play a role in the invocation of his authority by the brāhmaṇas?”
― Arvind Sharma, From Fire to Light: Rereading the Manusmriti