diff --git a/lua.c b/lua.c
index 23292688..a18376e9 100644
--- a/lua.c
+++ b/lua.c
@@ -428,13 +428,15 @@ luaA_openlib(lua_State *L, const char *name,
              const struct luaL_reg methods[],
              const struct luaL_reg meta[])
 {
-    luaL_newmetatable(L, name);
-    lua_pushliteral(L, "__index");
-    lua_pushvalue(L, -2); /* dup metatable*/
-    lua_settable(L, -3);  /* metatable.__index = metatable */
+    luaL_newmetatable(L, name);                                        /* 1 */
+    lua_pushvalue(L, -1);           /* dup metatable                      2 */
+    lua_setfield(L, -2, "__index"); /* metatable.__index = metatable      1 */
 
-    luaL_register(L, NULL, meta);
-    luaL_register(L, name, methods);
+    luaL_register(L, NULL, meta);                                      /* 1 */
+    luaL_register(L, name, methods);                                   /* 2 */
+    lua_pushvalue(L, -1);           /* dup self as metatable              3 */
+    lua_setmetatable(L, -2);        /* set self as metatable              2 */
+    lua_pop(L, 2);
 }
 
 static int