Sunday 28 October 2012

What is the Law of Manu "Manusmriti"?

The Manusmriti is also called "Law of Manu" is the Law of Hindu developed in an ancient time written by a very clever, cunning ill-minded Indian Brahmin Hindu priest "sage" named Manu, who was very extremely racist, selfish, uncivilized, un-democratic, un-equal, inhumane, casteist, suppressive, promoted slavery and dominating mentality. It is an Ancient Hindu Code of Conduct for Domestic, Social, and Religious Life. Manusmriti created and promoted caste systems and suppress and dominate lower cast people by upper caste "pundits" (Brahmin Priests). In addition, Manusmriti dominates woman in family and Hindu societies. Upper cast people used Manusmriti to create cast system and slavery in ancient time and still following in the present context in the case of Nepal. Manusmriti tells people what upper caste people must do, the lower cast people must do if they are Hindu. 

The Manusmriti, translated smriti of Manu is a work of Hindu law and ancient Indian society. It is one of the eighteen Smritis of the Dharmasastra; and is a part of the Smriti literature. It contains laws, rules and codes of conduct to be applied by individuals, communities and nations. Some of these laws codify the Hindu caste system and discuss the "stages of life for a twice-born man". It explains itself as a discourse given by Sage Manu (Yogi Manu) to rishis having begged him to enlighten them on the topic. 


The scripture is ascribed to Manu, according to the Hindu mythology, the forefather of all humans. The text as preserved is generally dated to ca. the 1st century. This 'revealed scripture' comprises 2684 verses, divided into twelve chapters presenting the norms of domestic, social, and religious life in India (circa 500 BC) under the Brahmin influence, and is fundamental to the understanding of ancient Indian society.


In South East Asian, particularly India and Nepal hose who like to know and understand caste and gender-based discrimination. Otherwise, their study and understanding would be incomplete because this document is the root cause of all forms of socio-cultural discrimination in these two countries highly influenced by Hindu beliefs and superstitions. 


So-called higher castes, especially Brahman young Nepalese men do not think that the Law of Manu ideological influence are still prevail in Nepalese society. However, in India it may be Manusmriti had been abolished from hindusim long long ago I suppose due to the activism of Dr Ambedkar. BUT in Nepal has not  since senior writer and translator Tilak Prasad Luitel (who translated Manusmriti from Sanskrit to Nepali language) said "Manusmriti Prachin Samaj Ko Bidibidhan Nirman ra Lagu Garne Garntha Ho. Aaja Pani Hamra Samajik Bewaharma Tesko Niyamharu Sakriya Raheka Chhan." Translated in english "Manusmriti is an ancient time rule and regulations developed and practiced to govern the society. Still this rules have been actively practice in our society." Source: Manusmriti Ma Sudra ra Shtri by Chitra Psd Panta, Gopi Sapkota and Gita Subedi published in 2065. 


Besides that Rameshwori Pantha has written a newspaper article titled "Manusmriti Kai Bato Ma Hamro Samaj" translated in English "Our society is still in the path of Manusmriti" early this year. These have proven that Manusmriti has still heavy influence and practice in our society. 


An example of discriminatory verse from the Law of Manu's Chapter IX. 94:

" A man, aged thirty years, shall marry a maiden of twelve who pleases him, or a man of twenty four a girl of eight years of age; if (the performance of) his duties would otherwise be impeded, he must marry sooner." 

Read more about Manusmriti from below references 


Reference

1. Laws of Manu or 'Manava Dharma Shastra' http://hinduism.about.com/od/scripturesepics/a/laws_of_manu.htm
2.  http://www.hinduwebsite.com 

2. http://www.sacred-texts.com 


3. http://www.en.wikipedia.org 




5 comments:

  1. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

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  2. Yeah! I also became hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! when I first knew about the Law of Manu!!! :)

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  3. good job dd you are great ...

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  4. Why not study what lord Krishna said on Gita .Don't go for the cunning Bramin. Why don't
    people study Shiva Puran.You can find many cunning man in hindu civilization.So better to go for the saying of supreme god.

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  5. I keep hearing this claim that upper caste males composed Manu Smriti to guard their social position and oppress lower caste people.

    Now, far be it for me to make you think about things deeply and question your biases, but if Manu Smriti really was meant to do the above, then why does it prescribe so many strict austerities for upper caste males to follow? For example, according to Manu, upper caste males have to spend their childhood in gurukula. They had to beg for their food, and they could not even eat what they had earned until their guru had been bed first and had given them permission to eat. They had to perform so many austerities. Even once they finished their Vedic education, there were all kinds of rules they had to follow, and they were not allowed to just make money any way they wanted.

    This does not sound at all like a text written for the express purpose of benefiting upper caste males. I think you have some explaining to do....

    More on this can be found here: http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part20/chap10.htm

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