On Bashing Manu Smriti, Or Flogging A Dead Horse Riding A Blind Ass

By Murthy, BS

Book Id: WPLBN0100304314
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 0.1 MB
Reproduction Date: 01/03/2023

Title:	On Bashing Manu Smriti, Or Flogging A Dead Horse Riding A Blind Ass
Author:	Murthy, BS
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, Law, Manu Smriti, Manu’s Laws, Laws of Manu, Manuwad, Sociology, Social studies, Social science, Political science, Political studies, India studies, Constitutional studies, Social discrimination, Racial discrimination, Religion and spirituality, Caste system, Indian philosophy, Hinduism, Caste oppression, Gender studies, Social psychology, Humanities, Cultural sociology, Political sociology
Collections:	Authors Community, Hinduism Today
Historic Publication Date:	2023
Publisher:	Self Imprint

Member Page:	BS Murthy
Citation APA MLA Chicago Murthy, B. B. (2023). On Bashing Manu Smriti, Or Flogging A Dead Horse Riding A Blind Ass. Retrieved from http://www.gutenberg.us/

Description
Instead of bashing the Manu Smriti a la flogging the dead horse riding a blind ass, it pays the mankind to discard the redundant chaff to nourish itself on the pristine grain in Manu’s ancient granary.

Summary
None knows when Manu Smriti had its last sway, if at all, over the Indian polity but still the Hindu castes that it slighted lazily hold it against the Brahmins that it once exalted, and ominously, the evangelists cynically bash Hinduism with it to lure the former into their Semitic fold. However, this essay is not an exercise to endorse the extinct Smriti per se but an attempt to expose the perceptive vacuity and the intellectual dishonesty, as the case may be, of its debunkers.

Excerpt
However, the moot point is whether or not Manu can be exonerated on the grounds that his original composition was subsequently fouled by caste prejudices and vested interests, and it seems to be the case. It all began thus: 1.1. The great sages approached Manu, who was seated with a collected mind, and, having duly worshipped him, spoke as follows: 1.2. ’Deign, divine one, to declare to us precisely and in due order the sacred laws of each of the (four chief) castes (varna) and of the intermediate ones. 1.3. ’For thou, O Lord, alone knowest the purport, (i.e.) the rites, and the knowledge of the soul, (taught) in this whole ordinance of the Self-existent (Svayambhu), which is unknowable and unfathomable.’ 1.4. He, whose power is measureless, being thus asked by the high-minded great sages, duly honoured them, and answered, ’Listen!’ 1.5. This (universe) existed in the shape of Darkness, unperceived, destitute of distinctive marks, unattainable by reasoning, unknowable, wholly immersed, as it were, in deep sleep. As would be evident from the following, 1.2 was a later-day interpolation intended to drag the discourse onto the four caste track from 1.31 onwards with many more insertions, albeit intermittently, though fatally. 1.25. Austerity, speech, pleasure, desire, and anger, this whole creation he likewise produced, as he desired to call these beings into existence. 1.28. But to whatever course of action the Lord at first appointed each (kind of beings), that alone it has spontaneously adopted in each succeeding creation. 1.29. Whatever he assigned to each at the (first) creation, noxiousness or harmlessness, gentleness or ferocity, virtue or sin, truth or falsehood, that clung (afterwards) spontaneously to it. 1.30. As at the change of the seasons each season of its own accord assumes its distinctive marks, even so corporeal beings (resume in new births) their (appointed) course of action. 1.31. But for the sake of the prosperity of the worlds he caused the Brahmana, the Kshatriya, the Vaisya, and the Sudra to proceed from his mouth, his arms, his thighs, and his feet. And intriguingly, much later in the Smriti it is said, 9.67. That chief of royal sages who formerly possessed the whole world, caused a confusion of the castes (varna), his intellect being destroyed by lust. However, the true give away of the fouling of the original Smriti that apparently originated before the advent of Atharva veda (1.23) is the mention of Upanishads in it that succeeded the same (6.29) 1.23. But from fire, wind, and the sun he drew forth the threefold eternal Veda, called Rik, Yagus, and Saman, for the due performance of the sacrifice. 6.29. These and other observances must a Brahmana who dwells in the forest diligently practise, and in order to attain complete (union with) the (supreme) Soul, (he must study) the various sacred texts contained in the Upanishads. So, instead of bashing the Manu Smriti a la flogging the dead horse riding a blind ass, it pays the mankind to discard the redundant chaff to nourish itself on the pristine grain in Manu’s ancient granary.