Hello everyone:
There are more than 9000 members in this forum. Almost 1000 are active. At any time there are about 50 people visiting apparently reading some of what we write. So, permit me to direct this one to those of you who read what passes here for debate and chuckle.
Manu is widely revered by “Hinuds”
The four Vedas are the foundation upon which the so called Sanatana Dharmam rests. Since the Vedas are remote to ordinary folks, many subsidiary texts were written. Among them are Smrithees, Ithihasas, and Puranas. Of these, the most important is Manu Smrithi. Manu’s laws are supreme for orthodox Brahmnical vaideekas. It seems Manu is held in high esteem even by other schools of reformist genre. For instance,
Wikipedia says Swami Dayananda Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj, holds Manu as authentic and authoritative. I am mystified by this though, as I thought Arya Samaj, while believing in Varna, does not believe in birth based varna. So I went to the Arya Samaj web site and I found this
article that characterizes Manu as, “Manu Maharaj,the greatest law maker and law giver mankind has ever come across.”
In any case, we can conclude that Manu is an important text for Hindus and cannot be just wished away. We must confront it head on and deal with it.
Manu Smrithi and Shruthi
The validity of Manu is supposed to be derived from Shruthi. Manu himself makes this claim by citing the Rg Vedic verse in the very first Chapter,
verse #31.
लोकानां तु विवृध्दि - अर्थ मुख -बाहु - ऊरु - पादत: ॥
ब्राह्मणं क्षत्रियं वैश्यं शूद्रं च निरवर्तयत् ॥
(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.)
Further, all Brahmnical Vaideeka sects tout the validity of Manu based on its fidelity to the Vedas. So, anything that is accepted as valid from Manu is because of its faithfulness to the Vedas.
Manu's Varna
Manu almost always uses the term "Varna" in the text, and the term Jati is used just here and there. Even a quick glimpse of the text will show that there is no question that Manu's Varna is birth based and it is hierarchical. Right at the very start Manu makes sure of the gradation among Varnas (#1.92). Then, starting from verse #93, Manu goes on to exalt Brahmanas -- they are the lords of this earth and the Shudras are fit only for meek servitude #1.91). In fact, verse after verse, and chapter after chapter Manu puts forth a code that not only deals with Brahmins leniently, but puts down Shudras in the most vile terms. Here is a sample from
here.
- (name) a Sudra('s) (something) contemptible. (2.31)
- (Let him not entertain at a Sraddha one who) .. a breeder of sporting-dogs, a falconer, one who defiles maidens, he who delights in injuring living creatures, he who gains his subsistence from Sudras, ... (3.164)
- A once-born man (a Sudra), who insults a twice-born man with gross invective, shall have his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin. (8.270)
- A Brahmana may confidently seize the goods of (his) Sudra (slave); for, as that (slave) can have no property, his master may take his possessions. (8.147)
- The son whom a Brahmana begets through lust on a Sudra female is, (though) alive (parayan), a corpse (sava), and hence called a Parasava (a living corpse). (9.178)
- He who has slain a Sudra, shall perform that whole penance during six months, or he may also give ten white cows and one bull to a Brahmana. (11.131)
- Having killed a cat, an ichneumon, a blue jay, a frog, a dog, an iguana, an owl, or a crow, he shall perform the penance for the murder of a Sudra; (11.132)
There is much more, page after page.
This is not division of labor for the harmonious functioning of society, it is division of people into a graded system of masters and servants, oppressors and oppressed. It appoints people to tasks not based on their aptitude, but by birth. Look at the monstrosity this system has given us. If you hate the reservation system and the seemingly ever present Brahmin bashing, it is Manu you must blame.
I am sure many of you have lots of very good friends born into shudra varna. Put yourself in their shoes. Would you then like this text that the Brahmnis seem to hold with utter reverence even if they do not follow every last edict? The answer, I am sure, is a resounding no.
Some argue that Manu gives us rules for good conduct, a prerequiste for Moksha. Come on my friends, do you really think a text that says a Shudra is fit only for meek servitude can tell us anything sublime? Just think about it. Don't get swayed by the conservatives for whom blind obedience is a mark of supreme spirituality.
I am sure that a vast majority of TB's reject Manu's ideas. Only the very orthodox Vaideekas and may be few others who long for a vision of Brahminism that may never have existed, still long for the Varnashrama system. Just consider this. Manu says,
Let him not dwell in a country where the rulers are Sudras, nor in one which is surrounded by unrighteous men, nor in one which has become subject to heretics, nor in one swarming with men of the lowest castes. (4.61)
Can you think of a single orthodox Brahamana who is able to to follow this edict?
What most Brahmins cherish, I think, is day-to-day customs and traditions, and may be, may be, some vague concept of performing duty without attachments etc. All of this can be had without Manu. Brahmin children are the ones who will increasingly turn against Brahmin tradition as long as Manu is given a place of reverence in the orthodoxy. It does not matter whether Manu is strictly followed or not, it is the symbol of Brahmins, the Albatross around Brahmin's neck. So, if you want the benign Brahmin traditions such as cooking, language, festivals to survive, cast aside this Albatross.
There is precedence for this. They say Dharma changes from one Yugam to the next. In this kali yugum nama sankeerthanam is enough they say. This is the precedence you need for watering down strict requirements. So, let the Brahmins declare that Manu's laws are not valid for the Kali Yuga. There is no need to call Manu any names, just say his laws were for a bygone era. For the yugum we live in, apply what Azhvars said about caste in the most expansive sense, not in the most narrow sense. Look for reformer texts among the Smartha Brahmins, I am sure there are some, and apply them in the most expansive way possible.
We are in a most critical moment in history. If the Brahmin community elders side with the reactionary elements, the most likely outcome is TB community will dwindle and go extinct. This process may be slow initially, but once it gains critical momentum, the end will come pretty fast.
Some may be tempted to respond with personal episodes, and half measures here and there. If you think that is sufficient, I can only say, think again. Nothing short of the total abandonment of Manu can have a chance to save Brahmin traditions.
Cheers!
