[radikal]

I know that the so self styled rationalist have left the forum.
We all can be happy, and hide our differences, and sweep it under the carpet. But unfortunately ignorance is not a bliss.
There was Caste discrimination, and there is even today caste discrimination (or reverse caste discrimination).


Criticism of Manusmriti


Needless to say, the Manusmriti has been criticised and condemned. Manusmriti's detractors feel that some of its injunctions favor one community (the Brahmins) over others. It is also accused of trying to imply that the Shudras as races foreign to India. Almost all of its injunctions pertaining to the Shudras are seen as tools for their exploitation. While it is sometimes claimed (with almost no evidence) that certain passages of Manusmriti which are highly biased against Shudras are later additions or interpolations, it must be noted that atleast some of the statements in the Manusmriti against Shudras were already present by the time of Shankaracharya (7th-8th Century CE), who quotes them in some of his commentaries. So it is unlikely that these so-called interpolations, if there were any, were done much later than the writing of the text itself.


Here are some selections:


I – 91. "One occupation only the Lord prescribed to the shudra - to serve meekly even these other three castes."
I – 93. "As the Brahmana sprang from (Prajapati’s i.e. God’s) mouth, as he was first-born, and as he possesses the veda, he is by right the lord of this whole creation."
II – 31. "Let (the first part of ) a brahmin’s (denote) something auspicious, a kshatriya’s name be connected with power and a vaishya’s with wealth, but a Shudra’s (express something) contemptible."
II – 100. "Whatever exists in the world is the property of the Brahmana; on account of the excellence of his origin the Brahmana is indeed, entitled to it all."
VIII – 37. "When a learned Brahmin has found treasure, deposited in former (times), he may take even the whole (of it); for he is the master of everything."
VIII – 270. "A shudra who insults a twice born man with gross invective, shall have his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin."
VIII – 271. "If he mentions names and castes of the (twice born) with contumely, an iron nail, ten fingers, shall be thrust red hot into his mouth."
IX – 189. "The property of a Brahmana must never be taken by the king, that is a settled rule; but (the property of men) of other castes the king may take on failure of all (heirs)."
IX – 317. "A Brahmin, whether learned or ignorant, is a powerful divinity."
X – 129. "No collection of wealth must be made by a shudra even though he be able to do it; for a shudra who has acquired wealth gives pain to Brahmana."
XI – 261-62. "A Brahmana who has killed even the peoples of the three worlds, is completely freed from all sins on reciting three times the Rig, Yajur or Sama- Veda with the Upanishad."
XII. 4. "If the shudra intentionally listens for committing to memory the veda, then his ears should be filled with (molten) lead and lac; if he utters the veda, then his tongue should be cut off; if he has mastered the veda his body should be cut to pieces."
The Manusmriti is also condemned as highly anti-feminist.



IX – 3 . "Her father protects (her) in childhood, her husband protects (her) in youth and her sons protect (her) in old age; a woman is never fit for independence."
IX – 18. "Women have no business with the text of the veda."
IX - 17. "(When creating them) Manu allotted to women (a love of their) bed, (of their) seat and (of) ornament, impure desires, wrath, dishonesty, malice, and bad conduct."

Hinduism / manusmriti