srivatsan, since you have requested the moderator to close the thread on 'Manu Smrithi' (BTW, just curious. Why did you close that thread?), can I repeat the simple question here? If the vedas are so magnanimous about world peace and universal brotherhood, why was 'Manu Smriti' followed by the same people that so ardently recited the vedas? And that too for thousands of years?