Abstract

One of the most significant and reputable legal scriptures used in

Hinduism is the Manu-smriti. The Laws of Manu are other common names
for it, along with Manav Dharma Shastra. Manu,the alleged first law-giver,
is credited with penning the treatise in Sanskrit. Several respectable
historians assert that Manu's beliefs are reflected in the book as a discourse
on issues like laws,duties, behavior, and other essential parts of
everyday life. It outlines a set of moral principles for human society. When
the Manu-smriti was written, modern civilizations did not even have a
fundamental grasp of rules, rights, and other concepts that have a stifling
effect on society. In this respect, it is acknowledged that the Manu-smriti
is largely progressive in most regards. For its opinions on women and the
caste system at the same time, the text is attacked by a sizablesegment of
society. In spite of the fact that more than fifty of its manuscripts have
been discovered, there are several conflicts and inconsistencies regarding
the legitimacy of Manu-smriti. Each manuscript differs from the others,
and over time, there have been numerous additions, deletions, and
revisions that have changed the text's structure. It is also disputed if the
text is the original creation of a single author or a collection of ideas from
several intellectuals of the period. However, it is still possible for us to
identify the text's essential components, which discuss laws, rules, and
customs. The purpose of this research paper is to answer the following
questions: firstly, how did the Manu-smriti divide society into castes?
Secondly, how does the Manu-smriti handle the status of women in
society? Thirdly, what was the concept of Rajdharma or the duties of the
King given by Manu?
SL No Topic
1 Introduction
2 Review of Literature
3 Definitions and Methods
 Economic empowerment
 Political empowerment
 Digital Skill
 Cultural empowerment
4 Feminist approaches to women
empowerment
 Building relationships
 Measurements and assements
 Role of education
5 Women’s empowerment principals
6 Conclusion
7 Reference
Introduction
The Manusmriti, or ‘The Laws of Manu’, is considered to be one of the
most authoritative texts in the Brahminical tradition which lays out social
and civil laws and codes of conduct which are necessary for the
maintenance of dharma. It prescribes the conduct for men and women of
the four social classes or varnas – Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra –
and rules of interaction between them. In addition, it lays out rules of
conduct for people in the four stages of life, ashramas – brahmacharya,
grihstashrama, vanprastha and sanyasa. It also prescribes rules and
obligations for the King – rajdharma – and laws related to civil matters
like business and contract. The purpose of these rigid social rules and
boundaries is to preserve dharma – the social order marked by hierarchical
varna system, where the Brahman enjoys most social privileges and
Shudra the least. The proper sphere of activity for the Brahmin is study of
the Vedas and begging, for Kshatriya is statecraft, for Vaisya it is trade
and moneylending, and for Shudra is to serve the above three. The Shudras
are not entitled to an education. All four varnas enjoy complete control
over the women of their social category. Thus the ‘Laws of Manu’ do not
contain a distinction between secular and religious laws. It is the social law
which dominates the political as well as the personal sphere. Even the
kingly functions are aimed towards preservation of the social order.
Historians do not consider ‘Manu’ to be one historical person. Rather,
what we know as the ‘Laws of Manu’ is handiwork of several Brahmin
individuals, which was compiled in early centuries of the Common Era in
Northern India. Manu appears to be a mythological figure in Brahminical
tradition and later in the Hindu religion, who has often been called the first
human being. The 2694 stanzas divided in twelve chapters of Manusmriti
talk about a range of issues: caste restrictions, dietary restrictions,
restrictions on women, rites of marriage, death and sacrificial ceremonies,
purification rituals, penalties for breaking these rules and rules of polity to
be followed by kings. The social laws of Manu offer us a glimpse into how
the powerful sections of early India, the Brahmins who composed the
work, desired the society to be. A study of Manu’s social laws will also
provide a glimpse of how society was sought to be organized, because the
ideas contained in the book were not entirely new, but culmination of
Brahminical tradition of social thought which traced itself to the Vedas.
Such detailed and elaborate rules of social control were made to avoid
chaos, or what Vedic texts have called Matsyanyaya, an anarchic situation
where only the law of the stronger exists. Thus, Manusmriti appears to be
an attempt by socially powerful sections of Indian society to retain and
preserve the social order of their privilege, at a time when rapid
historical changes were taking place.
According to Indian mythology, Manu was the first man and the fabled
author of the Manu-smriti, a significant body of Sanskrit law. The name
shares etymological roots with the Sanskritverb man-, which means "to
ponder," and the Indo-European word "man." Hinduism's sacredtext, the
Vedas, describes Manu as the one who carried out the first sacrifice. He is
also referred to as the first king, and the majority of the emperors of
medieval India could be traced back tohim through either his son or his
daughter.
The Manusmriti, also known as "The Laws of Manu," which is regarded as
one of the most authoritative scriptures in the tradition, is one of the
most authoritative writings in the Brahminical tradition that outlines social
and civil regulations and codes of conduct required for the maintenance of
dharma. It establishes standards of behavior for both sexes belonging to
the four social classes, or varnas—Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and
Shudra—as well as guidelines for interactions among them. Additionally,
it outlines behavior expectations for those in the four ashramas of life—
brahmacharya, grihstashrama, vanprastha, and sanyasa. In addition, itestab
lishes laws governing civil issues like business and contracts as well as the
rajdharma, or duties and obligations, of the King. These strict social norms
and restrictions help to protectdharma, the hierarchical varna system-based
social order in which Brahmans and Shudras havedifferent social standings
and advantages.
SOURCES OF LAW
The Manusmriti forms part of the smriti canon of Hindu religious corpus,
which refers to knowledge received from tradition. The other canon is
shruti which refers to revealed knowledge or divine knowledge. The Vedas
belong to the shruti group and occupy a somewhat superior position. The
classification of religious knowledge between shruti and smriti, ultimately
indicates two sources of law – the divine and traditional. Although,
repositories of traditional knowledge claim that revealed texts are their
source.
The Laws of Manu claim four sources of sacred law; the Vedas, conduct
of virtuous men learned in the Vedas, conduct of holy men and self-
satisfaction. It also claims that all the social laws prescribed in it are in
strict accordance with the Vedas.
Tracing the origin of law to the divine is a way to command obedience,
and to claim that the law stands above human scrutiny. Such a source also
enables the dominant social sections of society to claim that they are
eternally entitled to respect, wealth and political power. Because divinely
ordained laws are unchanging and depend on the conduct of those already
in power, they seek to bolster their position privileged position. For
instance, historian K.P. Jayaswal explained that the divine origin theory of
kingship was furthered by Brahmin king Pusyamitra Sunga in order to
make his family’s claim to the throne permanent, and to discredit the
Buddhist theory of state which emphasized contract amongst people to
decide their ruler.

MANUSMRITI AND CASTE SYSTEM

Nearly a thousand thirty-four verses of the Manum smriti text are devoted
to the laws for and expected virtues of the Brahmans. Manu-major smriti's
section is this. The verse count for theKshatriyas is somewhere between
971 and 972. In contrast, the laws and regulations for the twolower classes,
the Vaishyas and Shudras, who represent the working class and merchant
classes,respectively, are very brief in description. This proves that the Man
usmriti had a very judgmental viewpoint of the social groups that belonged
to the lower castes. Manu preachesagainst Shudras and Vaishyas on
multiple occasions in his verses, such as:

1. According to one of the verses, Brahma, the "ultimate creator," gave

birth to Brahmansfrom his mouth, Kshatriyas from his shoulders,
Vaishyas from his thighs, and Shudrasfrom his feet. The idea of
untouchability, a serious societal ill, can be extrapolated fromthis
statement that Vaishyas and Shudras should not be handled because they
are filthycreatures.
2. In a different verse, Manu declares that according to what God
commanded, a Shudra's responsibility was to serve the upper castes with
dedication and without complaint.
3. Manu believed Shudras were unsuitable to pursue education. The
upper varnas, accordingto him, should not educate or give advice to
Shudras. He believed that Shudras did notneed to be aware of the laws
and codes, hence they should not be taught about them.

People from all walks of life have rightfully attacked Manu-smriti for enco
uraging socialinequity and being a sign of hatred. These guidelines are still
followed by dishonest religious

individuals who also attempt to impose them on others. A well-known

social reformer andadvocate for equality, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, burned the
Manu-smriti in protest of such societalstandards and claimed that it was to
blame for the caste system's pervasiveness in India. He notedthat the
Manu-smriti impeded the development and advancement of the country.

Manu presents and defends the caste system in a very frightening and
unsettling way. Manu hasdefended the caste system as the cornerstone of
societal order and regularity. Vaishyas andShudras are subjected to
oppression and neglect while Brahmans and Kshatriyas are granted allthe
privileges a man could hope for. Members of the upper caste receive
forgiveness for their transgressions. The harshest punishment was meted
out to a Shudra for even the smallesttransgression, but a Brahman who
harms a Shudra gets off easy. Things have altered in themodern world as a
result of the political prominence of the caste system. The book Manu-
smritiis frequently burned in protest rallies because it is believed to be the
root of India's inequity.
MANUSMRITI AND WOMEN
The Manu-smriti also receives criticism most frequently for how it
portrays women and their place in society. Its portrayal of women offers a
picture of how women were seen as little morethan objects of males in
ancient India, and we may relate to it to some extent by looking at
howwomen are treated today in Indian society. Let's start by looking at
some passages from theManu-
smriti that are discriminatory, prejudiced, and insulting toward women in o
rder tounderstand how women are depicted in the literature.

According to him, the "smart" men are never unguarded in the presence of
women because it isin a woman's nature to seduce a man. He also advised
against marrying a woman with reddish hair, a woman who is frequently
ill, a woman with no hair or excessive hair. Wise men should only marry
women who are physically flawless, have lovely names, grace comparable
to an elephant, moderate hair on the head, soft limbs, etc. Girls should
remain in the care of
their fathers as children, their husbands as adults, and further, their sons as
widows. Under nocircumstances should she be allowed to make
independent claims.

The Manu-smriti lays down in great detail the responsibilities that a

woman has in the home,denying her any freedom or opportunity to leave
the home. Women have always been portrayed as being unable to support
themselves independently and reliant on their spouses for all of
their needs. For this reason, the Quran advises that women should continue
to be under the care of their son, husband, and father in that order. A
woman is referred to as virtuous and a "good lady"if she submits to her
husband and treats him like a slave; yet, this is not said of a woman
whouses her intelligence to acquire things.

In general, the Manu-smriti advises women to concentrate on the tasks at

hand, such as caring for the home and having children to preserve the
family name, since these are the things they
areapparently skilled in. According to the Manu-smriti, a woman's existenc
e consists of threestages: birth, marriage-related obligations, and death.
Given this situation, women's status would inevitably decline, and this
would be the cause of many of the issues we are presently dealing with,
including dowries, child marriages, gender inequality, female feticide, and
a host of other issues.

Child marriage and female feticide are two serious issues that Indian
society is currently facing.These issues have been brought on by people
who still adhere to the principles of antiquated religious scriptures like the
Manu-smriti and have a colonial mindset that fails to recognise
their errors. We require a thorough educational programme that addresses
these difficulties,
informs people of the flaws in these antiquated books, and instructs them o
n how to approach allsituations with a rational mind in order to completely
eradicate these issues. There is no doubt that the future of society lies in
education.
MANUSMRITI AND RAJDHARMA

Numerous facets of rajdharma, or statecraft, are covered in depth in the se

venth chapter of Manusmriti. The Dharmashastras have given considerable
thought and discussion to the idea of rajdharma since it has always been of
essential importance. Who should reign as king? How should he be
taught? What kind of training should a king receive? A king is chosen in
what way? What obligations does he have to his family? What role in the
public is he supposed to play? How will the social order be maintained and
incorporated? These were the main issues it tried to solve. In addition to
these, a number of additional items were a component of the rajdharma
of the traditional Indic government. Manu was the first to organize the
study of governance and administration, even though all facets of statecraft
had previously been discussed.

Manu was a staunch advocate for the "divine right doctrine" of the genesis
of the state, which held that God created the state. According to K. P.
Jayaswal, the doctrine of the king's divinitywas developed by Manusmriti
to defend the Pusyamitra Brahmin empire and to refute the Buddhist
theory of the state's formation by contract. God, who created the entire
cosmic order, is in charge of ensuring both the well-being of the populace
and the smooth operation of the entire system. He established the king as
His representative on earth and the institution of kingship was born out of
this idea. Even the Vedas and Upanishads have explanations of this. The
notion that a king is a divine creation is one that Manusmriti shares.
Manu emphasizes the ruler's moral and intellectual qualities because the
monarch was the most significant component of the overall state
administration. He is instructed to heed the advice of the Brahmins who
are knowledgeable about the Vedas and are able to exert control over
their senses. In order for a ruler to better govern his subjects, the
Arthasastra also extols the virtues of self-discipline.
The king of Manu was the perfect man: intelligent, morally upright,
efficient, well-educated, anda scholar. He was not a slave to his sexual
inclinations and instincts, and he also lackedresentment and avarice. All of
his subjects received the same treatment from him. Manu likensthe
character of this ideal ruler to the ocean, which is peaceful on the surface
but deep andchaotic inside, harboring both pearl and trash. Additionally,
Manu lays out the attributes that aruler must possess. The king had to be
devoid of corruption and faithful to dharma, artha, kama,and moksha—the
four tenets of satvik existence. He should have attributes like sama,
dama,danda, and bheda because he is the state's chief executive.
Additionally, he needed to be modest,respectful, forceful, and driven.
The science of government is referred to by the titles Arthashastra and
dandaniti in two differentcontexts. The Arthashastra is described by
Kamasutra as a system of learning, lands, gold, cattle,domestic utensils,
and enhancing what has been acquired. It is known as dandaniti when
it pertains to the people's government and penalizing offenders. The conse
nsus among almost allauthorities is that a state, or rajya, is made up of
seven things (prakriti). The term "SaptangaRajya," or "state of the
seven elements," is used to describe it. They are as follows.
1. Swami (ruler or sovereign)
2. Amatya (minister)
 3. Janapada or rashtra (the territory of the state and its people)
4. Durga (fort, fortified city or capital)
5. Kosa (accumulated wealth in the ruler’s treasury),
6. Danda (army) and
7. Mitra (friends or allies of the rajya).
Manu goes on to say that the punishment administered should be
proportionate to the seriousnessof the offense committed. Kautilya and
Manu had similar opinions on the king's coercive power,or danda. Along
with the ideas of the earlier arthashastra philosophers, Manu expands on
thisidea. The Lord, according to Manu, invented danda in order to benefit
kings and kingdoms, andthen appointed his own son as the defender of all
living things and dharma, or morality. Dandadoesn't just rule over people;
he also looks out for them. The danda's terror keeps everything inorder
across the planet. A ruler who possesses these qualities—truth, wisdom,
virtue, efficiency,and impartiality—is entitled to utilize danda. On the
other hand, the same danda that the corruptand dishonest king inflicts is
used to destroy him. Along with his tribe and realm, he is destroyed. One
who is prepared to use danda inspires awe throughout the entire planet.
No person is exempt from the king's danda if they fail to do their obligatio
ns, whether they be thefather, mother, friend, or domestic priest.
The purpose of the danda is to maintain social order stability as well as
individual safety of lifeand property. The theory of the temporal ruler's
creation and endowment by God is entirelyconsistent with this
understanding of danda. Sometimes, the word "danda" is also associated
with"dharma" or "law," signifying that one is necessary in order to carry
out the other. Manu alsoestablishes the notion of the king's unrestricted
jurisdiction over all criminals and
offenders,regardless of their social or political standing. This is consistent
with the Arthashastra'sapplication of the danda principle. He adds that God
created retribution, or danda, so the kingcould carry out his responsibilities
successfully. In addition, he has issued a warning that usingforce or power
should only be done so when it is absolutely necessary to punish those
who have been found guilty in order to both correct the offender and serve
as a deterrent to others.
The army and local governments are also examined by Manu, as they are
tools for enforcing theterritorial limits of the state or kingdom as well as
the authority over its citizens. His system of local government consists of a
number of officials at different levels in charge of smaller andlarger
groups of villages with a minister of the monarch to routinely inspect their
work. Thevillage, which is headed by a headman, is the main
administrative unit in the area. Groups of ten,twenty, hundred, and
thousand villages comprised the gradually higher tiers of local
government.A supervisor of all affairs with an army of spies to help him
"explore the behaviour of the people" was another requirement he insisted
on. A minister should be assigned to oversee localgovernment as a whole
at the headquarters. For the kingdom's defense, a company of troops
must be stationed in the middle of two, three, five, or hundreds of villages.
SOCIAL LAWS
The preservation of social order – the hierarchy of caste system coupled
with the control of women – is the main concern of Manusmriti. That is
why we saw that even the rajdharma laid out by the text largely concerns
itself with the King using the instrument of punishment to maintain this
social order. However, special attention needs to be paid to how the
Manusmriti idealized the social system. It advocated a social system where
each caste stuck to its allotted profession, and interaction between them
was bare minimum. Therefore, it restricted marriages between different
castes, and saw mixed castes with contempt. This also required that
additional restrictions be placed on women. Let us study these in more
detail.
Marriage
Marriage laws prescribed by Manusmriti adhere strictly to the caste
ranking. It lays down that a Brahmin’s first marriage should necessarily
take place to a woman of equal caste. For his subsequent marriages he may
take a woman from the three lower varnas as a wife. But the text strongly
advises against a Brahmin man marrying a Shudra woman, warning that
such a union will result in misfortune for the man. ‘Twice-born men who,
in their folly, wed women of the low (Shudra) caste, soon degrade their
families and their children to the state of Sudras,’ says the sage Manu.
Technically, the Law of Manu states that a woman is permitted to marry
those of her own caste and those of the higher castes. Similarly, a man
may marry within his caste or to a woman from the lower castes.
Manusmriti elucidates eight rites of marriages that are recognized in the
Brahminical tradition –, Brahma Diava, Rishi (Arsha), Prajapatya, Asura,
Gandharva, Rakshasa and Paishacha. The gift of a daughter along with
costly jewelry to a man learned in the Vedas is the Brahma rite. The gift of
a daughter along with costly ornaments to priest who has come to perform
a sacrifice ceremony is called the Daiva marriage. The giving away of the
daughter in return of a pair of cow and bull from the bridegroom is the
way of the Rishis. The gift of the daughter with blessings and honour
shown to the couple is the rite of Prajapatya. When a bridegroom receives
the woman after having given her and her kinsmen as much wealth as he
could afford, is called the Asura marriage. The voluntary union of the
woman and her lover from a desire of sexual intercourse is called
Gandharava marriage. The forcible abduction of the woman from her
home after slaying her kinsmen, is the way of the Rakshasas. Stealthy
seduction of a woman who is intoxicated, sleepy or disoriented has been
described as the most base and sinful way of union called Paishacha. The
first six methods are approved for the Brahmins, the last four methods are
approved for a Kshatriya, and the last four, with the exception of
Rakshasas rite, are lawful for Vaisyas and Sudras.
Women
From the foregoing discussion, it can be learnt that women have been
depicted as beings who need to be guarded and controlled primarily by
their families. The Manusmriti sees them as treacherous entities who can
lead a virtuous man astray from dharma, and down the path of desires.
They have been portrayed as assets which, if suitably controlled, can lead
to pleasure and prosperity of the owner – the husband. The duties
prescribed by Manusmriti for women, expect women to train themselves
and learn to take pleasure in their position as property owned by men. ‘In
childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband,
when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent,’
say the Laws of Manu. A woman who leaves her father or husband to
pursue her free will brings contempt upon herself and her family.
Manusmriti prescribes that not only a woman should manage the
household, but she should do it with cheerfulness. ‘She must always be
cheerful, clever in (the management of her) household affairs, careful in
cleaning her utensils, and economical in expenditure.’
A woman is not only to be treated as valuable property by men, but the
text goes on to demand that she should cultivate herself to be treated as
such. That is the dharma for women. Thus, the foremost duty of a married
woman is to be unconditionally loyal to her husband. Even if the husband
possesses no good qualities the wife should cling to him. ‘Though destitute
of virtue, or seeking pleasure (elsewhere), or devoid of good qualities, a
husband must be constantly worshipped as a god by a faithful wife.’ ‘A
faithful wife who desires to dwell (after death) with her husband, must
never do anything that might displease him who took her hand, whether he
be alive or dead.’ Even after the death of her husband, the woman ought
not to remarry, and should maintain her ‘chastity’. No such burden is
placed upon men who lose their wives. The control of ‘their’ women must
be exercised by men of all castes. ‘Women must be guarded against their
evil inclinations.’ A woman’s desire, howsoever trifling needs to be
controlled. Manu is careful to note that ‘No man can completely guard
women by force.’ Therefore, he suggests that the best means to control
women is to assign them responsibility: collection and expenditure of
man’s wealth, ‘keeping (everything) clean, in religious duties, in
preparation of his food, and in looking after the household utensils.’ It is
not force but woman ‘who of their own accord keep a guard over
themselves, are well guarded.’ The social order prescribed in Manusmriti
rests on the basis of control over women and their labour. It is through
control of women that varna boundaries are sought to be maintained. In
addition, this control secures the woman’s body and labour for the
exclusive enjoyment and use of men.
Mixed Castes
Although Manusmriti lays great stress on maintenance of social order, it
seems to recognize that a perfect order where each caste maintains
conjugal boundaries and sticks to its stipulated profession, is more of an
ideal than what concretely exists. It suggests that in the time of
composition of Manusmriti, inter-caste marriages did take place. In its
attempt to establish a complete social order, the Manusmriti strives to take
into account all permutations and combinations of marital relations that
could possibly take place between different varnas and tries to place the
offspring out of such unions into proper social categories. Intermarriage
between men and women of varnas leads to production of what can be
referred to as mixed castes. The Manusmriti not only defines which castes
are produced out of unions across varnas, but also fixes the personal
qualities of such castes, the occupations they ought to occupy and the
social restrictions that should be placed upon them. In anuloma marriages,
between a higher caste man and a lower caste woman, the progeny
although associated with the father’s caste are still considered base-born
(apsada). The Manusmriti considers progeny out of pratiloma marriages,
between lower caste man and higher caste woman, as even
more base. The detailed description of mixed castes seems to be an attempt
by writers of the Manusmriti to place various categories of people who
may have existed at that time in the hierarchies of varna order, defining
their occupation and social position.
MANU’S CODE OF LAW
Greater stress was placed on the concepts of justice and equity by Manu,
who also felt thatwhomever breaks justice is always disgusting.
The original court and the appellate tribunal aremerged in the king, who
administers justice. The monarch oversees the courts, and he issupported
in this by Brahmins and seasoned councilors. Cases must be decided in
line with thesacred law's institutions and the guiding principles of regional
customs. The king shall appoint alearned Brahmin and three sabhyas
(assessors) to decide the cases in the event that he is
unableto administer justice himself for whatever cause. Following the defe
ndant's denial of theallegations, the complainant should invite witnesses or
present more evidence. If there isdisagreement among the witness
statements, the king must take the majority of the evidence asconclusive.
Judges should use an investigative approach if there are no witnesses.
Yajnavalkya categorizes the three types of proofs—documents, witnesses,
and possessions—in a way thatfurther organizes Manu's notions about
evidence.

The idea of social justice as it exists today is included in Manu's

conception of justice. Hereferred to it as the "social purpose of justice,"
where the king had to stand out for the rights
of people who couldn't stand up for themselves. A
minor's inheritance and other property must
be protected by the king until the minor returns from his teacher's house or
reaches adulthood, hecontinues. Additionally, he had to look for orphans,
barren women, males without kids, spouses,widows, and ladies afflicted
with various ailments.
In Manu's day, this enormous subcontinent was home to diverse ethnic and
linguistic groupingswith a wide range of worldviews and moral principles.
Manu could sense the necessity to preserve this diversity
of culture and society as a one organic unit. Almost
all facets of life arecovered in Manusmriti, including political, economic,
legal, social, etc. It is an omnibus that is of gigantic and epic proportions
that is still relevant today. Manu works to modify human life
inorder to accomplish normatively stated goals by using law and politics as
instruments of continuity. It is the moral realization of the ideas of that
great thinker from ancient India whoadvocated both pragmatism and
idealism. This is possibly the most outstanding aspect of the book,
which has added a hint of universality while tempering it with
particularities that cross the boundaries of time.

CRITICISM
Manusmriti is a text which attempts to weave the diverse peoples of Indian
subcontinent of its time into one social whole, by describing the
obligations and duties of each and how they were to relate to each other. It
was an attempt to create social order in a diverse social field, It will,
however, be inadequate if we conclude our assessment of this ancient text
with this charitable view which sees it as an attempt to unify a diverse
reality. The text needs to be placed in its historical context. Manusmriti,
thus, is not a simple commentary on religion, politics, ideas of justice,
administration and society. It is, infact, a text produced by Brahmins to
consolidate their social and political position, and to place themselves at
the very top of a graded society. The ideas of virtue, religion, justice, law
and ethics propounded in the Manusmriti are all geared towards
maintenance of a social order which secures political, social and economic
power in the hands of the three upper varnas – the Brahmins, Kshatriyas
and Vaishyas, while extracting labour and service from shudras and
women. The instrument for maintaining this social order is danda, which
explains the significance attached to political power in the text.

In addition to being a manual for rule, the Manusmriti is also an

ideological text because it seeks to self-validate itself by claiming divine
source. By virtue of being recognized as a religious text within the Hindu
tradition, it exerts great power over how people think and what they
believe. It is for this reason that after hundreds of years, it continues to be
relevant because the hierarchy advocated by Manusmriti still afflicts India.
On December 25, 1927 Dr. B.R. Ambedkar led the burning of the ancient
text. In his historic speech at Mahad Satyagraha he said, “It is not that all
the parts of the Manusmriti are condemnable, that it does not contain good
principles and that Manu himself was not a sociologist and was a mere
fool. We made a bonfire of it because we view it as a symbol of injustice
under which we have been crushed across the centuries. Because of
Manu's teachings, we have been ground down under despicable poverty.
The counts in the indictment of the hereditary Hindu priest are numerous
and appalling. He is a clog on the wheel of civilization. Man is born,
becomes the father of a family and then in time dies. All along the priest
shadows him like an evil genius."

Manu frequently receives criticism for combining law and religion. Manu
claimed that his ruleswere inspired by God, although this is more a
reflection of the time he lived in and is notinherently flawed. In fact, the
majority of ancient people believed that their rules were divinelyinspired.
In ancient Egypt, the Gods were said to be the source of law. The
Hammurabi Code
andthe Manusmriti rules both professed to be founded on divine inspiratio
n. The TenCommandments of the Old Testament are claimed to have been
spoken to Moses by Yahweh.Furthermore, it was claimed that Moses
received all of the commandments recorded in Exodus,Leviticus, and
Numbers directly from God.

In fact, Manu-smriti encourages and counsels the usage of the oppressive

caste system in societyto categorize people according to their line of work.
Even more obscene seems to be thecontinued use of this system. How is it
that society still adheres to a petty, misguided, anddiscriminatory caste
system despite having learned so many lessons?The fact that Manu-smriti,
a book that Hindus hold in high favor and consider to be their lawmanual,
portrays women in such a deplorable way. This shows us clearly how
males frequentlyutilize and treat women as objects in today's culture.
The only long-term answer to eliminating these social ills is to ensure that
everyone has access to high-quality education so they are awareof the
myths that society likes to perpetuate.
CONCLUSION
The Manusmriti, also known as "The Laws of Manu," is regarded as one
of the mostauthoritative scriptures in the tradition and is one of the most
authoritative writings in theBrahminical tradition that outlines social and
civil regulations and codes of conduct required for the maintenance of
dharma.Manu wrote about how the society should be divided according to
the different varnas as well asguidelines for interactions among
them. Additionally, Manu had also outlined the behavior expectations for
those in the four ashramas of life—brahmacharya, grihstashrama,
vanprastha,and sanyasa. He also gave certain strict guidelines for women
and women had no rights or independence, they were even not allowed to
have property rights.Manu was regarded as the first king and he was the
one who gave certain duties for the king as tohow he is supposed to
govern(Rajdharma).Manu also gave the code of law which is regarded
as the first legal doctrine in the world.Though Manu’s code has a lot of
shortcomings but the fact that it was the first legal doctrinewhich served as
a base for modern legal principles.

However, there are wide inconsistencies and contradictions about the

authenticity of Manusmriti, as over fifty of its manuscripts have been
found. Each manuscript has inconsistencies with each other and, over the
years, the text has undergone multiple modifications, insertions and
deletions that have altered the structure. It is also debated whether the text
was the work of a single author or it is a compilation of the thoughts of
numerous thinkers of the time. Nevertheless, it is possible for us to
ascertain the fundamental features of the text, which talks about laws,
regulations and customs. Manu-smriti is not considered relevant in modern
society as most of its preaching’s do not align with modern society. The
text was the subject of considerable importance during the British colonial
rule of India, after Sir William Jones translated the text from Sanskrit and
used it to formulate a common law for Hindus. It is described by many as
an attempt by the British to implement their strategy of divide and rule by
attacking the religious sentiments of Indians.
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