Hinduism

Manu, the great Indian sage, is arguably the oldest of lawmakers in the annals of human civilization. In the world of jurisprudence and sociology, the Institutes of Manu are more ancient than those of Justinian in Roman Law and are more far-reaching and pervasive and more ancient than the laws of Salon or Lycurgus. Yet, in recent years, the volatile caste centric political pandemonium has made Manu and his seminal work, the object of much hatred, ridicule and even violence. While almost all students of Indian History, professional and amateur are aware of the six abusive verses it contains, few have gone through it critically, to appreciate its uncompromising rational stand, the underlying jurisprudence, his brilliant insight into dharma, the collective maintenance of law, and perhaps most important the foundation of justice which to Manu was not based on vengeance or retribution. Unfortunately, the defensive mindset of Indian Historians, even in those with an uncompromising regard for objectivity like the eminent R C Majumdar, caused several unfortunate statements in this regard. The latter could see nothing good in the Manu Smriti, except a few honeyed verses with regard to women [Refer, Ancient India by R C Majumdar] In case of Marxist and dalit historians, one could not expect any semblance of objectivity, to them the MS is nothing more than a brahmanical construct for subjugating the shudras. Indeed, Manu serves as their favourite whipping boy of Indian history