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Women and Manu

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WOMEN IN MANU Manu and Manusmrti are the two words that invoke mixed feelings. There are some who would like to perform the funeral rite for the man and his work as many times as possible, while other would like to make it the centre of Hindutva, relying point on matters of religious, social and legal importance. The rise of Dalit movements in India has one important point to make: remove everything that is related to Manu. Its consequences we have been watching with concern for the last few years as they have disturbed the very foundation of social, religious and political life of the Hindu orthodoxy. Women's voice of protest has not been so loud, nor their organizations that political clout, though, as we shall see, they have much to complain about for their present state of affairs which has been sustained mainly by the laws of Manu. Manu and Manusmrti If mere mention of the name is the criteria to place a man in his historical context then Manu may be a mythical/historical person. He is mentioned in the Vedas itself and is described as the law-giver (1). The later commentators and law-givers such as Yaska (2), Baudhayana (3), Apastamha (4), Samkara (5), often quote him and his works. There is no doubt about the antiquity of the name, but we do not know the time of the man who was really the author of the work. Manusmrti has been placed between 200BC - 200 AD by the scholars, rather a very long time for a person to exist in his earthly life. However this time in the history of the Indian nation is of permanent importance. It was the time of the rise and decline of Buddhism as religion and political power, decline of Vedic religion and its ascendancy through a newer form, great Indian empires of Ashoka, Mauryan, Gupta; influx of groups from central and western Asia, Greek invasion development of Sanskrit and its literature, and the evolution of great Indian

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