Manusmriti

by Ramchandra Verma Shastri, रामचन्द्र वर्मा शास्त्री

मनुष्य ने जब समाज व राष्ट्र्र के अस्तित्व तथा महत्त्व कौ मान्यता दी, तो उसके कर्तव्यों और अधिकारों की व्याख्या निर्धारित करने तथा नियमों के अतिक्रमण करने पर दण्ड व्यवस्था करने की भी आवश्यकता उत्पन्न हुई । यही कारण है कि विभिन्न युगों में विभिन्न स्मृतियों की रचना हुई, जिनमें मनुस्मृति को विशेष महत्व प्राप्त है । मनुस्मृति में बारह अध्याय तथा दो हज़ार पांच सौ श्लोक हैं, जिनमें सृष्टि की उत्पत्ति, संस्कार, नित्य और नैमित्तिक कर्म, आश्रमधर्म, वर्णधर्म, राजधर्म व प्रायश्चित्त आदि अनेक विषयों का उल्लेख है। ब्रिटिश शासकों ने भी मनुस्मृति को ही आधार बनाकर ' इण्डियन पेनल कोड ' बनाया तथा स्वतन्त्र भारत की विधानसभा ने भी संविधान बनाते समय इसी स्मृति को प्रमुख आधार माना । व्यक्ति के सर्वतोमुखी विकास तथा सामाजिक व्यवस्था को सुनिश्चित रूप देने व व्यक्ति की लौकिक....

Genres: Philosophy

505 pages, Hardcover

Reviews

[Ambarish · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Manusmriti is an ancient Hindu legal and social text attributed to Manu, said to be inspired by Lord Brahma. While it contains cosmological knowledge and philosophical insights, many of its prescriptions are deeply offensive by any modern ethical standard, and people in their right mind would find it extremely complicated to appreciate this text.

Core Structure: The text establishes a rigid four-tier varna system—Brahmans (priests/scholars), Kshatriyas (warriors/rulers), Vaishyas (merchants/farmers), and Shudras (servants). It explicitly states that Lord Brahma created Shudras solely to serve Brahmans, denying them the right to wealth, education, or participation in religious rituals. This constitutes 25% of society reduced to permanent servitude.

Extreme Gender Discrimination: Women are described as having inherent defects—unstable minds, inability to be independent. The text mandates that women must always be controlled by father, husband, or son at every life stage. Widows cannot remarry, but men can have multiple wives. Women are compared to soil while men are seeds, suggesting male superiority in reproduction. Girls could be married as young as 8-12 years old.

Brahman Supremacy: Brahmans receive absolute, unchecked power. Even immoral or incompetent Brahmans must be respected. The maximum punishment for a Brahman is banishment, while Shudras face death for identical crimes. Brahmans cannot be killed under any circumstance—doing so is considered the most heinous crime. Teaching Vedas to Shudras sends the teacher to hell.

Cosmology and Time: The text presents an elaborate cosmological framework with Brahma as creator, describing time cycles from Yugas (Satyug, Treta, Dwapar, Kalyug totaling 4.3 million years) to Kalpas and Pralayas (cosmic dissolution). It outlines creation through 10 Maharishis and establishes the four Vedas.

Life Stages: Human life divided into four ashramas—student (0-25), householder (25-50), forest dweller (50-75), and renunciate (75-100). Detailed rules govern daily practices, dietary restrictions, rituals, and purification ceremonies.

Legal Framework: Establishes comprehensive but deeply unequal legal systems. Punishments vary drastically by caste—Brahmans receive fines while Shudras receive death for the same offense. Interest rates, witness credibility, and property rights all favor upper castes. Slavery of Shudras is explicitly permitted.

Dietary and Ritual Laws: Strict vegetarianism is ideal, though meat permitted only when offered in sacrifices. Detailed prohibitions on foods (onion, garlic, mushrooms, chicken, pork) and behaviors. Elaborate purification rituals involving cow urine, fasting, and self-mortification for various sins.

Problematic Philosophy: The text treats an entire section of humanity (Shudras) as subhuman—their gaze pollutes religious food, they cannot own property, and serving upper castes is their sole purpose. Women lack agency entirely. The justice system is nakedly discriminatory. While historical context matters, the prescriptions remain offensive and unacceptable.

Bottom Line: This is a text that institutionalizes inequality based on birth and gender, granting absolute power to one group while denying basic human dignity to others. Whatever spiritual or philosophical value it may contain is severely compromised by its fundamentally discriminatory worldview. Understanding it historically is one thing; endorsing its social prescriptions is unconscionable.

[Nirmal · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writer has not imposed his own ideas in the translation from Sanskrit to Hindi, which is a good thing because it will allow the reader to judge the text for themself. However, when I compared the original Sanskrit text with other sources, there were some discrepancy. I am not sure which one is correct.

The book is a great treasure for those who want to learn the law of Indian subcontinent in ancient times. The book can easily show the rampant discrimination in the society among various classes - Bhramin, Kshetri, Baisya and Sudra. Some interesting points that I noted are:
* Somewehere in text there is mention that Khas (the native of Nepal), Chin (possibly Chinese), Dravid (south Indians) and few more became Sudra due to their immoral behaviour.
* Prostitution in Bahrain family is allowed in the emergency situations
* Meat eating is allowed (including that of dog) in emergency situations

When compared with Quran (the law book of Muslim), there are many similarities. My blind guess is Quran is a shorter and improved version of Manusmriti with reduced discrimination. A comparative reading is recommended.

[Ankit · Rating 3 out of 5]

-2 star: extremely misogynistic
-2 star: very casteist
+1 star: exhaustive and covers so many topics at one place
+1 star: few topics like trust, governance etc remain relevant topics, including the solutions and penalties suggested.

Do note: some of the topics are very revolting per today’s ethical and legal standards. However, I firmly believe that judging others by one’s moral standards form the core of most, if not all major struggles and problems in the world today.

[Rakesh Gohil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the perfect comentey on Dharma. It is rule book of Hinduism.

This is one of the best book to understand Vedik Sanatan Dharma that is now called Hinduism.

Moreover this books says whatever written in this book not over rule Vedas.

Vedas are root of Dharma.

[Shivatva Beniwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Hindi translation.

The translation quality is very good. Print quality is good. Paper quality is average. An overall good version of the Manusmriti.

[Shashwat Kumar]

One of the oldest literature about the Hindu religion or Sanatan Dharma. Most of the Hindu traditions and rituals, good or bad, are originated from this books. This book talks about the duties and characteristics of different varnas and their social order. Book emphasises on the superiority of Brahmins (no wonder as it is written by themselves) in the Vedic yuga. This is also mentioned that taking birth is not sufficient, person must follow the hard rules to be called good brahmin otherwise he is as good as others. Some slokas in the book forbid the independence of the woman. Even though to any extent, it is not a practical religious text for today but it opens a window in the mind of ancient people and helps in understanding their thinking. Apart from the shortcomings, this books explain many subjects which are applicable today as well i.e., tax collection, and make me wonder how thoughtful and ahead of time they were in those subjects.