Manusmriti Is Not the Sum Total of Hindu Civilisation
The controversy over Manusmriti is not really about Manusmriti. It is about the politics of interpreting Indian civilisation. Whenever Rahul Gandhi invokes Manusmriti to demonstrate the supposed foundations of Indian patriarchy, the immediate question ought to be: by what standard are civilisations being judged? If patriarchy is the charge, the inquiry cannot begin and end with Hindu society. Christian Europe had centuries of institutional patriarchy. Women were denied political rights, excluded from positions of authority and subjected to social and religious restrictions. The witch-hunts remain among the darkest reminders of this history. Women were prosecuted, tortured and executed in Christian Europe in the name of religious and social order. Women received voting rights in much of Europe only in the 20th century. Yet nobody today argues that Christianity must permanently carry the burden of European patriarchy as its defining civilisational characteristic. Islam presents ano...
