Feb 23, 2015 — USA (SUN) —
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MANU-SAMHITA
Srila Prabhupada often quoted the following selections from Manu-saṁhitā [7] :
na strī svātantryam-arhati (9.3)
Women should not be given independence. And also,
pravṛttir eṣa bhūtānāṁ nivṛttis tu mahā-phalaḥ (5.56)
Everyone in material life is attracted to furthering the way of attachment (pravṛtti-mārga), but the greatest treasure is to be gained by following the path of detachment (nivṛtti-mārga).
However, Srila Prabhupada did not always support the conclusions of this literature:
Yes, but we do not keep him śūdra. A devotee is no longer śūdra. We are creating brāhmaṇas. Just like these Europeans and Americans. They, according to Manu-saṁhitā, are mlecchas, yavanas. But we are not keeping them mlecchas and yavanas. Just like these European and American boys. They are accepting the Vedic regulative principles: no illicit sex, no meat- eating, no intoxication, no gambling. So they are no more śūdras or caṇḍālas. They are brāhmaṇas. (Room Conversation, 5 June 1974.)
According to the Manu-saṁhitā you are all mlecchas and yavanas. You cannot touch the Manu-saṁhitā, what to speak of translating it. So if you try to follow the Manu-saṁhitā then you become a mleccha and yavana and your career is finished. (Secretary's letter to Madhusudana,
19 May 1977.)
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Śrīla Prabhupāda may have not always supported all the conclusions of the Manu-saṁhitā (although this is debatable), but he definitely supported at least its conclusions regarding the duties of women by repeatedly referring to Manu-saṁhitā in this regard.
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CONTRADICTIONS
Manu-saṁhitā says different things about women. Sometimes its thrust is to speak highly of them:
prajanārthaṁ mahā-bhāgāḥ pūjārhā gṛha-dīptayaḥ (9.26)
Women are to be worshipped. They are extremely auspicious. They are the illuminators of the home.
yatra nāryastu pūjyante ramante tatra devatāḥ
yatraitāstu na pūjyante sarvās-tatrāphalāḥ kriyāḥ (3.56)
Wherever women are worshipped, the demigods reside, and wherever they are not worshiped, all activities end in failure.
While some other sections speak derogatorily:
pauṁścalyāc cala cittāc ca naisnehyāc ca svabhāvataḥ (9.15)
Women are by nature adulterous, fickle-hearted, and devoid of all love.
nirindriyā hy amantrāś ca striyo 'nṛtam iti sthitiḥ (9.18)
Women are to be considered as devoid of all sense, devoid of all mantras, and full of falsity.
Sometimes we even find both kinds of statements in the same chapter — Chapter 9. No statement is
offered directly in Manu-saṁhitā that resolves this incongruity.
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But Śrīmad Bhāgavatam also "speak derogatorily", for example:
kvāpi sakhyaṁ na vai strīṇāṁ vṛkāṇāṁ hṛdayaṁ yathā
"...you should know that the heart of a woman is like that of a fox. There is no use making friendship with women." (9.14.36)
striyo hy akaruṇāḥ krūrā durmarṣāḥ priya-sāhasāḥ
ghnanty alpārthe 'pi viśrabdhaṁ patiṁ bhrātaram apy uta
"Women as a class are merciless and cunning. They cannot tolerate even a slight offense. For their own pleasure they can do anything irreligious, and therefore they do not fear killing even a faithful husband or brother." (9.14.37)
Should we also reject Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam because of that? Of course not. Rather, we should see that there
is an agreement between the Manu-saṁhitā and the Bhāgavatam. These statements may seem "derogatory"
but actually they are not—no spiritual authority (ācārya or śāstra) will ever speak of women derogatorily.
Śrīla Prabhupāda gives us the proper perspective on how to resolve this "apparent incongruity":
"Good population in human society is the basic principle for peace, prosperity and spiritual
progress in life. The varṇāśrama religion's principles were so designed that the good population
would prevail in society for the general spiritual progress of state and community. Such population depends on the chastity and faithfulness of its womanhood. As children are very prone to be
misled, women are similarly very prone to degradation. Therefore, both children and women
require protection by the elder members of the family. By being engaged in various religious practices, women will not be misled into adultery. According to Cāṇakya Paṇḍita, women are generally not very intelligent and therefore not trustworthy. So the different family traditions of religious activities should always engage them, and thus their chastity and devotion will give birth to a good population eligible for participating in the varṇāśrama system. On the failure of such varṇāśrama-dharma, naturally the women become free to act and mix with men, and thus adultery is indulged in at the risk of unwanted population. Irresponsible men also provoke adultery in society, and thus unwanted children flood the human race at the risk of war and pestilence." (Purport to Bhagavad-gītā 1.40).
And:
"A woman's nature has been particularly well studied by Kaśyapa Muni. Women are self-interested by nature, and therefore they should be protected by all means so that their natural inclination to be too self-interested will not be manifested. Women need to be protected by men. A woman
should be cared for by her father in her childhood, by her husband in her youth and by her grown sons in her old age. This is the injunction of Manu, who says that a woman should not be given independence at any stage. Women must be cared for so that they will not be free to manifest their natural tendency for gross selfishness. There have been many cases, even in the present day, in which women have killed their husbands to take advantage of their insurance policies. This is not a criticism of women but a practical study of their nature. Such natural instincts of a woman or a
man are manifested only in the bodily conception of life. When either a man or a woman is
advanced in spiritual consciousness, the bodily conception of life practically vanishes. We should see all women as spiritual units (ahaṁ brahmāsmi), whose only duty is to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Then the influences of the different modes of material nature, which result from one's possessing a material body, will not act." (Purport to Śrīmad-bhāgavatam 6.18.42).
As for different kinds of statements in the Manu-saṁhitā—that alone is not a solid reason to altogether reject it as non-authoritative. One may easily understand and relate to the praise of women—they should be protected and respected, at the same time one may not so easily relate to the negative statements. However, such negative statements about women are present in many Vedic scriptures (sometimes even word for word). As we understand from Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport quoted above all these statements are meant to ensure women's protection.
We do not want to focus on these statements, however just to give an example we will reproduce some of them here:
tasmāt striyo nirindriyā adāyādīr api pāpāt puṁsa upastitaram (Kṛṣna Yajurveda, Taittirīya-saṁhitā, 6.5.8.10)
"Therefore women are powerless, have no inheritance, and speak more humbly than even a bad man"[18] (compare with the Manu-smṛti, 9.18 cited above).
Such "derogatory" statements about women are also there in the Ṛg-veda, which has many hymns composed by the female Ṛṣis. If the contradictory statements about women are sound reasons for a scripture to be considered interpolated then we will also have to put the Ṛg-veda, which has been accepted by the authors as authoritative, in the same category. The authors quoted two verses from the 10th
Maṇḍala of Ṛg-veda to show that women have qualification to speak on transcendental topics, however the same 10th Maṇḍala also says the following "derogatory" things about women:
na vai straiṇāni sakhyāni santi sālāvṛkāṇāṁ hṛdayānyetā (Ṛg-veda, 10.95.15)[19]
"With women there can be no lasting friendship: hearts of hyenas are the hearts of women." (Compare with the verses from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (9.14.36-37) quoted above).
This is a hymn composed by Urvaśī (the Ṛṣi of this sūkta), who is a woman herself and thus she probably knows what she is speaking about. Also, according to the authors, she must have "taught and initiated others in these hymns, for only the creator of a hymn or those coming in the creator's disciplic succession can initiate others", so we can safely assume that Manu-smṛti and similar works got this knowledge from such śrutis. A few other examples:
abhrātaro na yoṣaṇo vyantaḥ patiripo na janayo durevāḥ
pāpāsaḥ santo anṛtā asatyā idam padam ajanatā gabhīram (Ṛg-veda, 4.5.5)
"Like youthful women without brothers, straying, like dames who hate their lords, of evil conduct, They who are full of sin, untrue, unfaithful, they have engendered this abysmal station."
indraś cid ghā tad abravīt striyā aśāsyaṁ manaḥ
uto aha kratuṁ raghum (Ṛg-veda, 8.33.17)
"Indra himself hath said, The mind of woman brooks not discipline, Her intellect hath little weight."
strīr eva tad-anugāḥ kurute tasmāt striyaḥ pumso
'nuvartmāno bhāvukāḥ (Śukla Yajurveda, Śatapatha- brāhmaṇa, 13.2.2.4)
"He thereby makes women to be dependent, whence women are sure to be attendant upon man."[20]
So, nothing wrong with Manu on this.
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INTERPOLATIONS
Taking note of this and other points, various scholars have opined that the Manu-saṁhitā we see today has suffered from considerable interpolation.
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Again, we are not told who those "various scholars" are. Śrīla Prabhupāda or any other previous ācārya never said this. A scholar named Patrick Olivelle, who is a famous authority on the Dharma-śāstra in the secular world, prepared the Critical Edition of the Manu-smṛti. He discusses there possible contradictions and interpolations and here is what he says about Chapter Nine that has both kinds of statements ("derogatory" and "high"):
"Chapter Nine: This chapter addresses the last three grounds for litigation: marital law, inheritance, and gambling. The sections on marital law and inheritance are remarkably free of obvious redactoral interventions." (Olivelle, Patrick. 2004. The Law Code of Manu. New York: Oxford University Press. p.51).
There of course might have been some cases of interpolation, but as we shall see below, it certainly wasn't that "considerable".
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In the introduction to the earliest known commentary on the Manu-saṁhitā by Medhatithi, we find the following verse written by the scribe of the commentary:
mānyā kāpi manu-smṛtis-tad-ucitā vyākhyāpi medhātitheḥ
sā luptaiva vidher-vaśād kvacid-api prāpyaṁ na tat-pustakam kṣoṇīndro madanaḥ sahāraṇa-suto deśāntarād-āhṛtaiḥ
jīrṇoddhāram-acīkarat tata itas-tat-pustakair likhyate
Earlier, there was another Manu-saṁhitā with a suitable commentary by Medhatithi. That is, however, lost now due to the influence of providence and is no longer available. The king named Madana, the son of Sahāraṇa, procured some scattered portions from various places and the remaining book was rewritten.
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First, this verse does not say at all that "there was another Manu-saṁhitā". It simply says that Manu-smṛti
is "mānyā" - venerable.
Second, Medhatithi's commentary with most certainty is not the earliest commentary—it was preceded by
Bhāruci's commentary (see below).
This section of the paper offers an interesting methodology—no ācārya, no authority has ever said that present Manu-saṁhitā is different from the original version and only because some scribe in some manuscript says that, and we are now obliged to accept that without question, as if it were a Vedic injunction. On the contrary, there is ample evidence that current editions of Manu-smriti have changed little over time if they have changed at all.
This issue is also addressed by Prof. V.P. Kane in his "History of the Dharma-śāstra", Vol.1, p.269:
"In several Mss. of the bhāṣya at the end of several adhyāyas occurs a verse which says that a king named Madana, son of Sahāraṇa, brought copies of Medhātithi's commentary from another country and effected a restoration (jīrṇoddhāra). This does not refer to the restoration of the text of Medhātithi, but to the completion of the library of the king, who was Madanapāla, son of Sadhāraṇa and flourished, as we shall see later on, in the latter half of the 14th century. "
"Later on" means on the p.381-389 of the same Vol.1. The Madanapāla, son of Sadhāraṇa (Sahāraṇa in Prakrit) was the king and a great patron of learned men and is attributed with several works, many of which were actually composed by his protege Viśveśvara Bhaṭṭa, the most famous of them is Madana- pārijāta—which is a work on smṛti. Madanapāla also compiled an Ayurvedic work called "Madana-vinoda- nighaṇṭu", which is a dictionary of drugs. Besides that he also wrote several works on astronomy, among which - a commentary on Sūrya-siddhānta "Sūrya-siddhānta-viveka" completed in 1402 AD.
It is established that Medhātithi lived not earlier than 820 AD and not later than 1050 AD (Kane, Vol.1, p.275). So even if we still doubt that Medhātithi's commentary and his version of Manu-smṛti is different from the present version, such doubts have no ground whatsoever because besides Medhātithi there were many other old commentators of the Manu-smṛti, ike for example:
- Bhāruci, 7th-9th AD, who is identified as one of the proponents of the Viśiṣṭādvaitaphilosophy before Rāmānuja* .
- Govindarāja, ca. 1050-1100 AD;
- Kullūka Bhaṭṭa, ca.1150-1300 AD;
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* See:
- Kane, Vol.1, p.264-268
- J.Duncan, P.Derrett (ed.), Bharuci's Commentary on the Manusmrti, Vol.1, Wiesbaden, 1975; pp.4-17.
- P.Olivelle, Dharmaśāstra: a textual history, in "Hinduism and Law: An Introduction", Edited by Timothy Lubin, Donald R. Davis and Jayanth K. Krishnan. Cambridge University Press: 2010, pp.52-54.
Their readings almost entirely agree with Medhātithi's (exept for several verses that are not commented upon by Medhātithi), and Kullūka Bhaṭṭa usually follows Medhātithi in his commentary while Medhatithī in many ways follows Bhāruci. None of them mention that previously there was another, different version of the Manu-saṁhitā. So if their versions agree with that of Medhātithi, then how could Madanapāla arrange "rewriting the remaining book" in 14th century AD?
Or, in words of Prof. Kane (Vol.1, p.273): "From Medhātithi's bhāṣya it is perfectly clear that the text of
Manu on which he commented was practically the same that we have now."
Another proof is that there is another very famous dharma-śāstra called Yājñavalkya-smṛti which, according to scholars (Kane, Olivelle) was "written" not later than 9th century AD. Here is what they say about it:
"Yājñavalkya (1.4) places Manu at the head of his list of the authors of Dharmaśāstras, the first such list in existence. Yājñavalkya's dependence on the MDh has been considered in detail by Kane
(1960-75, I: 430) and I agree fully with his conclusion: "The correspondence of Yājñavalkya's words
with the text of Manu is in most cases very close, so much so that one cannot help feeling that Yāj. had the Manusmṛti before him and purposely made an attempt to abridge the some loose expressions of Manu." Indeed, the abridgment and the tighter organization of the material are the main features of Yājñavalkya. He has between 1003 and 1010 verses depending on the recension, as opposed to the 2680 in the MDh. We have clear examples of Yājñavalkya's making a single pithy verse out of several prolix ones of Manu." (Olivelle, Patrick. 2004. The Law Code of Manu. New
York: Oxford University Press. p.67).
Manu-smṛti did not deserve such attack and criticism by the authors of the paper we are critiquing. No one in ISKCON seems to try to introduce its teachings about prayascittas, śrāddha etc. But we just cannot deny that Śrīla Prabhupāda referrred to Manu almost every time he spoke about women's duties. A mere search in the Vedabase among his vāṇī for the words Manu-smṛti or Manu-saṁhitā returns more than fifty references, and the great majority of them are related to the protection of women and, less, to the capital punishment of murderers and general praise of Manu-saṁhitā. For instance:
"The revealed scriptures, like Manu-saṁhitā and similar others, are considered the standard books to be followed by human society." BG, 3.21p.
"As for behavior, there are many rules and regulations guiding human behavior, such as the Manu- saṁhitā, which is the law of the human race. Even up to today, those who are Hindu follow the
Manu-saṁhitā. Laws of inheritance and other legalities are derived from this book. Now, in the
Manu-saṁhitā it is clearly stated that a woman should not be given freedom. That does not mean
that women are to be kept as slaves, but they are like children. Children are not given freedom, but that does not mean that they are kept as slaves. The demons have now neglected such injunctions, and they think that women should be given as much freedom as men. However, this has not improved the social condition of the world. Actually, a woman should be given protection at every stage of life. She should be given protection by the father in her younger days, by the husband in her youth, and by the grown-up sons in her old age. This is proper social behavior according to the Manu-saṁhitā. But modern education has artificially devised a puffed—up concept of womanly life, and therefore marriage is practically now an imagination in human society. The social condition of women is thus not very good now, although those who are married are in a better condition than those who are proclaiming their so-called freedom. The demons, therefore, do not accept any instruction which is good for society, and because they do not follow the experience of great sages and the rules and regulations laid down by the sages, the social condition of the demoniac people is very miserable." BG16.7p.
"The Manu-saṁhitā is the standard lawbook for humanity, and every human being is advised to follow this great book of social knowledge." SB2.1.36p.
"The conclusion is that if we want real peace and order in the human society, we must follow the principles laid down by the Manu-saṁhitā and confirmed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa." SB7.8.48p.
And this one is especially relevant here:
"As we learn from the history of the Mahābhārata, or "Greater India," the wives and daughters of the ruling class, the kṣatriyas, knew the political game, but we never find that a woman was given the post of chief executive. This is in accordance with the injunctions of Manu-saṁhitā, but unfortunately Manu-saṁhitā is now being insulted, and the āryans, the members of Vedic society, cannot do anything. Such is the nature of Kali-yuga." (SB10.4.5p).
So this is what is most important for us—Śrīla Prabhupāda spoke many times from Manu-saṁhitā and especially in relation to the protection of women. One cannot prove that Manu-saṁhitā is entirely non bona-fide simply by juxtaposing quotations about mlecchas and women.
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NOT APPLICABLE IN KALI YUGA
Even if one were to believe that the Manu-saṁhitā that is found today is not an interpolated version of the original one, one would still be discouraged to accept it as a current authority by the following statement of the Parāśara-smṛti
kṛte tu mānavā dharmās tretāyāṁ gautamāḥ smṛtāḥ
dvāpare śāṅkhalikhitāḥ kalau pārāśarāḥ smṛtāḥ (1.24)
The Manu-saṁhitā is applicable in Satya-yuga, the Gautama-smṛti is applicable in Tretā-yuga, the
Śaṅkha-likhita-smṛti is applicable in Dvāpara-yuga and the Parāśara-smṛti is applicable in Kali- yuga.
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Unfortunately, we are not provided here with any examples from the Parāśara-smṛti to see how it is different from Manu-saṁhitā and what exactly makes it applicable in Kali-yuga to the extent that is becomes even more applicable than the Manu-smṛti. In fact, although stating that Mānava-dharma is for Kali-yuga, Parāśara-smṛti refers to Manu so many times that one cannot help but think that Manu is the foremost authority on Dharma that Parāśara encourages us to follow. (For some examples of such quotes— see the "History of Dharma-sastra", Vol.1, p.194).
Besides that, Parāśara-smṛti [21] (9.51) calls Manu "the knower of all scriptures":
manunā caivam ekena sarvaśāstrāṇi jānatā
prāyaścittaṃ tu tenoktaṃ goghnaś cāndrāyaṇaṃ caret
"The performance of a Chandrayana has been enjoined by Manu, the only one who knew all the scriptures, as an expiation, under any circumstance, for the sin of cow killing." [emphasis added]
As for the Parāśara-smṛti being the main dharma-śāstra for the Kali-yuga—it is in fact debatable, considering that Manu-smṛti is highly comprehensive and fully describes all the details of different divisions of dharma, while Parāśara-smṛti is much lesser and does not describe all the intricacies of dharma. In fact the section on Vyavahāra, which must describe legal procedures, is entirely absent from the Parāśara-smṛti (this was analyzed as early as 1830 by T.Strange in the Preface to his book "Hindu Law"* ).
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* See: T.A.Strange, Hindu Law, London, 1830, p.xii.
So, here are some relevant quotes from the Parāśara-smṛti: It also sometimes "speak highly" about women:
striyo vṛddhāś ca bālāś ca na duṣyanti kadācana (7.35)
"Women, old people and children are never contaminated."
And it also prescribes their dependence on the husband:
daridraṃ vyādhitaṃ mūrkhaṃ bhartāraṃ yāvamanyate sā śunī jāyate mṛtvā sūkarī ca punaḥ punaḥ (4.16)
"That wife who disrespects her husband because of his poverty, disease or ignorance, after death again and again becomes a female dog and a pig."
patyau jīvati yā nārī upoṣya vratam ācaret
āyuṣyaṃ harate bhartuḥ sā nārī narakaṃ vrajet (4.17)
"That woman who undertakes a fasting vow when her husband is still living takes away the life span of her husband and goes to hell"§
apṛṣṭvā caiva bhartāraṃ yā nārī kurute vratam
sarvaṃ tad rākṣasān gacched ity evaṃ manur abravīt (4.18)
"If a woman without asking permission from her husband tooks up a vow, all the results of such vow go to the rākṣasas, thus Manu said."
And it seems that Paraśara-smṛti is similarly "not so broad in its outlook":
prāpte tu dvādaśe varṣe yaḥ kanyāṃ na prayacchati māsi māsi rajas tasyāḥ pibanti pitaraḥ svayam (7.5)
"If the girls has reached the age of twelve and the parents have not yet given her in marriage, they should personally drink her menstrual liquid month after month."
mātā caiva pitā caiva jyeṣṭho bhrātā tathaiva ca
trayas te narakaṃ yānti dṛṣṭvā kanyāṃ rajasvalām (7.6)
"The mother, father, elder brother of the girl—all these three go to hell if they see that her menstruation began."
Śrīla Prabhupāda once mentioned this injunctions from the Parāśara-smṛti:
"I do not know exactly what is that śāstra, but they say that if the girl before marriage has menstruation, then the father has to eat that menstrual liquid." (Morning Walk -- Māyāpur, February 9, 1976).
So the words of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura are very much relevant here:
"Moreover, the rules and regulations of a particular Dharma-śāstra were followed according to the particular place. In the opinion of some persons, at the beginning of the Kali age the Manu Dharma-
śāstra and the doctrine of Parāśara Muni were prominently accepted, while the other twenty
Dharma-śāstras were neglected. Others say that the doctrine of Hārīta was prominent and the
activities prescribed by the other Dharma-śāstras were neglected. >B?Generally, whatever one found convenient was accepted, without regard for other's consent and liking." [bold emphasis added] (Brāhmaṇa and Vaiṣṇava, Prakṛti-jana-kāṇḍa[22]).
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§ In his Dig-darśini-ṭīkā commentary to Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (12.73-74) Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī quotes this verse along with a verse from the Manu-smṛti (5.155): nāsti strīṇāṁ pṛthag yajño na vrataṁ nāpyupoṣaṇam, patiṁ śuśrūṣate yena tena svarge mahīyate—"No sacrifice, no vow, no fast must be performed by women apart from their husbands; if a wife obeys her husband, she will for that reason alone be exalted in heaven". He explains that this verse refers to those who did not ask permission from their husbands or to those women who are not vaiṣṇavas.
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NOT A PRINCIPAL AUTHORITY
A similar point is made by Srila Madhvācārya in his work Mahābhārata-tātparya-nirṇaya:
vaiṣṇavāni purāṇāni pañcarātrātmakatvataḥ
pramāṇāny eva manvādyāḥ smṛtayo 'py anukūlataḥ
Purāṇas which establish the supremacy of Vishnu are authority as they convey what is stated in Pañcarātra. Smṛti śāstras like those of Manu and others are also authority so far as they are consistent with these. (Part I)
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As we have already shown above, Manu-saṁhitā is very much consistent with the best among the Vaiṣṇava
Purāṇas – the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Thus it is remarkably the only smṛti named by Madhvācārya (manv-
ādyāḥ, but not "parāśara-ādyāḥ", although Parāśara was the father of Vyāsa, Madhvācārya's guru, or hārīta-
ādyāḥ). So, this also indirectly shows the preeminence of the Manu-smṛti over all other smṛtis.
Not only Śrī Madhva but many other ācāryas also mention and laud Manu-saṁhitā. Sanātana Gosvāmī quotes it many times in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa (e.g. 1.92, 3.213, 3.310, 4.84, 4.351, 9.274, 11.796); Jīva Gosvāmī quotes it in his Tattva- and Bhakti-sandarbhas, as well as in his Gopāla-campū and Śrīdhara Svāmī even states in his commentary on the Śrīmad-bhāgavatam that Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma Themselves studied Manu-smṛti from Sandīpani Muni ('dharmān' manv-ādi-dharma-śāstrāṇi – commentary to 10.45.34).
Citing śruti (Taittirīya-saṁhita from the Kṛṣṇa-Yajur-veda), Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa also defends the authority of Manu in his Govinda-bhāṣya (2.1.1):
manor āptatvaṁ tu taittirīyāḥ paṭhanti— "yad vai kiṁ ca manur avadat tad-bheṣajam" iti
"However, Manu is authoritative because it is said in the Taittirīya-saṁhitā (2.2.10.2) "whatever
Manu has declared is a cure."
The authors previously told us that Jaimini's Pūrva-mīmāṁsā sūtras are "a valid and acceptable authority" because "they have been referred to by many ācāryas in their works, e.g. Srila Jiva Goswami in his Kṛṣṇa- sandarbhaand Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushan in his Govinda-bhāṣya", but here we see that those very ācāryas also refer to the Manu-saṁhitā, then why the authors want us to reject it?
So, we just cannot dismiss the words of our Founder-Ācārya:
"As we learn from the history of the Mahābhārata, or "Greater India," the wives and daughters of the ruling class, the kṣatriyas, knew the political game, but we never find that a woman was given the post of chief executive. This is in accordance with the injunctions of Manu-saṁhitā, but unfortunately Manu-saṁhitā is now being insulted, and the āryans, the members of Vedic society, cannot do anything. Such is the nature of Kali-yuga." SB10.4.5p.
Another smṛti says:
vedārtha-pratibaddhatvāt prāmānyaṃ tu manoḥ smṛtam manv-artha-viparītā yā smṛtiḥ sā na praśasyate
"Manu, however, is the authority, the tradition declares, because he is firmly anchored to the meanings of the Vedas. Any smṛti opposed to the tenor of Manu is not approved." (Bṛhaspati-smṛti as quoted in "Olivelle, Patrick. 2004. The Law Code of Manu. New York: Oxford University Press. p.69").
BIBLIOGRAPHY
[18] The Veda Of The Black Yajus School Entitled Taittiriya Sanhita, translated from the original Sanskrit prose and verse by Arthur Berriedale Keith, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1914.
[19] In this section about Ṛgveda:
- Sanskrit text is taken from "Ṛgveda-saṁhitā with the commentary of Sāyaṇācārya, Vaidika Samsodhana Mandala, Poona, in 4 Vols, 1936-1946"
- English translation is from The Hymns of the Rigveda, translated with the popular commentary by R.T.H. Griffith, Second Edition, Benares, 1897.
[20] The Satapatha-Brahmana, translated by J.Eggeling, Oxford, 1900, Sacred Books of the East, Vol.44, p.300.
[21] Parāśara-dharma-saṁhitā with the commentary of Sāyaṇa Mādhavācārya, edited by V.S. Islampurkar, in 6 volumes, Mumbai, 1893-1919.
[22] Bhaktisiddhnta Saraswati Thakur, Brahmana and Vaishnava, translated by Bhumipati dasa, Vrajraja Press, 1999.
