5.5
Limits to implementation of views of Manusmiriti in Indian subcontinent
Due
to excessive favors advocated for the Brahmin class, Manusmiriti emerged as one
of the main text for orthodox Brahmins and Brahmanism religion. Since the
religion was revived during the Gupta Empire which ruled over northern regions,
its rules were initially implemented there only. The severity of its
implementation increased with the rise of Rajputanas around 8th century AD as
they were hardcore followers of the Brahmanism and again ruled over northern
regions only. These developments over the northern regions seeded drift in the
traditions and rituals from that followed in the southern and eastern regions.
Some of these traditions included glorification of the sati, the curtailing of
the freedom of women, the prohibition of marriage between cousins and so on.
Slowly the northern society started terming many traditions followed in the
other regions against Vedic dharma to which scholars of those regions had
challenged from time to time citing the same to be prevalent in the Vedic
society. Some examples -
5.5.1 Marriage between cross cousins
Manusmiriti forbids the marriage between a man and daughter of maternal
uncle or paternal aunt, echoing the present tradition followed in the heartland
of Brahmanism i.e. northern India. Medatithi, the 10th century commentator on
Manusmiriti states that such cross cousin marriage is against dharma. But
Madhava from south India, a 14th century commentator on Parasara smiriti and
the region where such marriages are prevalent, gives a detailed argument to
show that there is nothing wrong with such marriages citing Vedic passages and
customs [15]. Historically there are many examples which support the prevalence of
cross-cousin marriage across northern India before the composition of
Manusmiriti. The marriage of Ashoka’s daughter Sanghamitra with his sister’s
son is one such example. The tradition of marriage in close family members of Shakya
tribes is another such example. Even in the early Vedic age civilization, epic
Mahabharata shows Arjuna marrying his maternal cousin sister Subhadra. The epic
also shows his grandson King Parikshit (son of Abhimanyu and princess Uttara of
Matsya Kingdom) marrying his cousin sister Iravati (daughter of King Uttar of
Matsya Kingdom). All these examples support the prevalence of such tradition in
northern India and also towards its acceptability in society as King Pasenadi
of Kosala asked a Shakyan girl for marriage in spite of their tradition.
However, it is well known that for the same tradition, Koliyas scolded their
neighbor Shakyas as ‘dogs and jackals cohabitating with their own sisters’. So
it looks that the Aryans, who were quite developed in social organizations than
the aboriginal populations, started prohibiting such marriages after the end of
Vedic period. The origin of such belief was probably the region of
Kuru-Panchala, the epicenter of earliest Aryan civilization, where till present
time any type of marriage involving traces of brother-sister relation (cousins
or cross-cousins) is strictly prohibited with severe punishment in case of
non-compliance. After Manusmiriti forbids the tradition and the Brahmanism
revived under the Guptas, the tradition got vanished across northern India.
However the same continued to get practiced in southern India starting from
Maharashtra indicating the regions to be outside of the purview of Manusmiriti.
In fact it is observed that in some communities the marriage of a girl with her
own maternal uncle falling in the same age group is considered most favorable [16].
5.5.2 Eating habit of Brahmins and other classes
Another contradiction in Manusmiriti is about regulating food habits of the
Brahmin class. It is widely perceived in society that most Brahmins are
vegetarian from the time immemorial. Historically, Vedas do not mention about
any dietary laws for different classes of society. Many animals including cows
were slaughtered as part of the Vedic yajnas and were eaten by the kings and
priests. The Brahmnas, especially Aitareya mentions the rules for distribution
of different parts of the sacrificial animals among the Brahmins (refer 1.7,
food habit during Vedic age civilization) [17]. The beginning of the only vegetarian diet
is attributed to Jainism as it first voiced against animal consumption. The
rise of Buddhism in 5th century BC, which took the middle path on animal
consumption, and then patronage to the same by King Ashoka brought
revolutionary changes in eating habits of the society. Many people irrespective
of their class started decreasing their non-vegetarian diet. The six basic
philosophies of present day Hinduism and many Upanishads, created in the same
period too, condemn Brahmins doing animal sacrifices and thus seeding
prevalence of the vegetarianism in orthodox Brahmin class. As these
revolutionary thoughts spread in society, the dependence on non-vegetarian diet
decreased considerably but still it remained part of diet for society including
the Brahmin class. Manusmiriti while making guidelines looks confused because
at one place it forbids eating of meat by Brahmins but at elsewhere it includes
meat among the items to be offered to a Brahmin invited to a Shraddha
(ceremonies in honor of and for the benefit of ancestors). Clearly Manu did not
approve eating of meat by Brahmins but had to acknowledge the prevalence of
non-vegetarianism amongst Brahmins [18]. Though Manusmiriti’s role in prohibiting the non-vegetarian
diet for Brahmin class is ambiguous but many orthodox Brahmins, who emerged as
Vishnu worshippers after Gupta Empire, turned towards strict vegetarianism.
Opposite to these orthodox Brahmins, the Vratya class of Buddhist Brahmins, the
Shaivite Brahmins and the Shakta Brahmins (worshippers of Devi) who all resided
in the regions of Bihar, Maharashtra, Bengal, Orissa, Kashmir, the hilly areas
of north and some other parts of northwestern India continued with their
non-vegetarian diet. In southern India, the time immediately succeeding
Manusmiriti witnessed Brahmins continuing with their non vegetarian diet. It is
reflected in the 6th century AD poem written by Tamil Brahmin poet Kapilar. In
the poem, he writes ‘my hands have become soft, because they do know of no
harder work than eating rice and meat boiled with Tamarind (in a fire, on which
flowers were strewn so that), the sweet smell of its smoke might counteract the
smell of the pieces of meat.’ As the immediate period witnessed beginning of
strong Bhakti movements across southern India, the priestly populations of both
Vaishnava and Shaiva cults gave up drinking liquor and eating meat and started following
strict vegetarianism to fight prevalent faith Jainism and Buddhism [19]. When the dietary habit was changing across
India, beef eating was slowly abandoned by the broader Brahmanic society but
continued in some population including certain forward caste population of
Kerla and West Bengal.
5.5.3 Position of Women
Manusmiriti, which degraded the position of woman in society, was fully
implemented across northern India where it got support from the Kshatriya and
Rajput population following Brahmanism. With the implementation, various
restrictions were put on women and such restrictions became a symbol of pride
as well as an indication of belonging to the upper castes. Under these
restrictions, many women faced their sexual exploitation by close family
members. In certain regions like Bengal, the position of Brahmin women became
pathetic because of the supreme status given to Brahmanic priestly population
within all tribes of Brahmins. The Brahmanic priestly populations or the Kulin
Brahmins are believed to have come from Kannauj of Uttar Pradesh in the
medieval period at the invitation of King of Bengal. They were invited to promote
Vedic principles in Bengal as other priestly Brahmins were following
non-Brahmanic cults like Buddhism, Shaivism, Shaktism and so on. The King
conferred them with land, power and the highest position in the caste
hierarchy. The other Brahmins of Bengal, now having the inferior position in
the caste hierarchy than the Kulins, always looked to improve their social
status by making social alliances with them, especially by marrying their
daughters. As girls cannot be married into a family having lower status in the
caste hierarchy, the Kulin girls were married in Kulin family only. It,
therefore, led to a system in which Kulin males had multiple wives. It slowly
turned into the ugliest form of polygamy in Bengal. The Kulins used the
sentiment of other Brahmins to extract money from them in the form of dowry
after every marriage. Well known historians W. Ward heard of persons having
more than hundred and twenty wives. At a time, the Kulin males were living with
two or three wives only and therefore all other wives were living at their
parent’s house only. The male used to visit them very rarely. In such
condition, wives do not often know their husbands and husbands their wives.
Children do not know their male parents and men their children. Many girls
attained widowhood at a very small age as they were married to Kulin men as old
as 80-90 years. The miserable condition of women in the society of Bengali
Brahmins forced the great social reformer, writer and lecturer Ishwar Chandra
Vidyasagar, a Kulin himself, to start a campaign in support of widow remarriage
and against polygamy from 1856 to 1873 AD.
In the southern India, the position of women remained relatively better than
their north-Indian counterparts. The reason behind this was absence of
Kshatriya / Rajput population, low population of orthodox Brahmins and the
majority population originating from the matriarchal tribes of Dravidians. In
spite of this, some evils penetrated there too and the sexual exploitation of
women was witnessed in the name of Devdasi, a system which was greatly
flourished from 6th to 13th century AD during the Pallava and Chola dynasties.
Caste based humiliations of women were also recorded in the Travancore Kingdom
(Kerla) whose Kings were hardcore follower of the Brahmanism. It must be noted
that the Kings of Travancore Kingdom were recognized to Kshtriyahood by
orthodox Brahmins in return of costly gifts. According to the tradition of the
Kingdom, every woman had to uncover her breast in front of men from higher
castes failing which they were punished. It resulted in almost all non-Brahmin
women uncovering their breasts in front of Brahmins as the region had only two
Varnas – Brahmins and non-Brahmins or Shudras. The highly undignified state
resulted in Maru Marakkal Samaram (chest covering revolt) in 1858 AD led by
Nadar community women. Finally under the pressure from Charles Trevelyan,
Governor of Madras Presidency, the King abolished this very system by issuing a
notification.
5.6 Deterioration of Indian Society
The period of the Guptas, which has been termed as ‘the Golden Age of
India’, saw advancement on various fronts that included the fields of literary,
medicine, astronomy, mathematics and contemporary Hinduism. Brahmanism too
revived under the umbrella of contemporary Hinduism but this time, it was very
hostile than its previous version. To secure the future of orthodox Brahmins,
many scenarios were created through changes in Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas
and Manusmiriti. In this, the ancestors of the political class were shown
working under the guidance and subordination of orthodox Brahmins. Then a
better coordination was also advocated between the political and religious
authorities as the majority of the former were patronizing anti-Vedic faiths
like Buddhism and Jainism which was directly hurting the interest of orthodox
Brahmins. After rise of the Rajputanas, this alliance was done. The alliance
ensured the uninterrupted enjoyment over all natural resources including
education by Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya class. The cartel of custodians of
religious, political and economic institutions ensured inferior financial
condition for the majority of humans involved in other occupations. Their
intellectual growth was also stopped by creating a religious barrier between them
and knowledge. However out of three, the orthodox Brahmin class was given
sovereign rights over the entire thing as the texts were composed by the same
class humans. We, therefore, are not surprised to see contradictory statements
in these texts as on one side they treat Shudras beyond human civilization but
when needed a Brahmin can marry a Shudra women and produce children. This was
one out of the many flexible clauses that were incorporated in the Brahmanical
texts so that the generations of Brahmin class can enjoy uninterruptedly
everything which comes into their life. To secure the validity of such clauses,
they were shown to be given by deified mythological characters. These clauses
can be, therefore, termed as ‘an absolute reservation policy’ for the Brahmin
class humans which was applicable for infinite time with rights extended over
everything.
The rigid class system was first seeded in northern India as it was the
epicenter of Brahmanism. Later it penetrated in Dravidians and other societies after
migration of the Brahmanic priestly and warrior populations from northern
India. The most ironic part of this system is its belief that a man should
follow his ancestral profession irrespective of his capability. Such system,
therefore, resulted in many getting the position of guru (teacher) and priest
(Brahmin) even though they had lower intellectual and spiritual levels.
Similarly many were considered fit for the position of King (Kshatriya) or
administrator just because their ancestors belonged to the same profession. In
such system, the major advantage came to Brahmin class as their position was
almost secured compared to Kshatriyas in whose case a weaker one was easily
displaced by the stronger ones from society. In spite of this core problem, the
system can be still termed as the normal tendency of a human being who wants to
secure the future of his next generation. However depriving every other from
their basic rights with the help of religious texts was the cruelest thing
happened in the history of human civilization of the Indian subcontinent.
Depriving others of their basic human rights was an extrapolation of the same
reservation policy which ensured that nobody can challenge the humans belonging
to the Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya castes anytime in future. The rules were
made in such a way that from the time of birth only, the child belonging to
Shudra class felt religious humiliations and intellectual and financial
deprivation. The entire process resulted in the transformation of the Rigvedic
and Atharvavedic homogeneous society into a new society in which majority of
the population was deprived of their basic rights from the time of birth,
prohibited from venturing into professions matching their capabilities and born
as degraded or inferior to others as per wish of God or according to their
previous life’s karma. Slowly the system gripped Indian society and its
severity can be clearly seen through the example of valorous Maratha King
Shivaji of the 17th century AD. When a small landlord, considered as Kshatriya
because of following Brahmanism from unknown time or purified and elevated as
Rajput, was eligible for coronation ceremony then Shivaji, who created an
empire on his own by fighting with the Mughal empire, was not permitted
initially to do so. It happened because the orthodox Brahmins considered his
family or tribe of Shudra castes. However the society also had liberal Brahmins
who opposed the rigidity of such class and caste system. It is this class of
Brahmins who started many bhakti (devotional) movements from 7th century AD
onwards that do not require any Brahmin to communicate with the God. It is the
same class of Brahmins who facilitated the process of Shivaji’s coronation
according to the Kshatriya tradition. But the view of this minority Brahmin
population was suppressed in society by the majority Brahmin population who
never wanted to lose such privilege arrived out of mere birth.
As caste system had its origin from the occupational class system of Indo-Aryan
society, all occupations except priestly, administrative (or supervisory) and
trading activities were classified into degraded type of occupations that
included even farming. Complementary to the same approach in which caste and
occupation are closely associated with each other for more than 1500 years, it
is seen that in cities, where caste has lost much of its importance, every
common Indian gets respect or treatment from another Indian according to his
occupation and not because of being a human. Therefore it can be said
that the Smiritis, which were written after Buddhism flourished in India, had a
lasting impact on the Indian society. India as a country suffered badly from
the gender and birth based caste or occupational discrimination, which are one
of the products of these smiritis. The rules of the smiritis are so much
embedded in the conscious and subconscious mind of Indians that even today
these nuisances finds supports from the people of intellectual and educated
backgrounds. Casteism coupled with the feeling of having superior DNA by
certain populations of Great Apes in India and the gender discrimination
continued to remain a challenge in front of Indian society. Economic and
educational development of Shudras (who comprise 75-80% population of northern
India and 90-94% of southern India) and women, the two basic requirements for a
vibrant life and snatched from these populations for a period of hundreds of
years, looks the only two tools to overcome these challenges.
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References:
[15] Singh,
U. (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to
the 12th Century, pp. 23-24. India: Dorling Kindersley.
[16] Iyengar,
S. P. T. (1929). History of Tamils from earliest times to 600 AD, pp. 118-121.
New Delhi: Asian Educational Services.
[17] Haug, M. (1863). The Aitareya Brahmnam of the Rig Veda. Vol
2. pp. 442-443. Bombay: The Director of Public Instruction In Behalf of
Government.
[18] Singh,
U. (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to
the 12th Century, pp. 23-24. India: Dorling Kindersley.
[19] Iyengar,
S. P. T. (1929). History of Tamils from earliest times to 600 AD, pp. 118-121.
New Delhi: Asian Educational Services.
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Index Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10
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