Examining Manusmriti: Tracing Women's position
Examining Manusmriti: Tracing Women’s position by Himani Mahawar Today’s Indian society is very complex because of the existence of hierarchical social norms based on caste, class and of course gender. And if one wants to understand the present conceptions of gender and society, we need to trace its genesis in the past. The aim of our paper is to analyse one of the premier legal text from ancient India, from the perspective of understanding women’s position in that period in relationship with the contemporary period. This text belongs to the group of texts known as Dharmashastras, composed in about 2nd c BCE to 3rd c CE. Manusmriti is one of the first Smriti texts, which is clearly prescriptive and normative. The original name of this text is Manavdharmashastra, compiled by the school of Manu, a Brahmin and deals with the prescribed duties (Dharma) of mankind from the priestly point of view. An...