Thread by @naman_ltt

🧵Thread on Manusmriti and women

#Manusmriti #मनुस्मृती

(i) Manusmriti On Nature of women :

2.213 "It is the very nature of women to corrupt men. It is for this reason that the wise are never unguarded regarding women."

Exactly same is mentioned in Mahabharata Anusasana Parva /48.47-48

Manusmriti 9.18 "Manu assigned to women sleep, sitting, ornament, lust, anger, dishonesty, malice and bad conduct."

(ii) Manusmriti on Freedom

5.146 "Whether she be a child, or a young woman, or an aged woman, she should not do any act by herself, even in the house."

9.3 "The father guards her during virginity, the husband in youth, the sons in old age; woman is never fit for independence"

Naari Dharma, a book by Gita press mentions women shouldn't be allowed Independence because Tulsidas said women have l0w mental capacity and bad nature

then the author quotes manusmriti verse 5.156 where independence for women is prohibited

(iii) Manusmriti on women education :

9.18 For women there is no dealing with the sacred texts; such is the rule of law; the fact is that, being destitute of organs and devoid of sacred texts, women are ‘false’

Medatithi on 'Destitute of Organs' and ‘Women are false’ :

Manusmriti 2.67 "For females the Rites of marriage have been ordained to be their ‘Vedic Sacrament,’ the serving of the husbands their ‘residence with the Teacher,’ and the household-duties their ‘tending of fire."

Hanuman prasad in Vyavahar Aur Parmarth cited same verse to show that Husband is the teacher of women and there is nothing like Gurukula for women. Husband's home is the Gurukula for women (पतिसेवा गुरौ वासो)

Similar statements were said by Prabhupada (founder of Iskcon)

(iv) Manusmriti on Domestic Violence :

8.299 "The wife, the son, the slave, the servant and the uterine brother shall be beaten with a rope or a split bamboo, when they have committed a fault"

(v) On Child marriages :

9.94 "A man thirty years old shall marry a charming maiden twelve years old; or one twenty four years old, a damsel eight years old; in the event of his duties suffering, he may do it sooner"

(vi) Manusmriti on Husband-Wife :

5.145 "Be he ill-mannered or of licentious habits or destitute of good qualities, the husband should always be attended upon like a God"

Same is mentioned in Matsya Purana 154.166; Ramacharitmanas 3.4.4; BrahmaVaivarta Brahma khanda 9.70-73

5.153-154 "There is no separate sacrificing for women, no fastings; it is by means of serving her husband that she becomes exalted in heaven. The good wife, desirous of reaching her husband’s regions, should never do anything that may be disagreeable to husband, alive or dead"

5.149 "Him to whom her father may give her, or her brother with the father’s permission, she shall attend upon as long as he lives, and shall not disregard him when he is dead"

5.162 "The woman, who, through failure in her duty to her husband, comes to be born as a jackal"

(vi) Manusmriti on Punishing Women :

8.371 "If a woman, proud of relations and her qualities, passes over her husband, the king shall have her devoured by dogs in a place frequented by many."

9.78 "If the wife disregards her husband who is mad, or intoxicated, or afflicted by disease, she should be deprived of ornaments and appurtenances and abandoned for three months"

(vii) On women Property Rights :

8.416 "The wives, the son and the slave,—these three are declared to have no property; whatever they acquire is the property of him to whom they belong."

(viii) On Polygamy

3.13 Brahmin men can marry 4 wives, a girl from his own caste and also the girls from other castes but a shudra man can only marry a shudra woman

(ix) Replacing wives

9.80-81 If the wife is a drunkard, false in conduct, rebellious, or diseased or mischievous, wasteful, she should be replaced. The barren wife shall be superseded in the 8th year ; in the 11th she who bears only daughters; but immediately who talks harshly

(x) Women witness :

8.77 "A single man, free from covetousness, may be a witness, but not many women, even though pure,—because the understanding of women is not steady,—nor other men who are tainted with defects."

(xi) On Widow remarriage ban :

9.65 "Nowhere in the mantra-texts bearing upon marriage is ‘authorisation’ mentioned; nor again is the marriage of the widow mentioned in the injunction of marriage" न विवाहविधावुक्तं विधवावेदनं

5.155-156 Well might she macerate her body by means of pure flowers, roots and fruits; but she should not even mention the name of another man, after her husband is dead. Till her death, she should remain patient, self-controlled and chaste

8.226 "The marriage-ritual texts are applicable to virgins only, and nowhere among men, to non-virgins; and this because these latter are excluded from religious acts."

Manusmriti 2.215 "One should not sit alone with his mother, sister or daughter. The powerful host of sense-organs overpowers even the learned."

Similar verses are present in Garuda Purana, Padma Purana , Ranacharitmanas maligning women in general.

On Manusmriti importance in Hinduism

"If you want to become a Human then you have to read and apply manusmriti. Manusmriti is the only smriti which is honored in vedas, Goswami tulsidas also said shrutis honor Manu's way of life"

- Raghavacharya