Imagined Manuvad: The Dharmasastras and their Interpreters

$46
Item Code: IDF090
Publisher: Rupa Publication Pvt. Ltd.
Author: Shashi S. Sharma
Language: English
Edition: 2005
ISBN: 8129108089
Pages: 431
Cover: Hardcover
Other Details 9.3" X 6.2"
Weight 760 gm
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Shipped to 153 countries
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Book Description
From the Jacket :

This book makes a very significant contribution to the study of the Dharmasastras. The texts belonging to the Dharmasastric tradition - both sutra and smrti - have been studied and evaluated with deep sensitivity and critical acumen. The historical context in which the Sutras and Smrti works were compiled, and the role these works played in the socio-cultural life of the Hindus have been highlighted with great clarity.

The Dharmasastras have been regarded by the Hindus as a record of the moral, ethical and socio-political traditions of their large and widely spread-our community. They are viewed as temporal and historically grounded reflections on many important aspects of mankind's social life. These works are a record of eclectic discussions held on the nature and value of dharma, the role of various human communities, the problems of inter-personal relationships, and the method of the state's interaction with civil society.

However, many modern interpreters of the Dharmasastras have tried to portray these works as the 'Lawbooks of Hindus'. These interpreters see these works as legal manuals intended to create and perpetuate a caste-based, hierarchized and oppressive social structure.

This book challenges these interpretive paradigms. The author has very cogently argued that dharma is not 'Law' and the Dharmasastras, including the Manusmrti, are not the law books of the Hindus. The Dharmasastras do not sanction or 'create' a 'caste system', and the ascription of negative values to these works s a much later product of a colonial experience.

About the Author :

Shashi S. Sharma is an IAS officer from the Bihar cadre. The author has been studying the history of religions, Indic philosophical traditions, and Islam for more than a decade. His writings on theology and metaphysics have received scholarly acclaim.

He is also a well known Hindi poet and short story writer. His previous works are On God's Trail: Prophetism, Monodeitism and the Hindu Way: Caliphs and Sultans: Religions Ideology and Political Praxis and Is Bhanwar Ke Par.

CONTENTS

Introductionvii
Defining Law1
Dharma as Universal Ideals38
The Propounders of Dharma73
Sources of Dharma107
The Victims and the Victimisers150
The Making of the Sudras191
Jatis in the Dharmasastras238
Dharma and Vyavahara274
Castes, Census, and the Colonial World304
Notes339
Acknowledgements363
Index365

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