Indian Ethos and Values

1. MANU DHARMA SATRA
By
Dr. S.Subbalakshmi, MA, M.Phil., PhD.
FBS Business School, Vijayawada &
Bangalore

2. MANU DHARMA –Important laws of
Manu
• Manu Dharma Shastra or ManuSmriti means reflections of
Manu consists of 2,685 verses on the code of conduct on
human society like dharma,religion,duty, law, right,
justice,practice and principle that are to be followed
in Indian society though it is written 1800
years ago.

3. Society & Individual
 Society is an organic whole
Personal good results in social good
 Social good can not be achieved with out it’s
all organs (individuals ) discharging their
respective functions and duties up to the mark
 Personal good depends on the healthy
functioning of the society.
Thus Manu Smriti identifies personal good
with social good.

4. Division of Labor- Four Varnas
• Division of society into four varnas is purely
functional created by the creator.
• For Manu, society is not explained in terms of
Conflicting interests of four classes but social
prosperity depends on mutual cooperation of
four classes.
• All the modes of creation are identified by
Manu with the principle of ultimate universal
soul.
• Manu acknowledges the laxity of rules
depending up on the ages.

5. Character Building --Various aspects
from Manu Dharma Shastra
• Self Purification : “ He who sacrifices the self
equally recognizing the self in all the created
beings is self luminous” Such people justify
their creation .
• What is self purification ? : One should keep
trying hard to restrain his sensory powers as
they run amok among alluring sensory
objects.

6. continuation
• Should neither thrill nor recoil when one
hears, touches, sees, tastes , or smells
anything.(Indriya nigraham)
• This results in the unification of body and soul
together and thus success in all the goals is
harnessed without wasting the physical
energy.

7. Manu on Teacher, Father & mother
• Who is called a teacher ? : Person who initiates
the pupil and teaches him the Veda (knowledge,
intelligence, wisdom) with ritual texts and calls
them as ‘ My little sons’ is called Acharya( PP33)
as he excells them in knowledge. The teacher
who fills his pupil’s
ear with the Veda is to be known as his father &
mother.
• He must not act with malice against him. A
teacher is a physical form of ultimate reality.

8. Continuation…
• Who is an instructor? : A person who teaches
just to make a living is an instructor. The
teacher is more important than ten
instructors..
• Father & Mother: An esteemed position is
accorded to both the parents in Manu
Dharma.Manu says father is equal to hundred
teachers for, a father also takes birth when a
child is born . Hence a person acclaims the
role of a Guru with the child’s birth as a father.

9. Continuation…
• Mother: Mother ‘ Matru Devatha’ is in the
paramount, apex position in any one’s life and
she is more than a thousand fathers. (page 32)
• Mother is the physical form of earth.
• Father is the physical form of Lord of Creatures.
• Manu Smriti indomitably proclaims, by loving
devotion to one’s mother one can win this world.
The trouble that a mother endures in giving birth
can not be redeemed by a person even in
hundred years.(pp 40).(Adi Sankara’s Matru
Panchakam)

11. Prescribed allegiance towards
Mata,Pita & Guru by Manu
• One should constantly strive to please father ,
mother & Aacharya by the best behavior.
• One should not assume any other duties with out
their permission.
• One should constantly show his obedience in
mind ,heart, speech or action towards these
three, then can only accomplish the
‘purushartha’.
• It is suggested that the reward for serving is
equated with karma yoga./Yaga/purification of
self.(pp 40,41)

13. Manu Dharma on Students
• A student should tirelessly carry out the
obligatory activities prescribed for him from
Veda by the teacher.
• He should not try to pursue wealth addictively
by engaging in forbidden activities.
• He should regularly take into consideration
the teachings that rapidly promote
intelligence ,welfare, makes him radiant from
with in.(pp 76).

14. Continuation…
• He should keep his hair,nails,and beard trimmed.
• HE should be always self restrained, clothed in
white, unpolluted, and should be constantly
engaged in the private recitation of Veda.
• He should not indulge in idle curiosity.
• He should not insult people those who have too
little learning, too old ,or too little beautiful.(pp
87)
• A student should greet his Guru first, should not
sit in front of him.
• A student sitting on a chair or bed should rise to
greet his Aacharya.

15. Manu on good habits and health
1) One should stand and chant the verse to the Sun God
during the morning twilight until he sees the sun.
During the chanting he dispels the impurities of body
and soul.(pp28)(Surya namaskaras) This gives long life
and wisdom.
2) One should take food neither too early in the morning
nor too late in the night.
3) Should not eat food keeping on the lap, should not
eat lying in the bed, should not lie down on the bed
when, food still in his mouth.(pp 80) Should not
engage in quarrelsome conversation while taking
food.

16. Manu on Seniority
• Seniority does not come through years,
grey hair, or wealth.
• Seniority comes from knowledge.
• The God regards as an elder, the man
who though young has learned the Veda.
• An ignorant man is considered as
child.(pp 33)

17. What is ultimate Manava Dharma ?
• One should avoid activity which is under another
person’s control ,that is not to nurture
expectations from others.(unhappiness)
• Should take pains to engage in any activity which
is under his own control ( Happiness)
• One should not do violence to his
teacher,father,mother who have toiled
relentlessly to illuminate his soul.
• Punishment can be given only to son and pupil
since it is done in their own interest. (pp89).

18. conclusion
• The extensive explanation provided,
gives an insight that Manu Smriti is a
comprehensive social code, serves as an
authoritarian guide for jurisprudence of
humanity for a long time in Indian social
history having contemporary relevance. It
is next only to Vedas from which it
derives it’s authority.

19. References
1)The Laws of Manu, Penguin Books ,2000
2)The Laws of Manu (Manava Dharma Shastra )
Subhmoy Das (updated August
19,,2017.)Penguin Classics
3) Manu Smriti, Dr Mylavarapu Sreenivasa rao.
4) Manu smriti Tatparyamu, Dr NL
Narasimhacharya.