New Delhi: After a new course in the Delhi University titled Dharmashastra Studies included Manusmriti as a primary text vice chancellor Yogesh Singh said on Thursday (June 12) that the text will not be taught at the institution “in any form”.
“We will not teach any part of Manusmriti in any form in the University of Delhi. This direction has been issued even earlier by the vice-chancellor’s office, and departments should adhere to it. The department should not have put it down in the first place following these directions,” said Singh, reported the Indian Express.
Earlier, the objective of the course stated that “ancient Indian society, in terms of whole and its parts, has been depicted in the texts compiled in Sanskrit known as Dharmashastra.”
Other Hindu religious texts such as Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas have also been included as part of the course. The paper has been introduced as a core course in the current academic session and carries four credits. It is open to undergraduate students with working knowledge of Sanskrit.
Texts such as Apastamba Dharmasutra, Boudhayana Dharmasutra, Boudhayana Dharmasutra, Vashistha Dharmasutra, Manusmriti, Yajnavalkya Smriti, Narada Smriti, and the Kautilya Arthashastra were included as primary readings.
“The text has been removed from the Sanskrit department’s ‘Dharamshastra Studies’. In the future also, whenever it comes to our notice that the text has been suggested for studying, the administration will remove it,” V-C Singh told Hindustan Times.
Earlier, the introduction of Manusmriti was widely criticised for extoling and reinforcing social, economic and gender inequalities, had prompted in some sections of faculty members in the varsity to raise concern over the move.
This story was originally published in thewire.in.
