[Assam] From Tehelka---Manu's Memorial

Fri Jul 6 06:33:15 PDT 2007

>  >I believe he is not one person, but many. There has
>been many manu's who contributed to the manu shastra.

I can believe that. But what I get more curious about, is how they 
decided what this Manu looked like to make a statue of his?

Perhaps it was an abstraction?  Like a body without a face ? Or a 
piece of stone with a nameplate at the bottom identifying it as Manu 
:-)?

At 8:41 AM -0400 7/6/07, Mohan R. Palleti wrote:
>You are right! A government office should not be putting up a idol
>pertaining to a particular religion.
>
>As regards to Manu. I believe he is not one person, but many. There has
>been many manu's who contributed to the manu shastra.
>
>A manu is a person who is supposed to be casteless. He is supposed to be a
>offspring of a manov and danov. In today's parlance he is the product of a
>intercaste or inter-state/community marriage. He was vested with the job
>of writing the hindu laws, because he was thought to be impartial, not
>belonging to any particular caste or creed.
>
>But like any humane person, he too was falible. If a Manu was to rewrite
>the manu smriti, he would definitely have written it differently..... -:)
>
>Mohan R. Palleti
>
>
>
>
>
>>  Is there not a separation of State and Religion in the seculiar Indian
>>  Constitution which prohibits such display of Hindu religeous figures in
>>  public place? How can the symbol of Manu harmless?
>>  I think he is the cause of the overall deteriation of the Indian
>>  civilization.
>>  RB
>>
>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>  From: "Chan Mahanta" <cmahanta at charter.net>
>>  To: <assam at assamnet.org>
>>  Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 2:01 PM
>>  Subject: [Assam] From Tehelka---Manu's Memorial
>>
>>
>>>  **** Is it a simple, harmless symbol of  cultural heritage? Or is
>>>  there a whole lot more to it?
>>>
>>>  cm
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  THE WORSHIP OF FALSE GODS
>>>
>>>  http://www.tehelka.com/story_main31.asp?filename=Cr070707shadow_lines.asp
>>>
>>>  When a new building was constructed in Jaipur for the state High
>>>  Court, the local Bar Association put forward a proposal for the
>>>  installation of a statue of Manu to beautify the premises. From
>>>  proposal to completion, the entire plan was kept a close secret,
>>>  never made public until the statue was in place. Manu was the creator
>>>  of the varna system under which Hindu society for centuries denied
>>>  all basic human rights and dignity to Dalits. For us, a statue of
>>>  Manu can only symbolise the unjust social structure imposed on us
>>>  from time immemorial. All the oppression we continue to suffer is
>>>  because of Manu and his treatise, the Manudharma Sastra.
>>>
>>>
>>>  We turn to the courts when we are in trouble. Can we ever expect
>>>  justice from a court which we enter looking at Manu's idol?
>>>  The Constitution has attempted to improve the condition of Dalits
>>>  through law, but Manu's words have been an unwritten stricture the
>>>  law cannot touch. Had Manu's statue been installed anywhere else,
>>>  perhaps we would not have cared to react. But to see such homage paid
>>>  to a figure who represents all that is unjust in this society, and
>>>  that too standing proud in the premises of the Rajasthan High Court,
>>>  is shocking. It is beyond acceptance. We turn to the courts when we
>>>  are in trouble, which for us is almost perennial. What worse message
>>>  could we receive? Can we ever expect justice from a court which we
>>>  enter looking at Manu's idol? It only tells us that even the High
>>>  Court subscribes to Manu's ideology. On the other hand, the statue of
>>>  Dr BR Ambedkar, the father of our Constitution, has been shunted to
>>>  an invisible corner. It says a lot about the mentality of the
>>>  judiciary and the government in Rajasthan. How is such a system to
>>>  contribute to the constitutional ideal of a casteless society?
>>>
>>>  The statue was installed on June 28, 1989, and we have been fighting
>>>  it ever since. There were huge protests all over the state soon after
>  >> it was put up, and a full bench of the High Court ordered that it be
>>>  removed within 48 hours. We were all happy, but soon after that the
>>>  Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Acharya Dharmendra filed a writ petition in
>>>  the court of Justice Mahender Bhushan, who passed a stay order on
>>>  July 27, 1989 - as a result the statue is there till date. There are
>>>  many cases dating back to 1989 that have seen their final hearings,
>>>  but not this one. Each time this case comes to a final hearing, the
>>>  bench postpones it on the grounds that it is a very sensitive issue.
>>>  But we will not give up easily - we haven't so far, and we will not
>>>  in the future. We will continue to file applications asking for a
>>>  final hearing in this case. We want to see how they will justify
>>>  their deliberate delays.
>>>
>>>  We install statues of Ambedkar because that's our way of reclaiming
>>>  our lost dignity. But why is the government installing a statue of
>>>  Manu? The very government which is supposed to have no biases towards
>>>  any religion or caste. Let there be Manu statues wherever anyone
>>>  pleases, but the government should not be a party to it.
>>>
>>>  Mimroth is a Jaipur-based advocate
>>>  As told to Praveen Donthi
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>
>
>
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