MANUSMRTI & CONTROVERSY:PART 1

A DISCLAIMER:Having read many distinctly & uniquely uninformed claims being made about a Book referred to as the ‘Manusmṛti‘, I realise that there are differences in attitudes across which it may be impossible to communicate about the reality of these allegations & claims. There are some people who don’t feel like they have either the required time, or the inclination to educate themselves about anything that generates controversy. These people are happy to conform to a largely popular point of view & are happy living their lives without feeling the urge to acquire greater knowledge. They are in many cases deliberately, in others unconsciously, choosing to lead blinkered lives. They live the phrase, ‘Ignorance is Bliss’. Contrarian positions scare them! To them, avoiding a topic as a matter of principle, must seem like the best way to understand it!!
I am happy to accept such readers but I am not convinced my points will get through to them. I would be greatly surprised if this happens. If life is spent in thinking that being nuanced is blasphemous, one does not have the required temperament to look closer at things that we may take for granted, or search for more than the popularly accepted points of view on any issue/concept. This is true even if we find absolutely nothing more in the process. The attempts are important, since they educate us about there being nothing more in terms of knowledge worth gaining . The blissfully ignorant people will live, blissfully ignorant, lives. They will live happy & die happy!! But they will also live and die ignorant and unaware of the knowledge that some others may gain. Rustic or highly sophisticated, the acquisition of knowledge makes us happier & contributes to our well being. There is both, happiness & suffering, joy & sorrow, in this world. Some of us will inevitably & naturally, through physically & mentally disciplining ourselves, reach higher levels of well being, & feel greater joy than some others. These ‘others’ consist of individuals who, while being economically capable of producing/procuring 3 moderately specific meals in a day, do not care about what these meals would consist of. Something as basic as nourishment provided by the food we consume, does not strike them as important enough to logically analyse. To them, as mentioned above, I realise that it may be difficult for me to come across as convincing.
To those who are interested and possess the required temperament, I will, through a series of articles, examine in brief & attempt to convince you about : The idea of Dharmashastras esp the Manusmrti, Jati /Caste & Varna & Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar’s view on related issues, Buddhist & the Vedic/Arya(Noble) concept of Brahminhood, Indian Neo-Buddhists/Buddhists. But all of this, in the backdrop of the Manusmrti.
After this, I shall also examine each of the 12 chapters in the Manusmrti in it’s popularly known format & provide my opinions with facts & relevant information on the same.
*I may update my opinions here as needed in the future depending on responses from readers or even a personal change of opinion based on the emergence of new facts. I hope that my small contribution may influence Vedic & Non Vedic people positively.