[INDOLOGY] molten lead in ears

[Patrick Olivelle]

Irrespective of the on-the-ground reality, hyperbole does have real-life functions and effects -- just think of all the sermons on the fire and torture of hell!! What this shows is the effort by the Brahmanical authors to shape social and moral attitudes.


P




On Nov 21, 2013, at 7:51 AM, Matthew Kapstein <mkapstei at UCHICAGO.EDU> wrote:

>> Were these ghastly strictures ever carried out, to our knowledge? 
> 
> This is of course very difficult to answer. However, we do know that real atrocities are committed against lower caste persons
> regularly in India - anyone who follows Indian newspapers will be aware of this. And, in particuler, lower caste persons who are
> perceived as somehow "uppity" are routinely the victims.
> 
> A particularly harrowing, though fictional, reflection may be found in Rohinton Mistry's novel A Fine Balance.
> 
> Manu & co., at the very least, provided an ideological fig leaf to cover genuinely monstrous behavior.  
> 
> Matthew Kapstein
> Directeur d'études,
> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
> 
> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
> The University of Chicago
> 
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