[INDOLOGY] Manusmriti ... (Olivelle, J P)

[DIEGO LOUKOTA SANCLEMENTE]

   Rajam,

  The ninth *adhyāya* begins with injunctions meant for *puruṣasya striyāś
ca ... dharme vartmani tiṣṭhatoḥ* "the man and woman (or "husband and
wife") who stand in the path of the law," and from 9.1 up to 9.21 the
subject of the verbs in the plural third person seems to be the not better
specified *striyaḥ* "women" in pada 9.1a. I hope this helps!

   *namaskaromi*,

   Diego








On Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 1:53 PM rajam <rajam at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Thank you very much for the explanation!
>
> Could you please also verify if these specific *śloka*s refer to “all
> women” in general or only certain women?
>
> Thanks again,
> V.S. Rajam
>
>
>
> On Oct 29, 2020, at 10:21 AM, DIEGO LOUKOTA SANCLEMENTE via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>
>    Dear all,
>
>    With regard to Manu and "women being prostitutes," and with respect
> and utter admiration for Prof. Olivelle, I would like to suggest that
> some *śloka*s of the passages already mentioned suggest something beyond
> a simple "need to guard [women] from even the slightest attachment to
> sensual pleasure":
>
>
>
>
>
> *naitā rūpaṃ parīkṣante nāsāṃ vayasi saṃsthitiḥsurūpaṃ vā virūpaṃ vā pumān
> ity eva bhuñjate pauṃścalyāc calacittāc ca naisnehyāc ca svabhāvataḥ
> rakṣitā yatnato 'pīha bhartṛṣv etā vikurvate *
>
>    In Prof. Olivelle's own translation ("they"=women, caps for emphasis
> mine):
>
> "They pay no attention to beauty, they pay no heed to age; whether he is
> good looking or ugly, they make love to him with the single thought, "He's
> a man!" Because of the lechery, fickleness of mind, and hard-heartedness
> that are innate in them, EVEN WHEN THEY ARE CAREFULLY GUARDED IN THIS
> WORLD, they become hostile towards their husband"
>
>    I would remark here that although "lechery" is of course entirely
> adequate, *pauṃścalya*>*puṃś-calī* is literally "one who runs after men," idiomatically
> and unequivocally a "prostitute," so perhaps something like "whorishness"
> or "sl at ttiness" may convey more directly the flavour of the Sanskrit
> word.
>
>    On a personal note, I feel the venerable Manu to be, without much
> exegesis or word-bending, pretty antagonistic to a modern feminist agenda,
> which I support.
>
>    *namaskaromi*,
>
>    Diego
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