From Fire to Light بقلم Arvind Sharma ... 'To write on the Manusmriti is to play with fire! This statement is not merely metaphorical; the Manusmriti has a history of being literally torched. But where there is fire, there is also the possibility of light.' Why yet another book on the Manusmriti? In From Fire to Light, acclaimed academic Arvind Sharma argues that the present understanding of the Manusmriti - regarded as a text designed by the higher castes, especially brahmanas, to oppress the lower castes and women - only tells one side of the story. As he demonstrates, this perception, when examined against textual, commentarial and historical evidence, is limited to the point of being misleading (and sometimes downright wrong). Providing an alternative reading of the Manusmriti, From Fire to Light accepts some of the conclusions associated with the existing interpretation but presents them in a new light, mitigating and at times contradicting some of its other features. In taking the plural character of the Hindu tradition and the Manusmriti's historical context more deeply into account, it brings about a paradigm shift in our understanding of this ancient text. The Manusmriti emerges as an attempt at social engineering, but of a rather different kind than imagined till now.
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![Arvind Sharma]()
Arvind Sharma
Arvind Sharma, Ph.D. (Sanskrit & Indian Studies, Harvard University, 1978; M.A. Theological Studies, Harvard Divinity Schookl, 1974; M.A. Economics, Syracuse University, 1970; B.A. History, Economics, & Sanskrit, Allahadad University, 1958), was appointed Associate Professor in the Faculty of Religious Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada in 1987, where he is now the Birks Professor of Comparative Religion. Previously he has been associated with the Universities of Sydney and Queensland (Brisbane) in Australia and Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.