Sri: Srimathe Ramanujaya nama: Dear Sri Sridhar, Now that this "Manu" topic is raised,I will be happy if you can clear some of my doubts. I guess there so many DharmashAstrAs like Manu,Yagnyavalkya,Vishnu,Apastamba,Brhaspati,etc. Which one is followed? I don't remember exactly which one of the two (Manu or Yagnavalkya)says this: women should be mentally and financially dependent. Also vedas say that women and sudra are not eligible to study the scriptures. But we do find references in Valmiki Ramayana that a bunch of women used to perform daily offerings inclusive of Sita. I guess Sita chants Gayatri which can be done only after the initiation(this I have heard and it could be wrong). And only the first three varnas are eligible for that. If the bottomline of the vedas is "dAsathvam(to Sriman Narayana)",then vedas can only mean that women and sudra need not (instead of should not)study the scriptures. Because dAsathvam is already inherent in women and sudra while it's lacking in the first three varnas and hence they(latter group) need to study scriptures to develop that "dAsathvam". In Valmiki Ramayana(Valmiki Ramayana also suffers from contradictory statements meaning in some places we find Valimiki dead against rituals and in some other places he is full of praises for rituals),we find(in AyODhyA kANda) "sthrInAm bharthA hi dhaivatham" - II.39.29,30 It says that a woman by serving her husband reaches heaven in the next life. She need not worship any other deity and by serving her husband she achieves Dharma. Has it been quoted elsewhere like purva mimasa or smrti texts? Valmiki Ramayana does not deal with mOksha but Dharma and it can be interpreted from SV perspective. I seriously do not know if Valmiki saw SriRama as "sAkshAt" Sriman Narayana(because Narada muni equates him to brahma and also says he is vishnu and Rama will reach brahma lokam which is a contradiction to BG 8.16 where the Lord says that from brahma down to tufts of grass are subject to the cycle of samsara). So I will think that SriRama is Dharma(rAmO vigrahavAn Dharma) otherwise it will be a violation of the "five" manifestations of God and He has all His glorious and divine qualities in the five manifestations. If somebody sees SriRama as only a human character then many things in Valmiki Ramayana itself can not be explained unambiguously. But if SriRama is considered as the God Himself,He has all the veto power to act as the way He wants and no one can question it. Please feel free to correct me anywhere and will be great if you can throw some light on the issue mentioned above. AzhvAr EmperumAnAr Jeeyar ThiruvadigaLE sharaNam NC Nappinnai
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