Delhi University may have dropped a proposal to teach the Manusmriti as part of its undergraduate law syllabus, but it has made other changes that critics say have incorporated “Manuism” into the curriculum.

Chapters have been included on ancient Indian law that, several academics said, deal exclusively with Hindu jurisprudence and a Brahmanical perspective while ignoring Shariat law or the concepts of justice espoused by the Buddha and Ashoka.

DU’s law faculty had recommended a series of changes to the LLB syllabus and prescribed books on the Manusmriti, the Hindu text that codifies the caste system, as part of suggested reading.

Following wide criticism, the university dropped this particular recommendation while its academic council approved several of the other suggestions on Friday.

Ten of the council’s 120-odd members, however, gave a collective dissent note. It says the revisions reflect a knowledge tradition that belonged exclusively to the forward castes and ignore the Shramanik tradition — which includes Buddhist and Jain thought — of the evolution of the justice system in India.

Independent experts too have demanded a reversion to the old syllabus.

The dissenting council members — who included Maya John, Mithuraaj Dhusiya, Megh Raj, Poonam Sethi and Anjana Sagar — contended that the modifications were politically motivated and lacked academic merit.

The revised syllabus for the Jurisprudence-I paper has an additional chapter
on the “Legal System in Ancient India and its Comparison with Other Legal Systems of the World”. The dissenters said the topic was “completely irrelevant”.

They questioned the reason for not comparing the contemporary Indian legal system with other legal systems of the world.

In the new chapter on “Historical and Sociological School of Thought” relating to Unit 6 of the Jurisprudence-I paper, students will now study Kautilya’s Arthashastra.

“The Arthasastra is not a text which traces law as a historically evolving entity. Neither does it provide any sociological understanding of law,” the dissent note says.

The additional chapter on “Jurisprudence in Bhartiya Scriptures” is expected to provide the students with an assessment of the historical evolution of the present Indian legal system.

However, it leaves out many important ancient, medieval and early modern legal treatises. For example, the Buddhist notion of dhamma and Ashoka’s notions of syncretism, pluralism and
nyaya are missing.

The chapter on “Legal Concepts” in Unit-I of the Jurisprudence-II paper introduces the concepts of dharma and purushartha (the goals or purposes of man) into the syllabus. A book, Vedic Concept of Dharma, has been prescribed as
suggested reading.

“Why is jurisprudence in Bhartiya (i.e. the Indic) tradition only restricted to covering Brahminical texts; completely ignoring the sramana and other heterodox traditions, is a crucial question that arises. The overt emphasis on the ancient legal system across the two Jurisprudence papers is troubling in itself,” the dissent note says.

Dissenting academic council member Maya John said the Brahmanical concept of dharma or justice was anachronistic and irrelevant to understanding how law and
constitutionalism work in modern times.

Futher, ancient Indian texts like the Mimansadarshanam, a commentary on the Vedas, have been added to the Jurisprudence-II paper at the cost of text by authors such as Amartya Sen. (Sen’s writings remain part of some other papers.)

“Earlier the syllabus sought to teach rights and duties with respect to the constitutional framework. How are dharma and purushartha relevant? This sub-theme brings in the Brahamanical concept of dharma, ignoring other ancient and modern concepts of rights and duties,” John said.

The entire unit on legal positivism, an important school of thought on jurisprudence, has been dropped.

N. Sukumar, a political science professor with DU,
said the university had scrapped the Manusmriti books but succeeded in incorporating “Manuism” into the law syllabus.

“A student of law is supposed to know the legal transformation from one phase to another,” Sukumar said.