Indian university rejects teaching ‘unconstitutional’ Hindu text

A spat over the use of a Sanskrit text in classes at the University of Delhi has highlighted concerns over incorporating Indian culture and history into curriculums. 

A teachers’ union at the university objected to plans by the law department to introduce the Manusmriti, a controversial ancient Hindu text, into its undergraduate programme. 

The text has been criticised for its treatment of women as inferior and its justification of the Hindu caste system. 

In a letter to vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh, the union says the introduction of “any section or part of Manusmriti is against the basic structure of our constitution and principles of [the] Indian constitution”. 

According to Indian press, the university has since decided against using the text in lessons, but the incident has shone a light on concerns about the drive to embed Indian knowledge and culture into curriculums, as outlined in the 2020 National Education Policy. 

Speaking before the decision was made, Anju Vali Tikoo, dean of the Faculty of Law at Delhi University, told reporters that the text was being introduced in line with the NEP’s call to “introduce Indian perspectives into learning”. 

Prime minister Narendra Modi, who was re-elected for a third term in June, is known for his right-wing “Hindutva” policies and critics of the government argue that the NEP’s focus on Indian knowledge is an attempt to reinforce Hindu nationalism. 

K. K. Kailash, a political science professor at the University of Hyderabad, agreed with the union’s concerns, describing the Manusmriti as “regressive and anti-democratic”. 

“The principles of the Manusmriti cannot be used today and are antithetical to a liberal democratic order,” he said. “Traditional values, which are contradictory to democratic norms and practices, have no place today. Education should help people unlearn these undemocratic values, not reinforce them.”

However, Rajeev Bhargava, director of the Institute of Indian Thought at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi, believed that ancient Indian texts should be studied at the country’s universities. 

“[There is] a very important need to include literature and theories which were neglected in the past,” he said, including those emanating from India and the wider Global South. 

But, he warned, it should be clear that the texts are being studied for academic purposes and to understand history, not as instructive documents, much as lecturers today teach ancient Greek philosophies without advocating for the slavery that was common then. 

He believed academics needed to agree a way to study ancient Indian culture in order to understand the country’s history. They should be “open to the suggestion that they have to produce a common syllabus for students which is not going to include everything [they] want”, he said. 

“I think we can come up with some structure which includes some of these texts, but it should be very clear that these things are not used as models but as sources for understanding the ancient world.”

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com