New Delhi: The Delhi University on Thursday announced its decision not to teach Manusmriti text in any course of the University. Announcing the same, then the university said that ‘Dharamshastra Studies’, the DSC of the Sanskrit Department in the DU, where Manusmriti is mentioned as a “recommended reading” has been deleted.
Taking to X, the university wrote, “The University of Delhi will not teach Manusmriti text in any course of the University. ‘Dharamshastra Studies’, the DSC of the Sanskrit Department, where Manusmriti is mentioned as a “recommended reading” stands deleted”.
‘Direction was issued earlier too’
Meanwhile, speaking to Indian Express, University Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh said, “ We will not teach any part of Manusmriti in any form in the University of Delhi. This direction has been issued even earlier by the vice-chancellor’s office, and departments should adhere to it. The department should not have put it down in the first place following these directions.”
Importantly, the Manusmriti was earlier included as one of the primary texts in the syllabus for the four-credit Discipline-Specific Core (DSC) course titled ‘Dharmashastra Studies’. It was approved by the Sanskrit department under the National Education Policy. The course also listed texts such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas, and Arthashastra.
It may be noted that this wasn’t the that the Manusmriti sparked controversy at Delhi University earlier too. Last year in July, the university withdrew the proposal to include the text in the undergraduate History (Honours) syllabus after objections were raised. At the time, Singh had observed that the university would not take content that could result in divisions across society.
