''Manuvāda'' (also ''Manuvād'', ''Manuwād'', Hindi मनुवाद) is the ethos of a society governed by

Manusmṛti The ''Manusmṛiti'' ( sa, मनुस्मृति), also known as the ''Mānava-Dharmaśāstra'' or Laws of Manu, is one of the many legal texts and constitution among the many ' of Hinduism. In ancient India, the sages often wrote their ...

. ''Manuvādi'' is a proponent of such an ethos. In contemporary discourse, these terms (especially the latter) are often used oppositionally for contrasting their positions, interests, and viewpoints with a society that is informed by and/or identifies with ''Manuvāda'', particularly with respect to

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

. The term came to the fore in the politics of India in the early 2000s, during the government of the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. The term came to be used for the allegation of a

hidden agenda Hidden Agenda or Hidden Agendas may refer to: Video games * ''Hidden Agenda'' (1988 video game), a 1988 text-based game * ''Hidden Agenda'' (2017 video game), a thriller video game developed by Supermassive Games for the PlayStation 4 Film * ...

of the nationalist parties by their opponents, for example, in 2003, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati remarked that "the Lok Sabha had been taken over by Manuvadi forces".

References

*Shashi Shekhar Sharma, ''Imagined Manuvād: the Dharmaśāstras and their interpreters'', Rupa & Co., 2005

References

See also