Modernism and education

[Subrahmanian, Sundararaman V [IT]]

> K. Venkataramani wrote:
>
> > Shastras were codified at certain point of time,
>
> Which point of time?
>
> > probably as a response to social conditions prevailing then.
>
> What were the social conditions then?
>
> > There is no need to adhere to them today.
>
> On what basis is "need" established?

There is a book called "Hindu Samskaras" by Rajbali Pandey.  If you get your
hands on it, please do give it a reading.  The book is the outcome of a PhD
thesis by the author submitted in the late 30's.  One problem with that book
is that it assumes Aryan Immigration which was a popular belief then.  But
if we were to discard references to it, and just look at the rest of the
text, the author argues (though that it is not the intent of the book) that
there has been an evolution in customs and that the different sutras show an
evolution in their precepts.  He has substantiated all his writings with
adequate quotations with exact numbers from all the sutras and Rg and
Atharva Veda.

Regards,
SVS