Yes, there are interpretive streams that approach the Manusmriti in a consciously reformist and progressive spirit. A common strategy is to read the text contextually, understanding its prescriptions as responses to particular historical and social conditions rather than as timeless, universally binding commands. Within this approach, verses that emphasize justice, compassion, protection of the vulnerable, and general virtues such as non‑violence and truthfulness are foregrounded, while harsh or discriminatory regulations are treated as context‑bound. This often goes hand in hand with a distinction between universal dharmic principles and more contingent social rules, allowing the latter to be revised or set aside when they conflict with broader ethical insight.

Another important line of interpretation focuses on selective application. Here, the Manusmriti is mined for its ethical and spiritual teachings, while passages that endorse rigid hierarchy or discrimination are either rejected, reinterpreted, or treated as later distortions of an originally more egalitarian vision. Some reform‑minded readers, for example, emphasize readings of varṇa that stress function, qualities, and actions rather than immutable birth‑status, seeking to transform the social vision from a fixed hierarchy into a more fluid, merit‑based order. Others highlight verses that support women’s education or social welfare, using these as internal resources for critique of the text’s more restrictive elements.

Scholarly and reformist engagement also often involves critical textual and historical analysis. By comparing different Smritis and examining the evolution of legal and social thought across them, interpreters show that Manusmriti is one voice among many, and that its authority has always been mediated by context, commentary, and competing traditions. This academic lens tends to treat the text as a historical document that reflects its time, rather than as an unchanging legal code, which in turn legitimizes a more flexible and reformist use of it. At the same time, it is widely acknowledged that such progressive readings are contested, and that more orthodox interpretations continue to exert influence in various circles.

Because of these tensions, reformist approaches often walk a fine line: they seek to honor the spiritual and ethical aspirations found in the text while refusing to be bound by its most problematic social prescriptions. The result is a hermeneutic that attempts to extract what is seen as a universal moral core and to let the rest fall away as historically conditioned. Whether this is judged faithful or forced depends largely on one’s broader understanding of dharma and scriptural authority, but the very existence of such readings shows that the tradition contains resources for both critique and renewal from within.