Hindu personal laws are the laws of the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

s as they applied during the colonial period (

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

) of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

beginning from the Anglo-Hindu Law to the post-independent

Modern Hindu Law Modern Hindu law refers to one of the personal law systems of India along with similar systems for Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, and Christians. This Hindu Personal Law or modern Hindu law is an extension of the Anglo-Hindu Law developed during the Brit ...

. The British found neither a uniform canon administering law for the diverse communities of India nor a Pope or a

Shankaracharya Shankaracharya ( sa, शङ्कराचार्य, , " Shankara-''acharya''") is a religious title used by the heads of amnaya monasteries called mathas in the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Hinduism. The title derives from Adi Shankara; te ...

whose law or writ applied throughout the country.Kishwar, Madhu (13 August 1994). Codified Hindu Law: Myth and Reality. Economic and Political Weekly, Volume 29, Number 33, pp.2145-2161. Due to discrepancies in opinions of

pandit A Pandit ( sa, पण्डित, paṇḍit; hi, पंडित; also spelled Pundit, pronounced ; abbreviated Pt.) is a man with specialised knowledge or a teacher of any field of knowledge whether it is shashtra (Holy Books) or shastra (Wea ...

s on the same matter, the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

began training pandits for its own legal service leading to the setting up of a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

College in Banaras and

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, to help them arrive at a definitive idea of the Indian legal system. It is from here that the Hindu Personal Law had its beginnings; and more appropriately so in 1772, when

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first Governor-Genera ...

appointed ten

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

pandits from

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

to compile a digest of the Hindu scriptural law in four main civil matters—marriage, divorce, inheritance and succession. The Hindu Personal Laws underwent major reforms over a period of time, and created social and political controversies throughout India.

Effects

The Hindu Personal Laws beginning with the creation of the Anglo-Hindu Law lead to widespread changes, controversies and civil suits in Hindu society across all strata and in monastic orders. Between 1860 and 1940, the issue of succession in the Anglo-Hindu Law led to legal issues of ownership and distribution of property in ascetic-run institutions. The early twentieth century witnessed ascetic orders seeking to 'purify' their genealogies through the medium of property disputes fought in

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

courts, which also led to the removal of women and children from certain ascetic orders with varying degrees of success.Kasturi, Malavika (Sep., 2009). 'Asceticising' Monastic Families: Ascetic Genealogies, Property Feuds and Anglo-Hindu Law in Late Colonial India. Modern Asian Studies, Volume 43, Number 5, pp. 1039-1083.

References

{{Reflist Hindu law Legislation in British India Indian family law

Effects

See also

References