Hindu Succession and Adoption

Introduction
The Hindu religion has one the oldest written set of laws governing personal and public life
compared to any other religion. The basis for all laws is derived from the earliest and the most
sacred texts, called the Vedas: said to have been uttered by Lord Brahama himself. During the
course of time, ancient saints added other texts, which gradually became authorities secondary
to the vedas and were in many ways, an extension to the vedic ideas of governance: including
succession to property.
This paper aims to analyse the course of development of Hindu laws and analyse the changes
which have been propelled into it by the constitutional frameworks. The position of women in
different eras regarding their rights to property is another important aspect this paper aims to
address.
Book review:
Hindu Women's Property Rights in Rural India : Law, Labour and Culture in Action
by Reena Patel
Ashgate Publishing Ltd
28-09-2007
This book is adopts a unique approach in analysing the position of women in India concerning
succession. It assumes that historically, majority of the population in India was rural and draws
parallels in the position of rural women before and after India had constitutionally codified
laws concerning succession. Before the Hindu Succession Act 1956, women in India had
extremely oppressive laws against them, under the Mitakshara school of thought which was
followed everywhere in India except the North East. Women were considered a property of
their male guardian and thus had no absolute ownership of any property to themselves.
This strong patriarchal notion was overturned by the succession act which majorly gives equal
rights to men and women. The condition has thus progressed but the psychological inferiority
in the minds of women as being subordinate to men has not changed much.
Article review
PROPERTY RIGHTS OF HINDU WOMEN: A FEMINIST REVIEW OF SUCCESSION
LAWS OFANCIENT, MEDIEVAL, AND MODERN INDIA
Author(s): Debarati Halder and K. Jaishankar
Source: Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 24, No. 2 (2008-2009), pp. 663-687
Published by: Cambridge University Press
This article traces the social conditions of women regarding succession the three distinctly
divided time periods: ancient, medieval and modern. It focusses extensively on the concept of
stridhan – which is a certain property (movable or immovable) given as gift to a woman.
Stridhan could not retain its original meaning and due to strong patriarchal control of societal
norms, got converted into dowry. The Manusmriti, which is considered the most important
ancient law source for Hindus, is blatantly patriarchal and dismisses the notion that women can
be absolute owners of property. In the medieval period, there was a systematic change in for
hindu women: they were made caretakers of property of deceased husband, essentially to
protect the land from being away by the Muslim rulers. The barbaric practice of Sati was
another means by which a woman’s share of property was taken by the family members by
ending the life of the woman by setting her on fire.