Question

who were the initiators of the debates about social customs and practices????​

Answer 1

The Frontiers of Hindu Law – Initiating Debates

~ By Vikramjit Banerjee
After nearly 70 years of independence the question arises where do we see Hindu law proceeding towards. Hindu law, after the codification project in the 1950s, is again at a crossroads. The question now is not so much as to how to make Hindu law progressive but whether by making the law progressive, we are losing the essence of Hindu law.
Progressiveness in Hindu law has always been attached to two subjects, (a) the question of its treatment of women, and (b) the question of treatment of its castes or jatis, traditionally deemed low in the hierarchy. The question of the first has largely been solved by bringing in large-scale changes in to Hindu law through statute. This has resulted in the status of women being made at par with international standards. No doubt that this has resulted in damage to family structures but the allegation that Hindu law discriminates against women does not seem to find as much resonance as it used to find before.
The question as to how to deal with broader questions of inequality which exists as part of Hindu tradition is something which needs to be confronted. It is the view of this author that the future of Hindu law will be written in this new arena of contradiction between the continuous clamour to have equality and the continuous pull of tradition, which have for a long period of time treated groups of people differently based on their birth.
The last question which arises out of this broad discussion is what is the best method through which this equalisation can take place and how to formulate a system which would not lose the essence of Hindu tradition while making it egalitarian in its approach towards all adherents of its faith.
This paper will deal with four broad issues in relation to Hindu law, namely (a) the question of wider consultation while formulating changes to Hindu law , (b) the question of making temples centres of Hindu society while at the same time ensuring that being public places, there is no scope for discrimination in its structure , (c) the question of whether codification is a solution to the continuous problems of Hindu law or whether it is time for us to go beyond mere codification and (d) the question as to whether Hindu law may be de-legalised .