History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.1008

v4.c63.t2.1008

Many customs and usages have been expressly forbidden by the Central Indian or Provincial Legislatures e. g. *Satī*¹⁹⁰³, female infanticide,¹⁹⁰⁴ slavery,¹⁹⁰⁵ marriages of children under a certain age,¹⁹⁰⁶ the dedication of women as *devadāsīs* to temples or idols.¹⁹⁰⁷ This being so, no court will allow a party to plead a custom against these positive enactments. It was recognised in a number of cases that in the Bombay Presidency¹⁹⁰⁸ a *vatandar joshi* had the right to recover by suit from a *yajaman* who had employed another priest to perform religious ceremonies the amount of the fees which would properly be payable to the vatandar joshi if he had been employed to perform such ceremonies and also the right to recover damages from a person who intrudes upon his office. But Bombay Act XI of 1926 (the Invalidation of Hindu Ceremonial Emoluments Act) now enacts (by sec. 4) that no person shall be entitled to claim as a matter of right any ceremonial emoluments from any Hindu who does not call in the services of the person claiming those emoluments. Therefore, suits of the nature described above cannot be brought now in Bombay by a *vatandar joshi*.