History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c96.s2.103

v7.c96.s2.103

The caste system, the joint family system and the laws of succession and inheritance that are peculiar to Hindus are really social matters and not religious matters at all. Our Constitution and recent legislation deal with all the three, holding that these are social matters. As shown above, the Constitution abolished untouchability, the Hindu Marriage Act has done away with all prohibitions against marriages between persons of different castes and a Hindu can have marriage relations with any Hindu (including Buddhist, Jain and Sikh) and can take any Hindu woman as spouse subject only to the rules of *sapiṇḍa* relationship and prohibited degrees for marriage. The Hindu Succession Act has practically done away with the joint family system as shown above, though it has not been expressly abrogated What is wanted is not mere declamations against the caste system and fervent appeals for emotional integration of all Indians but a comprehensive code or scheme of beliefs and day to day conduct. The present writer cannot enter here into a detailed code or scheme which might require a volume by itself but some concrete proposals if set out here may induce more competent writers to give better and more exhaustive patterns. Let there be churning of thoughts. It is possible that in the beginning one may meet with formidable and fearful difficulties as in the mythological churning of the ocean, but let us hope that, even after the emergence of frightful things, the final result would be blissful, as in the churning of the ocean poison emerged but the whole effort was crowned with the appearance of *amṛta* at the end.