Hindu Law: Beyond Tradition and Modernity

This book examines the development of Hindu laws from ancient period to its emergence as postmodern phenomenon. The book is divided into three parts. The first part, comprising of seven chapters, examines in depth our current deficient understanding of the historical development of central Hindu concepts within the classical, postclassical, colonial and postcolonial context. The second part, composed of five chapters, relies on the theoretical arguments developed in part I, providing detailed analysis of selected areas of Hindu family law. In examining the maintenance from the Vedic period to the turn of this millennium. The study criitcally evaluates the legal evidence to examine how Hindu law has developed into a postmodern condition which modernist scholarship seems both unable and unwilling to recognize. The third part has the concluding analyses dealing with the inadequacies of the modernist discourses in relation to Hindu law. This volume will be of immense value to scholars and students of law, religion, sociology, modern social history and philosophy. This book will also be of interest to social theorists and comparatives as well as general readers.