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Hinduism - Who Was Vijnaneshvara?

 

Vijnaneshvara is a Hindu (12th c.) Author of the Mitakshara, a lengthy commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smrti, which is itself a work of dharma literature, or religious obligation books.

This specific piece of criticism was crucial to the British administration of India.

The British were mostly content to have traditional religious laws govern their Indian subjects, but they needed a standard to do so.

The Mitakshara was given the status of traditional law and was used as a legal code in large parts of British India.

Bengal, where the Dayabhaga was the legal authority, was the only major part of India where Hindus were not subject to this.

One of the major differences between the two was in matters of inheritance.

The Mitakshara stresses inheritance by survivorship, in which only living males can inherit property, whereas the Dayabhaga stresses inheritance by succession, in which a dead man’s heirs can inherit in his name.


~Kiran Atma


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