THE ICFAI UNIVERSDEHRADUN
ICFAI LAW SCHOOL
SCHOOLS OF HINDU LAW
Schools of Hindu law are considered to be the commentaries and the digestives of
the smritis. These schools have widened the scope of Hindu law and explicitly
contributed to its development.
The two major schools of Hindu law are as follows-
● Mitakshara
● Dayabhaga
Mitakshara
Mitakshara School: Mitakshara is one of the most important schools of Hindu law.
It is a running commentary of the Smriti Yajnvalkya. This school is applicable in
the whole part of India except in West Bengal and Assam. The Mitakshara has a
very wide jurisdiction. However different parts of the country practice law
differently because of the different customary rules followed by them.
Mitakshara is further divided into five sub-schools namely
● Benaras Hindu school
● Mithila school
● Maharashtra school
● Punjab school
● Dravida or madras school
These law schools come under the ambit of Mitakshara law school. They enjoy the
same fundamental principle but differ in certain circumstances.
Benaras school
This school comes under the authority of the Mitakshara law school and covers
Northern India including Orissa. Viramitrodaya Nirnyasindhu vivada are some of
its major commentaries.
Mithila school
This school exercises its authority in the territorial parts of Tirhoot and north
Bihar. The principles of the law school prevail in the north. The major
commentaries of this school are Vivadaratnakar, Vivadachintamani, smritsara.
Maharashtra or Bombay school
The Maharashtra law school has the authority to exercise its jurisdiction over the
territorial parts including Gujarat Karanataka and the parts where the Marathi
language is proficiently spoken. The main authorities of these schools are
Vyavhara Mayukha, Virmitrodaya, etc.
Madras school
This law school tends to cover the whole southern part of India. It also exercises its
authority under Mitakshara law school. The main authorities of this school are
Smriti Chandrika, Vaijayanti, etc.
Punjab school
This law school was predominantly established in east Punjab. It had established
its own customs and traditions. The main commentaries of this school are
viramitrodaya and it established customs.
Dayabhaga school
Dayabhaga school predominantly prevailed in Assam and West Bengal. This is
also one of the most important schools of Hindu laws. It is considered to be a
digest for the leading smritis. Its primary focus was to deal with partition,
inheritance and joint family. According to Kane, it was incorporated in between
1090-1130 A.D.
Dayabhaga school was formulated with a view to eradicating all the other absurd
and artificial principles of inheritance. The immediate benefit of this new digest is
that it tends to remove all the shortcomings and limitations of the previously
established principles and inclusion of many cognates in the list of heirs, which
was restricted by the Mitakshara school.
In Dayabhaga school various other commentaries were followed such as:
● Dayatatya
● Dayakram-sangrah
● Virmitrodaya
● Dattaka chandrika
What is the difference between Mitakshara and
Dayabhaga school?
The difference in relation to the joint property
Under Mitakshara school, the right to ancestral property arises by birth. Hence
the son becomes the co-owner of the property sharing similar rights as of fathers.
While in Dayabhaga school the right to ancestral property is only given after the
death of the last owner. It does not recognise the birth right of any individual over
an ancestral property.
1. Under the Mitakshara school the father does not possess the absolute
right to alienate the property but in dayabhaga the father has the absolute
right of alienation of the ancestral property as he is the sole owner of that
property during his lifetime.
2. Under Mitakshara school the son attains the right to become the co-owner
of the property he can ask for the partition of the ancestral property even
against the father and can demand for his share but in case of Dayabhaga
school son has no right to ask for the partition of ancestral property
against his father.
3. Under Mitakshara school the survivorship rule is prevalent. In case of the
death of any member in the joint family, his interest shall pass to other
members of the family. While in case of Dayabhaga school the interest of
the member on their death shall pass on to their heirs like widow, son,
daughters.
4. Under the Mitakshara school the members can’t dispose of their share of
property while undivided while in daya bhaga the members of the family
enjoys absolute right dispose off their property.
The difference as regards to inheritance
● Under Mitakshara the rule of blood relationship or consanguinity is
followed in case of inheritance whereas in case of Dayabhaga school the
inheritance is governed by the rule of the offering of pinda.
● Under Mitakshara school the cognates are postponed to agnates or not
preferred upon agnates while in case of Dayabhaga cognates and agnates.
● Mitakshara school expanded its recognition to a very limited extent in
regards to the recognition of the doctrine of factum valet but Dayabhaga,
on the other hand, has expanded its recognition to the full extent.
● Under the Hindu law the difference between the Mitakshara school and
the Dayabhaga school is not recognised as in the present scenario there
exists one uniform law of succession for all the Hindus.
MONIKA
