Filing Religion

Description

The Indian Constitution posits a separation between a secular domain that the state regulates and a religious domain in which it should not interfere. However, defining the separation between the two has proved contentious—the state is directly involved in the administration of several religious institutions and the courts are regularly asked to decide on rights linked to religious functions and bodies. Such decisions contribute to (re)defining the religious categories and practices. This volume explores how the apparently ‘technical’-legalistic action taking place in the courts of law significantly shapes the place that Hinduism occupies in Indian and Nepalese societies, perhaps even more so than the ideology of any political party. The approach developed in this volume is resolutely historical and anthropological. It considers law as part of social, religious, and political dynamics. The volume does not deal as much with politics of secularism in general, as with how courts deal in practice with Hinduism and how it contributes to shaping contemporary Hinduism.

Table of contents

Foreword by Kalyanakrishnan Sivaramakrishnan
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Introduction
Daniela Berti, Gilles Tarabout, and Raphaël Voix
Section I Secular Issues and Court Practice

1. Birth vs Merit: Kerala’s Temple Priests and the Courts by Gilles Tarabout
2. National Gods at Court: Secularism and the Judiciary in Nepal by Chiara Letizia

3. Plaintiff Deities: Ritual Honours as Fundamental Rights in India by Daniela Berti
4. Celibate Gods and ‘Essential Practices’ Jurisprudence at Sabarimala, 1991–2011 by Deepa Das Acevedo
5. Slaves and Sons: The Court Dynamics of a Religious Dispute in South India by Ute Hüsken

6. The Legal Making of a ‘Hindu Sect’: Understanding the Tandava Case in its Context by Raphaël Voix
7. British Justice and the Lustful Mahant by France Bhattacharya
8. ‘This Land is Mine’: Mahants, Civil Law, and Political Articulations of Hinduism in Twentieth Century North India by Malavika Kasturi
9. Claiming Religious Rights from a Secular Power: Judgment Regarding the Rules of Succession to the Position of Shebait in a North Indian Temple by Catherine Clémentin-Ojha

10. Recent Changes in Case Law Concerning Hindu Marriage by Jean-Louis Halpérin
11. Unfair Advantage? Polygyny and Adultery in Indian Personal Law by Srimati Basu