Who are Hindu?

 Before the advent of Muslims in India, the term Hindu had no definite meaning. Then the
term it had a territorial significance;
 It only denoted nationality. In fact the word 'Hindu' is of foreign origin. This designation
came into existence with the advent of Greeks who called the inhabitants of the Indus
valley as "Indoi" and later on this designation was extended to include all persons who lived
beyond the Indus valley
 The Supreme Court has observed that the word Hindu is derived from the word Sindhu,
otherwise known as Indus river.
 Till this day, there is no precise definition of the term Hindu available either in any statute
or in any judicial pronouncement. However, since Hindu law applies to all those persons
who are Hindus, it is necessary to know who are Hindus, whatever definitional difficulties
there might be.
 If the question is posed in a different form, viz., to whom does Hindu law apply it would be
easier to state the various categories of persons to whom Hindu law applies.( More or less
this is the approach made in the codified Hindu law) The persons to whom Hindu law
applies may be put in the following three categories :
o (a) Any person who is a Hindu, Jain, Sikh or Buddhist by religion, i.e., Hindus by
religion;
o (b) Any person who is born of Hindu parents (viz., when both the parents or one of
the parents is a Hindu, Jain, Sikh or Buddhist by religion), i.e., Hindus by birth; and
o (c) Any person who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew, and who is not
governed by any other law.

A. Hindus by religion.
 Two types of people fall under this category;
o (i) Those who are originally Hindus, Jains, Sikhs or Buddhist by religion, and
o (ii) Those who are converts or reconverts to Hindu, Jain, Sikh or Buddhist religion.
 Any person who follows Hindu religion in any of its form or development, either by
practicing it or by professing it, is a Hindu.
 SC has held that various sub sects of Hindus such as Swaminarayan, Satsangis, Arya Samajis
are also Hindus by religion because they follow the same basic concept of Hindu Philosophy.
 Jainism has an origin and history much anterior to the Smritis. Jainism rejects the authority
of the Vedas and discards all ceremonies and rituals. Jainism does not believe in the
existence of God. Both the codified and uncodified Hindu law applies to Jains.
Sikhs are dissenters from Hinduism. According to the first Guru, Shri Guru Nanak
Devji, God is one. Sikhism discards all forms of Hindu worship and class distinctions. It has
been held all along that in the absence of special custom, they are governed by Hindu law .
 the codified Hindu law applies to them.
Buddhism is an extreme religion which preaches practically a total negation of
life. It has been an established view that the Buddhists are governed by Hindu law as
modified by custom prevalent and recognized among them. The codified Hindu law applies
to them just as it applies to any other Hindu.
In sum, if nucleus of Hinduness is established, a person is a Hindu,
unless it is shown that he had converted to a non-Hindu religion. In other words, any person
who is a Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, or Sikh by religion is a Hindu if :
(i) he practices, professes or follows any of these religions, and
(ii) he remains a Hindu even if he does not practice, profess or
follows the tenets of any one of these religions
 A person who is a reconvert to Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism or Sikhism is also a Hindu, both
under the uncodified Hindu law and the codified Hindu law. A person who ceases to be a
Hindu by converting to a non-Hindu religion will, again, become a Hindu if he reconverts to
any of the four religions of Hindus. It is not necessary that he reconverts to the same
religion from which he converted to the non-Hindu religion
 The Kerala High Court in Mohandas v. Dewaswan Board, it held that when a person declares
that he is a follower of Hindu faith and if such a declaration is bona fide and not made with
any ulterior motive or intention, it amounts to his having accepted the Hindu approach to
God. He becomes a Hindu by conversion.
In sum, under modern Hindu law, the following propositions are well established. A
non-Hindu will become a Hindu by conversion :
(i) if he undergoes a formal ceremony of conversion or reconversion prescribed
by the caste or community to which he converts or reconverts: or
(ii) if he expresses a bona fide intention to become a Hindu accompanied
by conduct unequivocally expressing that intention coupled with the acceptance of him as a
member of the community into the fold of which he was ushered into;
(iii) if he bona fide declares that he is a Hindu.
Note:- No formal ceremony of purification is necessary to effectuate conversion.

B. Hindus by birth.
 A person will be a Hindu if the following conditions are satisfied :
(i) at the time of his birth one of the parents was Hindu, and
(ii) he is brought up as a member of the tribe, community group or family to which Hindu
parent belonged at the, time of the birth of the child. This
was the position even before the codified Hindu law.
 A child who’s both the parents were Hindus, Sikhs, Jains or Buddhists at the time of his
birth, is regarded as Hindu. If one of the parents is Hindu and the other is Jain, Sikh or
 Buddhist, then also the child will be Hindu. It makes no difference that such child does or
does not profess, practise or have faith in the religion of its parents.
 If after the birth, both or one of the parents become convert to another religion, the child
will continue to be a Hindu, unless, in the exercise of parental right the child is also
converted into the religion in which the parent or parents have converted (In case of
legitimate child this right is on father, and in illegitimate case is on the mother).
 A person child is brought up as a member of the tribe, community, group or family to which
Hindu parent belonged at the time of his birth. When both the parents of a child are not
Hindu and the child is brought up as a Hindu, the child will not be Hindu unless he becomes
converted Hindu.
 Extra not imp (the child should be brought up as a Hindu and if a Hindu parent's, child is
brought up in any form or development of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism or Sikhism, he will
be a Hindu. The bringing up of the child in any of the religions of Hindus is not necessary,
the requirement being that the child should be brought up in the Hindu way of life) Raj
Kumar V. Barbara, 1989 Cal 165.

C. Persons who are not Muslims, Christians, Parsis or Jews by Religion.

 Any person who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew and who is not governed by any
other law, is governed by Hindu law, unless it is proved that Hindu law is not applicable to
such a person (Raj Kumar v/s Barbara).
 Those persons who are atheists or who believe in all faiths, or in conglomeration of faiths,
may fall under this class. Such persons may not be Muslims, Christians, Parsis or Jews, and
yet it may be difficult to prove that such persons are Hindus.
 Under the codified Hindu law. Such persons will be Hindus for the purpose of application of
Hindu law. There have been several communities, tribes and people who have been
governed by Hindu law as modified by custom and usage, though they were not strictly
speaking Hindus. To such communities, tribes and people, Hindu law, both codified and
uncodified, applies though persons belonging to such communities, tribes, and people are
not Hindus by religion or by birth.
 Where custom permits marriage of a Hindu with a non-Hindu woman, his children and his
wife will be Hindus (Devabalam v. Jaya Kimari,)