India’s Constitution provides a balance between guaranteeing freedom of belief, religion, and practice and sustaining religious institutions to provide them autonomy. During the British period and also in independent India, there was a ‘conquest by law’, made through the transformation of Dharmashastra through modern law.

The fate of Hindu religious endowments and concepts of religious freedom in the courts of pre- and post-Independence legal systems also changed. This book shows how esoteric legal discourse can be manipulated by litigants, lawyers, and judges.

Combining older and fresh research on the interaction between imposed colonial and indigenous law, the essays study how the law of religious endowment developed in British courts and the Supreme Court of India after independence.

A detailed national report of 1962 exposed Hindu religion endowments as corrupt, and Indian states stepped in to place Hindu religious endowments within statutory frameworks and extend their nationalisation. Many Hindu endowments remain under statutory control, infringing the need to separate state control and interference in religious matters.

Huge litigation reaches our courts, which have fashioned the law on religious endowments, religious freedom, and redefined Hinduism, also explored through detailed case studies in this volume. These essays also address the emergence of Hindu nationalism in contemporary times.

Rajeev Dhavan is a practicing lawyer in the Supreme Court of India. He has been a law teacher globally, has acted as a constitutional consultant to various countries and has published books and articles on diverse subjects.

Preface
Acknowledgements

1. Conquest by Law

2. Dharmashastra and Modern Indian Society
    A Preliminary Exploration

3. The Emergence of the Anglo-Indian Law of Religious Endowments

4. The Supreme Court and Hindu Religious Endowments, 1950–75

5. The Supreme Court, Hindu Religious Endowments, and Religious Freedom, 1975–2025

6. The Report of 1962, Litigating, Religion, and Courts on Hinduism

7. Towards a Discursive Conclusion

Index