THE PERSPECTIVES OF DATTAKA (ADOPTION) IN HINDUISM - AN OVERVIEW

Principles of law of adoption play an important and sensitive role in our society from very ancient time. In ancient India, the adoption referred as Dattaka or Poshya had many laws of adoption as well as we have certain laws prepared by the society and government in modern India. The subject needs a deeper analysis. The objective of the paper was to study the diverse aspects of adoptions prevalent over the years in Hindu culture. A number of case records where it is clearly found that widows and single women were not allowed to adopt on their own. Though in course of time, the rules of adoption and social attitude regarding adoption particularly in respect of women had undergone substantial changes, still there is a long way to go to achieve a balanced and unbiased view on the part of society. This work is proposed to focus chronology and continuation in the process on the changes (attitude, laws etc.) not done so far methodically and systematically. There are some wonderful and startling features that I found out on this matter doing preliminary study. In this context, laws and provisions regarding adoption of son by women is equally essential and has to be clearly defined, especially at the backdrop of Traditional Indian mythology and other Hindu cultural matrix.