4. Adoption in India | Historical Perspectives from Ancient Law to Today

This post goes with the earlier adoption posts in Unit IV. Those posts explained the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956; this post explains how adoption developed before it and what changed afterwards.

The Problem This Topic Solves

The 1956 Act can look like a sudden set of rules. It is easier to understand once you know what it replaced. Old texts treated adoption mainly as a religious duty, while the modern law treats it as a way of giving a child a family. The syllabus asks for this historical view, and examiners often ask how and why the law changed.

Adoption in Ancient Hindu Law

In early Hindu law, the main purpose of adoption was religious. A man without a son adopted one so that someone could perform his funeral rites and offerings, continue his line and secure spiritual benefit for him and his ancestors.

The ancient lawgiver Manu listed twelve kinds of sons. Two of them are adoption forms:

• Dattaka — a son given by his parents to another person.
• Kritrima — a son made by a person who adopts him, with the boy's consent.

Dattaka became the form recognised across most of India. Kritrima survived only in a limited way, in the Mithila region.

Classical Texts and Schools

Two treatises shaped the law on the dattaka form: the Dattaka Mimamsa of Nanda Pandita and the Dattaka Chandrika. The Dattaka Mimamsa was strict. It was against adoption across castes, and it doubted that a widow could adopt unless her husband had given prior consent. Later courts applied these rules and the customs of each region and community.

Colonial Period and Other Communities

During British rule, Hindu adoption stayed uncodified. Courts applied the old texts and local custom. The Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 allowed a person to be appointed guardian of a child, but guardianship is not adoption: it does not make the child a legal child of the guardian. Some communities, such as Muslims, had no adoption provision in their personal law.

From 1956 to Today

• 1956 — Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act. It put Hindu adoption into a statute and made it a secular institution. Adoption was no longer tied to a religious need for a son. A Hindu could adopt a son or a daughter, and a woman could adopt in her own right.
• 1984 — Lakshmi Kant Pandey v. Union of India. The Supreme Court laid down safeguards for the adoption of Indian children by foreigners, to prevent trafficking and exploitation, and stressed the child's welfare.
• Juvenile Justice Acts (2000 and 2015). These created a secular adoption route open to all, for orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children. The 2015 Act gave the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) statutory status under Section 68.
• 2014 — Shabnam Hashmi v. Union of India. The Supreme Court recognised that a person of any religion can adopt under the Juvenile Justice Act, whatever the personal law says.
• 2021-2022 — Amendment. District Magistrates now issue adoption orders under the Juvenile Justice Act, in place of courts.

Timeline at a Glance

• Ancient Hindu adoption served a religious purpose: funeral rites, continuation of the line and spiritual benefit.
• Manu mentions twelve kinds of sons; dattaka (given son) and kritrima (made son) are the adoption forms, and dattaka was the widely accepted one.
• The Dattaka Mimamsa and Dattaka Chandrika were the key classical treatises.
• The Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 gave guardianship, not adoption.
• The 1956 Act made Hindu adoption statutory and secular; the Juvenile Justice Acts opened adoption to all communities (confirmed in Shabnam Hashmi, 2014).

• The classical forms speak of adopting a son; the 1956 Act allows adoption of a son or a daughter.
• Exam trap: do not say adoption was always a secular institution; it became one with the 1956 Act.

A Practical Example

Under some classical texts, a childless widow could adopt only if her husband had authorised it beforehand. Under the 1956 Act, a Hindu woman of full capacity can adopt a child in her own right. If a Muslim couple wishes to adopt, their personal law has no adoption provision. After Shabnam Hashmi (2014), they can adopt through the Juvenile Justice Act route.

Quick Revision Points

• Ancient: religious purpose; Manu's twelve sons; dattaka and kritrima.
• Classical: Dattaka Mimamsa and Dattaka Chandrika.
• 1890: Guardians and Wards Act (guardianship only).
• 1956: Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act (secular, statutory).
• 1984: Lakshmi Kant Pandey; 2014: Shabnam Hashmi; 2015: CARA statutory under Section 68; 2021-2022: District Magistrates issue adoption orders.