defnition of hindu

1. Who is Hindu?
Term Hindu is not found in Dharamshastra. It is derived from the word Sindhu
(Indus Valley). Greeks who called the inhabitants of Indus valley as indio later it
become Hindu.
Hindu law is a personal law so Hindu Law should define who is Hindu and upon
whom Hindu law applies. The definition of the term Hindu is given under Section2
of The Hindu Marriage Act 1955, section 2 of The Hindu SuccessionAct 1956,
and section 3 of Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act 1956 and section 2 of The
Hindu Adoption and Maintenance act. All the definitions are almost similar. The
term Hindu includes:
I) Hindu by Religion: It includes any person who is Hindu, Jain , Sikh and
Buddhist by religion & any person who is convert and reconvert to these
Hindu religions.
Any personwho is Hindu by religion irrespective of or regardless of its
form or development including-
 Virashaiva
 Lingayat
 Follower of the Brahmo, Prarthana or Arya Samaj.
A person of other faith, if converted to Hinduism becomes Hindu and
Hindu law will be applied.
Rattanji Morarji v. Adm-General of Madras ILR (1929) 52 Mad 160
Where an European lady converted to Hinduism by the ceremony of
suddhi, she subsequently adopted Hindu name and married with a Hindu.
The Court held that she was a Hindu.
A person who reconverted to Hindu is also a Hindu
Kusum v. Satya (1903)30 Cal 999
A Hindu boywas converted to Christianity and married with a Christian
girl. After some time, boy reconverted to Hindu.
II) Hindu by Birth : The child legitimate or illegitimate born to the family
whose parents are both of Hindu religion i.e. Hindu, Bhuddist, Sikh and
Jain. It includes:

2. It also includes the child one of whose parents is Hindu and who is
brought up as a Hindu , Jain, Sikh or Buddist. In this situation boththe
situations are to be fulfilled, then only the child wiil be a Hindu.
III) Hindu by Negatively: It includes those persons who don’tprofess non
Hindu religion i.e. Christians, Parsi, Jew or Muslim and they are also not
against the application of Hindu law on their personal matters so for the
application of the law they are deemed Hindu.