Gentoo Code


The Gentoo Code is a legal code translated from Sanskrit into Persian by Brahmin scholars; and then from Persian into English by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, a British grammarian working for the East India Company. Vivādārṇavasetu is a digest of Hindu law in 21 sections compiled for Warren Hastings by the pandits. The translation was funded and encouraged by Warren Hastings as a method of increasing colonial hold over the Indies. It was translated into English with a view to know about the culture and local laws of various parts of Indian subcontinent. It was printed privately by the East India Company in London in 1776 under the title A Code of Gentoo Laws, or,Ordinations of the Pundits. Copies were not put on sale, but the Company did distribute them. In 1777 a pirate edition was printed; and in 1781 a second edition appeared. Translations into French and German were published in 1778. It is basically about the Hindu law of inheritance. The Pandits and the Maulvis were associated with judges to understand the civil law of Hindus and Muslims.

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