Page 115 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

90 Karine Bates

My fieldwork in rural Pune district (Maharashtra) was an opportu-
nity to verify the extent to which widows are aware of their succession
rights, if they consider it to be a law or tradition, how they define their
rights and whether they are using the rights offered by the official sys-
tem of law or respecting the local norms concerning property rights
of widows. Over a period of a year (2001–02) I followed the history of
thirty widows. They belonged to different age groups, castes, education
and economic backgrounds; thus, these cases cannot be considered rep-
resentative of one such demographic group. On the other hand, many
common points may be found among the sample in their relationship
to the legal system and local norms.
When I asked these widows whether they had a right to the property
of their husband, the majority of them answered that it was possible
after his death. Only two, who were 60 and over, told me that they did
not know about their rights. Before asking them to explain what these
rights were, I asked them if it was the law (kayada) or the tradition
(parampara) that gives widows rights to the property of the husband.
Only one of the women, around 40 years old, said she did not know.
Three other respondents said that it was a tradition. All the other
respondents said that it was the law, but without naming the Hindu
Succession Act of 1956. When asked how they knew about the law, two
answers came clearly: from television and hearsay from other villagers.
In that regard, education (schooling) was never mentioned as a factor
of legal awareness.
Two of the three respondents who said that it was a tradition were
above 60. When I asked since when it had been a tradition, two said
that it had been so since independence, and the other said that it has
always been that way. The length of a tradition changes from one person
to another. This differs from the British idea, as well as the modern
concept, that traditions and customs should be immemorial, ancient,
uniform and invariable.
The understanding of the law also differs. When the respondents
were asked since when the law had been there, four different answers
emerged: four or five years, ten to fifteen years, forty years and since
independence. For most widows it was not clear whether they had an
automatic succession right in the property of their husband or if they
had to go to court. A majority of the respondents, after some hesitation,
were of the opinion that it was necessary to go to court in order to get