ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the modernization of law and its impact on family and kinship in Kalyan and Gokul. It also examines the role of social legislation and welfare services, and their repercussions on the kinship system of Lingayats and Brahmans. The analysis of legislation pertaining to marriage, family, and kinship, inheritance of property, adoption and maintenance, minority and guardianship reveals the zeal of Indian legislators, after Independence, to give equal rights and privileges to females in different spheres of life. The new legislation incorporating modern egalitarian values which are strikingly opposed to the traditional norms and values tends to rupture kinship relationships. The Hindu Succession Act introduces revolutionary changes in the patrilineal matrix safeguarded for centuries, by bestowing on the female the rights of succession of property and possession of it as absolute owner. In Kalyan a majority of the people own meagre property.
