There emerged two schools of Hindu Law as a result of different gloss on ancient text, broadly speaking, by two gigantic commentaries, namely the Mitakshara and the Dayabhaga.
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The emergence of schools in Hindu law has been rightly ascribed to these two commentaries by the Privy Council. It remarked, the Smritis did not agree on all points and moreover a single expression of the Smritis is capable of various interpretations.
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The remoter sources of law were common to all the different schools, the commentators put their own gloss on ancient text and their authority have been accepted in one and rejected in another part of India, various schools of Hindu Law arose. The two main schools are:—
1. The Mitakshara School, and
2. The Dayabhaga School.
The Mitakshara is a commentary written by Vijnaneswar in the latter half of 11th century. The authority of Mitakshara was recognised throughout the length and breadth of the country except in the province of Bengal and Assam. But even in Bengal the Mitakshara is regarded as an authority on all questions in respect of which there is no conflict between it and the Dayabhaga.
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The Dayabhaga is of supreme authority in Bengal. The Dayabhaga bears a progressive outlook towards women’s property rights. It lets in women as coparceners along with men and thus exhibits an improvement upon the Mitakshara.
There are some fundamental differences between these two schools of Hindu law. To mention a few of them are: the basis of the rules of succession, the law relating to the coparcenary and coparcenary property.