Under the old codeDharmaśāstra · pre-1950
Two codes · 4,000 years · one Constitution India ran on two legal codes.
India ran on two legal codes.
One of them was torn up.
The Dharmaśāstra ordered society by birth for millennia. On 26 January 1950 a new code replaced it — equality before the law. The neutral, primary-sourced, interactive record of that contest.
26 essays| Primary-sourced, page-referenced| 0 fabricated citations| 1380 BCE → today
Two codes, one society
The neutral, sourced, interactive one — in a field of essays. Every contested claim carries a credibility tag, the tools are built over primary sources, and we correct our own side too.
B. R. Ambedkar is the hinge: he burned the Manusmṛti at Mahad on 25 December 1927, and later chaired the committee that drafted the document which replaced it — in force 26 January 1950.
Which code ruled you?
Two legal codes have governed the same society. Enter a surname, or browse communities, to see how each one would have treated it — the old order on parchment, the Constitution on navy.
Surnames don’t determine caste. The same name appears across different communities by region and history. Pick the one that fits — or browse instead.
Pick a community
A surname does not determine caste. This is one seeded example, chosen by you — not an identification.
Under the Constitutionfrom 26 January 1950
Where to go next
The length Timeline · 1380 BCE → now One society read end to end — Mitanni treaty, the Dharmaśāstra, colonial acts, 1950, today's flashpoints. All tagged and dated. The spine The two-column codex Old-code provision → the constitutional article that inverts it → the statute that enforces it. The labour How the Constitution was made The Assembly’s three years, told through the Constituent Assembly Debates — and the burn→draft bookend. The engine Record vs Rumor Claim → what the record says → the manipulation technique named. Cards cut in every direction. Come to dismiss it? Objections answered “We don’t even follow Manu.” “Varna is by merit.” “The British made caste.” The strongest rebuttals, answered from the record. Below scripture Deep time Mitanni epigraphy, Sanskrit prosody, and the genetics of migration — kept on three separate tracks. The standard How we tag The credibility tags, the surname caveat, the copyright policy, and where we correct ourselves. Go deep Essays & deep dives Long-form, tagged and cited — the Preamble line by line, who the Shudras were, the real record of British rule. Read further Ambedkar: a reading map His works — now public domain — in his own words, linked to the free archives.