The practice of applying laws of religious communities in personal matters was regarded as the “saving” of religious laws, in part because of the language used. Different communities in India were identified by the religions they followed and the personal laws that the English administrators had decided to save were also in turn understood as religious, although in practice they could be community customs rather than scriptural rules. Thus religious laws and personal laws became interchangeable, and in the process it was forgotten that before the arrival of the British administrators, all aspects of the laws of Hindus and Muslims were religious. Moreover, British policies determined what should be designated as a personal matter, and of course the final shape of the laws governing such personal matters—whether administered by the English courts or legislated by the colonial parliaments—modified the religious laws of the people