DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49827#0202
UNOBSTRUCTED INHERITANCE.
187
great esteem in which Medhatithi was held by the later Lecture
Jurists.1 ' yiH-
1. The term “ a Cudra’s son by a Dasi” means a son Medha-
begotten by him on a woman neither married to him nor tife’.’8
authorized to raise offspring (according to the custom of °i’inion-
Niyoga). 2. Such a son shall receive an equal share with
a legitimate son, if his father wills it so, and either divides
his property in his lifetime or enjoins his legitimate sons
to share equally with the illegitimate son after his death.
3. If the father has made no such provision for the ille-
gitimate son, he shall take after the father’s death half of
the share allotted to each legitimate son. 4. If there is
no legitimate son, nor daughter’s son, he shall take the
whole property. 5. A daughter’s sons, where there are
any, shall be treated like legitimate sons as regards their
shares of the inheritance.
As for the modern controversies, the first and most im- 1. Mean-
portant one concerns the meaning of Dasi. It has been ingof Dasi-
contended in a Bengal decision, that it means “a female
slave ” in the strictest sense of that term, and slavery
being abolished under British Bule, it would follow that the
whole law under notice is obsolete. It is quite certain,
however, that the Commentators and Castris have persist-
ently explained the term Dasi as including any unmarried
female of the Cudra caste. To the evidence tending in
this direction, which may be collected from the translated
works and from Bombay and South-Indian cases, I may
add the before-quoted statement of Medhatithi and the
remark of Kamalakara in the Vivadatandava, that the
text of Manu refers to the son begotten by a Cudra on an
unmarried Cudra female.2 In a Bengal case it was pointed
out that the two corresponding passages of the Dayabhaga
have not been correctly translated by Colebrooke.3 * * * * But
though I think every Sanskritist will readily agree to the
’ Gloss on IX. 179. {For the Sanskrit,, see Appendix.} (Yajn. II.
134a) {For the Sanskrit, see Appendix) : “ They shall take two shares
each, and give him one ” j
2 {For the Sanskrit, see Appendix?)
3 See Mayne, § 463. Both in Colebrooke’s and in Mr. Justice Mitter’s
translation the important word Cudra, a female Cudra, is omitted.
Should there be a variation of reading? But the term “an unmarried
Cudra female” forms the connecting link between this and the preced-
ing paragraph of the Dayabhaga (IX. 28).
187
great esteem in which Medhatithi was held by the later Lecture
Jurists.1 ' yiH-
1. The term “ a Cudra’s son by a Dasi” means a son Medha-
begotten by him on a woman neither married to him nor tife’.’8
authorized to raise offspring (according to the custom of °i’inion-
Niyoga). 2. Such a son shall receive an equal share with
a legitimate son, if his father wills it so, and either divides
his property in his lifetime or enjoins his legitimate sons
to share equally with the illegitimate son after his death.
3. If the father has made no such provision for the ille-
gitimate son, he shall take after the father’s death half of
the share allotted to each legitimate son. 4. If there is
no legitimate son, nor daughter’s son, he shall take the
whole property. 5. A daughter’s sons, where there are
any, shall be treated like legitimate sons as regards their
shares of the inheritance.
As for the modern controversies, the first and most im- 1. Mean-
portant one concerns the meaning of Dasi. It has been ingof Dasi-
contended in a Bengal decision, that it means “a female
slave ” in the strictest sense of that term, and slavery
being abolished under British Bule, it would follow that the
whole law under notice is obsolete. It is quite certain,
however, that the Commentators and Castris have persist-
ently explained the term Dasi as including any unmarried
female of the Cudra caste. To the evidence tending in
this direction, which may be collected from the translated
works and from Bombay and South-Indian cases, I may
add the before-quoted statement of Medhatithi and the
remark of Kamalakara in the Vivadatandava, that the
text of Manu refers to the son begotten by a Cudra on an
unmarried Cudra female.2 In a Bengal case it was pointed
out that the two corresponding passages of the Dayabhaga
have not been correctly translated by Colebrooke.3 * * * * But
though I think every Sanskritist will readily agree to the
’ Gloss on IX. 179. {For the Sanskrit,, see Appendix.} (Yajn. II.
134a) {For the Sanskrit, see Appendix) : “ They shall take two shares
each, and give him one ” j
2 {For the Sanskrit, see Appendix?)
3 See Mayne, § 463. Both in Colebrooke’s and in Mr. Justice Mitter’s
translation the important word Cudra, a female Cudra, is omitted.
Should there be a variation of reading? But the term “an unmarried
Cudra female” forms the connecting link between this and the preced-
ing paragraph of the Dayabhaga (IX. 28).