| Women In The Sacred Laws |
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THE DHARMA SUTRAS |
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‘If there, is a son of equal caste and a son of a wife of the next lower caste, the son born of the wife of the next lower caste may take the share of the eldest, provided he is endowed with good qualities'. 62 A daughter has no right to inheritance, even where she is the only, child of the family. It is her son who can inherit the property. ‘The male child born of a daughter, after an agreement has been made, one must know to be the son of an appointed daughter (Putrika-putra); any other male offspring of a daughter they call a daughter’s son, dauhitra. 63 It is evident from the above that the legal, significance of ‘ Putrika’ is still retained, though a Putrika, as an only daughter, could not inherit the property. The son of such a daughter has to offer funeral cakes ‘first to his mother, the second to her father and the third to his father’s father '.64 Sons of every description were admitted into society: they were, of the following designations: Aurasa, Kshetraja Datta, Krtrima, Gudhaja, Apaviddha, Kanina, Sahodha, Krita, Paunarbhava, Svayamdatta, Nishada, and Parasava. Of these the first is the son of a legitimate wife; the second the son of a man by another’s wife; the third is the adopted son, the fourth one whom a man himself makes his son; the fifth is the son born clandestinely; the sixth is the son cast off by his parents and taken as a child by another; the seventh is the son of a maiden; the eighth is the son of a pregnant bride; the ninth is the son bought with money; the tenth is the son of a twice- married woman; the eleventh is one who when abandoned by his parents gives himself to a stranger as son; the twelfth is the son, of a Sudra woman married to a Brahmana; and the thirteenth is the son born of lust. 65 |
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