Verse 9.192

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

जनन्यां संस्थितायां तु समं सर्वे सहोदराः ।
भजेरन् मातृकं रिक्थं भगिन्यश्च सनाभयः ॥ १९२ ॥

jananyāṃ saṃsthitāyāṃ tu samaṃ sarve sahodarāḥ |
bhajeran mātṛkaṃ rikthaṃ bhaginyaśca sanābhayaḥ || 192 ||

When the mother has died, all the uterine brothers and uterine sisters shall divide the mother’s property equally.—(192)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

(verses 9.182-201)

(No Bhāṣya available.)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

According to Kullūka and Rāghavānanda, this rule applies to unmarried daughters only, the married daughters receiving only a fourth of a brother’s share (see 118 above).—Nārāyaṇa holds that ‘mātrikam riktham’ refers to property other than the ‘strīdhana’, and qualifies the ‘sisters’ as ‘without son’.

This verse is quoted in Madanapārijāta (p. 667), which adds the following notes:—The meaning of the verse is that the mother’s estate is to go (1) to her own daughters, (2) on their absence to her daughter’s sons, (3) in the absence of these latter to her own sons, not to the sons of her cowives, (4) in the absence of her sons, to the sons of her own son;—the expression ‘samam sarve sahodarāḥ’ is meant to preclude the brothers born of different mothers;—the sons of co-wives being entitled to inherit only in default of the woman’s own sons (or grandsons).

It is quoted in Mitākṣarā (2.145), as asserting the title of both sons and daughters to the estate of their mother; it explains the construction as—‘Mātṛkam riktham sarve sahodarāḥ samam bhajeran sanābhayo bhaginyaśca samam bhajeran’;—it does not mean that the ‘sons and daughters together shall divide the property equally’; if this were the meaning then the words used would have been ‘bhrātṛbhagiyaḥ’ or ‘bhrāṭaraḥ’;—the term samam is meant to preclude the special additional share’ (of the eldest brother), and ‘sahodarāḥ’ to preclude the brothers born of other mothers:—The Bālambhaṭṭī reproduces the remarks noted above from the Madanapārijāta, attributing it to the Kalpataru.

It is quoted in Aparārka (p. 721), which remarks that the particle ‘ca’ (‘bhaginyaśca’) denotes option, not combination; and in the option, the first title is of the unmarried daughters;—in Vivādaratnākara (p. 515), which adds the following notes—‘Samam’, without any additional share being allotted to the eldest,—‘bhaginyaḥ’, those that are unmarried and those that have had no children,—‘Sanābhayaḥ’, uterine;—in Vyavahāramayūkha (p. 70), which states the opinion of ‘some’ that the verse lays down the conjoint title of brothers and sisters to such property of their mother as she had received as presents from her husband;—in Vivādacintāmaṇi (Calcutta, pp. 125 and 142), which explains ‘samam’ as ‘not in unequal shares’,—Sanābhayaḥ’ as ‘uterine’, and notes that this refers to unmarried sisters only,—in Nityācārapaddhati (p. 296);—in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra 216a), which says that the sense is that all uterine brothers and sisters are entitled to equal shares in the mother’s property,—and all half brothers and sisters are excluded;—and by Jīmūtavāhana (Dāyabhāga, p. 126), which has the same note.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 9.192-193)

[See 131 and the texts there under. Also 198.]

Yājñavalkya (2.117).—‘Of the mother’s property, what remains after paying off her debts, shall be taken by the daughters, and in their absence, by their offspring.’

Kātyāyana (Aparārka, p. 721).—‘In the absence of daughters, the mother’s property should go to the sons. What had been given to the woman by her kinsmen shall, in the absence of kinsmen, go to her husband. The strīdhana shall be divided among her daughters with their husbands and her kinsmen.’

Gautama (Do.).—‘The strīdhana of a woman goes to those of her daughters who are not married or settled in life.’

Bṛhaspati (Aparārka, p. 721).—‘The strīdhana of a woman goes to her children; her daughter also has a share in it, if she is unmarried; if she is married, she obtains some honorific trifle.’

Vaśiṣṭha (Do.).—‘The girls shall divide the mother’s dowry.’

Arthaśāstra (p. 13).—‘The second dowry, the female child will inherit.’