Verse 9.196-197

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

ब्राह्मदैवार्षगान्धर्वप्राजापत्येषु यद् वसु ।
अप्रजायामतीतायां भर्तुरेव तदिष्यते ॥ १९६ ॥
यत् त्वस्याः स्याद् धनं दत्तं विवाहेष्वासुरादिषु ।
अप्रजायामतीतायां मातापित्रोस्तदिष्यते ॥ १९७ ॥

brāhmadaivārṣagāndharvaprājāpatyeṣu yad vasu |
aprajāyāmatītāyāṃ bhartureva tadiṣyate || 196 ||
yat tvasyāḥ syād dhanaṃ dattaṃ vivāheṣvāsurādiṣu |
aprajāyāmatītāyāṃ mātāpitrostadiṣyate || 197 ||

It is ordained that the property of women married by the ‘Brāhma,’ the ‘Daiva,’ the ‘Ārṣa,’ the ‘Gāndharva,’ or the ‘Prājāpatya’ form, shall go to her husband alone, if she dies childless.—(196)

But the property given to a woman on the ‘Āsura’ or other (inferior) forms of marriage, has been held to belong to her parents, upon her dying childless.—(197)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

(verses 9.182-201)

(No Bhāṣya available.)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

(verses 9.196-197)

‘Vasu’—includes, according to Nārāyaṇa, all kinds of property, ‘strīdhana’ as well as what is not ‘strīdhana’.

These verses are quoted in Parāśaramādhava (Vyavahāra, p. 373), which explains the meaning to be that on the death of a woman married by any of the forms of marriage here named, without leaving any heir—beginning from the daughter down to the son’s son,—her property goes to her husband, and not to her mother or other relations,—while the property of an heirless woman, who has been married by the Āsura, Rākṣasa or Paiśāca forms, goes to her parents.

They are quoted in Aparārka (p. 753), which remarks that the devolution of the property on the husband should be regarded as an optional alternative; it apparently takes ‘āsurādiṣu’ of verse 191 as including all those mentioned under 196.

They are quoted in Vivādaratnākara (p. 519), which explains ‘aprajasi’ as ‘childless’; and the verses to mean that (a) in the case of those married by the forms of marriage mentioned in 196, the property goes to the husband, and (b) in that of those married by the forms mentioned in 197, it goes to her father;—it goes on to remark that this refers to what the woman had received at the time of marriage.

They are quoted in Vyavahāramayūkha (p. 72);—in Smṛtitattva II (p. 186), which explains the meaning to be that the ‘strīdhana’ obtained at the time of the marriage under the forms mentioned in 196 goes to the husband, while that obtained at the time of marriage under the forms mentioned in 197 goes first to her mother, and in her absence to her father;—in Vyavahāra-Bālambhaṭṭī (p. 756);—in Dāyākramasaṅgraha (p. 23);—in Vivādacintāmaṇi (Culcutta, p. 143), which explains ‘aprajāyām’ as ‘childless’; and by Jīmūtavāhana (Dāyabhāga, p. 141).

Verse 197 is quoted in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra 219a), which says that the ‘mother’ being placed first in the compound implies that the father is to inherit the property only after the mother.

 

Comparative notes by various authors

(verses 9.196-197)

Viṣṇu (17, 19.20).—‘If a woman, married according to one of the first four forms of marriage beginning with Brāhma, dies without issue, her strīdhana goes to her husband;—if she has been married by one of the four reprehensible forms of marriage, her father shall take her property.’

Yājñavalkya (2.141-145).—‘If a woman dies without issue, her kinsmen shall obtain what she had got from her kinsmen, or as her nuptial fee or as the Anvādheyaka present; if a woman married according to the four forms of marriage beginning with the Brāhma, dies without issue, her property goes to her husband; if she had issue, it goes to her daughters;—if she had been married by the other forms of marriage, her property goes to her father.’

Nārada (Vivādaratnākara, p. 518).—‘In the absence of the daughter, the Strīdhana of the mother should go to the sons; what was given to her by her kinsmen should go to her husband, in the absence of kinsmen. The sisters along with their husbands shall divide with the kinsmen, the strīdhana. Such is the lawful law of partition.’