व्यवहारमयूख (नीलकण्ठ भट्ट - पश्चिमी भारत की हिन्दू न्याय-संहिता एवं व्यवहार कोष)

160 VYAVAHĀRAMAYŪKHA

side and five degrees on the mother's side. In calculating degrees the ancestor to whom re-
lationship is traced and the person whose sapiṇḍa relationship is to be ascertained are to be
taken into account. Vide Lallubhai v Mankorebai 2 Bom 388 p. 423 and Lallubhai v
Cassibai 7 I. A. 212 at p. 232 (= 5 Bom. 110 at p. 119) and Kesserbai v Hunsraj 30 Bom. 431
at p. 448 Ramchandra v Vinayak 41 I. A. 290 at p. 300–301 for a translation of the passage
of the Mit. on sapiṇḍa relationship. A man's six male paternal ancestors, his six male des-
cendants, the six male descendants through an unbroken male line of his six paternal ances-
tors are his gotraja sapiṇḍas. The samānodakas will be explained later. Sapiṇḍas are either
gotraja or bhinnagotraja (born in a different gotra) The latter according to the Mit., are called
bandhus. In Jadunath Kuar v Bisheshar L. R. 59 I A. 173 at p. 190 the Privy Council say
that two conditions must be satisfied before one can claim as a gotraja sapiṇḍa vir a
common patriarchal stock and sapiṇḍaship with the deceased i e. blood connection through a
common ancestor by unbroken male descent
The word baddhakrama (lit. whose order of succession is fixed) is usually translated as
the compact series of heirs. The heirs expressly specified in Yāj. from the wife to the bro-
ther's son are baddhakrama take in the order in which they are enumerated and do not
allow anyone else not specifically mentioned to take before them. Vide Nahalchand v Hem
chand 9 Bom 31 at p. 34.
If certain persons are specially invited for a meeting or dinner, they are assigned special
seats, while those who come uninvited or without previous intimation are seated after those
who are specially invited. This maxim is made use of here in assigning a place to the pater-
nal grandmother Vide Jaimini V 2-19 Sabara on Jaimini V 5.1 and Sankara's bhāṣya
on Vedāntasūtra IV 8-3 for illustrations of this maxim In Mokandas v Krishnabai 5 Bom
507 it is said (at p 602) that this maxim only applies to gotrajas and does not apply to
bandhus.
The position of women is peculiar The general rule in the whole of India, except in
Bombay and Madras, is that no females succeed as heirs to males unless they are expressly
named as heirs. There are only five such female heirs, viz. the widow the daughter the
mother, the paternal grand-mother and the paternal great-grand mother In Madras a few
more females such as the son's daughter the sister the brother's daughter succeed as ban-
dhus. In the Bombay Presidency both under the Mit. and the Mayūkha numerous females
are brought in as gotraja sapiṇḍa heirs and succeed to males. A woman by birth belongs to
one gotra and by marriage passes into the gotra of her husband. The wife the mother the
paternal grand mother are not gotraja in the literal sense (born in the family) but they
come to have the same gotra by marriage i e they become sagotra. The Mit. paraphrases
the word gotraja by sagotra and samānagotra when it says, in this way is to be understood
the succession of sapiṇḍas of the same gotra (samānagotrāṇām sapiṇḍānām) upto the 7th
degree. In Lallubhai v Mankorbai 2 Bom 338 (at pp. 420 and 433) it is said that, as
the paternal grand mother is specially named as an heir by Manu and as the Mit. names the
paternal great-grand mother as a gotraja, the term gotraja is not confined to males. In the
same case it was said that, though the foundation of the right of widows of gotrajas under
the Mit is slender and almost shadowy under the Mayūkha the widows of gotraja sapiṇḍas
must be admitted as heirs on the ground of positive acceptance and usag Vide 2 Bk. m. 3 9
at p. 41" and Lallubhai v Cossibai 7 I A 212 at p. 237 (=5 Bom 110 at p. 121) Vide also
Lakshmibai v Jayram 6 Bom. H. C. R. (A C. J ) 152. Therefore in the Bombay Presidency
both under the Mit. and the Mayūkha, widows of gotraja such as a widow brothers
widow uncles widow are admitted as gotraja sapiṇḍas though they are not expressly men-
tioned in those two works and though they are not born in the family but only enter the
family by marriage (i e they are sagotra or samānagotra) They however do not take ab-
solute estates, but only limited estates. Vide Tuljaram v Mathuradas 5 Bom. 662. But
those females who are born in the family when they take as heirs take the same as absolutely
in the Bombay Presidency In other presidencies the widows of gotraja sapiṇḍas not speci-