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

176 VYAVAHÂRAMAYŪKHA [S. IV s. 21 to ]
[M p. 90 l. 10-p. 91 l. 45]
(among parents) the mother takes first and then the father 'The eldest
wife (in the text of Śaṅkha) (takes) if she is self-restrained (i. e. chaste).
In default of the wife the sister (takes) to the same effect is Bṛhaspati (p.
381 v 75)
She who is his sister is entitled to get a share therein. This is the
rule in the case of one (dying) childless and also without wife and
parents¹
Some read this verse as 'she who is his daughter' In default of
daughter and sister, the nearest sapiṇḍa (takes)
Now begins (the section on) Strīdhana
Manu (IX. 194) says
What was given before (nuptial) fire, what was presented on the
bridal procession what was given as a token of love, whatever is obtained
(by a woman) from her brother mother or father—these are declared to
be strīdhana of six sorts.
The word six (in ṣaḍvidham) is meant only for excluding a lesser
number² Hence the word 'and the like' in the (following) text of
1 This verse of Bṛhaspati about the sister is referred to in Kesserbai v Valabh 4 Bom.
188 (at p. 202) and also in Tukaram v Narayan 36 Bom. 339 (F. B.) at p. 353.
2 The idea is that the mention of six kinds does not exclude a larger number but only
emphasises that there cannot be less than six kinds of strīdhana. As the verse of Manu does
not exclude more than six kinds of strīdhana, the verse of Yājñavalkya which after ex-
pressly naming some kinds of strīdhana employs the word ādhya is not in conflict with
Manu but rather harmonizes with it. The Mit. gives the widest possible meaning to the
word strīdhana, when it says on the word ādhya (and the like) in Yāj. II. 143 that the
word ādhya includes what is obtained by a woman by succession to ancestral property by
purchase, by partition, seiruro (adverse possession) and finding The Mayūkha does not
expressly state, as the Mit. does, that strīdhana has a very wide meaning but divides strī-
dhana for purposes of succession into two kinds, pāribhāṣika (technical) and apāribhāṣika
(non-technical) The former embraces such varieties of strīdhana as adhyagni adhyāvāha-
nika, anvādheya &c. enumerated in the smṛti texts of Manu Yāj., Viṣṇu and others, while
the non technical strīdhana comprehends wealth acquired from strangers or by mechanical
arts or by her own labour or in any other way Judicial decisions have not only not followed
the Mit but have very much restricted the meaning of strīdhana. In Sheo Shankar Lal
v Debi Sahai 25 All. 468 (P C.) it was held that property inherited by a female from a
female is not her strīdhana in such a sense that it passes to her strīdhana heirs in the female
line to the exclusion of males and that there is no distinction between a female inheriting
from a male and a female inheriting from a female under the Benares school (Sheo
Parbah v The Allahabad Bank 25 All. p 406) This means that property obtained by a female
from a male or female is not strīdhana This is the law in the whole of India except in
Western India. Vide also Chetuy Lall v Chunno Lall L. R. 6 I. A 15 at p 31. The Privy
Council in 25 All. 468 at p 4 refer to the view of the Mayūkha which makes property
inherited by a female from a female her strīdhana. Vide also 45 All 16 In Debi
Mangal Prasad v Mahadeo Prasad 39 I A 121 (=34 All 234) it was held that the
share obtained by a mother on partition among her sons is not her strīdhana and on her
death devolves on her husband's heirs. So the position of the Mit as to partition also is