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

S. IV. 11. 8-10 ] EXCLUSION FROM INHERITANCE 195
M. p. 101 ll. 4-27 ]
Bṛhaspati (p. 376 vv. 42-43) says ·
Though 'born of a woman equal in class (to her husband) a son
destitute of good qualities does not deserve the paternal wealth; it is
ordained that it (paternal wealth) belongs to those (sons) who are
learned in the Vedas and who offer piṇḍas to the deceased. A son
rescues his father from highest and lowest debts; hence no purpose (use)
is served by a son who is the reverse of this ¹
These persons excluded from a share (or inheritance) must be maintained
during their life by those who take the inheritance; since Manu (IX.
202) says :
‘ But it is just that the wise should give, according to their ability,
food and raiment till the end (of their lives) even to all (who are
excluded); for he who does not give (these) would become patita
(sinful and outcast)
*‘Atyantam’ (in Manu) means ‘as long as they (excluded ones) live’. And
to the same effect is the text of Yājñavalkya (II 140) cited already ‘they are
not entitled to a share and are to be maintained’. But those who have
betaken themselves to another order (other than that of householder),
those who are outcasts and the sons of outcasts are not entitled to be main-
tained. And to the same effect is Vasiṣṭha (17. 52-54) ‘persons who
have entered into another order (āśrama) are not entitled to a share;
and so are not entitled the impotent, the lunatic and the patita (out-
cast); maintenance (must be given) to the impotent and the lunatic.’
Here the express mention of two as regards maintenance serves to exclude
the other two ² Devala says ·
³‘When the father is dead, the impotent, the leper, the lunatic, the
idiot, the blind, an outcast and his offspring, a person wearing a heretical
sect mark — these are not entitled to a share of the heritage; to these,
1 Mandlik translates ‘a son relieves his father from creditors and debtors’. But this
is doubtful. No ancient writer, so far as I know, gives credit to a son as the saviour of
his father from the latter’s debtors. Manu IX. 138 says that the son saves the father
from the hell called ‘put’. The higher debts are those that are owed to the gods, manes
and sages (as said in the Taittirīyasaṁhitā VI. 8. 10. 5) and the lower debts are the
debts owed to creditors The Aitareya-brāhmaṇa (VII. 13) says that when a man sees a
son born to him he pays back a debt.
2. Vasiṣṭha mentions four, viz ‘āśramāntaragata’, ‘klība’, ‘unmatta’ and ‘patita’
as ‘anams'a’ and allows maintenance only to the impotent and the lunatic. This means
that ‘āśramāntargata’ and ‘patita’ are not entitled even to maintenance. As to ‘pari-
saṁkhyā’ vide p. 106 n 2 above.
3. This text of Devala is quoted in 1'Bom, 177 at p 183 ‘When the father is dead’
—this is only illustrative. Even when the father is living and he makes a partition
during his lifetime or sons come to a partition during his lifetime, the persons enumerated
would be excluded.

• P. 165 (text),