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

S. V. 4. 17-19
M. p.113 l.33-p. 114 l.22 ] RECOVERY OF DEBTS 219
comparatively very large. It is not a rule that heritage which is equal to or
more than the debts alone leads to liability to pay debts. Another meaning
of the last quarter of the verse is of a creditor who is sonless, the 'rik-
thinaḥ' i. e the wife, daughter and the rest who are entitled to take his
estate should recover the debts from the debtor of their husband and the
like. Viṣṇu (Dh. S VI. 29) says 'the man who receives the assets of the
deceased, whether he have sons or he be sonless, shall pay his debts'.
Bṛhaspati (p. 329 v. 52) says ·
'The taker of the wife is similarly liable (to pay the debt) in the absence
of a taker of the estate'. Kātyāyana says ·
(The king) should make the son pay (the debt of his father), if he
be free from disease, capable of taking the estate (of his father) and is
able to shoulder (the liability); but (he) should not make the son pay
otherwise. First the taker of a man's wealth should pay his debts, after
him the son should pay, when there is no son or when the son is very
poor the taker of the wife (shall pay the debt)¹
Nārada (p 47 v 21) says ·
But if a widow has plenty of wealth and has offspring and repairs to
another (man) together with them (the wealth and offspring), that man
must pay the debt contracted by her (deceased) husband or he must
abandon her together with her wealth and offspring
Kātyāyana says :
The debt contracted by liquor-sellers and the like who have no wealth
and no sons should be paid by him who enjoys their wives.²
*Nārada (p 48 v. 23) says ·
Among the three, viz the taker of the wealth (of the deceased), the
taker of his widow and the son, he is liable for the debts (of the deceased)
who takes his wealth; on failure of the taker of the widow and of the
taker of the wealth, the son (is liable for the debt); on failure of the
taker of the wealth and of the son, the taker of the widow (is liable for
the debts)³
1, 'Capable of taking' i e. not liable to be excluded from inheritance for causes
mentioned in Manu IX 201 and Yāj II. 140, 'able to shoulder' i. e. of age and able to
pay back the debt There is an apparent conflict between the second verse of Kāt and Yāj.
II. 51 (rikthagrāha &c) But really there is none Kāt here provides for a special
case viz if there are no assets of the deceased then the son who has much more property
of his own than the taker of the wife (of the deceased) should pay the debt, when the son
is not wealthy and no assets are left by the deceased, then the taker of the wife
should pay.
2. Mandlik translates (p 114) 'śauṇḍika' as drunkard but, this is wrong
3. We must take the third quarter as corresponding to Yājñavalkya's 'putroSnanyā-
s'ritadravyaḥ' But the words of the last quarter seem to be in conflict with the order
proposed by Yāj (viz first 'rikthagrāha', then 'yoṣidgrāha' and then the son who is
'ananyāśritadravya'). Therefore Nārada's last quarter must be taken as referring to a
case where there is no son richer than the second husband or paramour of the widow of the
deceased, as in Kātyāyana's text quoted above (first the taker of the assets should pay &c.).

• P. 188 (text)