The Rashtrakutas and their Times c21.178

c21.178

During our period adverse possession was regarded as creating a substantive title, if it extended continuously for three generations. A verse to this effect occurs at the end of the Kadba plates of Govinda III, (139) and the theory of adverse possession advocated therein agrees entirely with the dictum of Nārada that even an illegally acquired estate cannot be recovered by its rightful owner, if the adverse possession had extended over three generations. This epigraphical confirmation of the view of the Nārada Smṛti will show that the portions dealing with the civil law in the Dharmaśāstra literature were usually based on actual practice, as Nīlakaṇṭha maintains. (140)