The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c14.s1.7

c14.s1.7

Amongst women, a brotherless daughter was thus the first to get her right of inheritance recognised. This happened as early as the time of the Ṛigveda, for there is no doubt that one of its early hymns refers to a brotherless daughter getting her share of patrimony³. This right of inheritance, however, was not an unmixed blessing. The Vedic age put a high premium on the son, and sons-in-law were often unwilling to allow their sons to revert back to the families of their maternal grandfathers. In the present age there is a keen competition for the hand of a maiden, who is her father’s heir; in the Vedic age she found it not always easy to marry and had often to remain a spinster¹. Even when the father of a brotherless daughter gave an assurance that he did not regard her as a Putrikā and would not claim her son, prospective bridegrooms feared that there may be a mental reservation behind the promise². They would usually refuse to accept the daughter and her estate.