State and Government in Ancient India c20.213

c20.213

Ownerless and heirless property was naturally claimed by the state. At a time when widows were not recognised as heirs to their husbands' property, the state would take the whole of it, of course sanctioning a reasonable maintenance to the widows.² The recognition of widow as an heir adversely affected the state's interests; we find many administrations refusing to countenance the reform down to the 12th century,³ though it was advocated by jurists as early as the 3rd century A.D. The tax on persons dying without a son mentioned in some Chālukya and Yādava records⁴ was no doubt a kind of compenstion claimed by the state for recognising the new right of the widow.