Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.239

c7.239

Even compared with Nār., Brh. appears to belong to a stage of still further development. Thus in Nārada the actual heirship of the widow is not yet mentioned, while Brh. (25,46 ff.) circumstantially develops the theory that the wife is half the body of her husband and therefore she should inherit his property if he dies without male issue. Also the theory of the personal property of the woman (stridhana) is much more elaborate in his work, inasmuch as he extends it even to the immovables. Further, Brh. emphasises that his institutes have reference only to the present age of sins and he is therefore no longer inclined to recognise Niyoga and the secondary sons (24, 12 ff. ; 25, 39 ff.) fully sanctioned by Nār. (12, 80 ff. ; 13, 45 ff.). On the other hand he sanctions Sati (24, 11).