Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.717

c7.717

In the Smṛtis generally immediately after the Aurasa we find "the son of the wife" (*kṣetraja*) i. e. the son raised upon her by the husband's brother etc. through Niyoga (§ 20). Five lists mention the "son of the daughter" (*putrikāputra*) in the third place; yet in M. 9, 127—140 he has been placed on an equal footing with the legitimate son and other authors place him at least above the Kṣetraja though Gaut. however recognises him only as the tenth in the order of sons. He is also mentioned in the Mah. 13, 44, 15 and seems to occur already in the ṚV 1, 124, 7 according to the old interpretation which however is extremely doubtful. As on the occasion of Niyoga here too a ceremonius endorsement taken place by which, there being no male issue, the daughter is given away to the bridegroom on the condition that his future son should be regarded as the son of his maternal grandfather. According to another opinion such a declaration was unnecessary and the daughter was to be regarded as the heiress if the father only wished it, or in general if she had no brother with evidently better claim to the property according to the general principles of the Indian law of inheritance. For this reason already in the Nirukta 3, 5 the warning is given against marrying a girl who has no brothers, because the son born of such a marriage would belong not to his father but to his maternal grandfather. This right of the grandfather over his grandson could be bought over from him by the bridegroom, but this view is met with only in the commentaries¹. The heiress daughter may herself be regarded as a son, specially according to Vas. 17, 15 and she occupies a high position in the hierarchy of sons².