Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.753

c7.753

§ 22. *The joint-family.* The basis of the Indian joint-family is that the different members of it should dwell in the same house, take their meals and perform the divine service at the same time and enjoy their property in common.¹ The joint preparation of food and eating at the same table are the external signs of homogeniety in the family as well as in the far wider organisations of castes (*jāti*), and the members of the family are therefore directly called the community of *ekapākena vasatām* i. e. "those who cook in common" (Bṛh. 25, 6). It is quite understandable that the Smṛtis should attach great importance to the "cult of manes, Gods and Brahmans" and therefore recommend the division of property, because in that case the cult which was formerly observed jointly would be separately performed in each household (l. c.; cf. M. 9, 111).