Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.765

c7.765

As in the regulations about greetings so in other cases too the mother or the matron (gṛhiṇī), is frequently placed at the side of the father. In the enumerations of Gurus in the Smṛtis she is to some extent placed even above the father (M. 2, 145 etc.), and the Mah. 13, 105, 15 too gives the highest place to the mother among the Gurus. The real as well as the adoptive mother takes part in the adoption (§ 20). The calumniations in which insulting words are said of the mother is punished more severely than those about the sister or the daughter (Vi. 5, 33 f.). In the law of inheritance, according to M. 9, 217, when male descendants are wanting, the mother or even the paternal grandmother of the testator is to inherit the property and according to M. 9, 190 (otherwise in 9, 146), the widow has to manage the paternal property for the son raised through Niyoga and later if male descendants are lacking she is considered to be the heiress to her husband; for details about the position of the widow see §§ 20, 23 f.