Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.829

c7.829

If there is no relation to inherit, the property reverts to the king (Gaut. 28, 42 etc.). Thus if a merchant on a sojourn from outside dies in his kingdom, even in such a case, the king shall seize his property; if any direct heir (dāyāda) or relation (bandhu, jñāti) does not turn up within ten years to claim the property, then the king retains it (Nār. 3, 16-18). Perhaps Indian princes made a still more extensive use of this law of reversion than is permitted in the Smṛtis. Thus in the Śakuntalā 138 f. (ed. Pischel) it is considered self-evident that the property of a rich merchant shipwrecked in the sea, amounting to several millions, should go to the king if the merchant has no son. King Kumārapāla after his return voluntarily resigns his claim on the property of those who died without any son to succeed them (Bühler, Hemacandra 30).