Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c8.34

c8.34

Rather two anonymous texts quoted in the Mit. 191 f. (1, 1, 31 f. Colebrooke) may refer to a joint ownership and to the village community’s right of cancellation. One of these texts declares the sale of immovables to be generally inadmissible and even says that it is possible to mortgage it only with the permission (of those in authority); according to the other text alienation of the ownership of a piece of land is subject to six conditions, namely the consent of the village community (*svagrāma*), of the relations, neighbours (*sāmanta*) and of the heirs and the gift of gold and water (symbol of a gift). The commentators of course interpret this text in all possible manners; as for example, they find in it the assistance of the village community etc., in merely authenticating the act; yet however the passage may be a relic of a time or region in which the community actually possessed the right of prohibiting the alienation of property.