History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.165

v2.c26.165

Another question is how far sapiṇḍa relationship holds good in the case of girls belonging to the family from which one's step-mother comes. The Udvāhatattva (p. 118), the Nirṇayasindhu (p. 289), the Saṁ. Pr. (pp. 695-699), Saṁskāra-Kaustubha (pp. 621-630) and the Dharmasindhu (p. 230) deal with this matter. They all rely on a text of Sumantu¹¹⁰⁰ 'all the wives of one's father are mothers, the brothers of these are one's maternal uncles, their sisters are one's mother's sisters, the daughters of these are one's sisters and the children of these latter are one's sister's children; otherwise there would be *saṁkara* (confusion)'. Two interpretations are placed on this, one view (and that is held by most) is that this lays down sāpiṇḍya only with the persons specifically mentioned,¹¹⁰¹ while another view (this is held by the Saṁ. Pr.) is that there is sāpiṇḍya for four generations from the father of one's step-mother. According to the first view a man cannot marry the daughter or grand-daughter of his step-mother's brother or sister, but his own daughter can marry the son of his step-mother's brother; while according to the second view the latter marriage also would contravene the rule about this extension (*atideśa*) of sāpiṇḍya.