History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c28.s2.96

v2.c28.s2.96

The rights of women as regards partition and inheritance will be discussed in detail later on. But a brief statement about them may be made here. Āp., Manu, and Nārada do not allow the widow of a sonless male to succeed as heir, while Gaut. 28. 19 appears to contemplate that she is an heir along with *sapiṇḍas* or *sagotras*. That the widow's right to succeed as heir to her deceased husband was not recognised in ancient times is clear from the Śākuntala (Act VI) where the minister writes to the king that the estate of a merchant dying at sea will escheat to the crown and will not go to his widow. Yāj. II. 135. mentions the widow as the first heir of a sonless man dying separate; Viṣṇu, Kātyāyana and others say the same. So in medieval times the rights of widows to property were better recognized than in the times of the early sūtra writers. In this respect the position of women improved in medieval times, though in the religious and other spheres their position became worse, as they were equated with śūdras. Yāska while explaining Ṛg. I. 124. 7 states that in the southern countries the widow of a sonless man goes to an assembly hall, stands upon a stool and when the members strike her with dice she gets the property of her deceased¹³⁶⁰ husband. This implies that in Nothern India widows did not succeed to their husband's property in Yāska's time.