History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.1020

v4.c63.1020

The principal heads discussed under the *vyavahārapada* called *dāyabhāga* are two, viz. partition and inheritance. For at least a thousand years there have been two schools that widely differ on these two heads; they are respectively known as the school of the Mitākṣarā and that of the Dāyabhāga on account of the pre-eminent position of these works in the respective schools. The latter school is predominant in Bengal while the former prevails in the whole of India excepting Bengal. But even in Bengal there are in modern times families governed by the law of the Mitākṣarā. This work in intention and scope does not profess to be a treatise on modern Hindu Law. It concerns itself with pointing out what the law of the Smṛtis and writers of medieval digests was and has to eschew an exhaustive discussion of the modern case-law and legislative enactments that have made the Hindu Law appear in many respects to be entirely different from the law of the commentaries and digests. Generally speaking, only very important divergences made by legislation and case law in the ancient and medieval Hindu Law can and may be pointed out here.