History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.1025

v4.c63.1025

The word 'dāya' though derived from the root 'dā' (to give) does not apply to 'heritable wealth' in the literal sense (of gift).¹⁰¹⁸ The word dāya is rather conventionally used, though derived from the root 'dā'. In a gift (as stated in H. of Dh. vol. II. p. 841) there are two chief ingredients viz. 'abandoning one's ownership over a thing' and 'bringing about the ownership of another in that thing'. But in the case of dāya the deceased does not of his own accord abandon his ownership with the idea of creating ownership in another. The two (dāna and dāya) are analogous in this that in both there is cessation of the ownership of a man in a thing.