History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.1031

v4.c63.1031

¹⁰²¹ It is to be noted that becoming *patita* entailed loss of the ownership of wealth, even according to Indian writers, only if the proper prāyaścittas were not performed. For example, the V. P. (p. 429) states 'पातित्ये न प्रायश्चित्तानाचरण एव स्वत्वनाशो विभागानर्हता च । अन्यथा द्रव्यसाध्यं प्रायश्चित्तमपि पित्रोः स्वद्रव्येण न स्यात्।' Ancient and medieval Hindu jurists were very considerate if one compares their prescriptions with the harsh laws against Non-conformists and Roman Catholics prevalent only about a hundred years ago in England and Ireland as briefly disclosed in Pollard's work 'Conscience and Liberty' pp. 46-48. The Caste Disabilities Removal Act (XXI of 1850) provides that so much of any law or usage in force in British India, which inflicts on any person forfeiture of rights of property or may be held to impair or affect any right of inheritance by reason of his renouncing or having been excluded from the communion of any religion or being deprived of caste, shall cease to be enforced as law in British India. This act, therefore, did away with the effects of being *patita* without undergoing *prāyaścitta* or of being excommunicated by a caste for some grave lapse.