History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.228.8

v4.c63.228.8

The great-grandfather, the grandfather and the father of a man may die in the space of ten years and if the great-grandfather took possession wrongfully and all died within ten years of the time of taking possession one after another, the fourth in descent might urge that there was possession for three generations and that he had become owner. Therefore Kāt. in another verse (318, q. by Aparārka p. 636 and V. P. p. 155) laid down that unbroken possession for three generations extending over sixty years becomes firm (independent means of proof of ownership). Thus *tripuruṣa-bhoga* or *pūrvakramāgata-bhoga* (in Yāj. II. 27) means the same thing as possession continuing from a time beyond human memory (*asmārta-kāla*) and is equal to 60 years acc. to Kāt., Vyāsa and a few other smṛti writers⁴⁶⁰. Nārada (q. by Aparārka p. 636) says that as regards possession one generation means twenty years, while Bṛ. (q. by Sm. C. II. p. 72) says it means thirty years. It will be noticed from the above that early authors like Gaut., Manu., Yāj. appear to lay down 20 years' adverse enjoyment of land as sufficient to create ownership, while other and comparatively later authors like Nār. and Kāt. require sixty years enjoyment. In order to remove this conflict and following the maxim that apparently conflicting texts should be reconciled as far as possible, the writers of commentaries and digests from Viśvarūpa and Medhātithi (on Manu VIII. 148) downwards proposed various interpretations of Yāj.