History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.654

v4.c63.654

548-550 state that when the father, though living and near, becomes an ascetic (acc. to Viṣṇu), is afflicted with such diseases or calamities as blindness from birth or loss of caste (due to grave sins), lunacy, tuberculosis, leprosy and other (incurable) diseases or when he has left his country or has gone on a long journey or is very old (above 80) the son will have to pay the debt of the father after the twentieth year (from his going abroad). Acc. to V. R. (p. 50) if the father's disease was incurable or if it was certain that he would not return from his journey then the son was bound to pay at once and was not entitled to wait for 20 years. Kāt. (552-553) introduces ⁷⁵¹ a further restriction that even when the father is dead, if the son has not attained years of discretion (i. e. if he is a minor) he need not pay the debt of his father during his minority; but when the proper time to pay arrives he must pay the debt; otherwise the (ancestors) may remain in hell. Thus the son's liability during the father's lifetime or absence was not absolute but limited according to the smṛtis and digests; judicial decisions, however, have brushed all this aside and the son's liability to pay his father's debts during the latter's lifetime is now as absolute as after his death. This will be discussed further on.