History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.750.1

v4.c63.750.1

Nār. VII. 8 states that there are seven kinds of *datta* gifts, i. e. gifts or transfers that cannot be resumed because they are made by a person in full possession of his faculties and of things that belong to him absolutely and are not forbidden. They are: the price paid for goods bought, wages, what is paid for pleasure (derived from dancing, singing, wrestling), a gift through affection, a gift made in gratitude, money paid to a bride's kinsmen, and gifts for spiritual or charitable purposes. Acc. to Bṛ.⁸¹⁸ (SBE vol. 33 p. 343 verse 8) there are eight kinds of valid gifts. Nār. VII. 9-11 mentions sixteen kinds of invalid gifts, which have already been set out (in H. of Dh. vol. II. p. 887 where Gaut. V. 22 that specifies some invalid gifts has also been cited). Vide Kāt. 647. The difference between gifts of *adeya* and *adatta* gifts is this. In the first class of cases, the gifts being forbidden are entirely null and void, while *adatta* gifts are those that are voidable and may be set aside by the court on the application of the donor himself, because, of the incapacity of the donor due to intoxication, lunacy, old age, minority, mistake etc. Kāt. 646 and Kauṭ. (III. 13) state that if a man⁸¹⁹ is in danger of life and promises the gift of all his property to whomsoever may save him, he may resile from the promise and pay only what an expert or arbitrator may award. Kāt. (650–651) defines *utkoca* (bribe)⁸²⁰ as what is obtained in these ways viz.