History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t1.163

v4.c63.t1.163

A widow who has attained years of discretion may adopt although she is a minor according to the Indian Majority Act (of 1875). It has been held in Bengal that an unchaste¹²⁶⁸ widow cannot adopt, but in the Bombay Presidency it has been held that a śūdra widow, though unchaste, may make a valid adoption.¹²⁶⁹ If a man dies leaving a widow D and two sons A and B, who form a joint Hindu family, and subsequently A dies leaving a widow C and his brother B, and if B dies unmarried and the mother D succeeds as heir to her unmarried son B, she has still the power to adopt a son. The duty of continuing the line was cast upon both A and B and not on A alone and therefore when A dies that duty is cast on the surviving coparcener B. Therefore the proposition laid down in *Ramkrishna v. Shamrao* cannot apply and the mother of B can adopt (vide *Anant v. Dnyaneshwar* 46 Bom. L. R. 353).