History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t1.71

v4.c63.t1.71

Mr. Kishori Lal Sarkar in his Tagore Law Lectures on the Mīmāṁsā rules of interpretation states (p. 21) that 'Mitākṣarā bears the impress of Buddhistic influence'. For this proposition he advances hardly any substantial evidence that will bear scrutiny. His reasons are mostly subjective and he refers to no ancient or medieval Buddhistic texts that elaborate the principle of taking property by birth or the rule of propinquity in deciding questions of inheritance, which two are the most fundamental tenets of the Mitākṣarā system. It appears that the evolution of the son's right to partition, of his equality with his father, of the absolute rights of a person to his self-acquisitions was a gradual indigenous growth and had nothing to do with Buddhistic thought. Buddhists had hardly any independent set of juristic ideas or works different from those of the Brahmanical jurists and in medieval times countries like Burma professing Buddhism turned to Brahmanic codes like that of Manu for regulating succession, inheritance and allied matters.¹²¹⁹ Vide pp. 559-560 about the origin of Dāyabhāga doctrines.