History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.114.3

v4.c63.t2.114.3

Kāty. ¹³⁵⁹ (921, 924-925) propounds the limitations of the widow's rights as follows: 'A sonless widow, preserving the bed of her husband (unsullied) and residing with her elders and being self-controlled, should enjoy (her husband's property) till her death; after her the (other) heirs (of the husband) would get it. A wife who preserves (the honour of) the family would get the share of her husband when he is dead till her death, but she has no power to make a gift, sale or mortgage. A widow engrossed in religious observances and fasts, fixed in the vow of celibacy, always intent on restraining her senses and making gifts goes to heaven even though sonless'.¹³⁶⁰ These verses show that the widow was to enjoy the income of her husband's property till her death; that she could not sell or mortgage or give away immovable property without the consent of the heirs that would come after her and that for religious and charitable purposes or those that conduce to the spiritual welfare of her husband a widow had large powers of disposition. These rules have been accepted by modern decisions; vide *Collector of Masulipatam v. Cavaly Vencata* 8 Moo. I. A. 500 at p. 551 for an oftquoted passage about the widow's powers of disposal. There is a large volume of case law on the widow's powers of alienation, on what are religious and charitable purposes and about the consent of the kinsmen, which have to be passed over here.