History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.262

v4.c63.t2.262

*Samānodakas*. According to the Mit. gotrajas are either sapiṇḍas or samānodakas. The word 'samānodaka' has a technical meaning. Acc. to Manu V.60, 'the sapiṇḍa relationship ceases with the seventh person; the relationship of samānodaka¹⁴⁴⁸ ends when birth (in the family) and name are no longer known'. This occurs in the chapter on impurity. The Mit. declares that the samānodakas comprise males seven generations beyond the sapiṇḍas or all males (beyond sapiṇḍas) whose birth (in the same family as that of the deceased) and name are known. It quotes a text of Bṛhan-Manu, 'the sapiṇḍa relationship ceases with the seventh person; the relation of samānodaka ceases after the 14th; according to some it extends as far as the memory of name and family (or birth) reach; the gotra is said to extend up to that'. 'The samānodakas comprise the 7 ascendants of a person after the great-grandfather's great-grandfather, the 13 descendants of these seven ascendants, the 7 descendants after the 6th descendant of his 6 male ancestors from his own father; and descendants of himself from the 7th to the 13th. The Privy Council have ruled¹⁴⁴⁹ in a recent case that, according to the Mitākṣarā school, samānodaka relationship does not extend beyond the 14th degree (from and inclusive of the common ancestor of the claimant and the propositus).