History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.267

v4.c63.t2.267

*Bandhu* (cognate).¹⁴⁵¹ It has been seen above (on p. 742) how the Dāyabhāga shuffles cognates among the gotrajas literally so called. According to the Mit. bandhus are sapiṇḍas of the deceased belonging to a different gotra. Bandhus succeed under the Mit., the V. Mayūkha and all other authorities except those of the Dāyabhāga school only on failure of samānodakas (or sodakas). It will have been noticed from the discussion above that gotrajas, whether sapiṇḍas and samānodakas, are all agnates (and in some cases their wives) i. e. persons related to the deceased by unbroken male descent. The bandhus are persons related to the deceased through one or more females. The basic texts on the inheritance of *bandhus* are three verses attributed to Vṛddha-Śātātapa or Baudhāyana. They may be translated as follows: ‘The sons of one's father's sister, the sons of one's mother's sister and the sons of one's maternal uncle—these are to be known as *ātmabandhus* (one's own bandhus); the sons of one's father's father's sister, the sons of one's father's mother's sister, the son's of one's father's maternal uncle—these are to be known as one's *pitṛbandhus* (father's bandhus); the sons of one's mother's father's sister, the sons of one's mother's mother's sister, the sons of one's mother's maternal uncle—these are to be known as the *mātṛbandhus* (mother's bandhus).¹⁴⁵² The Mit. states on this text that bandhus are of three kinds viz. ātma-bandhus, pitṛbandhus and mātṛbandhus and that ātmabandhus succeed before pitṛbandhus on account of their greater propinquity to the deceased and pitṛbandhus succeed before the mātṛbandhus.¹⁴⁵³ The treatment of the rights of bandhus in the Mit. and other commentaries and digests is very meagre. This has led in modern times to a bewildering mass of case law on the inheritance of bandhus.