History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.295

v4.c63.t2.295

Yāj. (II. 137) states a special rule¹⁴⁷¹ which is an exception to the general rule of inheritance laid down in II. 135-136 viz. '(the heirs) who take the wealth of a forest hermit, a *yati* (ascetic), a (perpetual) vedic student are in order the (vedic) teacher, a virtuous pupil, one who is looked upon as a brother and belongs to the same order'. According to the Mit. the heirs mentioned are to be taken in the reverse order of the words of the text i. e. the ācārya (who is mentioned first among the three heirs) is to be taken as the heir of the last of the three mentioned in the first half of the verse, so that the teacher, good pupil and the person looked upon as brother are respectively the heirs of the perpetual student, the ascetic and the forest hermit. According to the Dāyabhāga also the reverse order has to be taken, but it says that the wealth of the forest hermit, yati and perpetual student is taken respectively by one looked upon as brother, a worthy pupil and teacher, but that in the absence of these, any one who is in the same āśrama as the deceased may take it. According to the Madanaratna¹⁴⁷² the order of heirs is the direct one, that is, the teacher, good pupil and accepted brother take the wealth of the forest hermit, ascetic and perpetual student, since the Viṣṇu Dh. S. (17. 15-16) expressly says so. The Mit. adds that a brahmacārin is of two kinds viz. perpetual (*naiṣṭhika*) and *upakurvāṇa* (who intends to remain as a student for some time and then marry in order to confer the benefit of male progeny on his ancestors), that Yājñavalkya's words apply only to the former, that if the latter (*upakurvāṇa*) leaves any wealth of his own it is taken by his mother, father and the other heirs. The Mit. further says that a worthy pupil is one who is capable of studying the philosophical parts of the Veda, of understanding them and of acting up to them, that a badly behaved pupil will not succeed, so also a badly conducted teacher shall not succeed. The Mit. explains that Yāj. III. 47 allowed a forest hermit to accumulate materials that will be enough to meet his needs for a day, a month or six months or a year and so he may on his death leave some wealth. Similarly, though an ascetic was required by Gautama (III. 10) to make no accumulation of wealth, yet even an ascetic requires clothes to cover his body, he has his sandals and books on Yoga and the like; and so also the perpetual student requires these.