History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.399

v4.c63.t2.399

How the devolution of strīdhana was dealt with by the commentators has now to be seen. They all prefer daughters to sons for certain kinds of strīdhana. Why the devolution of strīdhana property should be different from that of the property of a male is not clearly explained anywhere. The Mit. on Yāj.¹⁵³⁸ II. 117 gives the reason that woman's property goes to the daughter because in her more particles of the mother's body inhere than in the son. Probably the daughters were preferred as heirs to strīdhana as a sort of equity, when sons were allowed to exclude daughters in the inheritance to the father's wealth.