History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.473

v4.c63.t2.473

Another frequent subject of litigation in modern times has been a concubine's right of maintenance under the Hindu Law. It has been held that a concubine has no legal right to claim maintenance from her paramour during the latter's lifetime, as he can discard her at any time and as she cannot compel him to keep her.¹⁵⁸³ So also a Hindu is not entitled to transfer joint family property to a concubine for her maintenance during his lifetime.¹⁵⁸⁴ But on the death of the paramour a great difference is made in the rights of a concubine that was in his *exclusive keeping till his death*. Such a concubine has been held to possess a legal right to maintenance payable out of the estate, ancestral or self-acquired as the case may be, in the hands of those who take it after the death of the paramour. The rights of women, who are not wives, to maintenance are based mainly on two texts, viz. of Nārada and Kātyāyana, that are explained in the Mit., the V. Mayūkha and other medieval works. Nārada says:¹⁵⁸⁵ 'A king devoted to dharma should give maintenance to the women (*strī*) of a deceased person (when the king succeeds as heir by escheat), except when the deceased person is a brāhmaṇa'; while Kāt. (931) states,¹⁵⁸⁶ 'heirless property goes to the king after keeping aside (wealth sufficient to provide) for the women (*yoṣit*), the dependents (or servants) and the funeral rites and śrāddhas (of the deceased)'.