History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.478.1

v4.c63.t2.478.1

Kauṭ. also similarly prescribes (III.¹⁵⁸⁷ 5. p. 161), 'the king takes heirless property except that of *śrotriyas*, setting apart (wealth) for the maintenance of women (of the deceased), for funeral rites and for poor or wretched (dependents of the deceased)'. The Mit., the V. Mayūkha, the Par. M. and others state that the verses of Nār. and Kāt. refer to *avaruddha-strī* alone, since the word *patnī* (duly wedded wife) does not occur therein, but only the words '*yoṣit*' and '*strī*'.¹⁵⁸⁸ There has been a great divergence of views in the decided cases about the significance of *avaruddha strī*. It is generally rendered as 'a concubine or mistress in the exclusive keeping of a person till the latter's death'. Several conditions are necessary to constitute a woman an *avaruddha strī* capable of claiming maintenance from the estate of her deceased paramour in the hands of his sons or other heirs. In the first place, she must have been continuously and exclusively in his keeping till his death. How long she should have been thus in his keeping cannot be fixed by any hard and fast rules. She must have been so long in his keeping continuously till his death that it can be said that the connection had become permanent. In *Bai Nagubai v. Bai Monghibai* a period of five years was deemed to be sufficient.