History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.255.4

v5.c72.255.4

Though some of the latest works on dharmaśāstra like the Nirṇayasindhu⁵⁸⁷ and Dharmasindhu (bhāryayāpi samantrakam-eva-aurdhvadehīkādikaṁ kāryam) allowed the wife to perform rites after death with vedic mantras, several works such as the Mārkaṇḍeya-purāṇa and the Brahmapurāṇa did not allow the wife to repeat Vedic mantras (vide note 583 above). In default of the wife, the daughter has the right to perform rites after death if the deceased was separated and not re-united. But if the deceased was joint then his full brother would be the proper adhikārin after the wife. Among daughters the married one is preferred, though an unmarried daughter is a preferable heir. In default of daughters, the daughter's son is an *adhikārin*; then a brother, then a brother's son. Among brothers a full brother is preferred to a half brother and if there be both elder and younger brothers, then the younger is preferred for performing rites after death (in order to make as near an approach as possible to the relation of father and son). If there be no younger brother, then even an elder one could be *adhikārin*; in default of full brother, a half brother. Some held that even if the deceased was separate from his brother and had a daughter or daughter's son as heir the funeral rites were to be performed by the brother (and not by the daughter or her son), since a sagotra is to be preferred as an adhikārin to one of a different gotra.