History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c73.130.5

v5.c73.130.5

'Wife and others take the wealth' is said by Yāj. (in II. 135-36). The following words are 'now (the author) declares an exception to both.' This clearly refers to Yāj. (II. 137) and not to Vijñāneśvara and so 'uktam' also must refer to Yāj. and not to Vijñāneśvara. Therefore, according to the Mit. the great-grandson is included in the extended meaning of the word 'putra', is entitled just like a son or a grandson to offer śrāddha (in default of a son or grandson) and to take the wealth and pay the debts of the ancestor. In the matter of payment of debts there is, on account of the difference in the period that elapses, a difference between all the three descendants if no ancestral wealth is left by the ancestor, viz. the son pays the debt with interest, the grandson only the principal lent but without interest and the great-grandson nothing at all. This shows that even between the son and the grandson that are expressly mentioned by Yāj. II. 50 as to the payment of debts there is a difference and that as the great-grandson had to pay nothing when no ancestral property existed he was not mentioned at all in Yāj. II. 50.