History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c96.s2.35.3

v7.c96.s2.35.3

These and other changes in the old Hindu Law are possibly motivated by the desire to do justice to the rights of women. But in some cases this is done with a vengeance. For reasons of space only one example of this type is cited. Under Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act and the Schedule of heirs in class I and class II, if a man dies possessed of property leaving only his mother and father (and no sons or wife or other persons) the mother will take the whole estate of her son absolutely to the entire exclusion of the father, since the mother is placed among heirs of class I., while the father is placed in class II and the rule in Sec 8 (a and b) is that heirs put in class II succeed only if there is no heir in class I. Under Yāj II 135 the order of heirs to a man dying without male issue is first the widow, then daughter, then daughter's son or sons, then parents (*pitarau*, the dual is used). Some commentators held that the mother is to be preferred as heir to the father, others held that the father is to be preferred to the mother, while still others held that both parents should succeed together. In the Council of States (Rājyasabhā) the father was put in class I along with the mother, but in the House of the People the mother was put in class I and the father was put as heir in class II Article 15 of the Constitution prohibits discrimination on the ground of sex, religion, race &c.