Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c16.6

v2.c16.6

that the mother shall inherit in proportion to her sons’ (or her son’s) share (xviii, 34 f.). According to Nārada, xiii, 12, and Bṛihaspati, xxv, 64 the mother has the same share as a son ; according to Gautama, xxviii, 21 the widow of a sonless man shares his estate with the kinsfolk. Cp. Jolly, *Recht u. Sitte*, espec. 85, 86 ; “Rechtl. Stellung d. Frau bei d. alten Indern,” *Münch. Sitzungsber.*, 1876, p. 452 f., especially, however, the more precise account in Meyer, *Altind. Rechtsschr.*, p. 78 foot-81 ; also Kauṭilya, 243.17-245.18. Mention must be made also of the old wise man Yājñavalkya. When he leaves his house for a Samyāsin’s life, he wishes beforehand, as something calling for no remark, to divide his belongings between his two wives left behind. Bṛihadāraṇyaka-Upanishad, ii, 4.¹. If a man dies, leaving neither wife nor offspring behind him, his property goes to his mother. So Manu, ix, 217; Bṛihaspati, xxv, 63. According to Vishṇu, xvii, 4 ff. only when his father also is dead; and Manu, ix, 185 only names the father and brothers. The sonless widow is by Nārada, xiii, 28-31, left wholly to the mercy of the husband’s kinsfolk.