दायभागकथनम्The law of inheritance
Verse 23
औद्वाहिकेऽपि सम्बन्धे ब्राह्मी भार्या वरीयसी । अपुत्रस्य हरेद्रिक्थं पत्युर्देहार्धहारिणी ॥ २३ ॥
audvāhikē’pi sambandhē brāhmī bhāryā varīyasī | aputrasya harēdrikthaṁ patyurdēhārdhahāriṇī || 23 ||
Translation
In the relationship by marriage too, the brāhmī wife is the more worthy: she, who shares half her husband's body, takes the property of a man without a son.
Word by word
- audvāhikē
- by marriage
- api
- too
- sambandhē
- in the relationship
- brāhmī
- the brāhmī
- bhāryā
- wife
- varīyasī
- more worthy
- aputrasya
- of a sonless man
- harēt
- takes
- rikthaṁ
- the property
- patyuḥ
- (patyuḥ) of the husband
- dēha
- of the body
- ardha
- half
- hāriṇī
- who shares
Meaning
The brāhmī wife is the one married by the Vedic (brāhma) rite, as distinct from the śaivī wife of the śaiva rite (chapter 9). As "half her husband's body" she inherits from a husband who left no son; "sonless" here means, the commentary says, without son, grandson or other male descendant.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
Now, of the brāhmī and the śaivī wives, the brāhmī alone, being the better, takes the wealth of her husband who died without a son: this he tells with "audvāhike 'pi" and the rest. Even in the relationship by marriage, the relationship arising from wedlock, the brāhmī wife, married by the rite told in the Veda, is greater (varīyasī), far better, than the śaivī wife. Since she takes half of the body of her husband, her lord, therefore the brāhmī wife alone should take the property (riktha), the wealth, of her dead husband who had no son. "Sonless" stands for one without son, grandson and the rest. "Varīyas: in the senses of heavy and best," says the lexicon; "riktha, ṛktha, dhana, vasu (wealth)," says the lexicon.