दायभागकथनम्The law of inheritance
Verse 55
अतः स्नुषायां पौत्र्याञ्च सत्यां दुहितरि प्रिये । प्रेतस्य विभवं हर्तुं नैव शक्नोति तत्पिता ॥ ५५ ॥
ataḥ snuṣāyāṁ pautryāñca satyāṁ duhitari priyē | prētasya vibhavaṁ hartuṁ naiva śaknōti tatpitā || 55 ||
Translation
So when the son's wife, the granddaughter and the daughter are alive, O beloved, the dead man's father cannot take his property.
Word by word
- ataḥ
- (ataḥ) so
- snuṣāyāṁ
- the son's wife
- pautryāṁ
- the granddaughter
- ca
- and
- satyāṁ
- being alive
- duhitari
- the daughter
- priyē
- O beloved
- prētasya
- of the dead man
- vibhavaṁ
- the property
- hartuṁ
- to take
- na
- not
- ēva
- at all
- śaknōti
- can
- tat
- his
- pitā
- father
Meaning
The objection the commentary meets: surely the living father, a male, should inherit before these women? No: the property is still descending, and in descending property one born above has no precedence. The women take it in their order.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
"Ataḥ". O dear one, therefore, because in wealth that goes downward the one born above is not the better, while the departed man's daughter-in-law, his son's wife, his granddaughter and his daughter are living, present, his father cannot take the departed man's property (vibhava, wealth); those women, in their order, are able to take the dead man's wealth: that is the sense.