दायभागकथनम्The law of inheritance
Verse 56
यदा पितृकुले न स्यान्मृतस्य धनभाजनम् । पूर्वोक्तविधिना रिक्थं मातामहकुलं भजेत् ॥ ५६ ॥
yadā pitṛkulē na syānmṛtasya dhanabhājanam | pūrvōktavidhinā rikthaṁ mātāmahakulaṁ bhajēt || 56 ||
Translation
When there is no one in the dead man's father's family to receive the wealth, the property goes, by the rule told before, to his mother's father's family.
Word by word
- yadā
- when
- pitṛ
- of the father
- kulē
- in the family
- na
- no
- syāt
- is
- mṛtasya
- of the dead man
- dhana
- of the wealth
- bhājanam
- (bhājanam) receiver
- pūrva
- before
- ukta
- told
- vidhinā
- by the rule
- rikthaṁ
- the property
- mātāmaha
- of the mother's father
- kulaṁ
- the family
- bhajēt
- goes to
Meaning
Only when the whole paternal line fails does the maternal line inherit.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
But when in the father's line of the departed there is no one to receive the wealth, to which family does that property go? To that he says "yadā" and the rest. When in the dead man's father's family there is no receiver of the wealth, no fit recipient for it, then by the rule told before, the procedure told earlier, the property, the dead man's wealth, goes to the mother's father's family.