दायभागकथनम्The law of inheritance
Verse 57
मातामहगतं वित्तं मातुलैस्तत्सुतादिभिः । अध-ऊर्ध्वक्रमेणैवं पुमांसं स्त्रियमाश्रयेत् ॥ ५७ ॥
mātāmahagataṁ vittaṁ mātulaistatsutādibhiḥ | adha-ūrdhvakramēṇaivaṁ pumāṁsaṁ striyamāśrayēt || 57 ||
Translation
Wealth that has gone to the mother's father passes through the mother's brothers, their sons and the rest, in the order down then up, to a man and, failing one, to a woman.
Word by word
- mātāmaha
- the mother's father
- gataṁ
- gone to
- vittaṁ
- wealth
- mātulaiḥ
- (mātulaiḥ) through the mother's brothers
- tat
- their
- suta
- sons
- ādibhiḥ
- (ādibhiḥ) and the rest
- adha
- (adhaḥ) down
- ūrdhva
- then up
- kramēṇa
- in the order
- ēvaṁ
- thus
- pumāṁsaṁ
- a man
- striyam
- (striyam) a woman
- āśrayēt
- goes to
Meaning
The maternal family follows the same order as the paternal: down before up, men before women.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
The property that has gone to the mother's father's family rests, in the order downward then upward, on a male, and failing one on a woman: this he tells with "mātāmaha" and the rest. The wealth that went to the mother's father, that he received, passes by the maternal uncles and their sons and the rest, the uncles' sons and so on, in the order first downward and then upward, as in the father's family, to a man, a male, and failing him to a woman.