Regarding the law about inheritance our text advises: "If there be four wives of a Brāhmana in the direct order of varnas, the rule for the division of estate among the sons born of them is as follows: ... Let the son of the Brähmani wife take three shares, the sons of Kshatriya two, the son of the Vaishya a share and a half, and the son of the Shūdra may take one share.. Or the Brāhmana son shall take four shares, the son of the Kshatriya wife three, the son of Vaishya shall have two parts, the son of Shūdra may take one share. Whether a Brāhmana have sons or have no sons (by wives of the twice-born castes) he should, according to law, give to the son of a Shūdra no more than a tenth part of his estate[1] (ix, 149-155).
Our writer does not give any rules regarding the division of property of a Kshatriya and Vaishya among sons by wives of different grades.
A Shūdra could marry a wife of his varna only. But he could have slaves and sons from them. Our writer has held that these sons deserve some share in the inheritance (ix, 179).
Our writer gives another very peculiar rule: "Whatever property may have been given by her father to a wife, the daughter of a Brāhmani wife or her issue shall take that property" (ix, 398), i. e.: If a Brāhmana has wives of Brāhmana and Kshatriya varnas the daughter of the Brāhmani should succeed to the property of the Kshatriya woman.
- ↑ Evidently our writer has contradicted himself. According to the first rule given above the son of Shūdra wife could claim two-thirteenths of the property.
