Devala-smriti (critical study)
by Mukund Lalji Wadekar | 1982 | 67,394 words
This essay represents an English study of the Devala-smriti—an ancient text attributed to sage Devala classified as belonging to the Dharma-Shastra branch of Indian literature which encompasses jurisprudence and religious law. This study deals with the reconstructed text of the Devalasmriti based on surviving references, emphasizing Devala’s unique...
15.4. Stridhana: its nature and devolution
[Full title: (G) The distinctive legal features; (3) Stridhana: its nature and devolution].
According to Devala (1604), the stridhana (woman's peculiar property) consists of Maintenance (vrtti), ornaments, bride's gratuity (sulka) & profits of money-lending (Labha). Kautilya (3/12/16) explains stridhana to be consisting of means of subsistence (vrtti) & ornaments. Thus there is much verbal & cloctrinal parity 27 between the two. While Manu (IX.194), Yajnavalkya (2/143-144) enumerate & explain stridhana in a different way. Devala does not verbally agree with them. The author (1611) maintains that stridhana is to be equally shared by her sons & unmarried daughters, when she is not alive. But if she has no progeny, it should devolve upon her husband, mother, brothers or father. Thus the order of succession or devolution of stridhana is also pointed out. 28 It is remarkable that Devala like Kautilya (3/2/42-45) & some smrtis like Manu, Brhaspati, Sankhalikhita, Katyayana etc. main- 29 1 tains that both, daughters & sons, possess equal right of inheritance 30 for stridhana. While others (e.g. Gautama, Yajnavalkya, Visnu, Narada, Paraskara etc. opine that it devolves upon daughters only as immediate successors.