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368
LAWS OF MANU.
IX, 188.
188. But on failure of all (heirs) Brâhmanas (shall) share the estate, (who are) versed in the three Vedas, pure and self-controlled; thus the law is not violated.
Bandhus or cognates are also implied by the term Sakulya. His explanation of the first words also differs from Kull.'s, and is more in accordance with the rules of grammar, 'He who is the nearest to the Sapinda, i.e. to the legitimate son and the son of the daughter -(viz.) the five, the wife and the rest (mentioned by Yâgñ. II, 135-136).' Râgh. and Kull. are clearly under the spell of Yågr., and most improperly transfer into Manu's text the ideas of the latter. Når.'s short disjointed remarks are not very clear. He explains the first words by eshâm madhye sapindânâm ato tho[yo]nantaro yathả putrasya pità tasya tatpitetyâdi tasya tasya taddhanam, Among those Sapindas the nearest to him, i.e. the father to his son, his father to him, and so forth; always to him that estate shall belong). He then enumerates, on failure of the father, the brother and his son, the grandfather, the Samânodaka, the Sagotra, and the Bandhu, i.e. the maternal uncle and the rest,' as successive heirs, and explains Sakulya by Bandhu.
Nand., whose text has a faulty reading sapindarhah, asserts that pinda (sapinda ?) means 'the deceased,' and explains the first line by saying, 'Always to him who is the Sapinda nearest to the deceased the wealth, the estate, shall belong—the repetition (of the word tasya) shows the successive order.' The Sakulyas are, according to him, the Samânodakas. He reads sakulyah syuh, Sakulyas shall be the heirs.'
188. Gaut. XXVIII, 41; Vas. XVII, 84-86; Baudh. I, 13, 14; Vi. XVII, 13-14. The phrase 'on failure of all (heirs),' i.e.' of those mentioned' (Râgh.), or of all males and females, related in any way (to the deceased),' (Nand.), indicates according to Kull. that other unnamed persons, such as fellow-students, are also entitled to inherit. 'Brâhmanas,' i.e. such as live in the same village' (Nar.).
Pure,' i. e. 'careful of external and internal purity' (Kull.), or better who are of good conduct' (Når.). According to Kull. and Râgh., the meaning of the last clause is that the Brahmanas who inherit the estate will offer the funeral sacrifices, and thus no violation of the law regarding the Sraddhas will occur. Når. points out that this rule, as the following verse shows, refers solely to the property of a Brâhmana.
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