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DyabhgaWikipedia

Dyabhga
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

TheDyabhgaisaHindulawtreatisewrittenbyJmtavhanawhichprimarilyfocusesoninheritance
procedure.TheDyabhgawasthestrongestauthorityinModernBritishIndiancourtsintheBengalregion
ofIndia,althoughthishaschangedduetothepassageoftheHinduSuccessionActof1956andsubsequent
revisionstotheact.[1]BasedonJmtavhana'scriticismsoftheMitkar,itisthoughtthathisworkis
precludedbytheMitkar.ThishasledmanyscholarstoconcludethattheMitkarrepresentsthe
orthodoxdoctrineofHindulaw,whiletheDyabhgarepresentsthereformedversion.[2]
Thecentraldifferencebetweenthetextsisbaseduponwhenonebecomestheownerofproperty.The
Dyabhgadoesnotgivethesonsarighttotheirfather'sancestralpropertyuntilafterhisdeath,unlike
Mitkar,whichgivesthesonstherighttoancestralpropertyupontheirbirth.Thedigesthasbeen
commentedonmorethanadozentimes.[3]

Contents
1 Translation
1.1 HenryThomasColebrooke
2 Topicscoveredinthedigest
3 SagesMentionedintheDyabhga
4 CentraldifferencesbetweentheDyabhgaandtheMitkar
4.1 Son'sInheritance
4.2 TheRightsoftheWidow
4.3 AncestralProperty
4.4 PersonalProperty
5 Inheritance
5.1 Succession
6 Dharmaratna
6.1 VyavahraMtrk
6.2 KlaViveka
7 Commentaries

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7 Commentaries
7.1 rnthacryacda
7.2 RmabhadraNyylankra
7.3 AcyutnandaCakraviartin
7.4 MahevaraBhacrya
7.5 rksa
7.6 Raghunandana
8 Dating
9 Location
10 HinduSuccessionAct
11 Notes
12 References

Translation
HenryThomasColebrooke
HenryThomasColebrooketranslatedtheDyabhgain1810throughtheuseofmanuscriptsand
pandits.Colebrooke,aCalcuttaSupremeCourtjudge,brokethetextintochaptersandverseswhich
werenotintheoriginaltextandisoftencriticizedfornumerouserrorsintranslation.[4]Rocher
believesthemistakeswereduetothreefactors:[5]
1. TheformatoftheSanskrittexts
2. Thetextsweredeeplyinvolvedwithanancientcivilization,whichthetranslatorswerenotfamiliar
with
3. Themisconceptionthatthetextwaswrittenbylawyers,forlawyers
ColebrookecreatedthedivisionoftwoschoolsofthoughtinIndia,separatingthemajorityofIndia,thought
tofollowtheMitkarandtheBengalregion,whichfollowedtheDyabhgasystem.

Topicscoveredinthedigest
Partitionofthefatherandgrandfather'sproperty
Inheritanceprocedureamongbrothersafterthedeathofthefather
Thoseexcludedfrominheritanceduetodisabilities
Theorderofsuccessionofonewhodieswithoutason
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SagesMentionedintheDyabhga
Manu:AmongSmrtis,ManuisquotedthemostfrequentlybyJmtavhana.[3]
Yajnavalkya
Visnu
Narada
Bhaspati
Katyayana
Vyasa

CentraldifferencesbetweentheDyabhgaandtheMitkar
Son'sInheritance
Thesonhasnorighttothefather'sancestralpropertyuntilafterhisdeath,orthefather'sownership
becomesextinctthroughothermeans,suchasbeingexcludedfromthecasteorbecomingascetic.
ThisisindirectcontrasttotheMitkar,whichgivesthesonsaclaimuponbirth.[3]

TheRightsoftheWidow
Thewidowsucceedsthefather'spropertyrightsonhisdeath,evenincaseswhereheheldproperty
jointlywithhisbrother.[6]

AncestralProperty
Dyabhgastatesthatthefatheristhesolerulerofallproperty,bothancestralandpersonal.Unlike
theMitkar,ancestralpropertyisnotseenascommunal,thereforethefatherdoesnotrequirethe
consentofhissonstoactovertheancestralproperty.Theessentialdifferencebetweenthe
'Dyabhga'andtheMitkarfamilyisthatthe'Dyabhga'seesnodifferencebetweenthefather's
totalcontroloverancestralandpersonalproperty.[6]

PersonalProperty
ThefatherhastherighttodoashewisheswithhispersonalpropertyinboththeTemplate:IAnSTand
theDyabhga.

Inheritance
Succession
Afterthefather'sdeath,thesonswillsucceedhisportionoftheancestralproperty.Thiscanbedone
duringthefather'slifetime,butonlyifthefatherchoosestodoso.Thepropertyisnotcommunally
ownedbythefamily,asitisintheMitkar.Eachsonhastheabilitytodowhathewisheswithhis
portionofthepropertyafterhisfather'sdeath.[7]

Dharmaratna
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TheDyabhgaisoneofthreerecoveredpartsofJmtavhana'sdigest,theDharmaratna.Onlythe
Dyabhgahasbeencommentedon.
Theothersurvivingpartsinclude:

VyavahraMtrk
FocusesontheVyavahra,orjudicialprocedure.Coversthefourtraditionalareasofjurisprudence:[8]
Plaint
Reply
Evidence
Decision

KlaViveka
Focusesontheappropriatetimesfortheperformanceofreligiousdutiesandsacrifices.[3]

Commentaries
MorethanadozencommentarieshavebeenwrittenontheDyabhga.Kneliststhemostimportant
commentatorsas:[9]

rnthacryacda
Dyabhgaippa
(14701540)
TheoldestcommentaryontheDyabhga.
cryacdawastheteacherofjuristRaghunandana.

RmabhadraNyylankra
Dyabhgavivti
(15101570)
Sonofrnthacryacda,oftendefendedhisfatheragainstthecriticismofCakraviartininhis
commentaries.

AcyutnandaCakraviartin
Dyabhgasiddhntakumudacandrik
(15101570)
Oftencriticalofcryacda'scommentarythroughtheuseofextensivequotations.

MahevaraBhacrya
Dyabhgak
(15301600)

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rksa
Dyabhgaprobidhin
(Mid18thcentury)
ConsideredtobethemostpopularofallDyabhgacommentators,withmosteditionsofthe
Dyabhgacontaininghiscommentary.[10]

Raghunandana
Raghunandana(c.16thcentury)wastheauthoroftheDyaTattva.Dayabhagatika(orDayabhaga
vyakhya),acommentaryonDayabhaga,isalsoattributedtohim.
WhetherthiscommentarywasactuallydonebyRaghunandana,oranotherscholarusinghisname,isa
topicofdebate.HenryThomasColebrooke(1810)andJuliusEggeling(1891)suspectedthatitwasnot
authoredbyhim.MonmohanChakravarti(1915),RajendraChandraHazra(1950)andPandurangVaman
Kane(1972),ontheotherhand,ascribedtheworktoRaghunandana.[11]
Thecommentaryretainedhighstandingandwasusedincourttoanswerdisputedquestionsof
Dyabhga.[12]TheCalcuttaHighCourtdeclaredthatRaghunandana'scommentaryoftheDyabhgais
thebestofallcommentaries.[13]

Dating
ThetimeofthewritingisatopicofdebateintheHinduLawfield.Manyofthepreviousauthorsto
whichJmtavhanarefershavebeenlost.ScholarssuchasRjkumrSarvdhikrestimatehis
writingtohaveoccurredinthefifteenthcentury,yetDr.PandurangVamanKnebelieveshewrote
between1090and1130.[14]CommentariesandnamesmentionedintheDyabhgaprovethat
Jmtavhanacannotbeplacedearlierthan1125AD.[15]Thevastdifferencesbetweenscholars
appearonlaterdates.

Location
TheprovisionsrelatingtopropertyrightsarefollowedinWestBengal,BangladeshandAssam.

HinduSuccessionAct
TheHinduSuccessionAct(ActNo.30of1956)resultedinmanychangesbeingmadetoboththe
'MitkarandtheDyabhgasystemsregardingsuccessionandpartition.[3]

Notes
1. Kane,P.V.,HistoryofDharmastra,(Poona:BhandarkarOrientalResearchInstitute,1975),VolumeI,PartII,
703.
2. Rocher,Jimutavahana'sDyabhga:TheHinduLawofInheritanceinBengal,(OxfordUniversityPress,2002),
23.
3. Kane,P.V.,HistoryofDharmastra,(Poona:BhandarkarOrientalResearchInstitute,1975),VolumeI,PartII,
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4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

DyabhgaWikipedia

704.
Rocher,Jimutavahana'sDyabhga:TheHinduLawofInheritanceinBengal,(OxfordUniversityPress,2002),
33.
Rocher,Jimutavahana'sDyabhga:TheHinduLawofInheritanceinBengal,(OxfordUniversityPress,2002),
35.
RobertLingat,TheClassicalLawofIndia,(NewYork:OxfordUP,1973),172.
RobertLingat,TheClassicalLawofIndia,(NewYork:OxfordUP,1973),173.
Rocher,Jimutavahana'sDyabhga:TheHinduLawofInheritanceinBengal,(OxfordUniversityPress,2002),
9.
Kne,P.V.,HistoryofDharmastra,(Poona:BhandarkarOrientalResearchInstitute,1975),VolumeI,PartII,
711.
Rocher,Jimutavahana'sDyabhga:TheHinduLawofInheritanceinBengal,(OxfordUniversityPress,2002),
17.
LudoRocher(2002).Jimutavahana'sDayabhaga:TheHinduLawofInheritanceinBengal:TheHinduLawof
InheritanceinBengal.OxfordUniversityPress.p.16.ISBN9780198031604.
Rocher,Jimutavahana'sDyabhga:TheHinduLawofInheritanceinBengal,(OxfordUniversityPress,2002),
16.
Kne,P.V.,HistoryofDharmastra,(Poona:BhandarkarOrientalResearchInstitute,1975),VolumeI,PartII,
892.
M.Chakravarti,PartI.Bengal,(J.A.S.B.,1915)321327
Kane,P.V.,HistoryofDharmastra,(Poona:BhandarkarOrientalResearchInstitute,1975),VolumeI,PartII,
712.

References
Lingat,Robert(1973).TheClassicallawofIndia.NewYork:OxfordUPPubl.
Chakravarti,M.(1915).Part1.Bengal.J.A.S.B.Publ.
Lingat,Robert(1973).TheClassicallawofIndia.NewYork:OxfordUPPubl.
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