[56] The significance and insignificance of the seed and the womb have thus been proclaimed to you. After that I will explain the law for dealing with women when one is in extremity.
[57] The wife of the elder brother is the guru’s wife to the younger brother; but the wife of the younger brother is traditionally regarded as the daughter-in-law to the elder brother. [58] If, when he is not in extremity, an elder brother has sex with the wife of a younger brother, or a younger brother with the wife of an elder brother, both of them fall even if they have been appointed (to have a child). [59] When the line of descendants dies out, a woman who has been properly appointed should get the desired children from a brother-in-law or a co-feeding relative. [60] The appointed man, silent and smeared with clarified butter, should beget one son upon the widow in the night, but never a second. [61] Some people who know about this approve of a second begetting on (such) women, for they consider the purpose of the appointment of the couple incomplete in terms of duty. [62] But when the purpose of the appointment with the widow has been completed in accordance with the rules, the two of them should behave towards one another like a guru and a daughter-in-law. [63] If the appointed couple dispense with the rule and behave lustfully, then they both fall as violators of the bed of a daughter-in-law and a guru.
[64] Twice-born men should not appoint a widow woman to (have a child with) another man, for when they appoint her to another man they destroy the eternal religion. [65] The appointment of widows is never sanctioned in the Vedic verses about marriage, nor is the remarriage of widows mentioned in the marriage rules. [66] For learned twice-born men despise this as the way of animals, which was prescribed for humans as well when Vena was ruling the kingdom. [67] Formerly, he was a pre-eminent royal sage who enjoyed the whole earth, but his thinking was ruined by lust and he brought about a confusion of the classes. [68] Since that time, virtuous men despise any man who is so deluded as to appoint a woman to have children when her husband has died. [69] If the (intended) husband of a girl dies when their promises have been given verbally, her own brother-in-law should take possession of her, according to this rule: [70] when she is wearing a white dress and has made an unpolluted vow, he should have sex with her in accordance with the rule, and he should make love with her once during each of her fertile seasons, until there is a child.
[71] An intelligent man who has given his daughter to someone should not give her again, for a man who gives and then gives again is lying to someone. [72] Even if a man has accepted a girl in accordance with the rules, he may reject her if she is despised, ill, or corrupted, or if she was given with something concealed. [73] If anyone gives away a daughter with a flaw and does not mention it, that (gift) from the evil-hearted daughter-giver may be annulled.
[74] A man may go away on a journey on business only after he has established a livelihood for his wife; for even a steady woman could be corrupted if she is starving for lack of livelihood. [75] If he goes away on a journey after providing a livelihood, she should subject herself to restraints in her life; but if he goes away on a journey without providing for her, she may make her living by crafts that are not disapproved of. [76] If the man has gone away on a journey to fulfil some duty, (she) should wait for him for eight years; (if he has gone) for learning or fame, six; for pleasure, three years.
[77] A husband should wait for one year for a wife who hates him; but after a year, he should take away her inheritance and not live with her. [78] If she transgresses against a husband who is infatuated, a drunk, or ill, he may deprive her of her jewellery and personal property and desert her for three months. [79] But if she hates him because he is insane, fallen, impotent, without seed, or suffering from a disease caused by his evil, she should not be deserted or deprived of her inheritance.
[80] A wife who drinks wine, behaves dishonestly, or is rebellious, ill, violent, or wasteful of money may be superseded at any time. [81] A barren wife may be superseded in the eighth year; one whose children have died, in the tenth; one who bears (only) daughters, in the eleventh; but one who says unpleasant things (may be superseded) immediately. [82] But if a woman who is kind and well-behaved becomes ill, she should be superseded (only) when she has been asked for her consent, and she should never be dishonoured. [83] And if a woman who has been superseded should leave the house in fury, she should be locked up immediately or deserted in the presence of the family. [84] But if she drinks wine at celebrations, even when she has been forbidden, or goes to public spectacles or crowded festivals, she should be punished by a fine of six ‘berries’.
[85] If twice-born men take women of their own and other (classes), their seniority, reverence, and dwelling place should be (established) according to the order of their class. [86] For all husbands, a woman of his own (class), and never a woman of another caste, should care for his body and perform the obligatory daily duties. [87] But if man is so deluded as to have this done by a woman other than the one that he has of his own caste, he is just like someone that people in ancient times regarded as a ‘Fierce’ Untouchable priest.
[88] A man should give his daughter, in accordance with the rules, to a distinguished, handsome suitor who is like her, even if she has not reached (the right age). [89] But it would be better for a daughter, even after she has reached puberty, to stay in the house until she dies than for him ever to give her to a man who has no good qualities. [90] When a girl has reached puberty she should wait for three years, but after that period she should find a husband like her. [91] If she herself approaches a husband when she has not been given one, she commits no error, nor does the man whom she approaches. [92] A girl who chooses her own bridegroom should not take with her the jewellery given to her by her father, mother, or brothers; if she took that away, she would be a thief.
[93] Nor should a man who takes away a girl when she has reached puberty give a bride-price to her father; for (the father) would have neglected his charge over her by impeding (the fulfilment of) her fertile seasons. [94] A thirty-year-old man should marry a twelve-year-old girl who charms his heart, and a man of twenty-four an eight-year-old girl; and if duty is threatened, (he should marry) in haste. [95] A husband takes his wife as a gift from the gods, not by his own wish; he should always support a virtuous woman, thus pleasing the gods. [96] Women were created to bear children, and men to carry on the line; that is why the revealed canon prescribes a joint duty (for a man) together with his wife.
[97] If the man who gave the bride-price should die after the bride-price has been given for the girl, the girl should be given to the brother-in-law, if she consents. [98] Not even a servant should accept a bride-price when he gives his daughter, for a man who takes a bride-price is covertly selling his daughter. [99] Neither in the ancient past nor in recent times did good men ever promise (a girl) to one man and then give her to another; [100] nor have we heard that, even in former aeons, a daughter was ever covertly sold for a sum of money that was called a bride-price.
[101] ‘Let there be mutual absence of infidelity until death’; this should be known as the supreme duty of a man and a woman, in a nutshell. [102] A man and woman who have performed the (wedding) ritual should always try not to become separated and unfaithful to one another.
[103] The duty of a man and a woman, which is intimately connected with sexual pleasure, has thus been described to you, as well as the way to obtain children in extremity. Now learn about the division of inheritance.
[104] After the father and mother (are dead), the brothers should assemble and divide the paternal estate equally, for they have no power over the two of them while they are alive. [105] But the eldest brother may take the paternal property without leaving anything, and the rest live off him as if he were their father. [106] As soon as his eldest son is born a man becomes a man with a son, and no longer owes a debt to his ancestors; that is why the (the eldest) deserves to have the whole (estate). [107] The son to whom he transfers his debt and by whom he wins eternity is the one born out of duty; peopl
e know that the others are born out of desire. [108] The eldest brother should support his younger brothers as a father (supports) his sons, and in duty they should also behave like sons to their eldest brother. [109] The eldest (brother) makes the family thrive, or else he destroys it; the eldest is most worthy of reverence among people; the eldest is not held in contempt by good men. [110] An eldest (brother) who behaves like an eldest (brother) is like a mother, like a father; but if he does not behave like an eldest (brother) he should be revered like a relative.
[111] They may live together in this way, or they may live separately if they wish for religious merit; for religious merit increases in separation, and so separate rituals are conducive to religious merit. [112] The eldest (son) gets an additional share of one twentieth, as well as the most desirable of all the things, and the middle (son) gets half of that, and the youngest gets a quarter. [113] The eldest and the youngest take theirs as has been stated; whatever others there are between the eldest and the youngest get the (same) property as the middle (son).
[114] The foremost in birth should receive the foremost of all the various properties, and he should take whatever particular thing is exceptional, and the most desirable of ten (things). [115] There is no additional share among ten for (brothers) skilled each in his own work; but some particular thing should be given to the eldest to give him increased honour. [116] If the additional share has been taken out in this way, equal portions should be allotted (in what remains); but if the additional share has not been taken out, this is how the portions should be allotted among them: [117] the eldest son should take one extra portion, the next in age one and a half, and one share for each of the younger ones. This is the established law. [118] And the brothers should individually give their virgin (sisters) something from their own portions, a quarter share of each one’s own portion. If they did not give this, they would fall. [119] The odd goat, sheep, or whole-hooved animal should never be divided up, but the odd goat or sheep should be allotted to the eldest.
[120] If a younger (brother) begets a son on the wife of the elder (brother), there should be an equal division between them. This is the established law. [121] The surrogate does not have the religious merit of the principal; the principal became a father when his son was begotten, and so according to law he should share with him.
[122] If the youngest son (is born) in the first wife, or the first-born son in the youngest wife, and there is uncertainty about how the division should be made between them, [123] the first-born son should take the one (best) bull as his additional share, and then the other, (next-) best bulls (should be given) to those who are inferior to him, according to their mothers. [124] But when the eldest son is born in the eldest wife, he should take fifteen cows and a bull, and after that the remaining (sons) may take their shares according to their mothers; this is the established rule. [125] Between sons born of wives of equal (class), and otherwise undistinguishable, there is no seniority according to their mothers; seniority is said to come from (the order of) one’s own birth. [126] It is also traditionally said that the invitation set down in the verses of invocation to Indra (should be spoken) by the eldest-born, and the seniority of two twins in (several) wombs is traditionally said to be according to (the order of) their birth.
[127] A man with no son may make his female child an appointed daughter by means of this formula: ‘Whatever children are born in her will offer the refreshment for the dead for me.’ [128] In this way in ancient times Daksa himself, a Lord of Creatures, created appointed daughters in order to increase his dynastic line. [129] He gave ten to Dharma, thirteen to Kaśyapa, and twenty-seven to King Soma, with honour and an affectionate heart. [130] A son is just like one’s self, and a daughter is equal to a son. How can someone else take (the father’s) property when she stands for his self? [131] Whatever separate property the mother has is the share of her daughter alone; if a man dies sonless, his daughter’s son alone should take his entire property. [132] For a man’s daughter’s son should take his entire property if the father has no son, and he must give two balls at the ceremony for the dead, one to his father and one to his mother’s father. [133] There is no distinction between a son’s son and a daughter’s son in worldly matters according to law, for the father (of the one) and the mother (of the other) were born from the (same) body by the (same) man. [134] But if a son is born to a man after he has made his daughter an appointed daughter, the division between the two of them would be equal; for there is no primogeniture for a woman. [135] But if an appointed daughter should somehow die sonless, the husband of that appointed daughter may take her property without hesitation. [136] Whether a daughter is appointed or not, the son that she bears to a man of the same (class) makes her father a man who has a grandson, and that (grandson) should give the balls for the dead and take the property.
[137] A man wins worlds through a son, and he gains eternity through a grandson, but he reaches the summit of the chestnut horse through the grandson of his son. [138] Because the male child saves (trāyate) his father from the hell called put, therefore he was called a son (putra) by the Self-existent one himself. [139] There is no distinction between a son’s son and a daughter’s son in worldly matters, for a daughter’s son also saves him in the world beyond, just like a son’s son.
[140] The son of an appointed daughter should make the offering of the first ball for the dead to his mother, the second one to her father, and the third to her father’s father. [141] If a man has an adopted son endowed with all good qualities, that (son) should take his estate even if he was brought from (a family of) another lineage (of the sages). [142] An adopted son should never take the lineage of the sages and the estate of his natural father; the balls for the dead follow the ritual lineage and the estate, and the refreshment for the dead of the man who gives (his son for adoption) dies out.
[143] The son of a woman who has not been appointed and the son fathered by a woman’s brother-in-law when she already has a son – neither of these deserves a share, since one is the son of an adulterer and the other the child of lust. [144] The man born even in an appointed woman when the rules have not been followed does not deserve the paternal estate, for he was begotten by a fallen man. [145] But the son born in an appointed woman should take (his share) in the estate just like a natural son, for according to law, that seed and the offspring belong to the owner of the field. [146] A man who maintains the property and the wife of his dead brother should beget a child for his brother and give his property to him alone. [147] If a woman who is appointed gets a son born of lust from some other man, or indeed from her brother-in-law, they say that that son is not fit to inherit the estate, and begotten in vain.
[148] This should be known as the rule for the division (of inheritance) among sons born in one womb. Now learn (the rule for the division) among (sons) born of one man among many and various wives.
[149] If a priest has four wives, this is the traditional rule for the division among the sons born in them in order (of class): [150] the ploughman, the bull for the cows, the wagon, the jewellery, and the house should be given as the additional share to the (son of the woman of the) priestly (class), as well as one principal part. [151] The son of the woman of the priestly class should take three parts of the property, the son of the woman of the ruling class two parts, the son of the commoner woman one and a half parts, and the son of the servant woman should take one part. [152] Or else a man who knows the law should divide the entire estate in ten and make a just distribution, in the following way: [153] the (son of the woman of the) priestly (class) should take four parts, the son of the woman of the ruling class three parts, the son of the commoner woman should take two parts, and the son of the servant woman should take one part. [154] If the man has a good son, or even if he does not have a good son, according to law he should not give more than one tenth to his son by a servant woman. [155] The son born of a priest, ruler, or commoner father in a servant woman does not (automatically) share in the estate;
whatever his father will give him, that precisely will be his property. [156] After they have given an additional share to the eldest, all the other sons born of twice-born men in women of the same class should share equally. [157] But a wife of his own class, and no other, is prescribed for a servant; all the sons born in her should have equal shares, even if there are a hundred.
[158] Manu the son of the Self-existent spoke of twelve sons that men have, of whom six are both relatives and heirs, and six are relatives but not heirs. [159] Natural, born in the (husband’s) field, adopted, made, secretly begotten, and rejected – these six (sons) are both relatives and heirs. [160] Born of an unmarried girl, born of a pregnant bride, bought, born of a remarried woman, self-given, and born of a servant woman – these six (sons) are relatives but not heirs. [161] The kind of reward that a man gets when he sets out to cross over water in bad boats is the kind of reward that a man gets when he sets out to cross over the darkness with bad sons. [162] If a man has two sons who are heirs to one estate, and one is a natural son while the other was born in the (husband’s) field, each one, but not the other, should take the estate of his (natural) father. [163] The natural son and he alone is master of his father’s wealth, but for the sake of mercy he should give a livelihood to the rest. [164] And when the natural son divides up the paternal inheritance, he should give a fifth or a sixth part of his father’s property to the son born in the (husband’s) field.
[165] The natural son and the son born in the (husband’s) field (thus) share the father’s estate, but the other ten (sorts of sons) share in the lineage (of the sages) and in a part of the estate, in this order: [166] the son that a man begets himself in his own field, in his legally married wife, he should recognize as his natural son, the first in rank. [167] The son born in the marriage-bed of a man who is dead, impotent, or diseased, in a woman appointed according to the special law, is traditionally regarded as born in the (husband’s) field. [168] The son whom the mother or father gives away in extremity, with libations of water, is to be known as the adopted son, if he is affectionate towards and like (the adopting father). [169] But the one whom a man makes his son, who is like him, knows the difference between right and wrong, and has the qualities of a son, he is to be recognized as a made son. [170] And the one who is begotten in the house when no one knows by whom is the son secretly begotten in the house, and he belongs to the man in whose marriage-bed he was born. [171] The one whom a man receives when he has been deserted by his mother and father or by either one of them is called the rejected son.
The Laws of Manu Page 31