Mitakshara

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The Mitakshara is a legal treatise on inheritance, written by Vijnaneshwara a scholar in the Western Chalukya court in the 12th century. It became one of the most influential texts in Hindu law, and its principles regarding property distribution, property rights, and succession are still in practice across most of India except for West Bengal and Assam where the Dayabhaga system is practised. A salient feature is the principle of division of ancestral property held by the Hindu joint family. Partition of such landholding among offsprings is possible even with the father still living unlike the Dayabhaga system

The work was first translated into English by Henry Thomas Colebrooke in the early 19th century.

[edit] References

• Suryanath U. Kamat, A Concise history of Karnataka from pre-historic times to the present, Jupiter books, MCC, Bangalore, 2001 (Reprinted 2002) OCLC: 7796041
• K.A. Nilakanta Sastri, History of South India, From Prehistoric times to fall of Vijayanagar, 1955, OUP, New Delhi (Reprinted 2002), ISBN 019560686-8

[edit] Exrenal links

• The Importance of Mitakshara in the 21st century by Justice Markandey Katju