mitakshara

Mitakshara is Vijnaneshwara's eleventh-century commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti, and the name of the school of Hindu law that follows it in most of India except Bengal and Assam, which follow Dayabhaga. Its central idea is the joint family coparcenary: a coparcener acquires an interest in ancestral property by birth, and the interest passes by survivorship, not succession.

Since the 2005 amendment to s.6 of the Hindu Succession Act, a daughter is a coparcener by birth in the same way as a son. The Supreme Court has held that this right does not depend on the father being alive on the date of the amendment.

Example

Under the Mitakshara system, the daughter became a coparcener by birth and could demand partition of the ancestral property.

In Indian law

• Section 6, Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (as amended in 2005)
• Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma, 2020 INSC 487: daughter's coparcenary right by birth

See also

dayabhaga · coparcenary · Hindu undivided family · karta

Read more in the study notes

• Schools of Hindu law: Mitakshara and Dayabhaga (Family Law I - Hindu Law)
• Limitation Act, 1963: salient features, bar of limitation, condonation of delay and legal disability (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
• Power of attorney and will (Drafting, Pleading and Conveyance)
• Dharma and the sources of Hindu law (Family Law I - Hindu Law)
• Hindu marriage and the conditions of a valid marriage (Family Law I - Hindu Law)
• Joint Hindu family and coparcenary (Family Law I - Hindu Law)