It is different from the natural
relationship of male and female which consists only in the desire for
sexual pleasure. This also was said by the king alluded to of Janaka's
race.'[289]
"Yudhishthira said, 'Upon what authority is the wealth of men inherited
(by others when they happen to have daughters)? In respect of her sire
the daughter should be regarded the same as the son.'
"Bhishma said, 'The son is even as one's own self, and the daughter is
like unto the son. How, therefore, can another take the wealth when one
lives in one's own self in the form of one's daughter? Whatever wealth is
termed the Yautuka property of the mother, forms the portion of the
maiden daughter. If the maternal grandfather happens to die without
leaving sons, the daughter's son should inherit it. The daughter's son
offers pindas to his own father and the father of his mother. Hence, in
accordance with considerations of justice, there is no difference between
the son and the daughter's son. When a person has got only a daughter and
she has been invested by him with the status of a son, if he then happens
to have a son, such a son (instead of taking all the wealth of his sire)
shares the inheritance with the daughter.[290] When, again, a person has
got a daughter and she has been invested by him with the status of a son,
if he then happens to take a son by adoption or purchase then the
daughter is held to be superior to such a son (for she takes three shares
of her father's wealth, the son's share being limited to only the
remaining two).
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