mitakshara

Mitakshara is a classical Hindu law treatise, a commentary on Yajnavalkya’s Dharmashastra, attributed to the 11th-century scholar Vijñāneśvara. It gave rise to the Mitakshara school of Hindu law, which became the prevailing legal framework in much of the Indian subcontinent from medieval times until modern codifications. The text, together with related commentaries, sets out rules governing personal law, including marriage, adoption, succession, and inheritance.

A central feature of Mitakshara law is the concept of coparcenary. In a Hindu undivided family, property is held as a coparcenary belonging to the male line. Sons acquire an interest by birth and can demand partition; the father acts as the head and manages the estate during his lifetime. Daughters do not hold coparcenary rights by birth, although their legal status evolved under later reforms and statutory changes.

Mitakshara contrasted with the Bengal-based Dayabhaga school, which offered a different approach to inheritance and women’s rights. In modern India, the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, amended in 2005, has aligned coparcenary rights more closely with daughters, granting them equal status in many respects within the broader framework of Hindu personal law.

Today, Mitakshara remains a foundational reference in the study of classical Hindu law, providing historical insight into traditional property regimes and the evolution of reform movements across India.