Vijnaneshvara is a Hindu (12th c.) Author of the Mitakshara, a lengthy commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smrti, which is itself a work of dharma literature, or religious obligation books.
This specific piece of criticism was crucial to the British
administration of India.
The British were mostly content to have traditional
religious laws govern their Indian subjects, but they needed a standard to do
so.
The Mitakshara was given the status of traditional law and was used as a legal code in large parts of British India.
Bengal, where the Dayabhaga was the legal authority, was the
only major part of India where Hindus were not subject to this.
One of the major differences between the two was in matters
of inheritance.
The Mitakshara stresses inheritance by survivorship, in
which only living males can inherit property, whereas the Dayabhaga stresses
inheritance by succession, in which a dead man’s heirs can inherit in his name.
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