jainmath moodbidri anciant recordscollection
ramarani research centre
district are known as ‘Aliya Santana’ or ‘Aliya Kattu’. As the name itself implies, Aliya

Santana is a system of inheritance in which succession is traced through the ‘female line’.

Here the property descends through the mother, from uncle to nephews-children of the sister.

The term is the exact Kannada translation of the Malayalam term Marumakkathayom.

The story behind Aliya Santana law was that it was first introduced in the era of

Shalivahana called Ishwara by a jain prince called Bhutala Pandya in the year 77 AD in

suppression of the Makkala Santana or inheritance from father to son, which was prevailing

then. When the maternal uncle of this prince called Deva Pandya wanted to launch his newly

constructed ships with valuable cargo in them, Kundodara,dharmadeva(spirit worship not devil) the king of Demons, appeared and

demanded a human sacrifice. Deva Pandya asked his wife’s permission to offer one of his

seven sons but she refused. His sister Satyavalli, however, offered her son Jaya Pandya for

the purpose. Kundodara discovering in the child signs of future greatness waived the sacrifice

and permitted the ships to sail. Subsequently, when the ships brought immense wealth, the

demon again appeared and demanded from Deva Pandya another human sacrifice. Deva

Pandya again consulted his wife, who refused to comply with the request. She publicly

renounced her right and that of her children to the valuable property brought in the ships.

Kundodara then commanded Deva Pandya to disinherit his sons of the wealth brought in the

ships and the kingdom. He bestows the wealth and kingdom on his sister’s son, Jaya Pandya,

who was named thereafter Bhutala Pandya. As Butala Pandya inherited his kingdom from his

maternal uncle and not from his father, he ruled that this inheritance law should be followed

by his subjects. Thus the Aliya Santana law came in to practice since in the era of

Shalivahana. However, there is no historical basis for this story. Matriarchal or Aliya Santana

system is followed mainly by south canarian digamberJains, Bunts, Billavas, Marakalas, and Baragas and the lower

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