Judgment

KRISHNA IYER, J. :- An intricate point of Hindu Law bearing on an adoption by a widow and its impact on an earlier partition in the coparcenary all prior to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 arise for decision in this appeal by certificate against the decree of the Mysore (now Karnataka) High Court. The plaintiff succeeded in both the Courts and the aggrieved second defendant who is the appellant before us has confined his challenge to two major contentions, although a few minor matters also require our attention in working out the ultimate relief.

2. Now the facts : A small family of Gowd Saraswat Brahmins of Belgaum had, as its head, one Mahadev and as coparceners his two sons Gajanand (Defendant No. 1) and Kashi Nath, who died in 1921 leaving behind a widow, Rakhama Bai (Defendant No. 3) and a daughter Lilavati. The plaintiff is Lilavati s son, i.e. the daughter s son of late Kashi Nath. Gajanand, the first defendant had an only son, Shripad the second defendant. Long years after the demise of her husband the third defendant adopted the palintiff on Feb. 16, 1956. In the considerable interval that elapsed, a partition took place in the family on April 24, 1944 between the th