JUDGMENT

1. The subject matter of the litigation which has led up to this appeal is property comprised in a religious endowment created for the benefit of a family idol by the Will of one Kali Prasanna Pramanik. The Will was executed on the 10th March 1889, and was registered on the 7th June 1889. Pramanik died on the 29th April 1894 leaving behind him three, widows, Brajamati, Gayatri and Dwarika ,Sundari and an adopted son, Hiranmoy. The relationship of the members of the family will be gathered from the following pedigree:

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2. The Will recited that the ancestral deity of the testator, Salgram named Iswar Lakshmi Narayan, had been daily worshipped in his house for a long time, and then proceeded to make the following provisions for its perpetual sheba:

My ancestral and self-acquired Immovable properties marked (ka) and (kha) mentioned in the schedule below, shall, after my death, be debuttar property of my above-mentioned deity Sri Iswar Lakshmi Narayan Salgram. My heirs or representatives shall not have any claim, demand; or right to or on all those properties; neither shall all those properties be sold for the debt of any one (of them) and no one shall be entitled to give away or sell the same and mortgage the same and none shall have any objection. Only from the income of the said properties, the sheba and other ceremonies on the festival occasions of the said idol shall be performed for ever, according to the rules introduced by me. If for any reason the said idol disappears, not being found out, then any; one of the shebaits named below fin the Will: in whose time the said Uri to ward event shall take place, shall, on consecrating another Narayan Idol, perform such sheba, festivities and other acts, And for the performance of all those acts, I appoint Srimati Brajamati Dasi, my eldest wife, and Srimati Dwarika Sundari Dasi, my youngest wife, and Sriman Hiranmoy Pramanik, my Damusyayan adopted son, these three persons, as sheba its executrixes and, executor. Of these three persons, first my eldest wife Srimati Brajamati Dasi, and on her death my youngest wife Srimati Dwarika Sundari Dasi for her life time, and on their demise, Sriman Hiranmoy Pramanik with sons and grandsons, and father heirs in succession, being managers in this manner one after another, shall carry on for ever, the sheba, etc., of the said idol, with the income of the said properties. The shebaits shall not be entitled to take loans on account of Thakur sheba or for any other reasons; even, if they do so, the said debuttar properties left by me shall not be liable for such debt. Purther, among the shebaits, if any of them, not dying in the order they have been named dies otherwise, in that case, whoever among those shebaits shall be living shall carry on the sheba and festival ceremonies of the said Thakur. And after the death of Sriman Hiranmoy Pramanik, his sons, grandsons, and others in succession, being shebaits of the said idol, shall perform sheba and all other acts. God forbid, if during the life time of my eldest wife or youngest wife or in the lifetime of any one of my wives, Hiranmoy: dies without leaving sons or grandson or a daughter likely to have a son or daughter's sons, or without taking a son in adoption or without giving permission to his (Hiranmoy's) wife to adopt a son, in that case my eldest wife, and on her demise my youngest wife appointing a shebait of the said idol according to her wish, shall be entitled to make him, with sons, grandsons, and other heirs in succession, shebaits of the said idol; thereto no sort of objection of any of my heirs and representatives shall be tenable and admissible. God forbid, if the shebait of the said Thakur be altogether extinct, contrary to the above-mentioned provisions; in that case, whoever among my neighbours shall be of good lineage, experienced and of good character and shall be living at that time, shall after appropriating Rs. 50 per annum for his personal allowance etc., carry on the s