1. The 1st defendant in O.S. No. 138 of 1122 of the District Court of Quilon, a suit for partition, is the appellant before us. The 1st plaintiff is the widow of the deceased Krishna Warriar who had married her in the kutiveppu form and the 2nd plaintiff is their daughter. The 1st defendant is the son of the late Madhava Warrier (the brother of Krishna Warrier) and the 5th defendant whom he had married in kutiveppu form. Defendants 2,3 and 4 are his brothers, 6 and 7, his sisters and 8 and 9, the children of the 6th defendant.

2. It is agreed that the marriages of the first plaintiff and the 5th defendant were in the kutiveppu form, that the plaintiffs and the defendants are members of the same Warriar tarwad and that they are entitled to share in the properties of that tarwad. The dispute is as to the mode of division that should be adopted; whether it should be per stirpes or per capita? The lower court has taken the view that the division should be per stirpes or per capita, the widow and daughter of Krishna Warriar getting one half of the property and the widow, children and grand-children of Madhava Warrier, defendants 1 to 9, getting the other half and the only que