1. This appeal arises from a suit for possession of immovable property and for mesne profits. The property in question was owned by one Manikrao, who died on 27th October 1916. The plaintiffs' case is that on his death Vithoba, plaintiff 3, and Janrao, the father of plaintiffs 1 and 2, and the brother of Vithoba, were entitled to succeed as samanodakas. The lower Court has held that Vithoba and Janrao were not entitled to succeed as samanodakas and has dismissed the plaintiff's suit.

2. The decision of the question before us turns, in the first place, upon the interpretation of a text of the Mitakshara (Chap. 2, 3, 5, placitum 6), which has been translated as follows:

If there be none such, the succession devolves on samanodakis and they must be understood to reach to seven degrees beyond sapindas, or else as far as the limits of knowledge as to birth and name extend. Accordingly Vrihat Manu says: ''The relation of the sapinda ceases with the seventh person, and that of samanodakas extends to the fourteenth degree; or as some affirm, it reaches as far as the memory of birth and name extend. This is signified by gothra.

3. The lower Court understands that Vijnaneswara's own opi