‘Ancestral property ‘:-
“All property inherited by a male Hindu from his father, father’ s father or father’ s father’ s fathers is ancestral property.1” This definition of co-parcenary property and ancestral property is common to both Mitakshara and Dayabhaga law.
The Sanskrit word for ancestral is…meaning, “belonging to”…This word father, means in the plural number, all the paternal male ancestors of the father in the male line, how high soever; accordingly…God the Creator, is called…meaning grand-father or grand ancestor of all persons; and the names of the great-grand-father and other ancestors are formed from that term by affixing some particle and words as…and son2.
1 The Principles of Hindu Law by D. F. Mulla (Twelfth Edition). See Gurdip Kaur vs Ghamand Singh Dewa Singh, AIR 1965 P H 238
2 See para 20 in Pandithurai And Anr. vs Sivalingam And Ors,(1987) 2 MLJ 80