KINSHIP, INHERITANCE AMONG MUSLIMS 47 When a daughter or sister receives her share of parental property it generates strained relations with brothers and other Khandan kins of her natal home. And it often leads to constant conflict and rivalries between parents and sons, parents and daughters, brothers and brothers and brothers and sisters. Most of the land disputes between the kins are subjected to litigation in court. According to a revenue and Panchayat report, litigation on property division in a Muslim village is much higher than in a Hindu village. The complicated rules of inheritance lead to endless friction that sometimes break the kinship solidarity among the Muslims. When the married daughter or sister inherits the parental property she tries to live at or near the parental village to cultivate the land or to look after the property. This generally causes friction with other relatives off and on. This also forces one to change the pattern of residence, resulting in the break-up of the family structure. When a person dies without issues and has no nearest con-sanguinal and affinal kins (Nekot Khandan and Nekot Kutumb) distant consanguinal and affinal kins (Gwati Khandan and Dur-Swamparkar Atmiyas) claim the deceased's property according to their relationship and in most cases these end up in litigation. When daughters inherit land, Khandan kins fear that the property will leave the descent group and never come into the hands of collaterals. This is the main reason for strenuous attempts by father, brothers and other Khandan collaterals to retain land within the lineage and not to allow daughters and sisters to inherit it. This feature suggests that the practice of preferential marriages like parallel and cross-cousin marriages and the resident sons-in-law (Gharjami) is devised to keep the property within the group. Although the family is the basic unit of production, there are members in some families who hold cultivable land independently and produce crops individually not as a product of family enterprise. The woman who inherits cultivable land from her parents generally does not like to place her land at the disposal of the joint family of her husband. She may allow only her husband to look after the proudce of her plots. Thus, in spite of the family being the basic unit of production, smaller units are formed within the family Jitself which promotes the breaking up of the joint family structure. Due to constant division, cultivable land becomes so small that it cannot be cultivated in most cases. This leads to lack of interest in cultivation and sale of land to others. This is the main