Aliyasantana, literally "nephew or niece as heir" in Tulu, is the matrilineal system of inheritance practiced by Tuluva community in the Tulunaad region of Karnataka, India. It is similar to the Marumakkathayam system of Kerala. Nephew here means son of only one's sister (brother's son is not considered as the heir).
According to the Keralolpathi, a text by the Nambuthiri Brahmin community, Kerala Perumal, a Kshatriya prince from medieval Kerala, migrated to the Tulu region via boat. He settled there, married a Jain princess, and introduced the Aliya Santana to them. This narrative highlights the historical connections and cultural exchanges between Kerala and the Tulu region during that period.
Another popular belief in Tulunadu is that it had its source in the law promulgated by Bhà «tÃÂla-PÃÂndya, the sovereign prince who ruled this country at one time and that it was introduced by him. The popular version of it is contained in the Memorandum submitted to the Malabar Marriage Commission by one of its members, Mundappa BangÃÂra. "The Bhà «tÃÂla-Pandya's Aliya-santÃÂna Lawâ shows that it was introduced by a despotic prince called Bhà «tÃÂla-PÃÂndya about the year 77 A.D., superseding the makkala-santana or inheritance from father to son which then prevailed (in what is now South Kanara). It is said that when the maternal uncle of DÃÂva-PÃÂà Âdya wanted to launch his newly constructed ships with valuable cargo in them, Kundà Âdara, king of demons, demanded a human sacrifice. Déva-PÃÂà Âdya asked his wife's permission to offer one of his sons but she refused, while his sister, SatyÃÂvati, offered her son Jaya-Pandya, for the purpose. Kundà Âdara, discovering in the child signs of future greatness, waived the sacrifice and permitted the ships to sail. He then took the child, restored to him his father's kingdom of JayantikÃÂ, and gave him the name Bhà «tÃÂüa-PÃÂà Âdya.
Subsequently, when some of the ships returned with immense wealth, the demon again appeared and demanded of DÃÂva-PÃÂà Âdya another human sacrifice. He again consulted his wife, she refused to comply with the request and publicly renounced her title and that of her children to the valuable property brought in the ships. KundÃÂdara then demanded Deva-PÃÂà Âdya disinherit his sons of the wealth which had been brought in those ships, as also of the kingdom and to bestow all on his sister's son, Jaya-PÃÂà Âdya or Bhà «tÃÂla-PÃÂà Âdya. This was accordingly done. And as this prince inherited his kingdom from his maternal uncle and not from his father, he ruled that his own examples must be followed by his subjects and it was. Thus the aliya-santÃÂna system was established on the 3rd MÃÂgha à Âudha of the year 1 of the era of SÃÂlivÃÂhana called Ià ¡vara about A.D.77. Bhà «tÃÂüa-Pandya is said to have ruled for 75 years and his nephew, Vidyadyumna-PÃÂà Âdya, for 81 years.