The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 13.49: ekonapañcāśattamo'dhyāyaḥ

13.49.1

yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
brūhi putrānkuruśreṣṭha varṇānāṃ tvaṃ pṛthakpṛthak |
kīdṛśyāṃ kīdṛśāścāpi putrāḥ kasya ca ke ca te || 1 ||

"Yudhishthira said, 'Do thou discourse to us, O sire, upon the orders and classes separately, upon different kinds of sons begotten upon different types of women, upon the person entitled to have them as sons, and upon their status in life. It is known that disputes frequently arise with respect to sons. It behoveth thee, O king, to solve the doubts that have taken possession of our minds. Indeed, we are stupefied with respect to this subject.'

13.49.2

vipravādāḥ subahuśaḥ śrūyante putrakāritāḥ |
atra no muhyatāṃ rājansaṃśayaṃ chettumarhasi || 2 ||

13.49.3

bhīṣma uvāca |
ātmā putrastu vijñeyastasyānantarajaśca yaḥ |
niyuktajaśca vijñeyaḥ sutaḥ prasṛtajastathā || 3 ||

"Bhishma said, 'The son of one's loins is regarded as one's own self. The son that is begotten upon one's wife by a person whom one has invited for the task, is called Niruktaja. The son that is begotten upon one's wife by somebody without one's permission, is Prasritaja. The son begotten upon his own wife by a person fallen away from his status is called Patitaja. There are two other sons, viz., the son given, and the son made. There is another called Adhyudha. The son born of a maiden in her father's house is called Kanina. Besides these, there are six kinds of sons called Apadhwansaja and six others that are Apasadas. These are the several kinds of sons mentioned in the scriptures, learn, O Bharata!

13.49.4

patitasya ca bhāryāyāṃ bhartrā susamavetayā |
tathā dattakṛtau putrāvadhyūḍhaśca tathāparaḥ || 4 ||

13.49.5

ṣaḍapadhvaṃsajāścāpi kānīnāpasadāstathā |
ityete te samākhyātāstānvijānīhi bhārata || 5 ||

13.49.6

yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
ṣaḍapadhvaṃsajāḥ ke syuḥ ke vāpyapasadāstathā |
etatsarvaṃ yathātattvaṃ vyākhyātuṃ me tvamarhasi || 6 ||

"Yudhishthira said, 'Who are the six that are called Apadhwansajas? Who also are the Apasadas? It behoveth thee to explain all these to me in detail.'

13.49.7

bhīṣma uvāca |
triṣu varṇeṣu ye putrā brāhmaṇasya yudhiṣṭhira |
varṇayośca dvayoḥ syātāṃ yau rājanyasya bhārata || 7 ||

"Bhishma said, 'The sons that a Brahmana begets upon spouses taken from the three inferior orders, those begotten by a Kshatriya upon spouses taken from the two orders inferior to his own, O Bharata, and the sons that a Vaisya begets upon a spouse taken from the one order that is inferior to his,--are all called Apadhwansajas. They are, as thus explained, of six kinds. Listen now to me as I tell thee who the Apasadas, are. The son that a Sudra begets upon a Brahmana woman is called a Chandala. Begotten upon a Kshatriya woman by a person of the Sudra order, the son is called a Vratya. He who is born of a Vaisya woman by a Sudra father is called a Vaidya. These three kinds of sons are called Apasadas. The Vaisya, by uniting himself with a woman of the Brahmana order, begets a son that is called a Magadha, while the son that he gets upon a Kshatriya woman is called a Vamaka. The Kshatriya can beget but one kind of son upon a woman of a superior order. Indeed, the son begotten by a Kshatriya upon a Brahmana woman, is called a Suta. These three also are called Apasadas. It cannot be said, O king, that these six kinds of sons are no sons.'

13.49.8

eko dvivarṇa evātha tathātraivopalakṣitaḥ |
ṣaḍapadhvaṃsajāste hi tathaivāpasadāñśṛṇu || 8 ||

13.49.9

caṇḍālo vrātyavenau ca brāhmaṇyāṃ kṣatriyāsu ca |
vaiśyāyāṃ caiva śūdrasya lakṣyante'pasadāstrayaḥ || 9 ||

13.49.10

māgadho vāmakaścaiva dvau vaiśyasyopalakṣitau |
brāhmaṇyāṃ kṣatriyāyāṃ ca kṣatriyasyaika eva tu || 10 ||

13.49.11

brāhmaṇyāṃ lakṣyate sūta ityete'pasadāḥ smṛtāḥ |
putrareto na śakyaṃ hi mithyā kartuṃ narādhipa || 11 ||

13.49.12

yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
kṣetrajaṃ kecidevāhuḥ sutaṃ kecittu śukrajam |
tulyāvetau sutau kasya tanme brūhi pitāmaha || 12 ||

"Yudhishthira said, 'Some say that one's son is he that is born in one's soil. Some, on the other hand, say that one's son is he who has been begotten from one's seed. Are both these kinds of sons equal? Whore, again, is the son to be? Do thou tell me this, O grandsire!

13.49.13

bhīṣma uvāca |
retajo vā bhavetputrastyakto vā kṣetrajo bhavet |
adhyūḍhaḥ samayaṃ bhittvetyetadeva nibodha me || 13 ||

"Bhishma said, 'His is the son from whose seed he has sprung. If, however, the owner of the seed abandons the son born of it, such a son then becomes his upon whose spouse he has been begotten. The same rule applies to the son called Adhyudha. He belongs to the person from whose seed he has taken his birth. If, however, the owner of the seed abandons him, he becomes the son of the husband of his mother. Know that even this is what the law declares.'

13.49.14

yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
retojaṃ vidma vai putraṃ kṣetrajasyāgamaḥ katham |
adhyūḍhaṃ vidma vai putraṃ hitvā ca samayaṃ katham || 14 ||

"Yudhishthira said, 'We know that the son becomes his from whose seed he has taken birth. Whence does the husband of the woman that brings forth the son derive his right to the latter? Similarly, the son called Adhyudha should be known to be the son of him from whose seed he has sprung. How can they be sons of others by reasons of the engagement about owning and rearing them having been broken?'

13.49.15

bhīṣma uvāca |
ātmajaṃ putramutpādya yastyajetkāraṇāntare |
na tatra kāraṇaṃ retaḥ sa kṣetrasvāmino bhavet || 15 ||

"Bhishma said, 'He who having begotten a son of his own loins, abandons him for some reason or other, cannot be regarded as the sire of such a son, for vital seed only cannot create sonship. Such a son must be held to belong to the person who owns the soil. When a man, desiring to have a son, weds a girl quick with child, the son born of his spouse must belong to him, for it is the fruit of his own soil. The person from whose vital seed the son has sprung can have no right to such a son. The son that is born in one's soil but not begotten by the owner, O chief of Bharata's race, bears all the marks of the sire that has actually begotten him (and not the marks of one that is only the husband of his mother). The son thus born is incapable of concealing the evidences that physiognomy offers. He is at once known by eyesight (to belong to another). As regards the son made, he is sometimes regarded as the child of the person who has made him a son and so brings him up. In his case, neither the vital seed of which he is born nor the soil in which he is born, becomes the cause of sonship.'

13.49.16

putrakāmo hi putrārthe yāṃ vṛṇīte viśāṃ pate |
tatra kṣetraṃ pramāṇaṃ syānna vai tatrātmajaḥ sutaḥ || 16 ||

13.49.17

anyatra kṣetrajaḥ putro lakṣyate bharatarṣabha |
na hyātmā śakyate hantuṃ dṛṣṭāntopagato hyasau || 17 ||

13.49.18

kaścicca kṛtakaḥ putraḥ saṃgrahādeva lakṣyate |
na tatra retaḥ kṣetraṃ vā pramāṇaṃ syādyudhiṣṭhira || 18 ||

13.49.19

yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
kīdṛśaḥ kṛtakaḥ putraḥ saṃgrahādeva lakṣyate |
śukraṃ kṣetraṃ pramāṇaṃ vā yatra lakṣyeta bhārata || 19 ||

"Yudhishthira said, 'What kind of a son is that who is said to be a made son and whose sonship arises from the fact of his being taken and brought up and in whose case neither the vital seed nor the soil of birth, O Bharata, is regarded as the cause of sonship?'

13.49.20

bhīṣma uvāca |
mātāpitṛbhyāṃ saṃtyaktaṃ pathi yaṃ tu pralakṣayet |
na cāsya mātāpitarau jñāyete sa hi kṛtrimaḥ || 20 ||

"Bhishma said, 'When a person takes up and rears a son that has been cast off on the road by his father and mother, and when the person thus taking and rearing him fails to find out his parents after search, he becomes the father of such a son and the latter becomes what is called his made son. Not having anybody to own him, he becomes owned by him who brings him up. Such a son, again, comes to be regarded as belonging to that order to which his owner or rearer belongs.'

13.49.21

asvāmikasya svāmitvaṃ yasminsaṃpratilakṣayet |
savarṇastaṃ ca poṣeta savarṇastasya jāyate || 21 ||

13.49.22

yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
kathamasya prayoktavyaḥ saṃskāraḥ kasya vā katham |
deyā kanyā kathaṃ ceti tanme brūhi pitāmaha || 22 ||

"Yudhishthira said, How should the purificatory rites of such a person be performed? In whose case what sort of rites are to be performed? With what girl should he be wedded? Do thou tell me all this, O grandsire!"

13.49.23

bhīṣma uvāca |
ātmavattasya kurvīta saṃskāraṃ svāmivattathā || 23 ||

"Bhishma said, 'The rites of purification touching such a son should be performed conformably to the usage of the person himself that raises him, for, cast off by his parents, such a son obtains the order of the person that takes him and brings him up. Indeed, O thou of unfading glory, the rearer should perform all the purificatory rites with respect to such a son according to the practices of the rearer's own race and kinsmen. As regards the girl also, O Yudhishthira, that should be bestowed in marriage upon such a son, who belongs to the order of the rearer himself, [paragraph continues] All this is to be done only when the order of son's true mother cannot be ascertained. Among sons, he that is born of a maiden and he that is born of a mother that had conceived before her marriage but had brought him fourth subsequent to that are regarded as very disgraceful and degraded. Even those two, however, should receive the same rites of purification that are laid down for the sons begotten by the father in lawful wedlock. With respect to the son that becomes his sire's in consequence of his birth in the sire's soil and of those sons that are called Apasadas and, those conceived by the spouse in her maidenhood but brought forth after marriage, Brahmanas and others should apply the same rites of purification that hold good for their own orders. These are the conclusions that are to be found in the scriptures with respect to the different orders. I have thus told thee everything appertaining to thy questions. What else dost thou wish to hear?"

13.49.24

tyakto mātāpitṛbhyāṃ yaḥ savarṇaṃ pratipadyate |
tadgotravarṇatastasya kuryātsaṃskāramacyuta || 24 ||

13.49.25

atha deyā tu kanyā syāttadvarṇena yudhiṣṭhira |
saṃskartuṃ mātṛgotraṃ ca mātṛvarṇaviniścaye || 25 ||

13.49.26

kānīnādhyūḍhajau cāpi vijñeyau putrakilbiṣau |
tāvapi svāviva sutau saṃskāryāviti niścayaḥ || 26 ||

13.49.27

kṣetrajo vāpyapasado ye'dhyūḍhāsteṣu cāpyatha |
ātmavadvai prayuñjīransaṃskāraṃ brāhmaṇādayaḥ || 27 ||

13.49.28

dharmaśāstreṣu varṇānāṃ niścayo'yaṃ pradṛśyate |
etatte sarvamākhyātaṃ kiṃ bhūyaḥ śrotumicchasi || 28 ||