Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.721

c7.721

The adoptive sons are: the "given" son (datta, dattaka), who is given away by his parents in adoption, the "made" or "artificial" son (kṛta, kṛtrima), who is adopted when already grown up; the son who lets himself be adopted of his own free will (svayaṃdatta); the "expelled" son (apaviddha) who is expelled or turned out by his parents without any ground and is adopted as son by another and lastly the "purchased" son (krīta) whom his own parents sell to his adoptive parents. In most of the lists the adoptive sons are—certainly because they have blood-relationship with none of the two parents—placed below the sons mentioned above; so many as four authors assign to the Svayaṃdatta the last place among the twelve sons just as among the 15 kinds of slaves, those who sell themselves are estimated lowest (Nār. 5, 37). Also the place of the Kṛtrima, Apaviddha or the Krīta is often the last or the last but one.