History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c22.29

v2.c22.29

The Vyavahāramayūkha⁴³⁶ quotes a verse from the Kālikāpurāṇa about an adopted son, which is very interesting 'persons adopted and the like on whom the saṁskāras of *cūḍā* (tonsure) and Upanayana are performed by the *gotra* of the adopter, become sons of (the adopter), otherwise the person (on whom such ceremonies are not performed) is held to be a slave (of the adopter).' The Vyavahāramayūkha remarks that this passage is not reliable as it is not found in several mss. of the Kālikāpurāṇa. Nārada mentions 15 kinds of slaves, but this is not one of them. All that the Kālikāpurāṇa probably means is that when a boy is adopted into another family after his cūḍā and upanayana are performed in the family of birth, he is not fully affiliated in the family of adoption, he does not become a son and so does not take the inheritance but is only entitled to maintenance in the family of adoption, just as a slave is to be fed. No digests have recognised such a person as a slave proper.