History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.67

v4.c63.t2.67

That the gotra of the natural family persists in some matters even after a person is adopted is made clear by the digests. The Saṁ.¹³²³ K. (p. 182) says that every dattaka must, when entering on marriage, avoid the gotra of his natural as also of his adoptive father. The Dharmasindhu (III. p. 161) says the same and states that the prohibition against marriage with a girl of the gotras of the natural and adoptive fathers is absolute and not restricted to seven or five degrees. Thus if there is no total or absolute cessation of gotra relation with the natural family for all purposes there is no reason why in the case of wealth already taken before adoption there should be a cessation or forfeiture or why the cessation of relation as to riktha should not be restricted to the future. As regards sapiṇḍa relationship there is some conflict among the digests. The D. M.¹³²⁴ states that the *dvyāmuṣyāyaṇa* has to observe the prohibitions against marrying a sapiṇḍa girl up to three degrees in the families of the natural father and of the adoptive father, while the simple dattaka has to observe sapiṇḍa relationship based upon the presentation of rice balls in the adoptive father's family for three generations (since the adopted son can generally have no particles of the body in common with the adoptive father) and in the natural family sapiṇḍa relationship based upon particles of the same body for seven generations. The Nirṇayasindhu (III. pp. 290-291) sets out the various conflicting views and gives it as its own opinion that the sapiṇḍa relationship must be looked to in marriage up to seven generations in the natural as well as in the adoptive family (in the latter it being based on the offering of balls of rice). According to the V. Mayūkha (p. 119) the simple adopted son has sapiṇḍa relationship in the adoptive father's family for seven generations and in the adoptive mother's family for five generations and it seems to hold that there is no sapiṇḍa relationship in the natural family (owing to Manu IX. 142). The D. C. (pp. 61–66) appears to hold that the dvyāmuṣyāyaṇa has to observe sapiṇḍa relationship (as stated in the D. M.), while as to the simple dattaka there is sapiṇḍa relationship only in the adoptive family for seven generations (as indicated by Manu IX. 142). The Dharmasindhu (III. p. 161) states that sapiṇḍa relationship depends in its degrees on the question whether the adoption is made after upanayana in the natural family or before upanayana or whether all saṁskāras from *jātakarma* are performed in the adoptive family.