History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.500

v7.c93.500

IX. 142 'the son given shall not have (share) the family name (*gotra*) and the wealth (*riktha*) of his natural father; the *piṇḍa* (cake offered to deceased ancestors) follows the family name and the wealth; of him who gives (his son in adoption) the *svadhā* (obsequies) cease (so far as that son is concerned)'. After citing the above smṛti passage 'one having a son' and another text for the position of the sacrificial post (vide PMS III. 7. 13-14) with reference to the altar, the V. M. holds that one should not merely emphasize the words *gotra*, *riktha*, *piṇḍa* and *svadhā* used by Manu and take them literally but should hold that the verse contains a lakṣaṇā (indicated meaning); it indicates the cessation of all those consequences that are due to connection with the pinda in the case of the natural father and Manu says nothing about the property taken by a son before he is given in adoption into another family.