[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [Vedic Index of Names and Subjects](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912) › v1.c3.s21.936 # Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s21.936 Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s21.936 - **Language:** English ### [v1.c3.s21.936](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.936) On the failure of natural children, adoption was possible.²⁵ It was even resorted to when natural children existed, but when it was desired to secure the presence in the family of a person of specially high qualifications, as in Viśvāmitra’s adoption of Śunaḥśepa.²⁶ It is not clear that adoption from one caste into another was possible, for there is no good evidence that Viśvāmitra was, as Weber²⁷ holds, a Kṣatriya who adopted a Brāhmaṇa. Adoption was also not always in high favour: it may be accidental or not that a hymn of the Vasiṣṭha book of the Rigveda²⁸ condemns the usage. It was also possible for the father who had a daughter, but no sons, to appoint her to bear a son for him. At any rate the practice appears to be referred to in an obscure verse of the Rigveda²⁹ as interpreted by Yāska.³⁰ Moreover, it is possible that the difficulty of a brotherless maiden finding a husband³¹ may have been due in part to the possibility of her father desiring to make her a Putrikā, the later technical name for a daughter whose son is to belong to her father’s family. - [Previous: v1.c3.s21.935](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.935) - [Next: v1.c3.s21.937](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.937) - [Up: v1.c3.s21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.936](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.macdonell-keith-1912.v1.c3.s21.936) · Pramāṇa