text stringlengths 0 182 |
|---|
said, O king, that these six kinds of sons are no sons.' |
"Yudhishthira said, 'Some say that one's son is he that is born in one's soil. Some, on the other hand, say that one's son is he |
who has been begotten from one's seed. Are both these kinds of sons equal? Whore, again, is the son to be? Do thou tell me |
this, O grandsire! |
"Bhishma said, 'His is the son from whose seed he has sprung. If, however, the owner of the seed abandons the son born of it, |
such a son then becomes his upon whose spouse he has been begotten. The same rule applies to the son called Adhyudha. He |
belongs to the person from whose seed he has taken his birth. If, however, the owner of the seed abandons him, he becomes the |
son of the husband of his mother.[303] Know that even this is what the law declares.' |
"Yudhishthira said, 'We know that the son becomes his from whose seed he has taken birth. Whence does the husband of the |
woman that brings forth the son derive his right to the latter? Similarly, the son called Adhyudha should be known to be the son |
of him from whose seed he has sprung. How can they be sons of others by reasons of the engagement about owning and rearing |
them having been broken?' |
"Bhishma said, 'He who having begotten a son of his own loins, abandons him for some reason or other, cannot be regarded as |
the sire of such a son, for vital seed only cannot create sonship. Such a son must be held to belong to the person who owns the |
soil. When a man, desiring to have a son, weds a girl quick with child, the son born of his spouse must belong to him, for it is |
the fruit of his own soil. The person from whose vital seed the son has sprung can have no right to such a son. The son that is |
born in one's soil but not begotten by the owner, O chief of Bharata's race, bears all the marks of the sire that has actually |
begotten him (and not the marks of one that is only the husband of his mother). The son thus born is incapable of concealing |
the evidences that physiognomy offers. He is at once known by eyesight (to belong to another).[304] As regards the son made, |
he is sometimes regarded as the child of the person who has made him a son and so brings him up. In his case, neither the vital |
seed of which he is born nor the soil in which he is born, becomes the cause of sonship.' |
"Yudhishthira said, 'What kind of a son is that who is said to be a made son and whose sonship arises from the fact of his being |
taken and brought up and in whose case neither the vital seed nor the soil of birth, O Bharata, is regarded as the cause of |
sonship?' |
"Bhishma said, 'When a person takes up and rears a son that has been cast off on the road by his father and mother, and when |
the person thus taking and rearing him fails to find out his parents after search, he becomes the father of such a son and the |
latter becomes what is called his made son. Not having anybody to own him, he becomes owned by him who brings him up. |
Such a son, again, comes to be regarded as belonging to that order to which his owner or rearer belongs.' |
"Yudhishthira said, How should the purificatory rites of such a person be performed? In whose case what sort of rites are to be |
performed? With what girl should he be wedded? Do thou tell me all this, O grandsire!" |
"Bhishma said, 'The rites of purification touching such a son should be performed conformably to the usage of the person |
himself that raises him, for, cast off by his parents, such a son obtains the order of the person that takes him and brings him up. |
Indeed, O thou of unfading glory, the rearer should perform all the purificatory rites with respect to such a son according to the |
practices of the rearer's own race and kinsmen. As regards the girl also, O Yudhishthira, that should be bestowed in marriage |
upon such a son, who belongs to the order of the rearer himself, All this is to be done only when the order of son's true mother |
cannot be ascertained. Among sons, he that is born of a maiden and he that is born of a mother that had conceived before her |
marriage but had brought him fourth subsequent to that are regarded as very disgraceful and degraded. Even those two, |
however, should receive the same rites of purification that are laid down for the sons begotten by the father in lawful wedlock. |
With respect to the son that becomes his sire's in consequence of his birth in the sire's soil and of those sons that are called |
Apasadas and, those conceived by the spouse in her maidenhood but brought forth after marriage, Brahmanas and others |
should apply the same rites of purification that hold good for their own orders. These are the conclusions that are to be found in |
the scriptures with respect to the different orders. I have thus told thee everything appertaining to thy questions. What else dost |
thou wish to hear?" |
SECTION L |
"Yudhishthira said, 'What is the nature of the compassion or pity that is felt at the sight of another's woe? What is the nature of |
that compassion or sympathy that one feels for another in consequence of one's living in the companionship of that other? What |
is the nature (and degree) of the high blessedness that attaches to kine? It behoveth thee, O grandsire, to expound all this to me.' |
"Bhishma said, 'I shall, in this connection, O thou of great effulgence, recite to thee an ancient narrative of a conversation |
between Nahusha and the Rishi Chyavana. In days of yore O Chief of Bharata's race, the great Rishi Chyavana of Bhrigu's |
race, always observant of high vows, became desirous of leading for some time the mode of life called Udavasa and set himself |
to commence it. Casting off pride and wrath and joy and grief, the ascetic, pledging himself to observe that vow, set himself to |
live for twelve years according to the rules of Udavasa. The Rishi inspired all creatures with a happy trust. And he inspired |
similar confidence in all creatures living in water. The puissant ascetic resembled the Moon himself in his behaviour to all. |
Bowing unto all the deities and having cleansed himself of all sins, he entered the water at the confluence of the Ganga and the |
Yamuna, and stood there like an inanimate post of wood. Placing his head against it, he bore the fierce and roaring current of |
the two streams united together,--the current whose speed resembled that of the wind itself. The Ganga and the Yamuna, |
however, and the other streams and lakes, whose waters unite together at the confluence at Prayaga, instead of afflicting the |
Rishi, went past him (to show him respect). Assuming the attitude of a wooden post, the great Muni sometimes laid himself |
down in the water and slept at ease. And sometimes, O chief of Bharata's race, the intelligent sage stood in an erect posture. He |
became quite agreeable unto all creatures living in water. Without the least fear, all these used to smell the Rishi's lips. In this |
way, the Rishi passed a long time at that grand confluence of waters. One day some fishermen came there. With nets in their |
hands, O thou of great effulgence, those men came to that spot where the Rishi was. They were many in number and all of |
them were bent upon catching fish. Well-formed and broad-chested, endued with great strength and courage and never |
returning in fear from water, those men who lived upon the earnings by their nets, came to that spot, resolved to catch fish. |
Arrived at the water which contained many fish, those fishermen, O chief of the Bharatas, tied all their nets together. Desirous |
of fish, those Kaivartas, many in number united together and surrounded a portion of the waters of the Ganga and the Yamuna |
with their nets. Indeed, they then cast into water their net which was made of new strings, capable of covering a large space, |
and endued with sufficient length and breadth. All of them, getting into the water, then began to drag with great force that net |
of theirs which was very large and had been well-spread over a large space. All of them were free from fear, cheerful, and fully |
resolved to do one another's bidding. They had succeeded in enmeshing a large number of fish and other aquatic animals. And |
as they dragged their net, O king, they easily dragged up Chyavana the son of Bhrigu along with a large number of fish. His |
body was overgrown with the river moss. His beard and matted locks had become green. And all over his person could be seen |
conchs and other molluscs attached with their heads. Beholding that Rishi who was well-conversant with the Vedas dragged up |
by them from water, all the fishermen stood with joined palms and then prostrated themselves on the ground and repeatedly |
bent their heads. Through fear and pain caused by the dragging of the net, and in consequence of their being brought upon land, |
the fish enmeshed in the net yielded up their lives. The ascetic, beholding that great slaughter of fishes, became filled with |
compassion and sighed repeatedly.' |
"The fishermen said, 'We have committed this sin (of dragging thy sacred self from water) through ignorance. Be gratified with |
us! What wish of thine shall we accomplish? Command us, O great ascetic!' |
"Bhishma continued, 'This addressed by them, Chyauana, from among that heap of fishes around him, said, 'Do ye with |
concentrated attention hear what my most cherished wish is. I shall either die with these fishes or do ye sell me with them. I |
have lived with them for a long time within the water. I do not wish to abandon them at such a time.' When he said these words |
unto them, the fishermen became exceedingly terrified. With pale faces they repaired to king Nahusha and informed him of all |
that had taken place.'" |
SECTION LI |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.