Shloka 19
च्यवन-कुशिक-संवादः
Cyavana–Kuśika Dialogue on Hospitality, Service, and Lineage Questions
भरतनन्दन! कहीं-कहीं कृत्रिम पुत्र भी देखा जाता है। वह ग्रहण करने या अपना मान लेने मात्रसे ही अपना हो जाता है। वहाँ वीर्य या क्षेत्र कोई भी उसके पुत्रत्व-निश्चयमें कारण होता दिखायी नहीं देता ।।
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | kīdṛśaḥ kṛtakaḥ putraḥ saṃgrahād eva lakṣyate | śukra-kṣetra-pramāṇaṃ vā yatra lakṣyaṃ na bhārata ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O Bhārata, what kind of son is called ‘kṛtaka’ (artificial/adopted)—one who is recognized as a son merely by being taken into the family, where neither the father’s seed nor the mother’s field is seen as the determining proof of sonship?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharma-legal inquiry: in some cases, sonship is established not by biological criteria (seed and womb) but by social-ritual acceptance. It highlights that recognized kinship can be constituted through lawful adoption/acceptance, raising questions about the valid criteria for inheritance and familial duty.
During Bhīṣma’s instruction on dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira asks for clarification about the category of ‘kṛtaka putra’—a son who becomes one’s own simply by being taken/accepted—especially where biological proof (śukra and kṣetra) is not the basis for determining sonship.