Shloka 20
च्यवन-कुशिक-संवादः
Cyavana–Kuśika Dialogue on Hospitality, Service, and Lineage Questions
भीष्म उवाच मातापितृभ्यां यस्त्यक्तः पथि यस्तं प्रकल्पयेत् । न चास्य मातापितरी ज्ञायेतां स हि कृत्रिम:
bhīṣma uvāca mātāpitr̥bhyāṁ yas tyaktaḥ pathi yas taṁ prakalpayet | na cāsya mātāpitarī jñāyetāṁ sa hi kr̥trimaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “Yudhiṣṭhira, if a child has been abandoned on the road by his mother and father, and even upon inquiry his parents cannot be identified, then the one who takes him in and raises him is regarded as his adoptive father; thus the child is deemed a kṛtaka (adoptive) son.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When a child's biological parents are unknown due to abandonment, dharma recognizes the person who takes responsibility for the child's upbringing as the adoptive parent, and the child as an adoptive (kṛtrima) son—emphasizing duty and care over mere birth.
In Bhishma’s instruction to Yudhishthira on dharma and social/legal norms, he defines the status of a foundling: if the parents cannot be identified, the guardian who raises the child is to be treated as the father in an adoptive sense.