Sivacharyas

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 1 Nov 2001, ravi chandrasekhara wrote:

> Also if adoption is
> valid, can a sudra (or even a non-hindu)adult be
> adopted by Brahman and in turn became Brahman and
> undergo the samskaras and be allowed to marry a
> Brahman by birth ?; ----- I would suspect the Shastras
> would this disagree with this.
>

What I meant was that those new brahmans would only have been created by
e.g. Bhagawan Parashuramas axe etc.  But as they would have no gotra per
se, they would have "adopted" the gotras of their gurus (existing
Brahmanas.) In favor of this view may I point out Kshatriyas and Vaishyas
also have Brahmarshis as their gotras (i.e. Buddha was Siddhartha Gautama)
perhaps they took the gotra of their purohits.  This is all just
speculation on my part.

In the case of a person who has noone to perform his shraddha the shastras
do recognize the concept of a "dattaka putra" (adopted son.) but
this is for a specific dharmic function, one can't just adopt people
wily-nilly in order to make them Brahmans.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>