Datta
Datta, “given; a son given in adoption”
Grammar: adjective and masculine noun, the past participle of the root dā (to give): “given”.
Meaning: (1) given, granted; (2) a son given by his mother and father to another, to be his son; one of the kinds of dāyāda (sons who inherit).
In the scriptures: Sanatkumāra, the son of Dharma and Ahiṃsā Devī, asks Brahmā (Pitāmaha) to teach him yoga, and Brahmā says that if his mother and father give him, he will become Brahmā’s son. When Sanatkumāra asks what a dāyāda is, Pitāmaha smiles and names the first six: aurasa, kshetraja, datta, kṛtrima, gūḍhotpanna and apaviddha. To these six the ṛṇa (debt), the piṇḍa, the dhana (wealth), the kriyā (rites), the gotra-sāmya (sameness of gotra), the kula-vṛtti (family calling) and the pratishṭhā (standing) pass naturally from the parents. Then he explains each: the datta is the one given in adoption by his mother and father. “I cannot take you as my son on your word alone,” Brahmā says; “call your mother and father.” Sanatkumāra remembers them, and by that remembrance alone Dharma and Ahiṃsā Devī come. They tell Pitāmaha, “From today this son of ours will be your son,” and Brahmā then teaches him the dvādaśa-patraka yoga, the yoga of the twelve leaves (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 35).
In its plain sense the word is a gift: at the wedding of Bhagavān Śiva, Himavān, with joined palms, says to his son-in-law, “this maiden Kālī I give to you; accept her and bless me” (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 27).
Related terms: Dāyāda · Aurasa · Kshetraja · Kṛtrima · Gūḍhotpanna · Apaviddha
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 27, 35