Svayaṃdatta
Svayaṃdatta · svayam-datta, “self-given”
Grammar: adjective and masculine noun; svayam (by oneself) and datta (given): “given by himself”.
Meaning: a son who has given himself over to another as son; the fifth of the six kinds of sons who are sons in name only and do not inherit.
In the scriptures: Sanatkumāra asks Brahmā what a dāyāda (a son who inherits) is, and Pitāmaha smiles and answers. The first six kinds, aurasa, kshetraja, datta, kṛtrima, gūḍhotpanna and apaviddha, receive 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). The other six, kānīna, sahoḍha, krīta, punarbhava, svayaṃdatta and pāraśava, do not receive these: they are sons in name only, not born of the kula and gotra. In his account of the first six, Brahmā says that one brought from outside and raised is the svayaṃdatta. Among the second six, the svayaṃdatta is the one who, in famine and drought, tormented by hunger or in other hard times, comes and gives himself over. After this teaching Dharma and Ahiṃsā give Sanatkumāra to Brahmā as his son (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 35).
Related terms: Dāyāda · Datta · Krīta · Sahoḍha · Kānīna
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 35