a Sudra begets upon a Brahmana woman is
called a Chandala. Begotten upon a Kshatriya woman by a person of the
Sudra order, the son is called a Vratya. He who is born of a Vaisya woman
by a Sudra father is called a Vaidya. These three kinds of sons are
called Apasadas. The Vaisya, by uniting himself with a woman of the
Brahmana order, begets a son that is called a Magadha, while the son that
he gets upon a Kshatriya woman is called a Vamaka. The Kshatriya can
beget but one kind of son upon a woman of a superior order. Indeed, the
son begotten by a Kshatriya upon a Brahmana woman, is called a Suta.
These three also are called Apasadas. It cannot be said, O king, that
these six kinds of sons are no sons."

"'Yudhishthira said, "Some say that one's son is he that is born in one's
soil. Some, on the other hand, say that one's son is he who has been
begotten from one's seed. Are both these kinds of sons equal? Where,
again, is the son to be? Do thou tell me this, O grandsire!"

"'Bhishma said, "His is the son from whose seed he has sprung. If,
however, the owner of the seed abandons the son born of it, such a son
then becomes his upon whose spouse he has been begotten. The same rule
applies to the son called Adhyudha. He belongs to the person from whose
seed he has taken his birth. If, however, the owner of the seed abandons
him, he becomes the son of the husband of his mother.[303] Know that even
this is what the law declares."

"'Yudhishthira said, "We know that the son becomes his from whose seed he
has taken birth. Whence does the husband of the woman that brings forth
the son derive his right to the latter? Similarly, the son called
Adhyudha should be known to be the son of him from whose seed he has
sprung. How can they be sons of others by reasons of the engagement about
owning and rearing them having been broken?"

"'Bhishma said, "He who having begotten a son of his own loins, abandons
him for some reason or other, cannot be regarded as the sire of such a
son, for vital seed only cannot create sonship. Such a son must be held
to belong to the person who owns the soil. When a man, desiring to have a
son, weds a girl quick with child, the son born of his spouse must belong
to him, for it is the fruit of his own soil. The person from whose vital
seed the son has sprung can have no right to such a son. The son that is
born in one's soil but not begotten by the owner, O chief of Bharata's
race, bears all the marks of