Apastamba: ‘In difficult circumstances one may sell one’s possessions but human beings are never to be sold’.
Gautam: A girl tempted by a man and barren cows are apanya (not to be traded). Whosoever desires money through the sale of a human must, in the life hereafter, subsist on the urine and faeces of that human. So has Manu too, forbidden sale of one’s son.
Vasishta in Mitakshara: Bodhayana forbids the giving away of the only son and the eldest son continues the line of the ancestors.
Censure of charity implies censure of sale and abandonment. Ancient texts often praise the eldest son as the scion of the family. The scriptures say, ‘When a father sees the face of a living son he is relieved of the debt (towards his father) and attains the abode of immortality’.
Smriti too, says, ‘A man is endowed with the status of a son’s father as soon as the eldest son is born. He also pays off the debt to the ancestors. Hence the eldest son deserves everything. He alone is the son born of dharma on whose birth the father is freed of the debt and is assured of an abode of immortality. The rest are stated to be the sons born of kama. This is what Manu too has stated.
Therefore, the censure regarding selling applies only to the eldest son and to the only son. The sale of the second son etc. is not ruled out.
Bodhayana -‘A son is born of the blood and semen of mother and father. The parents are authorised to give him away, to abandon him or to sell him’. This statement of Bodhayana allows the sale of a son in general but in the light of other authorities censuring the sale of the eldest son and the only son it should be considered applicable to the specific instance not covered by these censures.
Although the sale of the youngest son is not censured, in this instance (sage Richika’s) the mother did not sell him due to her excessive love for him. The youngest always enjoys a special love. Kunti’s words to Sahadeva in the Sabhaparvan of the Mahabharata go to prove this: “O Sahadeva, please come back. Are you not my darling? O son of Madri, like a bad son you have abandoned me physically! Let your brothers go away if they want to fulfil their pledge. You can get the same religious merit here itself by performing the sacred duty of protecting your mother”. During their stay in the hermitage Kunti says to Dharmaputra, “O king, do not offend Sahadeva in any manner. He is attached to me and also to you, O king”. In the same context, the text reads, “Sahadeva ran swiftly to where Pritha was and she too, with tears running down looked at the face of her beloved son”.
On selling one’s son 1.61.22
Apastamba: ‘In difficult circumstances one may sell one’s possessions but human beings are never to be sold’.
Gautam: A girl tempted by a man and barren cows are apanya (not to be traded). Whosoever desires money through the sale of a human must, in the life hereafter, subsist on the urine and faeces of that human. So has Manu too, forbidden sale of one’s son.
Vasishta in Mitakshara: Bodhayana forbids the giving away of the only son and the eldest son continues the line of the ancestors.
Censure of charity implies censure of sale and abandonment. Ancient texts often praise the eldest son as the scion of the family. The scriptures say, ‘When a father sees the face of a living son he is relieved of the debt (towards his father) and attains the abode of immortality’.
Smriti too, says, ‘A man is endowed with the status of a son’s father as soon as the eldest son is born. He also pays off the debt to the ancestors. Hence the eldest son deserves everything. He alone is the son born of dharma on whose birth the father is freed of the debt and is assured of an abode of immortality. The rest are stated to be the sons born of kama. This is what Manu too has stated.
Therefore, the censure regarding selling applies only to the eldest son and to the only son. The sale of the second son etc. is not ruled out.
Bodhayana -‘A son is born of the blood and semen of mother and father. The parents are authorised to give him away, to abandon him or to sell him’. This statement of Bodhayana allows the sale of a son in general but in the light of other authorities censuring the sale of the eldest son and the only son it should be considered applicable to the specific instance not covered by these censures.
Although the sale of the youngest son is not censured, in this instance (sage Richika’s) the mother did not sell him due to her excessive love for him. The youngest always enjoys a special love. Kunti’s words to Sahadeva in the Sabhaparvan of the Mahabharata go to prove this: “O Sahadeva, please come back. Are you not my darling? O son of Madri, like a bad son you have abandoned me physically! Let your brothers go away if they want to fulfil their pledge. You can get the same religious merit here itself by performing the sacred duty of protecting your mother”. During their stay in the hermitage Kunti says to Dharmaputra, “O king, do not offend Sahadeva in any manner. He is attached to me and also to you, O king”. In the same context, the text reads, “Sahadeva ran swiftly to where Pritha was and she too, with tears running down looked at the face of her beloved son”.