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IX, 36.
DUTIES OF HUSBAND AND WIFE.
333
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31. Listen (now) to the following holy discussion, salutary to all men, which the virtuous (of the present day) and the ancient great sages have held concerning male offspring.
32. They (all) say that the male issue (of a woman) belongs to the lord, but with respect to the (meaning of the term) lord the revealed texts differ; some call the begetter (of the child the lord), others declare (that it is) the owner of the soil.
33. By the sacred tradition the woman is declared to be the soil, the man is declared to be the seed; the production of all corporeal beings (takes place) through the union of the soil with the seed.
34. In some cases the seed is more distinguished, and in some the womb of the female; but when both are equal, the offspring is most highly esteemed.
35. On comparing the seed and the receptacle (of the seed), the seed is declared to be more important; for the offspring of all created beings is marked by the characteristics of the seed.
36. Whatever (kind of) seed is sown in a field, prepared in due season, (a plant) of that same kind,
32. Ap. II, 13, 6–7; Gaut. XVIII, 9–14; Vas. XVII, 6–9, 63-64. Thus Gov., Kull., Râgh., and Nand. But Medh., Nâr., and K. (prima manu) read kartari instead of bhartari, and with this reading the verse has to be translated as follows: "They (all) declare that a (lawfully begotten) son belongs to the husband, but with respect to the begetter (of a child on another's wife) there is a conflict between the revealed texts; some declare the begetter (to be the owner of the son), others that (he belongs to the owner of the soil.'
34. The commentators point out the cases of Vyâsa and Rishyasringa as instances of the truth of the first proposition, and of Dhritarashtra and other Kshetragas as instances of the second.
Equal,' i. e. 'belonging to the same owner and to the same class' (Medh.).
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