AIR 1940 BOMBAY 181

Bombay High Court

Hon'ble Judge(s): N. J. Wadia, Indarnarayen , JJ

(A)Hindu Law - Adoption - Vaishyas - Datta homam is necessary in addition to giving and taking - But datta homam may be performed at any time after giving and taking. Though no adoption ceremonies are necessary in the case of Sudras there must be a giving and taking of the boy in adoption as a condition precedent to the completion and the validity of the adoption. In the case of the three regenerate classes of Hindus, including Vaishyas, there must be in addition to the giving and taking the religious ceremony of adoption, including the datta homam, except perhaps in the Punjab where the customary law prevails. The giving and taking of the boy and the datta homam need not however be simultaneous, but after the giving and taking has been completed the datta homam may well follow later on without any limit of time as to the interval - even after the death of the natural or adoptive father. Of course in a case where the datta homam has not been performed it would be open to the natural parents of the boy to revoke the gift. But if and when the datta homam ceremony has been performed, the adoption is not only complete but relates back to the data and time of the giving and taking. When once the adoption is thus complete, it relates back to the death of the adoptive father, the fiction being that the son is considered to have been conceived at or before the time ....