‘We don’t know that.’ ‘But do you know how an embryo is conceived?’ ‘We do know that, sir. The seer Devala the Dark heard about this. An embryo is conceived when these three things come together—the mother and father come together, the mother is in the fertile phase of her menstrual cycle, and the virile spirit is ready.’ ‘But do you know for sure whether that virile spirit is an aristocrat, a brahmin, a peasant, or a menial?’ ‘We don’t know that.’ ‘In that case, sirs, don’t you know