The Gotra System In India

Introduction

In Sanskrit ‘Go’ means Cow and Gotra means ‘cow-pen’. Cow was supposed to be the valuable commodity and the family were recognised by the cow-pens and later the term was linked with the family group and its lineage. In the ancient world as well as the modern society, people tend to form cohesive groups based on Language, Castes, Culture, Gotras etc. In Hindu society, the term Gotra means clan and it broadly signifies the descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor. Panini defines Gotra for grammatical purposes as ‘Apatyam Pautraprabhrti Gotram’, which means “the word Gotra denotes the progeny (of a sage) beginning with the son’s son.” The existence of Gotra system in the Indian society seems to be a matter
This system was instituted by people for the purpose of identifying one’s ancestors and also for paying homage to rituals and invocations to honor their fathers, fore-fathers ans so on, upto their respective Rishis. People decided to identify their lineage by a different Gotra, or combination of Gotras. Lord Rama was Surya Vansha also known as Raghu Vansha. This was because Lord Rama’s great-grandfather Raghu became famous. Acoording to strict Hindu tradition, the term Gotra is used only for the lineages of Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vysya families.A Gotra relates directly to the original seven or eight Rishis of the Vedas. Many lines of the descent from the major rishis were later grouped seperately. The major Gotras were divided into Ganas i.e., subdivisions and each gana was further divided into groups of families. The term Gotra was then frequently started being applied to the ganas and to the sub-ganas. Over the years, the number of Gotras increased due to the inter-marriage with other sub-groups of the same caste. The Brahmin community of Hindus consists of Agastya, Atri, Alambani, Angad, Angirasa, Ahabhunasa, Babhravya, Bharadwj, Bhargava, Bhakdi, Bhaskara, Chandilya, Charora, Chikitasa, Chyavana, Dalabhya, Darbhas, Dev, Dhananjaya, Dhanvantari, Galvasaya, Garga, Gautamasa, Gaubhilya, Ghrit Kaushika,
This paper shall keep tabs on the significance of gotra in Indian society stirring the lives of people amidst various cultural events and ceremonies. Science can bestow people with the tangible denotation of Gotra and its evolution. This paper shall help people to identify the basis of Gotra in Indian society and it shall also provide facts regarding the fallacy about Gotra in conext of science. This paper shall breach the space between science and society in a protracted manner. People who are unaware of the science behind the entire Gotra system shall come to know the scientific insinuation trailing the Gotra system and the beliefs associated with it in