Home arrow History arrow History arrow Gotras / Prawaras
Gotras / Prawaras PDF Print E-mail
Written by Dr. Ashutosh Pradhan   
Sep 07, 2008 at 10:31 PM

The Exogamous sub-divisions of the caste are termed as gotras in vernacular language, which is a sub-division of the caste.

There are 26 exogamous sub-divisions, termed "Gotras" are as under:

  1. Kashyapa
  2. Krip
  3. Deval
  4. Waidhruva
  5. Bhargava
  6. Shandilya
  7. Paingya
  8. Atri
  9. Vishwamitra
  10. Garga
  11. Bharadwaja
  12. Goutam
  13. Jamadagnij
  14. Vasishta
  15. Bhrigu
  16. Agastt
  17. Raibha
  18. Bhagur
  19. Saufehyayana
  20. Maitrayana
  21. Gandhamadan
  22. Vyaghra
  23. Kapil
  24. Pulah
  25. Samir
  26. Varun

 

The Gotras, however, do   not indicate that a family using any one of the Gotras is the descendant of the particular "Rishi", whose name it uses, but it indicates that the ancestor of the family had  accepted the particular Rishi as his Guru, and therefore he adopted the particular Gotra. This caste is purely Kshatriya, and is, therefore one of the three regenerate classes, viz., Brahmans, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas who are authorized to perform the "Upanayana" ceremony obligatory upon the aforesaid "Dwija" twice born classes. The practice of not allowing marriage between families of the same Gotra is therefore observed out of reverence to the Rishis who were made preceptors at the time for the " Upanayana " ceremony by the ancestors of the families.

 

 

There are no endogamous divisions of the caste. At one time "Dawne Prabhus" were considered as an endogamous sub-division, as this caste took food with them, but did not allow marriage with them. This caste after satisfying themselves that the " Dawne Prabhus" were simply called so on account of their residence in the district of "Daman" and that "Damane " was changed into "Dawane" that they have all along been "Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus" and had gone to reside there, allowed marriage connections with them. They are now treated without any distinction.

Last Updated ( Aug 16, 2009 at 01:58 PM )
<Previous   Next>