gothra is lineage
I am of the view that gothra is lineage - brahminical or otherwise. The origin of the lineage could be any point in human/Indian/hindu history. It need not be biological always. It could be to show one's and his descendents' devotion to a particular person or god at any point of time in family history. That is why it has the names of rishis, saints, gods, goddesses etc. In Tamilnadu there is a gothram in Karaikkal ammaiyar's name. Gothra is inclusive of all varnas. Kindly read about the 'kulin' system in former Bengal, in which the job of uppercaste brahmins was to procreate by marrying any number of women of other castes (Vidyasagar, who opposed this system of poly/hypergamy, mentions about a kulin brahmin having 62 wives). In paramacharya's 'daivathin kural', he mentiones about the guru of adishankara marrying four women of four varnas in same muhurat - which means such a thing was commonly practised those days. Hence, we have same gothra name in all varnas.
My attempt is only to analyse gothra names among various people. I am not a defender of either the system or the means of its generation.
I am of the view that gothra is lineage - brahminical or otherwise. The origin of the lineage could be any point in human/Indian/hindu history. It need not be biological always. It could be to show one's and his descendents' devotion to a particular person or god at any point of time in family history. That is why it has the names of rishis, saints, gods, goddesses etc. In Tamilnadu there is a gothram in Karaikkal ammaiyar's name. Gothra is inclusive of all varnas. Kindly read about the 'kulin' system in former Bengal, in which the job of uppercaste brahmins was to procreate by marrying any number of women of other castes (Vidyasagar, who opposed this system of poly/hypergamy, mentions about a kulin brahmin having 62 wives). In paramacharya's 'daivathin kural', he mentiones about the guru of adishankara marrying four women of four varnas in same muhurat - which means such a thing was commonly practised those days. Hence, we have same gothra name in all varnas.
My attempt is only to analyse gothra names among various people. I am not a defender of either the system or the means of its generation.
