Jump to content
IndiaDivine.org
Sign in to follow this  
Guest guest

What is Gothram ?

Rate this topic

Recommended Posts

Guest guest

Dear JR Team,

 

Can anyone please explain what Gothram means and its significance/relevance ?

 

i asked my brahmin friend & she said that this basically signifies lineage of

the

7 or 8 great sages, could'nt explain in detail though.

 

Pls. clarify.

 

rgds

Manju

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest guest

Dear friend,

 

GOTHRAM is derived from noun GO + rootverb TRA of Sanskrit which

means -> Cow + Protect. Earlier, 'Gothram' used to be a place

where cattle were protected and reared, usually in hermiatge premises

or AASHRAMAs, since dairy products were much useful for YAJNA or

fire sacrifice. In simple meaning, A GOTRA is a cattle rearing group,

identified with the head of the group, obviously a sage.

Naturally, the same group had parents, brothers, sisters, blood

relatives and were much similar in activities and culture or customs.

 

Due to scarcity of pasture or climatic abnormalities, the GOTRAs went

nomadic, spreading out to different river valleys and other

fertile lands where they set up their own GOTRAs, of course named

after their leader, a sage. For example, the first known GOTRA,

KASHYAPA gotra, split into VASISHTHA, ATRI, JAMADAGNI, BHARADWAJA,

VISHWAMITRA, GOUTAMA and so on. Since they were Vedic groups,

they excelled in different fields of knowledge and maintained

their 'specialization', which came to symbolize the respective GOTRA.

On marriage, Gotra of wife and cows she carried with her would change

to Gotra of the husband.

 

Thus, GOTRA became a genetic inheritance of cows and knowledge. So,

seeing the fraternity among same Gotra, marriage between a pair

of same GOTRA was BANNED, perhaps for genetic reasons. Of course, all

religions prohibit marriage between brother and sister because

of same reasons, whether they knew about DNA or not. So even now,

Brahmin families follow the same rule of marrying from other Gotras,

except in special cases where, girl/ boy is adopted to other gotra

even though born in same gotra. VAISHYA families, in addition to this,

do not even marry from maternal Gotras.

 

hope this helps you,

 

yours humbly,

KAD

 

 

 

 

 

 

, "Manjunath, T \(GE

Healthcare\)" <T.Manjunath@g...> wrote:

> Dear JR Team,

>

> Can anyone please explain what Gothram means and its

significance/relevance ?

>

> i asked my brahmin friend & she said that this basically signifies

lineage of the

> 7 or 8 great sages, could'nt explain in detail though.

>

> Pls. clarify.

>

> rgds

> Manju

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest guest

Dear Kad, thanks for the message, really nice to learn this.

 

rgds

manju

 

 

kadrudra [kadrudra]

Wednesday, November 17, 2004 8:35 AM

 

Re: What is Gothram ?

 

 

 

 

Dear friend,

 

GOTHRAM is derived from noun GO + rootverb TRA of Sanskrit which

means -> Cow + Protect. Earlier, 'Gothram' used to be a place

where cattle were protected and reared, usually in hermiatge premises

or AASHRAMAs, since dairy products were much useful for YAJNA or

fire sacrifice. In simple meaning, A GOTRA is a cattle rearing group,

identified with the head of the group, obviously a sage.

Naturally, the same group had parents, brothers, sisters, blood

relatives and were much similar in activities and culture or customs.

 

Due to scarcity of pasture or climatic abnormalities, the GOTRAs went

nomadic, spreading out to different river valleys and other

fertile lands where they set up their own GOTRAs, of course named

after their leader, a sage. For example, the first known GOTRA,

KASHYAPA gotra, split into VASISHTHA, ATRI, JAMADAGNI, BHARADWAJA,

VISHWAMITRA, GOUTAMA and so on. Since they were Vedic groups,

they excelled in different fields of knowledge and maintained

their 'specialization', which came to symbolize the respective GOTRA.

On marriage, Gotra of wife and cows she carried with her would change

to Gotra of the husband.

 

Thus, GOTRA became a genetic inheritance of cows and knowledge. So,

seeing the fraternity among same Gotra, marriage between a pair

of same GOTRA was BANNED, perhaps for genetic reasons. Of course, all

religions prohibit marriage between brother and sister because

of same reasons, whether they knew about DNA or not. So even now,

Brahmin families follow the same rule of marrying from other Gotras,

except in special cases where, girl/ boy is adopted to other gotra

even though born in same gotra. VAISHYA families, in addition to this,

do not even marry from maternal Gotras.

 

hope this helps you,

 

yours humbly,

KAD

 

 

 

 

 

 

, "Manjunath, T \(GE

Healthcare\)" <T.Manjunath@g...> wrote:

> Dear JR Team,

>

> Can anyone please explain what Gothram means and its

significance/relevance ?

>

> i asked my brahmin friend & she said that this basically signifies

lineage of the

> 7 or 8 great sages, could'nt explain in detail though.

>

> Pls. clarify.

>

> rgds

> Manju

 

 

 

 

 

 

~! LIFE MEANS STRUGGLE, THE FITTEST WINS SURVIVAL !~

Links

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest guest

Hi Manjunath,

 

This is regarding your questions of What is Gothram

 

First it is not Gothram but is Gotra

 

It said that when Brham made this world and after that civilisation start he

created some devoted people with different qualities.These all are known as

sages like Vashisth,Vishwamitra,kyashayp ,Atri and others.If you see the histroy

of these sages they all r known for there different qualities and devotion.

When civilisation was building up it is belived that people are known from these

sagas.and these sagas are the base of civilisation.It is more towards the way

they live worship,devotion towards god.

 

Hope I have answered your question.

 

thx

sunil

 

 

 

"Manjunath, T (GE Healthcare)" <T.Manjunath wrote:

Dear JR Team,

 

Can anyone please explain what Gothram means and its significance/relevance ?

 

i asked my brahmin friend & she said that this basically signifies lineage of

the

7 or 8 great sages, could'nt explain in detail though.

 

Pls. clarify.

 

rgds

Manju

 

 

~! LIFE MEANS STRUGGLE, THE FITTEST WINS SURVIVAL !~

 

 

/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet the all-new My – Try it today!

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...