Gotra: science behind it

[Guest guest]

Recently members have been discussing What Gotra means. Here is an explanation.HTML clipboardGotra means "Cow-pen or Cow-shed" and is of two kinds - Vaidika and Laukika. Vaidika is according to the Vedic

prescription and the Laukika is "mundane, worldly, common". In ancient times the extended family members shared one cowshed and therefore that name stuck. Gotra is a family tree whose root can be traced to a common ancestor. Since it is exogamous and patrilineal, it is based on the Y chromosome. The females claim the gotra of father, and of husband after marriage. A man can not marry a woman of the same gotra. But a male can marry a woman of the same gotra at least seven degrees removed from his father. The

Vaidika Gotra members trace their lineage from high priests and renowned Rishis, namely

Bharadvaja, Gautama, Jamadagni, Visvamitra,

Kasyapa, Atri,

Vasistha (SaptaRishis) and more (Atharvan, Angiras, Bhrgu). Strictly speaking only Brahmanas can claim a gotra. The Ksatriyas and others can not claim any such medallion or pendant, simply because they are not cognate to the original Brahmana Rishis and for that reason they are categorized in the laukika (mundane) variety. There were exceptions: Visvamitra and Vasistha, both Ksatriyas by birth performed tapas ( austerity) and were accepted as Brahmanas. Mundane gotra members are defined as non-cognate followers of a succession of disciples of the original Priests and Rishis. There is no genetic or Y chromosome linkage here between the mundane gotra members and the original Progenitors listed above. Y chromosome is transferred intact from father to son. It is very common especially in everyday speech, in temples and in books that a person claims his Gotra from the High Priests of Yore. There are many people who claim Gotras of lower order. In temples, a person offers flowers, coconut, fruits, his worship, his loyalty, and his very soul to the deity. All these offerings have to conveyed to the God via the priest who asks, after taking the offerings, the votary's Birth Star, Gotra and name. The priest repeats the name, the Gotra and the Birth star to complete the process so that they are announced and recorded in ethereal space before God. Remember this information is sent to God in wireless mode that we are very familiar with in this modern day! Ha, ha, laugh if you must. The concept of wireless communication was there in ancient India. Is this a fact or factoid? Go on; belt out in belly laugh, if you must. It is like the communication between the cell phones or the Router and the Wireless USB adapter. How else God can hear the pleas of the devotees? God hears without ears, walks without feet. He is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and 'omni-aural.' The priest collects the coconut etc. goes to the Sanctum Sanctorum, invokes God on behalf of the worshipper.

The only way to resolve a particular Gotra claim is to perform DNA analysis of Y Chromosome in males, and Mitochondrial DNA of all people and find out the common denominator or tree structure in Vaidika and Laukika Brahmins, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras and the tribals. Additional benefit would be finding any strays among other castes who belong to Brahmana caste and strays who are Non-Brahmins among Brahmana caste by the strength of DNA analysis. It is a known finding that Brahmins by and large belong to Eurasian genetic pool and are closer to Europeans than to tribal people of India. Ramanuja took in his fold a lot of Jains, Buddhists, and non-Brahmins; genetically there is a mingling between the Brahmins of yore and the neo-Brahmins of post-Ramanuja period. The Brahmins are not as pure as one would think. Vaisyas, Ksatriyas, Sudras and Dalits also belong to the Eurasian pool. There are whites in USA who have African Y Chromosome, sickle cell trait or even disease, though they have all the conventional features of white people. Does it all mean anything? Claim of superiority by race, color or caste is for the weak, who has no other flotation device in this sea of Samsara; he or she clutches on the straw of race, color, caste or Gotra to claim superiority in a roiling sea, where intellect, knowledge, prudence, patience, tolerance, compassion, sympathy, and empathy are the flotation devices. Bigotry, arrogance, false sense of superiority, and inhumanity are the dead weights that sink the soul, body, and mind into the abyss of darkness. Coming back to those who swear by Gotra, the most pressing and scientific question is for example whether all male Bharadvaja Brahmanas carry a common Y Chromosome among them? That is the proof of the pudding. The same proposal applies to all Vaidika Gotras. Only by establishing such commonality of Y Chromosome in the individual Gotras, we can establish legitimacy of that claim. I see an advantage in that knowing Gotra avoids marriage between same Gotra members. That leads to a healthy and strong stock in the progeny. My take on this is that there were extraordinary Saptarishis whose names occur in Rg Veda, and whose male descendants carried on the tradition and their Y chromosome. My feeling is that there may be many Laukika strains masquerading as Vaidika strains or admixed with the original strains of The Great Saptarishis and vice versa. My belief is that there should be a national registry of Vaidika and Laukika registrants based on Y chromosome analysis. Let us extend this to all people. This is the age of computers and DNA. Tomorrow I can claim a high Gotra lineage; who is going to question it? it is belief and not science. Let us do it right. Instead of consulting an astrologer, let us do the DNA and arrange marriage between compatible ones. I know a Brahmana boy in India whose parents had Thalassemia trait and the child inherited Thalassemia trait from both parents, suffered Thalassemia Major and needed periodic transfusions. This kind of tragedy can be avoided by doing DNA. My guess is that this particular family unknowingly traces their genetic heritage to the soldiers of Alexander

the Great who came barging into India brutally and left DNA fingerprints. Chandragptal Maurya in 321 BCE overthrew the Greek satraps (Governors) and founded the Maurya Empire. http://www.bhagavadgitausa.com/bg18.htmVeeraswamy Krishnaraj, M.D (Retired)

[Guest guest]

 

 

 

 

jai gurudev

 

 

dear sir,

 

 

man is not created by any god from mud/dirt,nor any brahmin is created

from any god's mouth nor kshatriya from shoulder,nor any vaishya from

leg nor any shudra from foot.

 

man is evoled by nature from1 celled organisms and the proof is in our dna.

 

gotra initially may have been used to avoid inbreeding.

 

no one is superior to anyone else,this is fact.

 

we r evoled by nature=prakruti and nature=adi shakti is

all that exists.

 

this same enegry is braham - creative energy,vishnu-protective energy,

rudra-destructive energy.

 

indra,mitra,varun,vayu etc all gods and goddesses are aspects

of this same divine parambraham parmatma adi shakti.

 

religion is created to understand the working of the divinity.

 

so religion shud be based on truth and logic.

 

we as nature worshippers are divided into too many castes

and creeds in india and foreigners have taken advantage of this,

and ruled us and raped our mother land for so many years.

 

it is high time we forget the caste,creed,linguistic differences

else our beloved motherland which faces severe threat from

arab boot lickers pakistan,china,xtain evengelists etc

may not survive next 100 yrs.

 

 

 

om shakti

 

gopal

 

 

 

 

On 7/27/09, myumbra-bgusa <myumbra-bgusa wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently members have been discussing What Gotra means. Here is an explanation.

Gotra means " Cow-pen or Cow-shed " and is of two kinds - Vaidika and Laukika.  Vaidika is according to the Vedic prescription and the Laukika is " mundane, worldly, common " . In ancient times the extended family members shared one cowshed and therefore that name stuck.   Gotra is a family tree whose root can be traced to a common ancestor. Since  it is exogamous and patrilineal, it is  based on the Y chromosome.  The females claim the gotra of  father, and of  husband after marriage. A man can not marry a woman of the same gotra.  But a male can marry a woman of the same gotra at least seven degrees removed from his father.  The Vaidika Gotra members trace their lineage from high priests and renowned  Rishis, namely  Bharadvaja, Gautama, Jamadagni, Visvamitra, Kasyapa, Atri, Vasistha (SaptaRishis) and more (Atharvan, Angiras, Bhrgu).  Strictly speaking only Brahmanas can claim a  gotra.  The Ksatriyas and others can not claim any such medallion or pendant, simply because they are not cognate to the original  Brahmana Rishis and for that reason they are categorized in the laukika (mundane) variety. There were exceptions:  Visvamitra and Vasistha,  both Ksatriyas by birth performed tapas ( austerity) and were accepted as Brahmanas. Mundane gotra members  are defined as non-cognate followers of  a succession of disciples of the original Priests and  Rishis.  There is no genetic or Y chromosome linkage here between the mundane gotra members and the original Progenitors listed above.  Y chromosome is  transferred intact from father to son. It is very common especially in everyday speech, in temples and in books that a person claims his Gotra from the High Priests of Yore. There are many people who claim Gotras of lower order. In temples, a person offers flowers, coconut, fruits, his worship, his loyalty, and his very soul to the deity. All these offerings have to conveyed to the God via the priest who asks, after taking the offerings, the votary's Birth Star, Gotra and name. The priest repeats the name, the Gotra and the Birth star to complete the process so that they are announced and recorded in ethereal space before God. Remember this information is sent to God in wireless mode that we are very familiar with in this modern day! Ha, ha, laugh if you must. The concept of wireless communication was there in ancient India. Is this a fact or factoid? Go on; belt out in belly laugh, if you must. It is like the communication between the cell phones or the Router and the Wireless USB adapter. How else God can hear the pleas of the devotees? God hears without ears, walks without feet. He is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent and 'omni-aural.' The priest collects the coconut etc. goes to the Sanctum Sanctorum, invokes God on behalf of the worshipper.

The only way to resolve a particular Gotra claim is to perform DNA analysis of Y Chromosome in males,  and Mitochondrial DNA of all people and find out the common denominator or tree structure in Vaidika and Laukika Brahmins, Ksatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras and the tribals. Additional benefit  would be finding any strays among other castes who belong to Brahmana caste and strays who are Non-Brahmins among Brahmana caste by the strength of DNA analysis. It is a known finding that Brahmins by and large belong to Eurasian genetic pool and are closer to Europeans than to tribal people of India. Ramanuja took in his fold a lot of Jains, Buddhists, and non-Brahmins; genetically there is a mingling between the Brahmins of yore and the neo-Brahmins of post-Ramanuja period. The Brahmins are not as pure as one would think. Vaisyas, Ksatriyas, Sudras and Dalits also belong to the Eurasian pool. There are whites in USA who have African Y Chromosome, sickle cell trait or even disease, though they have all the conventional features of white people. Does it all mean anything? Claim of superiority by race, color or caste is for the weak, who has no other flotation device in this sea of Samsara; he or she clutches on the straw of race, color, caste or Gotra to claim superiority in a roiling sea, where intellect, knowledge, prudence, patience, tolerance, compassion, sympathy, and empathy are the flotation devices. Bigotry, arrogance, false sense of superiority, and inhumanity are the dead weights that sink the soul, body, and mind into the abyss of darkness. Coming back to those who swear by Gotra, the most pressing and scientific question is for example whether all male Bharadvaja Brahmanas carry a common Y Chromosome among them? That is the proof of the pudding. The same proposal applies to all Vaidika Gotras. Only by establishing such commonality of Y Chromosome in the individual Gotras, we can establish legitimacy of that claim. I see an advantage in that knowing Gotra avoids marriage between same Gotra members. That leads to a healthy and strong stock in the progeny. My take on this is that there were extraordinary Saptarishis whose names occur in Rg Veda, and whose male descendants carried on the tradition and their Y chromosome. My feeling is that there may be many Laukika strains masquerading as Vaidika strains or admixed with the original strains of The Great Saptarishis and vice versa. My belief is that there should be a national registry of Vaidika and Laukika registrants based on Y chromosome analysis. Let us extend this to all people. This is the age of computers and DNA. Tomorrow I can claim a high Gotra  lineage; who is going to question it? it is belief and not science.  Let us do it right. Instead of consulting an astrologer, let us do the DNA and arrange marriage between compatible ones. I know a Brahmana boy in India whose parents had Thalassemia trait and the child inherited Thalassemia trait from both parents, suffered Thalassemia Major and needed periodic transfusions. This kind of tragedy can be avoided by doing DNA. My guess is that this particular family unknowingly traces their genetic heritage to the soldiers of Alexander the Great who came barging into India brutally and left DNA fingerprints. Chandragptal Maurya in 321 BCE overthrew the Greek satraps (Governors) and founded the Maurya Empire.

 

http://www.bhagavadgitausa.com/bg18.htm

 

Veeraswamy Krishnaraj, M.D (Retired)