Origin of Brahmin Gotras

SR No.: 011130
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Dharmanand Kosambi
Publisher: D D Kosambi
Total Pages: 59
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 5 MB

Page 25

ORIGIN OF BRAHMIN GOTRAS
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would Icavc thc gotra and pravara uncxplained, so we have a still later story to round out the narrative, that Bhrgu magnanimously and magically converted
thc rcfugcc Vitahavya into a Brahimin mcrcly by telling his pursucrs that there : was no ksatriya in thic hermitage. Vitahavya as an adjective is applicd to
Sudās in vii. 18.3, presumably in thc scnsc of hc whosc libations arc agrccablc to the gods; thc namc occurs as that of the author of vi.15, and cxplioitly in vi. 15.3 calling down blessings upon him. But thc sixth book is of the Bharadvājas, whicncc wc again have a contradiction. This may be resolved by the explanation that some Sșñjaya Vaitahavyas, not necessarily connected with the singer of vi. 15, had a Bhrgu as thcir family pricst. But inasmuch as the kşatriya was not by any means cxcluded from the pricsthood, properly the function of any, tribal lcader or family head, those Blirguids who survived in this particular linc had to bc adopted by tribal rulc into thc Vitahavyas, whence by the later antithctic inversion we get the formation of a Vitahavya pravara among the Bhrgus. This process is very clear among the ten cxtra familics cnrolled among thc Bhřgus and Augirasas, as shown by the king-names that form the supposedly Brahmin pravaras. It will be fairly obvious that, at Icast as regards thcsc spccial. kevala families, the pravara develops by adoption by some Brahmin group of a kşatriya family namc. Mudgala is a Kevala. Augiras group in the lists, but the Mudgala of x.102 is a splendid fighter. Though not in thc Vcda, the Purāņas makc Vişņuvěddha son of Trasadasyu, hcncc a kşatriya, though the name is in the Brahmin pravara lists. Thc Vena of x. 93.14 sccms to be a non-Aryan king.
With the exception of people within the tribe or cult, as in the case of Indra himselfor Sudās, Rgvedic names of a tribc and its leader seem to be identical, particularly in speaking of people not intimately known to thc hymnsinger. This agrees with what we know of tribal socicty in other places. The MaoDonald would be thc head of the clan MacDonald in Scotland. Not less than ten different lcadcrs named Appius Claudius hicaded the Claudian gens in Romc after its incorporation under the first Sabinc head (Attius Clausus) ; if Latin records were as diffusc as the Sanskrit, the deeds of all of them would havc been incxtricably confounded. The distinction between hсads of families and ordinary members appears in Pāņini's grammar (sce J. Brough, loc.cit., for thc significance of the yuvan). Vd. xii.7 shows that the period of mourning - among the Iranians for the hcad of a family was six times that even for a parent. For my purpose, the designation of wholc clans by a single rşi's namc (for onc
vimitra or Vasistha can hardly have composcd the entire books in thcir respective names) yields further support for the adoption theory. What nceds carcful proof is the statement that some of these adopted priests must have belonged to prc-Aryan Indian groups.
The distinction between Brahmin and ksatriya priestly traditions even after their merger may be seen in the position of Vişnu, who is a very minor
.