My note- I found some good information in this answer appeared in Quora. Of course for one or two members there can be nothing in this answer. Their opinions are theirs. Sometimes one member may copy paste pages with irrelevant matter or same matter as response.
after the muttal acknowledging that he is so and so who copy paste, without understanding anything but accusing others who knew better I need not write ,unless needed some one. Let him know what is gotra? Even west do not have gotra; marumakkaattayam has no caste as brahmin at all as she delivered unaware of caste etc. Caste is from Y chromo and not X Gopala has to travel alot so let him shut his sutters KR -- On Sat, 9 Aug 2025 at 10:59, 'gopala krishnan' via Thatha_Patty < [email protected]> wrote: > Why does some Kerala Hindus not have Gothram?-Forward > > Answer by Arun Mohan ,Lives in Kerala, India (2016–present)Feb 22 > > Some Hindus in Kerala don’t believe in Gothram tradition as seen elsewhere; > > *Gothram system is generally a concept prevailing among majority of upper > caste Hindus in general across India.* In a simplistic term, it means > lineage or the source of origin of a community/group of people. > > Traditionally it is a Brahminical concept, i.e., it is something > Brahminical communities originally try to identify with, during the Vedic > era. Post Vedic era, other upper caste communities also started identifying > with Gotrams as like Brahmins. > > As per Hindu belief, Lord Brahma, the Creator, created 7 sages out of his > wisdom. So as from his vices, born- Daksha, who became the Prajapati or > lord of universe. *The daughters born to Daksha were married to the 7 > sages or Saptarishis who were now given task to create humans to populate > the world.* > > My note- All daughters were NOT married to Sapatharshies. Thirteen were > married to sage Kashyapa,27 were married to moon God and one daughter > Sati was married to God Siva. > > So these 7 sages started creating humans thro’ their unions with their > wives. *These children now started identifying themselves with lineage of > their father, thus formed the Gotras.* > > One essentially features of Gotra is its patrilineal lineage. Every > Gotras tracks its origin to the sage from which that group of people > originated. So it could either one among 7 sages or by their lineage. > > In this world, the humans could be either of one of the 7 gotras. > > > > 1. Vasishtthan, 2. Kaasyapan,3. Athri,4. Jamadagni,5. Gauthaman,6. > Viswaamithran,7. Bharadwaajan. > > Apart from these main 7, gotras can be formed by another set of immortal > humans who were deemed to be great sages by blessings of the Gods. These > gotras are slightly inferior to the original, but still, it can be also a > gotra > > 1. Deepthimaan,2. Gaalavan,3. Parasuraman,4. Kripan,5. Dronan,6. Vyaaghan, > and7. Rishyasrngan. > > As per belief, these 7 sages are likely to become next Saptarishis, once > this universe we live in gets destroyed and life evolves out of new > universe elsewhere. > > The concept of Gotram in Vedic era, was to understand the source of > knowledge and wisdom. Each Rishi has his own specific domain of knowledge > and he has to transmit that knowledge of his to generations down the lane. > *So, > each gotram was specialized with specific knowledge associated with that > rishi. So, due to this basic concept, Gotra system originally was limited > to Brahmin community.* > > Other communities track their origin to different gods and deities > respectively. *For example, Kshatriyas track their origin not from 7 > Rishis, rather mostly from Vedic Gods like Sun, Moon, Fire and Snakes.* > > As belief, the Kshatriya dynasty originated from Manu, the first Human > born out of Sun God- Surya Deva. So, the largest chunk of Kshatriyas > originated from Sun Dynasty. Then next set originated from Chandra (Moon > God) thro’ its relationship with Thara (Stars). But their offspring was > Budha (Mercury) who was born in cosmic world, thereby not a Human, rather a > celestial being. Budha interestingly married to daughter of Manu- Ila who > was a lady at the time of birth, but due to a curse, she became both Man > and Lady at the same time (she can change sex at will as she is both Male > and Female). Ila in her female form, had sex with Budha in the earth to > have a male human child- Puruvas, thro’ which Chandravamsha dynasty > originated. > > So as Agni - fire god, married a human lady- Sudarshana, daughter of Nila > Maharaja and thus founded Agni Dynasty. I will talk about Naga story later > for a specific reason. > > So Kshyatriyas track their origin to these gods, so naturally they didn’t > have a Gotra concept. However post Vedic period, Kshatriyas started > asserting their Gotra to claim themselves within higher Brahmanical order. So > they started associating their dynasties with one among 7 sages thro’ > legends and myths. > > Vaishyas track their Gotras mostly associated with Vishwakarma and other > demi gods. Some of the Vaishaya community track their Gotras to Kshayapa > primarily because Kshyapa married 13 wives, some of them are reptiles, > birds, animals etc which bore different castes associated with > animalistic qualities. > > Shudras on other hand has no Gotras or any source of origin, rather mostly > born as savages. > > Irrelevance to Kerala > > > > Kerala is one of the very few states in India, that do not practice the > concept of Gotra by some Hindus. If you ask any Malayalees about Gotrams, > they will look clueless to each other. > > This is primarily because most of the upper caste Hindus (barring > Nampoothiris and Kerala iyers ) practises *unique system of Matrilineal > lineage,* by which children inherit mother’s lineage, not fathers. > > I have written a detailed answer on this-Arun Mohan's answer to What is > Sambandham in Kerala? > > *Until 1920s, Kerala’s upper caste Hindu society didn’t accept the > tradition of marriage,* husband-wife concept or even fatherhood concept > due to the unique system of Sambandham traditions, making the whole > paternal side irrelevant for majority of caste Hindus. *Everything is > connected to mother’s side and lineage of every male moves via nephews and > niece, not own children.* > > This means the very concept of Gotra has no relevance at all as it track > origins to paternal lineage, while upper castes in Kerala track their > origin thro’ Maternal lineage, not paternal lineage. > > Even though today Kerala has moved to standard family culture and indeed > became more patriarchal society, majority of the family law concept among > caste Hindus are still matrilineal. For example, a child’s caste among > so-called upper caste Hindus is determined by mother’s caste, not father’s > caste and all customs associated with mother’s family is imbibed to > children, not father’s side. > > When I say this, don’t be under expectation, almost all Hindus follow > Matrilineal customs, as only erstwhile upper castes Hindus follow it, while > majority of so-called lower castes were historically patrilineal. But the > very basic concept of Gotram is more of upper caste concept, not lower > caste. So they lower castes never had Gothram at very first place. > > > > Which communities do have Gothram? > > Two communities in Kerala do have Gothram tradition > > Nampoothiris:- Being a Vedic society that practises original Vedic > traditions. So, they do have a Gotra, majority being Bharadwaj in general. But > Nampoothiris have a problem. One the elder member of the family marry a > Nampoothiri lady. Rest no other man in the family were allowed to marry > Namboothiri ladies. This means only one set of family members have a clear > lineage, rest don’t require. Due to which, its relative less value even > among Nampoothiris. They use this only to define who all can become > Yajnadipatis (Master sacrificer) or max for some marriage purposes. For > no other reasons, they don’t require this Gothra concept > > Ambalavasi- Not Ambalavasis have Gotram. *Some among them follows > Brahminical concepts and they also define a Gothram, but interesting they > mostly associate with Vishwamitram Gothra concept which is very rare across > India*. This is limited mostly to Pushpaka communities, rather others. > Again, like Nampoothiris, it has very limited value in society, at best > checked for marriages > > Nairs > > The biggest upper caste community in Kerala are Nairs. Nairs are not > single caste community, rather an umbrella term to define more than 200 > sub castes of similar concepts. > > Nairs don’t have a gothra, but by basic definition, Nairs believe they > hail from Naga dynasty, ie they are descendants of Vasuki, the snake king. > > Vasuki is son of Kadru and Kashyapa, thus Vasuki by concept belongs to > Kshayapagotram. But the problem is that, Vasuki and entire Naga (Snake > dynasty) don’t consider as lineage of Kashyap, rather they identify thro’ > their mother- Kadru- Naga Mata. Snake Dynasty by belief is Matrilineal, so > they too have mother’s lineage as primary form. Due to this, Naga dynasty > originates thro’ Kadru, not Kshayapa. > > > > This belief has ingrained in minds of Nairs, where they don’t see anything > associated with Father’s side, rather always see their lineage thro’ > Mother. So, despite of being Naga dynasty, they don’t acknowledge them as > Kshayapa gotram > > So what about others without Gothram > > Well, in Kerala tradition, all upper caste communities are identified > socially thro’ their Maternal dwelling unit called Tharavad. The mother’s > original home is called Tharavad (Thaiveedu as its original known, meaning > Mother’s House) > > Since lineage is identified through’ Mother, her original home is what > defined as Tharavad and every member of that family associate with that > socially. > > For ritualistic purposes, every single Hindu in Kerala is associated with > the Birth star they were born into. In Kerala system, Birth star (Janma > Nakshtram) has a very important role. The presiding star at horizon when > one takes birth is defined as Birth star (there are 27 stars and each star > has certain time period when it appears on the horizon which is calculated > as per Panchangam). Due to this belief, every Hospital and medical staff > have to mandatory record the time of birth (which existed even in past when > deliveries were done by midwives) and birth star will be determined. > > *My note- For nairs, there is no thithi, star is considered for auspicious > and in auspicious purposes (Bali Tharpanam)* > > > > 27 Nakshtras and its position in Zodiac sign > > This birth star will be quoted for any poojas or rituals in any Kerala > temples. No one will ask for any gotra, rather birth stars are always > checked in Kerala temple. To do any pooja, one must say their Birth star. > Even Birthdays in Kerala are calculated on basis of Birth star occurrence > in respective Malayalam month, so that there is no fixed date as such. For > example, if I was born in Anizham star during the month of Kumbham, my > Birthday will be always on Anizham star day in Malayalam month of Kumbham. > > The Kings of Travancore were always addressed thro’ their Birth star > basis, like Swati Thirunal (denoting Swathi/Chothi star) or Revathi > Thirunal or Pooyam Thirunal or Vishakam Thirunal. > > > > Once someone dies, the birth star reference will end and replaced with the > concept of Death star (the star at horizon when someone died). So for all > anniversaries, all funeral related rites, its Death star (Adhiyanakshatram) > is quoted. > > So in Kerala context, we talk Mother’s house name (Tharavad) + Birth Star > (Janma Nakshtram) as primary method of identifying one person > traditionally, not Gothra. > > My note- I found some good information in this answer appeared in Quora. > Of course for one or two members there can be nothing in this answer. > Their opinions are theirs. Sometimes one member may copy paste pages with > irrelevant > matter or same matter as response. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Thatha_Patty" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/23288509.870770.1754717270012%40mail.yahoo.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/23288509.870770.1754717270012%40mail.yahoo.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZoqreuDXqR-p49zW%2BYd9AWV4Kbd%2BLwWBsSvqc31TMcPscA%40mail.gmail.com.
