The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)Crooke, William
History
The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)
Crooke, William
Caste -- India -- History; Hindus -- India; Tribes -- India -- History
9. Among the sub-divisions of local importance, we find in Dehra Dûn
the Gangâri; in Muzaffarnagar, the Achârya, Dakaut, and Taga; in
Meerut, the Achârya, Bohra, Chaurasiya, Dakaut, Dasa, and Gautam; in
Aligarh, the Abhinâshi, Agnihotri, Barwâna, Gautam, Parâsara, Pâthak,
and Upâdhya; in Mathura, the Gautam and Nâgar; in Agra, the Chaurasiya
and Gautam; in Farrukhâbâd, the Mahâbrâhman; in Etah, the Dichhit,
Gautam, Rajauriya, and Upâdhya; in Budâun, the Parâsara, Pâthak,
Tiwâri, and Upâdhya; in Morâdâbâd, the Gautam and Mahâbrâhman; in
Hamîrpur, the Bhagorê and Sanaurhiya; in Allahâbâd, the Mâlawi and
Râthi; in Jhânsi, the Bhagorê, Dakkhini, Karâri, and Sagarmodi; in
Jâlaun, the Aiwâsi; in Lalitpur, the Bhagor and Singirekh or
Sringirishi; in Benares, the Audich, Bhâradwâja, Nâgar, and Vedi; in
Mirzapur, the Sândil; in Jaunpur, the Kantil and Rajbhât; in Ghâzipur,
the Bhâradwâja, Chhatri, Gautam, Pachhaiyân, Parâsaragotra, Sândil,
Vedi, and Yajurvedi; in Ballia, the Gautam; in Basti, the Sândil; in
Bahrâich, the Belwâr; and in the Hills, the Bais, Bhal, Bhât, Gangâri,
Joshi, Khas, Lakhpâl, Lohni, Pânrê, Panth, Pâthak, Sarola, Tripâthi,
Tiwâri, Upâdhya, Upreti. Of many of these some account will be found in
other articles.
[Brâhmanic exogamy.] 10. The great sub-castes already named are for the
most part endogamous; but the rule appears to be occasionally relaxed
when the scantiness of brides in the small local group is an obstacle
to marriage. Thus there seems to be no doubt that in parts of the
country at least the Gaur and Saraswata sub-castes intermarry.
According to Manu persons are forbidden to marry who stand in the
relationship of sapindas, that is, who are within five degrees of
affinity on the side of the mother, and seven on that of the father.
The person himself constitutes one of these degrees; that is to say,
two persons stand to each other in the sapinda relationship if their
common ancestor, being a male, is not further removed from either of
them than six degrees, or four degrees when the common ancestor is a
female. This rule reinforces the principle that the gotra is an
exogamous unit. It is needless to say that this gotra system has been
developed to an extraordinary extent, and they have become so numerous
that it is practically impossible to procure any well established list
of the gotras of any of the chief tribes. The word gotra means
primarily a “cow-pen,” and has hence been extended to the descendants
of a common ancestor. Most of them are what has been called eponymous,
that is to say, they claim to be descended from and to derive their
names from some Rishi, or saint, who is supposed to have been their
first ancestor. All the Brâhmanical gotras have eight great ancestors
only—Visvamitra, Jamadagni, Bharadwâja, Gautama, Atri, Vasishtha,
Kasyapa, and Agastya. [168] These occupy with the Brâhmans about the
same position as the twelve sons of Jacob with the Jews, and only he
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