Punjabi Saraswat Brahman-Mohla, Somastam Gotra, Som, Budh, Pururava and Soumaya Pravara,Kalpa Sutra, Madhyandina Shakha, Shukla Yajurvedi- Part 2

Q3. What is your Gotra? Answer. Somastam

The Gotra system is part of a two type classification (according to Sherring M.A "Hindu Tribes & Castes”) of various Brahmin families in ancient times. The two classifications are (1) Gotra and (2) Charana.

The Charana is based on the lineage of teachers and their students who then become teachers. The Gotra classification took form probably (according to some accounts) sometime during the Yajur Veda period,after the Rig Veda period (some scholars have attributed this to the fact that Rig Veda seem to point to Charana more frequently than Gotra).It is believed that the Gotras (now account to a total of49) were a plenty and started to consolidate some around 10-8 Century B. C. The present day Gotra classification is created from a core of 8 rishis (The Saptha Rishis +Agastya). The Seven Rishis are Bhrigu, Visvamitra, Angirasa,Atri, Bharadvaja, Vashistha, Kanva. It is believed that once there were 88000 Rishis who were following the Shastras and were not tied down by the Samsara (Sansar).Of these, 8 of them desired progeny and received it. The first of these 8 were Agastya. All present day Brahman communities are said to be descendants of these 8 Rishis.

The Gotra system was instituted for the purposes of identifying one's ancestors and pay respects during various invocations and other rituals to honour their fathers, fore-fathers and so on, up to their respective Rishis. This was later adopted to other aspects of the Brahman life, such as Marriage and temple worship.

In present days, the Gotra classification is mainly used for marriages, so that that progeny will not be allowed within the same Gotra in order to avoid impure Matrimony. In fact the Manusmriti (according to some accounts) strongly advises a man NOT to seek father's sisters's daughter, mother's sister's daughter and mother's brother's daughter for marriage. This however, is not followed in many parts of India, Southern India in particular.

I have already narrated the origin of Somastam in my earlier posting dated Aug. 8, 2009 titled MERCURIAL MOHLAS. I further traced the progeny of Somastam (Budha) to understand the Parivar or Pravara of SOM. As per Rig Veda the lineage moved further through Pururava.

When he grew young, Buddha produced Pururava from Illa. Pururava was very magnanimous and handsome. Once an elf Urvashi happened to see him and at once fell in love. She then approached Pururava. Her beauty enchanted Pururava also. There is a long story of Pururava and Urvashi to cut it short Pururava lost Urvashi for a while to finally locate her in kurukshetra.

Pururava had six sons- Aayu, Amavasu, Vishwavasu, Shrutaayu, Shataayu and Ayutayu.

Pururava’s son Aayu had been married to Rahu’s daughter. They had five sons- Nahusha, Kshatravriddh, Rambh, Vraji and Aneyna

Nahusha had six sons- Yati, Yayati, Sanyati, Aayati, Viyati and Kriti.

Yayati had two wives, Devyani, the daughter of Shukracharya and Sharmishtha, the daughter of Vrishparva.

Devyani gave birth to Yadu and Turvasu whereas

Sharmishtha gave birth to Druhayu, Anu and Puru.

Amongst them Druhayu went and settled in GANDHARA(Para Chinar connection), ANU(West), Puru(Centre) Yadu(East) and Turvase(South & South east-Kerala, Chola and Kola of South India)

Through Puru we got Bharatvansh. Now this lineage is called Lunar Dynasty. If we see above 8 Rishis then we find ATRI as our originator-since Som was born out of Atri’s tears.

Q. What is our Sutra? Ans. The Sutras are ritualistic works, and the

Sutra of a Brahman is the name of the Rishi whose manual of rituals regulates the religious ceremonies of his family. Explains Pandit Jogendra Nath Bhatacharya in “Hindu Castes & Sects” In our case we follow KALPA SUTRAS.

Between 1000 BC to 200 BC(also known as Sutra Period), Brahmans became divided into various Sakhas or branches, based on the adoption of different Vedas and different readings and interpretations of Vedas. The teachings of these distinguished Rishis are called Sutras. Every Veda has its own Sutras.

There are several Brahman law givers such as Angirasa, Apasthambha, Atri, Brihaspati, Boudhayana, Daksha, Gautama (he gave principles of Upanayanam), Harita, Katyayana, Likhita, Manu, Parasara, Samvarta, Sankha, Satatapa, Usanasa, Vasishta, Vishnu, Vyasa, Yajnavalkya and Yama. These twenty-one Rishis were the propounders of Dharma Sastras. There is a lot of contradiction among these Darmasastras, even within one Smriti. These differences in the rules and rituals resulted in the rigid stratification of subcastes among Brahmans. None of these Smritis is supreme and universally applicable throughout the Indian Continent. The oldest among these Dharma Sutras are Apasthambha, Baudhayana, Gautama and Vasishta Sutras.

Some of the sutras related to their Vedas are:

Krishna Yajurveda: Baudhayana Sulbasutra, Manava Sulbasutra, Apastamba Sulbasutra

Shukla Yajurveda: Katyayana Sulbasutra

Katyayana: Yajnavalkya mentions Katyayana. Katyayanasmriti is quoted in several works of Viswarupa, Mitramisra etc. Smriti Chandrika cites 600 verses of Katyayanasutras. He may belong to the same period as Narada and Brihaspati.

KALPA SUTRAS: Those of them which teach the mode of performing Vedic sacrifices are called Kalpa Sutras , even the Brahmans themselves admit that though authoritative they are composed by human authors like Mashska,baudhayana, Apasthamba, Ashvalayana, Katyayana & others. They are to be distinguished from SMARTA SUTRAS the sutras of the smriti (recollection or memory) or the sutras of the tradition, which form Law books.

Kalpa is one of the six disciplines of Vedanga, treating ritual.

Tradition does not single out any special work in this branch of the Vedanga(six technical subjects related to Vedas).The six subjects of Vedanga are:

Phonetics (Śikṣā);Meter (Chandas);Grammar (Vyākaraṇa);Etymology (Nirukta);Astrology (Jyotiṣa);Ritual (Kalpa);

The Kalpa-Sutras, or rules of ceremonial, are of two kinds: (1) the Shrauta Sutras, which are based on the shruti(hearing), and teach the performance of the great sacrifices, requiring three or five sacrificial fires;how to perform chaturmasam? And (2) the Smarta Sutras, or rules based on the smrti (recollection or memory) or tradition. The latter class again includes two kinds of treatises: (1) the Grhyasutras, or domestic rules, treating the rites of passage, such as marriage, birth, namegiving, etc., connected with simple offerings into the domestic fire; and (2) the Dharmasutras, which treat customs and social duties, and have formed the chief sources of the later law-books.

Further, the Shrauta-sutras of the Yajurveda have usually include a set of so-called Shulva-sutras or Sulba Sutras, i.e. rules of the cord, which treat of the measurement by means of cords, and the construction, of different kinds of altars required for sacrifices. These Sulba sutras were written by Katyayana who is also recognized for his work “Varttika” an explanation on Pannini’s grammar,which formed the basis for Sanskrit grammar. He also composed one of the Sulba sutras. It is a series of nine texts on geometry of altar construction, dealing with rectangles, right handed triangles, rhombuses and many more. He was a learned man but not pure mathematician. His mathematics was for religious sake.These treatises are of special interest as supplying important information regarding the earliest geometrical operations in India.

Other important Brahmans who gave smritis/sutras/laws are: Angirasa, Atri, Daksha, Devala, Laugakshi, Prajapati, Pitamaha, Pulatsya, Yama, Vyasa, Samvarta and Satatapa.