History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.210

v2.c26.210

Several passages of the Tai. S. show that descendants of great sages were called after those sages. In Tai. S. I. 8. 18. 1 it is said 'the Hotṛ is a Bhārgava' (descendant of Bhṛgu). The commentator explains that this is so only in the Rājasūya. It is quite possible that in those days descent was traced through teacher and pupil as well as through father and son. But there being a very few occupations only it is most probable that the son generally learnt from his father the lore of the latter. In Tai. S. VII. 1. 9. 1 we read 'therefore one does not find (or know) two Jāmadagniyas (in succession) who are poor (or grey-haired)'. From this it is clear that in the times of the Tai. S. Jamadagni was regarded as a very ancient sage, that several generations of Jamadagni's descendants had passed away by that time, that they were all known as Jāmadagnyas (or-gniyas) and that no two descendants were found to be poor (or grey-haired) in succession.