History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.235.4

v2.c26.235.4

Upamanyu, Parāśara, Kuṇḍina and Vasiṣṭha (other than the first three). Each of these four again has numerous sub-sections, each being called gotra. So the arrangement is first into gaṇas, then into pakṣas, then into individual gotras. The first has survived in the Bhṛgu and Āṅgirasa gaṇa. According to Baud. the principal eight gotras were divided into pakṣas. The pravara of Upamanyu is Vasiṣṭha, Bharadvasu, Indrapramada; the pravara of the Parāśara gotra is Vasiṣṭha, Śāktya, Pārāśarya; the pravara of the Kuṇḍina gotra is Vasiṣṭha, Maitrāvaruṇa, Kauṇḍinya and the pravara of Vasiṣṭhas other than these three is simply Vasiṣṭha. It is therefore that some define pravara as 'the group of sages that distinguishes the founder (lit. the starter) of one gotra from another'.¹¹³⁴