History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.270

v2.c26.270

A few words must be said about the gotra and pravara of kings and other kṣatriyas. It appears from the Ait. Br. quoted above (p. 488) that in the case of kṣatriyas the pravara of their *purohita* was employed in religious acts where pravara had to be recited. This leads to the inference that most kṣatriyas had forgotten their gotras and pravaras by that time. The Śrauta sūtras allow¹¹⁵² an option to kṣatriyas (to kings according to Āśv.). 'They may employ the pravara of their purohitas or all kṣatriyas may employ the same pravara viz. Mānava-Aila-Paurūravasa-iti'. Medhātithi on Manu III. 5 states that the distinctions of gotras and pravaras concern primarily brāhmaṇas alone and not kṣatriyas and vaiśyas and quotes Āśv. Śr. (I. 3) in support. The Mit. and other nibandhakāras rely on the first alternative mentioned in the sūtras and say that in marriages of kṣatriyas and vaiśyas the gotras and pravaras of their purohitas should be considered, as they have no specific gotras of their own¹¹⁵³. This is carrying the doctrine of *atideśa* (extension) too far or with a vengeance. The Saṁ. K. (pp. 689–690) assigns reasons for this attitude of the Mit. but they are not satisfactory. Ancient literature and epigraphic records show that kings had gotras of their own. In the Mahābhārata it is said that when Yudhiṣṭhira, went to the court of Virāṭa in the guise of a brāhmaṇa and was asked by the king to state his gotra he said that he was of the Vaiyāghrapadya gotra (Virāṭa-parva 7. 8-12). That this was the gotra of the Pāṇḍavas also follows from the fact that in the Bhīṣmatarpaṇa¹¹⁵⁴ that is performed on the eighth day of the bright half of Māgha, Bhīṣma's gotra is given as Vaiyāghrapāda or-padya and pravara as Sāṁkṛti. Jaimini (VI. 6. 12-15) establishes that the Kulāyayajña was to be performed jointly by a king and his purohita (and so they could use different pravaras it appears). The Pallavas of Kāñcī had Bhāradvāja as their gotra (vide E. I. vol. I p. 5). The Cālukyas are often described as 'mānavya-gotra' (vide E. I. vol. VI. p. 337). In a copper-plate grant of Jayacandradeva (dated saṁvat 1233 i. e. 1176 A. D.) the donee was a kṣatriya described as Rāuta-śrī-Rājyadharavarman of the Vatsa gotra and of five pravaras viz. Bhārgava-Cyavana-Apnavāna-Aurva-Jāmadagnya.¹¹⁵⁵ In the Garra (Bundelkhand) plate of the Candella king Trailokyavarma of Kālañjara a village is granted to Rāuta Sāmanta of the Bhāradvāja gotra in recognition of his father's death in battle with the Turuṣkas (E. I. vol. 16, p. 274).