Looking at the family tree
By R. Prasannan

There is no authoritative count of Brahmin subcastes in India. The Rev. M.A. Sherring had, in the 1860s, compiled some 2,000 of them in the second volume of his Hindu Tribes and Castes. And he said the list could be incomplete.

He compiled his first volume based on extensive research in Varanasi where most Brahmin subcastes and gotras were represented. For the second volume, he relied more on the despatches of British officers posted in various districts and princely states.

According to legend, all the chief Brahmin gotras are descended from the Saptarishis (seven sages). Sherring says the Vatsa, Bida, Arshtikhena, Yaska, Mitryu, Shaunak and Bainya gotras claim descent from sage Bhrigu; the gotras of Gautam, Bharadwaj and Kewal-Angiras from sage Angirah; the Atre, Badbhutak, Garishtira and Mudhgala from sage Atri; the Kaushika, Lohit, Raukshak, Kamkayana, Aja, Katab, Dhananjya, Agamarkhan, Puran and Indrakaushika from sage Viswamitra; the Nidruba, Kasyap, Sandila, Rebha and Langakshi from sage Kashyap; the Vishisht, Kundin, Upamanyu, Parashara and Jatukaraniya from sage Vashisht; and the Idhamabahar, Somabahar, Sambhabahar and Yagyabhar from sage Agastya. Other gotras are said to have been derived from these gotras.

Sherring has also listed some chief gotras according to the Veda each one observes. Thus the Bhargaus, Sankritas, Gargs (Chandras), Bhrigus and Saunaks follow the Rig. The Kasyaps, Kaasyaps, Vatsas, Sandilas and Dhananjyas follow the Sama. The Bharadwajs, the Bhaaradwajs, Angirahs, Gautams and Upamanyus observe the Yajur; and the Kaushikas, Gritakaushikas, Mudhgalas, Galawas and Vashishts follow the Atharva. All others follow the Yajur.

The Brahmin subcastes are broadly categorised into two great geographical divisions-the north and the south. Interestingly, the dividing line is not the Vindhyas, but the Narmada. The Gaur subcastes, according to Sherring, inhabit the region north of the Narmada and the Dravida subcastes, the south. The chief Gaur subcastes are Kanakubja, Saraswat, Gaur, Maithila and Utkala and the chief Dravida subcastes are Maharashtra, Tailanga, Dravida, Karnata and Gurjar.

Then there are supplementary subcastes like Mathur (from Mathura), Magadh, Malwa, Kurmachali, Naipali (from Nepal), Kashmiri, Sapt-Shati, Shenevi, Palashe, Sengardaro, Sankahar, Thatiya, Ahwasi (Haiwasi), Byas, Bilwar, Lrikhishwar, Agachi, Bagaria (Parchuniya), Unwariya, Golapurab, Lyariya, Nade, Myale, Dasadwipi, Dehra-dun, the names largely indicating their habitat.

Interestingly, though the Bhumihars are considered by other Brahmin subcastes as plough-stained, Sherring did not find any evidence warranting the comparatively low status given to them.

Sherring observed that the original gotras, as listed in the old texts, existed even during his time. He also went to the extent of ascertaining and listing the caste of a child (and its position in the caste hierarchy), born out of the union between, say, a Brahmin and a washerwoman, or a potter woman, or a farmhand.