| Gotra | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
When our ancient books and literature are studied, we come to know that the ancient sages were the creators of the roots we so proudly proclaim to belong to. Right now, whichever ‘Gotras’ we belong to were supposedly created by these Sages thousands of years ago. The Sages or Rishsi who created the Gotras, came to be known as the Janma-data and their children, over the years, came to be known and recognized by the Gotras which were created by these Sages. If we study the places in the world where the system of division and subdivision of castes are made, we come to know that of all the castes and communities, the Naagar Community is the foremost. The people of this community are ahead in almost everything including Intelligence, simple Life style, and of course, Deep Knowledge. Today the Naagars are found in most parts of India and abroad. But very rarely do we find a Naagar who does not know the Nine essential things which mark the origin of his or her Family. These are:
Points 7, 8 and 9 describe the Gods and Goddesses that are worshipped but the first six points are those about which not all Naagars are aware. Let us take them up one by one Avtank (Atak) – Surname : Every Naagar must know the root of his or her Surname. The surname of a person is usually decided on the basis of the person’s native place, occupation, character etc. For example, Vasavada, Mangrola and Avashiya surnames have come from the names of Villages where the Naagars probably lived. There are approximately 100 Naagar surnames known today. Gotra: Every Naagar must know the Gotra to which he belongs. Whenever a religious activity is to be undertaken, the Gaur Maharaj(Priest) asks the Yajman (the person who has invited the Priest) about his Gotra. It is believed that unless the Gotra is known, the religious activity bears no fruits. The origin of a Gotra is very vividly described in the Puranas as under: When Shiva and Paravati were getting married, Lord Brahma was also present. Brahma was attracted towards Paravati and was not concentrating in the rites being performed. Shiva came to know of this and threw the six rice seeds, which were stuck to the forehead, onto the ground. Out of these six seeds arose six Brahmins and they completed the marriage ceremony properly. As a reward, Shiva had the six Brahmins married to Naag-Kanyas (Serpent girls) and their descendents came to be known as the Naagars. These six Brahmins had in all 72 sons and these sons came to be known as the Gotra Pravartak (The people who invented the system of Gotras). There are a total of 64 Gotras in the Naagar community. Sharm: In olden times, there was a system of attaching a particular suffix at the end of every name, in accordance to the Gotra he belonged to. For example, there are a few people in the Naagars living in Surat, who put the suffix ‘Nand’ after their names. The creator of Goddess Ambaji’s Arti was Shivanand Nagar. Pravar: Every Naagar must know about their ancestors, who they were and what were they famous for. They should know about : Pravari, Dwipravari( father and son)and Tripravari(Grandfather).The examples of Tripravari are Vashishtha, Shakti and Parashar. Veda & Shakha: Each Veda is divided into four Shakhas. But for Naagars, only one Shakha is considered.
The 64 Gotras are as follows:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: "Naagar Navlu Najaranu" By Shri Kirit Bakshi and the World Wide Web |
Naagars.com : Home
<%=formatdatetime(now(),vblongdate)%> <%=formatdatetime(now(),vbshorttime)%>