GOTHRA SAGES 7
Respected Sirs,
Many members have sent personal mails to me on reading about their Gothra. I thank them .
Sincerely ,
Gopala Krishnan.
Reposted on 4-11-2020 after editing . R. Gopala Krishnan. I have complied to all those who wanted earlier postings.
1.Introduction
There are 49 established Hindu gotras. All members of a particular gotra are believed to possess certain common characteristics by way of nature or profession.
The term gotra was used in its present sense for the first time in the Brahmanas. It was systematised by about the 4th century BC to accommodate changed social rules and laws and by the time of the Sutras, it was a well-established system.
The following gothra sages have already been covered in this series
2. Index
Gothra sages already covered are
1. GouthamaGothra 2 . Gargagothra 3. Agasthia gothra 4. Bhargava gothra 5. Bharadwajagothra 6. AtriGothra
7 Harithagothra. 8. Viswamithragothra 9.Vasistha gothrad.10VadulaGothra
11. UpamanyuGothra 12 shounakagothra 13. Sank- rithi gothra. 14 Moudgalyagothra 15 Sandilya Gothra
16. Salakhyanagothra 17 Raivatagothrae. 18 Koundinya gothra 19 Mandaya Gothra 20 .Maitreyagothrah.
21 Katayanagothra. 22.DhanwantariGothra.
23 Jamadagni gothra 24 .Kanvagothra
25bKasyapagothra 26.Vamadevagothra
27.PulasthiaGothra 28.Pulahagothra
Three Gothras Angirasa Gothra, Shadamasrana Gothra and Athreya Gothra are told in this posting
1. Angirasa Gothra
Sage Angirasa appear in addition pravara of many gothras.
Sage Angirasa is one of the Saptarishis (Seven Sages) and the Manasaputra (son born of the mind) of Brahma. He is one of the Projenitors of humankind
He is also mentioned in the other three Vedas. Sometimes he is reckoned as one of the Seven Great Sages, or saptarishis of the first Manvantara, with others being, Marichi, Atri, Pulaha, Kratu, Pulastya, and Vashishtha .
Brahmas mind born daughter is Satrupa. Her daughter is Prasuti . Prasuti's daughter Smriti was the wife of sage Angirasa.
She had given birth to five daughters--- Sini, Vali, Kuhu, Raka and Anumati. Sage Brihaspati was his son.
Other accounts say that he married smrithy, the daughter of Daksha. In the Rigveda, Agni is sometimes referred to as Angiras or as a descendant of Angiras (RV 1.1). In the Rigveda, Indra drives out cows from where they had been imprisoned by either a demon (Vala) or multiple demons (the Panis) and gifts them to the Angirasas (RV 3.31, 10.108 and a reference in 8.14). Mandala 6 of the Rigveda is attributed to a family of Angirasas.
Lord Buddha is said to be a descendant of Sage Angirasa in many Buddhist texts.
Many verses in the Vedas are attributed to Sage Angirasa.
2.Atharva veda and Angirasa
He along with sage Atharvan are said to have composed most of the Atharvana Veda. Some descendents of Sage Angirasa are said to be Kshatriya by birth and Brahmins by calling. This is so because the Sage helped a childless King to beget children.
Atharva Veda : Atharva Veda has mantras, those are to be used for various special purposes.. The Atharva Veda Samhitaa has two parts. (1) The Atharva & (2) the Angirasa. Because of these two major sections, this Veda is also called Atharva angirasa, and in short Atharva Veda.
3 Para and Apara vidya
One of the stories related to Sage Angirasa is mentioned in the Mundaka Upanishad. A householder by the name Saunaka carries his firewood and reaches the forest where Sage Angirasa is. He approaches the Sage reverentially and beseeches "O Holy Sage, teach me that through which the whole universe can be known."
Angirasa was happy to hear the beautiful question, and started his discourse by classifying the entire spectrum of things to be known into two categories. The Para and the Apara Vidya. As the Apara Vidya 'objects', and Para Vidya 'object' requires an entirely different approach.
Shaunaka inspite of his best efforts could not get the desired fruit of omniscience was that he was unknowingly pursuing Apara Vidya but with the wish to get the fruits of Para Vidya, and thus the frustration.
Sage Angirasa goes on to explain the two different kinds of knowledge on this Earth. The lower knowledge he states are the sciences, hymns, rituals, grammar, poetry astrology etc. The higher knowledge is that which leads a man to that which never dies. The Indestructible.
Sage Angiras to explain this further says "This body is like a tree in which two birds live. They look alike. The lower bird is tasting the fruits of the tree and some are sweet and others are sour. The higher bird is just watching the lower bird. One day the lower bird is tired of everything and starts to weep. The lower bird sees the higher bird which is calm, unattached and at peace. The lower bird hops towards the higher one. It suddenly realizes that the upper bird is also just himself, his true Self . Knowing this his grief disappears. He realises that the Ego was not real, the Self was real, the observer of all.
4 SHADAMASRANA GOTHRAM
I will now say a few words about Shatamarshana Gothram. Natha Muni, Aalavandar(Yaamuna Muni) belong to this Gothram.
About Shatamarshana Gothram lineage, Before Shatamarshana: Ankiras, Purugutsar and Trasadasyu were all born in this Gothram. Shatamarshana gothris are called Sreshtars or Sottai Kulam people in Tamil.
Aalawandar refers to his reputed Lineage referring to his grandfather Nata Muni & Shatamarshana thi s way: "
"sottai nambi" son of Alavandhar (great grand son of Nathamuni) , one of the 74 mudhalis, could be the reason for the name "sottai kulam". { Perhaps he was bald in some usual part of the head and was addressed that way!). Many vaishanvites belong to this gothram. Wehave seen the lineage of Angiras already
1.Ankiras---) Shatamarshana(Penance in the middle of Five fires at Haridhwar and got the boon that the Sata Vayu will not affect him. His predecessors, Purukutsar and Traasa Dasyu were authorities on Rig Vedam.
Tras is made up of 3 Kinds of fear. Since these three kinds of fear ran away fro him out of fear for his Power derived from penance, He is called Trasa Dhasyu. All the three Rishis (Ankiras, Purukutsar, Trsadasyu) are thus included in the Pravaram of Shatamarshana Gothris.
5 Atreya Gothram
3. Atreya is a descendent of Sage Atri one of the saptharshies .We have already read about Atri Gothra. The lineage for Atreya Gothram is .Atri---) Dattatreya---) Atreya Gothram---) Sri Ramanujar and Vedanta desikan are born in Atreya Gothram
6- Indras's palace on earth -story
Atreya is a descendent of Sage Atri. He had done many yagnas and was able to go to any place he liked. One day in course of his wanderings he came to the court of Indra which fascinated him by its beauty and festivities. He thought that no other place could be more pleasant and he wanted it with all his heart. His modest hut could not please him any more. He called his wife and told, 'What sort of rubbish are you giving me to eat? Does it taste good? Your fruits and vegetables cannot come anywhere near the sweetmeats I ate at Indra's court'.
So saying he called Viswakarma and asked him to make his hermitage like Indra's palace. If you do not do as I tell I shall reduce you to ashes by curse. The buildings, the court, the gardens, the elephant, the horse, the chandelier, the music, the food, and the courtiers – all these must be as they are in Indra's palace.
Afraid of the curse, Viswakarma forthwith built a palace which could rival Indra's palace. Much pleased the muni said, 'This is the very thing I wanted'.
After some time however the demons began to frown at the place and said, 'Look, that fellow Indra has surreptitiously left the heaven and built up a home on earth. Let us go and give him a good thrashing for killing our Vritra'.
Shouting, 'Kill Indra! Kill Indra!' the demons in a body laid that palace under siege. The muni was happily reclining on his bed. But when he heard the shouts of the demons he became mortally afraid. Within minutes using all kinds of weapons the demons reduced the place to a heap of rubbles. The muni himself did not escape some minor injuries. He came out trembling and going to the demons he told them with folded hands,
'I swear, I am not Indra, I am a muni, a Brahmin and a very poor and innocent man. Why are you so angry with me?'
'Then why have you been posing like Indra? Remove your trappings at once', said the demons.
'At once I am doing as you say. I must have lost my head and did these foolish things. I shall never do it again.' Viswakarma was summoned and was told by the muni to replace the palace with his modest ashram. He told him, 'Do it soon, or I shall die at the hands of these demons.'
Realizing that the muni was in grave danger Viswakarma readily obeyed and the huts and the forests reappeared where a short while ago a palace stood.
However, before he left Viswakarma enjoyed a hearty laugh at the predicament of the muni.
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