Padmasaliyar History — Social structure, gotras and divisions

Chapters (15)

Chapter 10

Social structure, gotras and divisions

The inner structure of the Padmasaliyar community can be seen in four layers: the family name (house name, intiperu), the gotra, the sampradaya (Shaiva/Vaishnava) and type of work, and finally community organisations. The sections of this chapter on gotra, the eight divisions and the four seats are arranged to agree with what is on the home page of this site.

Purana
Living community tradition
Written evidence
Yet to be verified

What is a gotra?

A gotra is the mark by which a family links its paternal line to a rishi. In Hindu communities generally, the gotra passes from father to children; marriage between members of the same gotra is generally avoided. Records say that in the Padmasaliyar community too gotras are used to regulate marriage.

The Markandeya gotra — the 102nd?

The list of 101 gotras — the home-page compilation

The 101 gotras (open the table)

No.	Gotra (Sanskrit)	English (spelling of the compilation)
1	पौरुष ऋषि	Powrusha Rushi
2	दक्ष ऋषि	Dhaksha Rushi
3	वालखिल्य ऋषि	Vaalakhilya Rushi
4	वसिष्ठ ऋषि	Vashista Rushi
5	वृक्ष ऋषि	Vruksha Rushi
6	बृहती ऋषि	Bruhathi Rushi
7	दारुक ऋषि	Dharuka Rushi
8	वनक ऋषि	Vanaka Rushi
9	विश्व ऋषि	Viswa Rushi
10	काश्यप ऋषि	Kashyapa Rushi
11	कुत्स ऋषि	Kuthsa Rushi
12	मौय्य ऋषि	Mowyaa Rushi
13	पावन ऋषि	Pavana Rushi
14	वैशीन ऋषि	Vysheena Rushi
15	जमदग्नि ऋषि	Jamadhagni Rushi
16	मांडव्य ऋषि	Maandavya Rushi
17	यदु ऋषि	Yadu Rushi
18	कशील ऋषि	Kasheela Rushi
19	त्रिशंकु ऋषि	Thrishanka Rushi
20	दुर्वास ऋषि	Durvaasa Rushi
21	जटिल ऋषि	Jatila Rushi
22	वेदमात ऋषि	Vedamatha Rushi
23	विदु ऋषि	Vidu Rushi
24	भरत ऋषि	Bharatha Rushi
25	वुर्वदास ऋषि	Vurvdasa Rushi
26	उपेंद्र ऋषि	Upendra Rushi
27	वनजल ऋषि	Vanajala Rushi
28	अंबरीष ऋषि	Ambharisa Rushi
29	धनंजय ऋषि	Dhananjaya Rushi
30	मधु ऋषि	Madhu Rushi
31	च्यवन ऋषि	Chyavana Rushi
32	भिक्षु ऋषि	Bhikshu Rushi
33	पशुनक ऋषि	Pashunaka Rushi
34	कौंडिल्य ऋषि	Kowndilya Rushi
35	सत्यकर्म ऋषि	Satyakarma Rushi
36	तक्ष ऋषि	Thaksha Rushi
37	प्रवृक्ष ऋषि	Pravruksha Rushi
38	रुरुक्ष ऋषि	Ruruksha Rushi
39	पुरु ऋषि	Puru Rushi
40	पुलस्त्य ऋषि	Pulastya Rushi
41	सदु ऋषि	Sadu Rushi
42	गार्गेय ऋषि	Gargeya Rushi
43	कपिल ऋषि	Kapila Rushi
44	संस्थित ऋषि	Samsthita Rushi
45	त्रिहु ऋषि	Thrihu Rushi
46	निश्चित ऋषि	Nishchitha Rushi
47	सुरक्ष ऋषि	Suraksha Rushi
48	पृथ्वी ऋषि	Prudhvī Rushi
49	पौंड्रक ऋषि	Powndraka Rushi
50	उदयपावन ऋषि	Udayapavana Rushi
51	कौशिक ऋषि	Kowshika Rushi
52	ब्रह्म ऋषि	Brahma Rushi
53	मनुह ऋषि	Manuha Rushi
54	जुरील ऋषि	Jureela Rushi
55	कमंडल ऋषि	Kamandala Rushi
56	आत्रेय ऋषि	Aatreya Rushi
57	ऋष्यशृंग ऋषि	Rushyashrunga Rushi
58	दिग्वास ऋषि	Digvasa Rushi
59	पुराशन ऋषि	Puraashana Rushi
60	वनसंज्ञक ऋषि	Vanasamjnaka Rushi
61	सिंधु ऋषि	Sindhu Rushi
62	पौष्णल ऋषि	Powshnala Rushi
63	रोणक ऋषि	Ronaka Rushi
64	रघु ऋषि	Raghu Rushi
65	तुष्ट ऋषि	Thusta Rushi
66	आश्रम ऋषि	Aasrama Rushi
67	भार्गव ऋषि	Bhargava Rushi
68	सुभिक्ष ऋषि	Subhiksha Rushi
69	चोक्रील ऋषि	Chokreela Rushi
70	आंगीरस ऋषि	Angeerasa Rushi
71	भरद्वाज ऋषि	Bharadvaja Rushi
72	प्रस्त ऋषि	Prasta Rushi
73	कंडिल ऋषि	Kandila Rushi
74	वैदृत ऋषि	Vydrutha Rushi
75	सपिल्वक ऋषि	Sapilvaka Rushi
76	सुतीष्ण सूर्य ऋषि	Sutheeshna surya Rushi
77	चंद्र ऋषि	Chandra Rushi
78	शुक ऋषि	Shuka Rushi
79	शौनक ऋषि	Shownaka Rushi
80	मारीच ऋषि	Maareecha Rushi
81	नियंत ऋषि	Niyantha Rushi
82	सूत्र ऋषि	Sutra Rushi
83	तृष्ण ऋषि	Thrushna Rushi
84	शांडिल्य ऋषि	Shandilya Rushi
85	पुण्यव ऋषि	Punyava Rushi
86	स्त्रंश ऋषि	Sthramsha Rushi
87	सुकीर्त ऋषि	Sukeertha Rushi
88	वाच्विन ऋषि	Vaachvin Rushi
89	मनस्वी ऋषि	Manasvi Rushi
90	अगस्य ऋषि	Agasya Rushi
91	धेनुक ऋषि	Dhenuka Rushi
92	पुत्त ऋषि	Puttha Rushi
93	व्यास ऋषि	Vyaasa Rushi
94	गुह ऋषि	Guha Rushi
95	अत्रि ऋषि	Athri Rushi
96	पराशर ऋषि	Parasara Rushi
97	गौतम ऋषि	Gowthama Rushi
98	प्रांचीव ऋषि	Prancheeva Rushi
99	ऊर्जेश्वर ऋषि	Urjeeshvara Rushi
100	स्वयंभु ऋषि	Swayambu Rushi
101	नारद ऋषि	Narada Rushi

Comparison with the Tirupati Sangham’s compilation

The Tirupati Padmashali Seva Sangham has also published on its web page another list of 101 gotras, compiled from a family tree called the “Sri Padmasali Vamsavruksham” (this was the list in the earlier form of this chapter). The two lists are mostly the same; the differences are of three kinds — transliteration, the order in some places, and a few names.

No.	Home-page list	Tirupati Sangham’s compilation	Kind
21, 54	Jatila (21), Jureela (54)	Jarila (21), Jatila (54)	Same names, places changed
51, 73	Kowshika (51), Kandila (73)	Kaundila (51), Kaushika (73)	Same names, places changed
19	Trishanku	Tritanka	Difference in name
27	Vanajala	Vanatola	Difference in spelling
91	Dhenuka	Dhemaka	Difference in spelling
99	Urjeshvara	Uddeshvara	Difference in name

The house name – gotra file: gotras found in practice

What my count found

The file has 185 different spellings. If the obvious spelling variants are merged (such as Dhaksha/Daksha, Bhaaratha/Bharatha), there are about 166 distinct names. That is, in practice the number 101 does not appear as it stands.
Of the 166, about 100 names match or resemble names in the list of 101 above; the remaining 66 or so have no direct match.
For some names in the list of 101 (such as Suraksha, Prithvi, Punyava, Narada) no matching name was found in the file.
The name “Jabali” is not in this file.
Daksha (Dhaksha) and Taksha (Thaksha) do appear as separate names: Dhaksha 163 rows (171 with Daksha), Thaksha 2 rows.

The 25 gotra names found most often

Gotra (Sanskrit)	English (as in the file)	Rows of house names	In the list of 101?
वसिष्ठ	Vashishta	343	Yes
मारीच	Mareecha	268	Yes
काश्यप	Kashyapa	234	Yes
भरद्वाज	Bharadwaja	220	Yes
पवन	Pavana	215	Yes
बृहस्पति	Bruhaspathi	195	No direct match*
पुलस्त्य	Pulasthya	183	Yes
अंगीरस	Angheerasa	180	Yes
दक्ष	Dhaksha / Daksha	171	Yes
पराशर	Paraashara	160	Yes
च्यवन	Chyavana	160	Yes
कपिल	Kapila	145	Yes
पुरुषोत्तम	Purushothama	142	No direct match*
अगस्त्य	Agasthya	138	Yes
अत्रि	Athri	135	Yes
भारत	Bhaaratha / Bharatha	134	Yes
गालव	Gaalava	130	No
कौंडिल्य	Koundilya	118	Yes
आत्रेय	Aathreya	114	Yes
शुक	Shuka	108	Yes
ऋष्यशृंग	Rushyashrunga	106	Yes
कौशिक	Koushika / Kaushika	104	Yes
विश्वामित्र	Vishwamitra	102	No
विक्रम	Vikrama	102	No
गार्गेय	Gaargeya	101	Yes

* Bruhaspathi and Purushothama may be alternative forms of names such as “Bruhathi” and “Powrusha” in the list of 101; this has not been confirmed. The numbers are rows of house names, not families.

Names with no direct match in the list of 101 that occur often in the file

Gotra (Sanskrit)	English	Rows
कण्व	Kanva	97
मैत्रेय	Mythreya	95
श्रीवत्स	Shrivathsa / Srivathsa	90
केशव	Keshava	86
पुलह	Pulaha	83
कौंडिन्यस	Koundinyasa	79
कर्दम	Kardhama	75
दत्तात्रेय	Dathathreya	71
मधुसूदन	Madhusudhana	68
गोविंद	Govindha	66
क्रतु	Krathuvu	61
विजय	Vijaya	60
विमल	Vimala	55
जनार्दन	Janardhana	51
बृहदारण्य	Bruhadaaranya	49
मुद्गल	Mudhgala	45
हरितास	Harithasa	45
संकर्षण	Sankarshana	44
ईश्वर	Eeshwara	44
हृषीकेश	Hrushikesha	43

How to read this

This is one person’s compilation; the original manuscript, the year and the method are not given in the file. So it is a record that shows usage in practice to some extent; it is not an authorised list.
The names may contain spelling mistakes and alternative forms. Some names (Keshava, Madhusudana, Janardana, Hrishikesha, Sankarshana and others) look like names of Lord Vishnu; whether they are really gotra names or some other practice has to be asked of community elders.
Of the 8 division names mentioned in Chapter 2, Vishvamitra and Bhrigu (Bhargava) are in this file but not directly in the list of 101. Markandeya does not appear as a separate gotra in the file either. This too needs an explanation.
All that can be said so far is that “101” is the traditional number; records of practice may show more names than that.

House names (intiperu)

Sub-divisions

The eight divisions (ganas) and the four seats (peethas)

No.	Division (gana)	Gotras
1	Markandeya	12
2	Bhrigu	13
3	Agastya	14
4	Angirasa	12
5	Kashyapa	15
6	Vasishtha	14
7	Vishvamitra	12
8	Bharadvaja	9
	Total	101

No.	Seat (peetha)	Direction	Traditional mention (place)
1	Uttara Peetha	North	Varanasi / the northern bank at Srisailam
2	Dakshina Peetha	South	Kanchipuram / Tiruvannamalai
3	Purva Peetha	East	Dwaraka Tirumala / Rajahmundry
4	Paschima Peetha	West	Hampi / Alampur

Community organisations

At a glance

Statement	Category
The 101 gotras come from the line of Bhavana Rishi	Kulapurana
Marriage regulated by gotra	Living tradition
The 101 gotra names (home-page compilation, the main list)	Community compilation (source unconfirmed)
The Tirupati Sangham’s compilation (comparison)	Community compilation
101 + Markandeya = 102 gotras	The Sangham’s history page; the relation to the 1909 record is a conjecture
Shaiva and Vaishnava sampradayas; names by type of work	The Sangham’s page, the survey table
Eight divisions, four seats (with names)	Record of tradition (compiled for research; unconfirmed)

Next chapter

11. The curse said to have fallen on the Padmasaliyar — a separate section — the traditional story, its several versions, and how it can be recorded with respect.

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