Genealogy of Mithila: An attempt to understand “Gotra” and “Moola”

 Genealogy of Mithila: An attempt to understand “Gotra” and “Moola” 

Brahmin as a class since ages is portrayed by extreme views both positive and negative. Following commentaries from historical archives will support the point. 

“Of created beings the most excellent are said to be those which are animated; of the animated, those which subsist by intelligence; of the intelligent, mankind; and of men, the Brahmins.” This statement from the Manu Smr̥ ti portrays the Brahmin as the archetype of the ideal human, born from the supreme being in order to fulfill dharma or the ‘sacred law’. 

Translation by H. H. Risley of a popular Hindi saying “Is dunya men tin kasai[;] Pisu, katmal, Brahman bhai.” (The People of India, 126–127). Literally, “there are three types of butchers (or brutes) in this world, the flea, the bedbug, and brother Brahmin”. Scholars of caste have viewed the Brahmin as the apex of the social structure 

as well as the source for all of its evils. 

The first evidence of a historical understanding about the origins of Brahmin communities appears in a text from the 12th century called the Sahyādri Khaṇḍa. The Sahyādri Khaṇḍa states that there are ten Brahmin communities dispersed across India. These ten communities are divided into two groups according to the geography of India. The northern group consists of the Sārasvata, Kānyakubja, Utkala, Maithila, and Gauḍa communities, while the southern groups consists of the Drāviḍa, Tailaṅga, Karnāṭa, Madhyadeśa, and Gurjara communities. The Sahyādri Khaṇḍa does not offer an explanation for this classification or the basis for 
grouping Brahmins in these communities. 

Mithila 

Mithilā (मिथिला): —The city of Mithilā was called after Mithi. —Nemi was a son of Ikṣvāku. He became videha due to the curse of Vasiṣṭha. The son of Nemi was Mithi. He was born through the churning of araṇī (araṇyāṃ mathyamānāyāṃ) and hence his name Mithi. He was also called Janaka because of his janana. The city of Mithilā was called after his name. (Wikipedia) 

The creation of a mithila identity that resulted from a census of brahmins conducted by the King of Tirhut in the 14th century. This census formed the basis of a comprehensive genealogical records known as “panaji prabhanda” which was used for determining community identity through the enforcement of rules of endogamy by which the purity of brahmin caste was maintained. Genealogy was linked to territories by identifying in a limited number of Brahmin patrilineage called Mula descending from founding ancestors of particular villages. 

Genealogy, territory, and authority converged to produce the fourth aspect of identity among the Maithil Brahmins: kingship. When North Bihar was conquered by the Delhi Sultanate and the ruling dynasty of Tirhut fled, the Sultan appointed a high ranking Maithil Brahmin to rule the region. From the 14th to 20th century, two successive Maithil Brahmin families governed Tirhut, who perpetuated the state-sponsored machinery of Brahmin genealogy and the regulation of marriage. The rise of a Brahmin to the position of ‘king’ further expanded the notion of ‘Maithil’ Brahmin identity by uniting the traditional tension in the relationship between Brahmin and king within the Brahmin caste.  

The mūla is the foundational principle in the social organization of the Brahmins of Mithila called the mūla, a term that has the sense of an “origin”. It is a named agnatic lineage that is subordinate to the gotra and all mūla that belong to a gotra are by extension sagotra. 

The genealogical records are organized according to the mūla. The mūla is a name of agnatic lineage that descends from the apical ancestor, who is known as the viji purūṣa ‘primal individual’. 

The mūla pañjī records the ancestry of each Brahmin. It also records each marriage by specifying the mūla of each maternal patrline marrying into an agnatic lineage.  

Below is an excerpt taken from the mūla pañjī of the Khauāla mūla belonging to the Kāśyapa gotra: 

The explanation of this mula panji is as follows: 

The founder of the Khauāla mūla is mahāmahopādhyāya Prajāpati, his sons are mahopādhyāya Vācaspati and mahopādhyāya Umāpati (127/05). The son of Vācaspati is Gaṇapati, who married the daughter of Tripurari of Dhanauja mūla. The four sons of Gaṇapati are Śaśidhara (14/04), Lakṣmīdhara, Surānanda, and the dharmadhikaraṇika mahāmahopādhyāya Hariśarmmaṇā. 

The son of Śaśidhara is Gadādhara, who married the daughter of Ravi of Marāṛa mūla [...] The sons of Gadādhara are mahāmahopādhyāya Nayapāṇi and mahopādhyāya Haripāṇi. Haripāṇi married the daughter of Bhikama of Mahuā mūla. The sons of Haripāṇi are Lakṣmīpāṇi and Ratnapāṇi. Ratnapāṇi married the daughter of Sāntikara of Jajivāle-Udanapura mūla-grāma. The four sons of mahāmahopādhyāya Ratnapāṇi are mahopādhyāya Harāditya, mahāmahopādhyāya Bhāvāditya, mahāmahopādhyāya Nayāditya, and mahāmahopādhyāya Dharāditya. Dharāditya married the daughter of Vaṃśadhara of Gaṅgolī mūla. 

Genealogy and Marriage 

Based upon the depth and breadth of some of the recorded lineages and the detailed information collected not only upon the relationships between individuals and lineages, but upon the attributes of specific individuals, it is likely that the carrying out of pañjī prabandha was a significant personal event for the Brahmins of Mithila. It is said that all Brahmins in the kingdom were asked to report their paternal and maternal ancestries. The information  collected was compiled and became the basis of the official genealogical record, which was known as the mūla pañjī, or the ‘ancestral record’ of every Brahmin male in the community. 

In addition to these primary pañjī records, there is a gotra pañjī attached to the beginning of the mūla pañjī, which is a brief classification of lineages according to gotra. Another record is the uteṛha pañjī, which is an enumeration of the ancestral details of a particular individual and is used primarily in the selection of a marriage partner. Those Brahmins whose genealogies were recorded were known as pañjī-baddha or ‘bound in the registry’ or simply ‘registered’. 

The pañjī prabandha codified that marriages must be made with regard to the following six considerations: a bride must not be 1) a sagotra or 2) sapravara, or 3) a sapiṇḍa of the mother or 4) a sapiṇḍa of the father, additionally she must not be related to anyone descended from 5) her maternal grandfather or 6) her paternal grandfather, and she must not be 7) related to a step-mother of the groom. 

There is a total of twenty Gotras in Maithil as enumerated below: - 

 

In the above list Sakha, Gotra and Pravara had specific meaning as explained below: - 

Sakha: In older times son a rishi was given task to preserve and remember a particular veda thus concept of sakha came. 

Gotra: Name of gotra is derived from oldest know rishi of that gotra. 

Pravara: Revered rishis of a particular gotra were called paravara. 

 

 

Each gotra has multiple Mulas as enumerated below: - 

 

Conclusion 

The pañjī prabandha codified a new lineage designation called the mūla. The mūla is a lineage based upon the universal Brahminical gotra affiliation, but it represents the segment of a gotra that is local to Mithila. Secondly, the system mandated that marriages be performed between individuals belonging to ‘registered’ mūla-s, with regard to the new principle of mūla exogamy and the traditional prohibitions regarding consanguinity enjoined by the legal digests. By limiting marriages to those individuals belonging to mūla-s recognized in the genealogies, the pañjī system not only created the concept of a ‘Maithila’ community, but by establishing the geographical boundaries of the endogamous group, it intrinsically defined the perimeters of the jāti. Moreover, through its regulation of marriage the system implicitly controlled reproduction, and as a result it defined membership in and expansion of the community.