Working of the Gotra System among the Jats

Working of the Gotra System among the Jats

Dr. S.S.Rana

It is generally less known that the Jats, a peasant community inhabiting the North and North West Parts of India are among the best exemplars of true followers of the Brahmanical (Hindu) social order prevalent in India since time immemorial. But it is a pity that they have not received sufficient attention at the hands of scholars for the study of their ethnology. Being primarily agriculturists they had neither the inclination nor opportunities to prove their skills in accessing and consolidating political power in the
Ancient times. Their self sufficient economy, largely working under the barter system, was largely responsible for their living a contented and sedentary life. They were hardly concerned or worried about the affairs of the state. It was later in the medieval times, especially during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that the Jats asserted to carve out their position and establish their own political status. The house of Bharatpur was the most prominent to form a state and get recognition from the Mughal emperor in 1742 A.D.under Badan Singh assisted ably by his son Surajmal. Earlier the Jats had surprised changese Khan in the fourteenth century and Babar in the sixteenth century.
But essentially pursuing agricultural and pastoral occupations the Jats preferred to remain aloof from the humdrum of urban life and continued to live a sedentary life which was least affected by the shifting sands of time. They stood on the sturdy ground of the most productive tract of land ranging from the river Indus to the holy Ganges. It was this cradle of the ancient Indian civilization where they realized their life in full measure enriching the total social environment. Better known by their various separate clan names before acquiring along with many others the collective nomenclature ‘Jat’ they scrupulously followed the traditions and customs developed under the common wealth known as the Brahmanical system governing the social and religious life of the people in the region.
Among the elements of the social organization the gotra system came to acquire an important place in very early times. In case of the Jats this system has continued to guide their life in a crucial manner. The republican minded Jats settled their social and political affairs through the Panchayat system. At micro level the Khap Panchayats were constituted of the representatives from villages of the same gotra. At macro level the sarvakhap Panchayat was formed by the representatives of all the Khap panchayats. The feeling of kinship being quite strong in a gotra it has been found to be an important element in forging brotherhood among its constituents. Gotra is a significant factor in regulating matrimony among the Jats in accordance with the well thought out parameters of prohibitions and eligibilities relating to the would be couples.
Before proceeding further it would be better to understand the meaning and nature of gotra. But since gotra itself has its genesis in the familial/kinship circle (sapinda) we may take up the later for explaining first what sapinda stands for. Sapindata is reckoned on three occasions, viz. first for determining a prohibition in relation to marriage; second for determining the line of succession mentioned in a will; and third in determining the persons who were to perform the purificatory rites after impurity effected through cases of birth or death. According to the dominant view expressed by the Mitakshara school sapinda is one who has body elements common with another. Father and children; grand father and grand children; mother and mother’s father; uncles and their wives; a wife and sister- in-law all fall in the category of sapindas. In this way the whole universe would become sapinda of any one. To limit this infinity of sapindata, Yajnavalkya gave seven generations on the father’s side and five generations on the mother’s side as the limits of sapindata. Marriage among sapindas was prohibited. Such prohibition being on a personal and limited scale the gotra system in the manner of labeling was brought into play for determining the prohibitions on a more wider and general way. Persons of the same gotra had a common ancestory going back to several generations. The commonality could be traced to a place of residence, some family trait, a nick name or a title or even a common Rishi. In the context of kinship identity gotra has been mentioned by the famous Sanskrit grammarian Panini (5th-6th century B.C.) and commented upon by the author of the Kashika Vritti (4 th-5 th century A.D.) on Panini’s work, the Ashtadhyayi. In Panini’s time gotra was synonymous with family or kula. In the sutra- ‘apatyam pautraprabhriti gotram’ (3.1.62) he states that the progeny from grandson onwards would be called gotra. A large number of names of gotras among the Jats of the modern times ending in the suffix ayan such as kakrayan, salklayan, kadyayan thakrayan etc. fit into Panini’s definition of gotra. Another sutra of Panini ‘vriddhasya cha pujayam’ (4.1.166) is reflected in the eldest son and heir of the family representing it at meetings of assembly of elders. Panini calls this heir by the technical name gotrapatya and those younger to him as yuvapatyas.
The working of the gotra system among the Jats for contracting marriages before the beginning of the last century was marked by four fold prohibitions of gotras of the contracting parties, viz. i. the gotra of the groom’s father (pita);ii. that of the mother’s father(mata); iii. that of the father’s mother’s father (dadi); and iv. that of the mother’s mother’s father(nani). None of these four should tally with any of the similr four in case of the bride. These prohibitions take care of the prohibition of sapindas also to a great extent. The prohibitions could be reduced in number by the caste Panchayat on exigency of situation. Adding to the above prohibitions some sections of Jat gotras form together one exogamic group in the belief that they are related to each other by kinship. The group comprising Dalal, Rathi, Maan and Dabas gotras are an example of this phenomenon. It is possible that this grouping is a vestige of the Pravara system under which the constituent gotras of a Pravara practised exogamy. Alternatively geographical proximity of these gotras working on the principle of seemjod biradari (kinship of proximity) could be responsible for the grouping. It could be described as the brotherhood of gohand i.e. a place upto which the cattle (gau or go) of a particular village would be roaming about (from the Sanskrit root handa) for grazing. The cow connection of gotra is sought to be traced by some scholars as a basis of forming gotras. The practice of kinsmen of several generations keeping a common gotwara/gitwara or cow yard is cited as a dimension to be taken into account for deciphering the true import of gotra. We are also not unaware of the pattern of formation of cattle (cow) herds in the villages of yesterday. Even cattle herds were seen to have been formed on the basis of kinship clusters of families.
Already there are signs of the above mentioned prohibitions on their way out as match making, especially among educated young professionals settled in big cities and other urban conglomerations is getting difficult day by day. The prohibitions appear quite teasing to the young generation. Perhaps they need to know a little more about ethnic issues. Not withstanding the expansion of means of transport and communications the average distance between the contracting parties is getting reduced for ensuring easy and frequent interaction between the families on either side. The narrowing down of choices for finding grooms has led to the deletion of the two last numbered prohibitions in quite a few places as the situation demanded. No formal Panchayat decisions are known to have been taken in such cases. Modernity is overtaking tradition in quite a subtle manner.
Gotra comes into reckoning during marriage ceremonies. For a last stage check gotras of the side of the groom as well the bride are recited at the main ceremony. At the ceremony of farewell (vida) each side of the parties contracting marriage amid other things offers token money as honour to any one married to a woman of their respective gotra present among the opposite side. This honouring goes beyond the venue of the ceremony as far as women are concerned. The groom accompanied by several others interested goes round the village looking for all women of his gotra to offer them money as a token of honour. In turn all the members of his entourage get treated to a drink of sweetened hot milk. The kinship bonding thus gets further strengthened. It indicates also the kinship of milk- doodh and poot have a strong connection in kinship in the eyes of a Jat.
Village settlements mainly constituting Jat population are characterized by a predominant gotra. Members belonging to the main gotra are called Khede ki doob and the lamd originally marked for habitation is called Kheda. The gotra of the original inhabitants becomes the gotra of the Kheda. Persons of other gotras may have settled later. Even if the former are reduced to a minority the gotra of the Kheda remains unaltered. Guests are welcome but only as long as they remain guests. They are not welcome as proprietors. The Hindu succession Act of 1956 giving daughters equal rights in parental land was a welcome measure in as much as it did away with gender bias and served as an ameliorating measure for many a sad stories of disinherited daughters having no brothers to look after them. But among the Jat the working of the above law has been beautifully skirted aside by the willing connivance of sisters who voluntarily and happily opt out of the succession line in the larger interest of maintaining a strong kinship relationship for generations to come. The Jats give the rationale for this strategy with the plea that the sister’s husband of a different gotra owning land in the kheda of his wife’s gotra would sow seeds of another gotra in the same village thus weakening gotra bonding. Further a question is asked as to what happened to the land already owned by the sister’s husband in his ancestral village. Of course there are cases known where the progeny of the immigrating family decided to acquire the gotra of the Kheda to steer clear of many functional difficulties only to throw up peculiar complications in distant future. We are aware of a recent case how a Rathi family migrating to and, in due course of time, adopting the new gotra Hooda fell prey to the hawkish eye of the gotra zealots. A girl of the family married to a boy of Dahiya gotra in a village hving Rathi as the Kheda gotra had to go through harrowing time before the matter could be finally resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned including the caste Panchayat though not before the matter reached the High Court of Punjab and Haryana and the State Government made its stand clear on the issue. It may be mentioned here that the two families concerned had organized the marriage after taking into consideration all the aspects of the prohibitions under the gotra system. The Shastras also support the settlement arrived at. Were there a marriage contracted between sagotras in ignorance of the facts it would be deemed to be annulled forthwith which was not the case in the instance cited above. Among the Jats the phrase ‘gotra milna’ is a polite way to signify dissolution of a marriage. In any case, the modern law protects the new generation against all customary practices and the choice is theirs’. However, at the same time we can not shut our minds from thinking about the sociological dimensions inherent in the situation. Probably the fragmentation and reduction in size of land holdings in the backdrop of employment opportunities opening up in diverse sectors a fresh look is needed in relation to the whole question of land rights and succession laws. The Jats, in any case, are pragmatic and magnanimous enough to find their own ingenious solutions to the issues visiting them in the modern times.


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