What Is Gotra and How to Find Your Gotra if Unknown

A gotra is a family lineage traced back to an ancient rishi (sage). If your gotra is Bharadwaj, your family traditionally traces its line to Rishi Bharadwaj. The gotra is usually passed down through the father's line, so children take their father's gotra.

Three things a gotra is not:

• It is not your surname. Families with the same surname can have different gotras, and families with different surnames can share one.
• It is not your caste. The same gotra name is found across many communities and regions.
• It is not a horoscope detail. Your nakshatra and rashi come from your birth date and time; your gotra comes from your family.

Tradition traces the main gotras to a small group of ancient rishis, and many later gotras are counted as branches of them. Some families also remember their pravar, the names of a few rishis recited along with the gotra at ceremonies such as the sacred thread and marriage.

You will hear these names often. The list is only to help you recognise a gotra when an elder mentions it. It says nothing about which families or communities hold which gotra, and many other gotras exist.

• Kashyap
• Bharadwaj
• Vashishtha
• Vishwamitra
• Gautam
• Atri
• Jamadagni
• Agastya
• Shandilya
• Kaushik
• Garg
• Vatsa

Spellings vary by region and language. Kashyap may be written Kashyapa, and Vashishtha may be written Vasishtha or Vashisht. The spelling does not change the gotra.

Start with the easiest source and work outward:

1. Ask your elders. Parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts on your father's side are the most direct source. Older relatives often remember the gotra from weddings and pujas even if no one wrote it down.
2. Ask the family purohit. If your family has a regular pandit for weddings, mundan or griha pravesh, he may have noted your gotra or may remember it from the sankalp.
3. Look through family papers. Old wedding cards, a janam patri or kundli made at birth, and handwritten family records sometimes mention the gotra.
4. Check pilgrimage registers. For many North Indian families, the family priests (pandas) at pilgrimage towns such as Haridwar have kept genealogy registers, called bahi, for generations. When a family member came for a ritual, the panda noted names, the village and often the gotra. If your family has such a connection, a relative may know which panda keeps your family's entries.

If different relatives tell you different gotras, go with what your father's side has actually used at weddings and pujas.

Sometimes no one knows. Records were lost, the family moved, or the gotra was simply never used. This is common, and tradition has an answer for it.

The widely followed practice is to use Kashyap gotra in the sankalp. In the Puranas, Rishi Kashyap is described as the father of devas, asuras, nagas and many other beings, and so his gotra is traditionally treated as one that belongs to everyone. You will often hear a pandit say "Kashyap gotra" when a devotee does not know theirs.

Some families follow a different custom:

• Taking the gotra of the family guru or kul purohit
• Leaving the gotra out and giving only the name

What is best avoided is picking a gotra because it sounds right, or because a friend with the same surname uses it. If your family is still searching, use Kashyap in the meantime rather than guessing. None of these choices makes a prayer less sincere, and if your family later finds its gotra, simply use it from then on.

In most families a woman uses her husband's gotra after marriage, and the sankalp at pujas is taken in that gotra. The marriage rites are traditionally understood as the point where she joins her husband's family line. Some families and communities keep the father's gotra for a daughter even after marriage.

There is no single rule for everyone. Follow your family's practice, and if you are unsure, ask an elder or the purohit who performed the wedding. Children usually take their father's gotra.

Before a pooja, the pandit speaks a sankalp in Sanskrit. In plain words, it covers:

1. Where: the country, region and place where the pooja is being done
2. When: the year in the Hindu calendar, the month, paksha, tithi and day
3. Who: the devotee's name, their gotra, and often their nakshatra
4. Why: the wish or purpose for which the pooja is performed
5. What: the pooja and the deity it is offered to

The gotra is part of how the person is named in the prayer, much as a full name identifies someone on a letter. Devotees believe this makes clear on whose behalf the offering is made.

When a pandit performs the pooja, you do not need to say the sankalp yourself. For a simple pooja at home, many families take a little water in the right palm and say the sankalp in their own language: the day, their name and gotra, and what they are praying for. Then they let the water fall to the ground or into a plate.

At an archana, the priest takes these details first and then chants the deity's names. Our explainer on the difference between archana, abhishek and pooja describes what happens after the sankalp.

Many communities traditionally avoid marriage within the same gotra (sagotra marriage), because the couple are regarded as descending from the same rishi. This is a social and religious custom. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 does not list same gotra as a bar to marriage. For any legal question, speak to a lawyer.

When you book a pooja with us, gotra is optional. If you know it, enter it. If you do not, you can enter Kashyap, as many families do, or leave the field blank. Your booking goes through either way, and the pooja is performed in the devotee's name.

The form also asks for the date of birth, from which we work out the nakshatra, and your wish in your own words. A Ganesh Archana is a natural first booking, since Ganesh is worshipped first before any new undertaking. It takes about 30 minutes and comes with photo proof and a completion certificate. You can see every option under all poojas, and our guide to how online pooja booking works covers the rest of the process.