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ORIGIN OF BRAHIMIN GOTRAS
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(v.5.6;x59.8;ix.102.7.;ix.33.5;i.142.7,and vi.17,7 with the added qualification pralne =ancicnt) 'the ncver-resting mothers of truth' (or justicc, rta; but notc that Sūyana on v.12.2 takcs rla to mcan water). The cult of the Mothers did cxist, and was very ancient; if derived from that of thic rivers, one would cxpcct thc process to have taken place among pcoplc who still rctained the matriarchal stamp.
The most intcrcsting fact about such a multiplicity of mothers is its conscqucnt cffcct upon thc child. Thc dcisicd firc, Agni , is also horn of scvcral mothers (x.91.6), specifically the seven blesscd mothers (i.141.2), without an apparcnt father. Wc rcmark parcnthctically that thc fire-drill and thc simplcr firc-plough have only two csscntial components, the 'parcnts' of thc firc gcncrated by their friction, the comparison with human procrcation is so natural that both portions of the araņā arc not gcncrally regarded as mothers. Firc is described in one place as seven-tongucd(iii.6.2), a natural figure of spccch for thc flames. But onc hymn carlicr we have Agni as with scvcn hcads (iii.5.5.): pāti nābhā saplašīrṣānam agniḥ, in onc of his forms at least. Thus it is logical to find that Soma also has scycn faccs or mouths in ix.111.1.
The correspondence of onc hcad per mother can be still better proved from a myth which has been recorded later, namely the birth of Skanda (Mbh. 3.214.). Hc has actually six mothers, thc Plciadcs, whence his name Kārttikcya. But his other namcşanmälura clcarly mcans with six mothers”, and he has six hcads: onc from cach mother as wc arc told cxplicitly in most accounts of his birth. Thc Mahābhārata story is a bit mixed in its details, saying that hic was fathcrcd by Agni who was cnamoured of the scvcn wives of the scvcn ļķis (identificd with components of Ursa Major ; thcsc husbands' arc presumably latcr, sccing that thcy never gain the importance of the Mothers, nor of the collective vcdic gods likc thc Maruts, Rudras, Vasus). Agni's.rcjcctcd wisc svāhā (mcrcly the sacrificial call) then successively assumed the form of six of thcsc scven ladics to couple with thc firc-god; the combined scmcn was pourcd into a lakc to gencratc thc drcad Skanda. Thc duplicated fşi-wives arc cast out on suspicion of unchastity, and adopt Skanda as his mothers. The great Mothers (of thc wholc universe, but scvcn in number) arc asked to kill Skanda, but thcy too adopt him jointly instcad. The story is an obvious cffort to combinc several versions into onc whilc rctaining and cxplaining away thc six mothers with no particular father. Skanda bcing identificd with a form of, or ostcncr as son of, Rudra, we have a still later purā ņic story whercin hc is begotten of the sccd of Siva which Pārvati forces upon Agni in her anger at the interruption; this forms a sort of prcfatory addition to the other story.
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