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15. A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE TOPICS DISCUSSED IN THE S. BH. (IN THE LIGHT OF THE PREVIOUS BUDDHIST THINKING AND THE WORKS OF
ASANGA)
(a) Gotra
In the early Vedic literature, the word 'gotra' connoted the meaning of gosthao1 Later on, in the Sūtra-literature and the classical Sanskrit literature it was used in the sense of family-lineage. Patanjali uses this word in the sense of 'Kulavayava'. In the early Päli literature also, this sense was preserved but the word became prevalent in the Buddhist circles in the usual sense of common ancestry. It later on came to mean the common characteristic of a group of indi
2
1.
RV., VI. 65.5, II-23.18, X. 48.2; III. 39.4, 43.7; I. 31.3; Ch. Up. LV.4.1, yadgotra, agotra; Mundaka. I 1.6; vide, P. V. Kane, JBBRAS, Vol. II, No. 1, 2, P. 1-17, 'Gotra and Pravara in Vedic Literature, (specially P. 10-11); D. D. Kosambi, JBBRAS, New Series, Vol. 26, Part 1, P. 21 sq. (Origin of the Brahmin Gotras).
2. Śamkhayana Śr. Su., 1.4.16; cp. Manusmrti, III. 109.
3.
Kulavayavā hi loke gotramityucyate, Mahabhasya, II. 350; for more detailed study, see; V. S. Agrawala, Gotras in Pāṇini, p. 1-14; cp. Panini. IV.1.162: Apatyam pautraprabhṛti gotram; see also, IV. 1.105; Cp. Apatyo va gotram (Värttika, No. 5318, Mahābhāṣya, II. 400 (Govt. of India Publ., Delhi, 1967); also Mahābhā. ad Varttika, Rajanyadau...manuṣyacca Jñāpakaṁ laukikam param...... yuva ca loke gotramityupacaryate......(II. 367, 403).
4. Vide, Sn., Vs. 1004, 1018, 423, Jataka II. 3, Dh. P. A., II. 218; in these texts this word occurs with jati, kula and lakkhana; cp. also, D. N., I. 80 sq. 86-87, II. 118; K. N., Ill. Pt. I, p. 287 (Jātaka), Vs. 141-c-0; Vinaya (Mahāvagga), I. 96; M. N., I. 350; for references, see PTSD, s. v. gotta; Hardayal Bodhisattva Doctrine, p. 51 sq.
