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186
STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SŪTRA
[Ch. IV
It has already been discussed in the first section of this chapter that these two terms are often used in the BhS to denote the caste of an individual member of the society.
Gotra (Ancestral family)
According to the order of the social formation, after the Jati, there comes the Gotra (Gatta) to which the members of a family traced their origin in the distant past.
Jnāti (Kinsman)
The Jaati (nāti) generally signified all relations on the parents' sides or particularly the Kinsmen (Paternal relations). Kula (family)
The Kula was the next important unit of the community round which rotated the whole social structure consisting of its different component parts. It was the nucleus of the society which was formed of a group of families, each having several members of its own under the guardianship of the father' or in his absence the eldest son."
Joint family
The text shows that the society as depicted in it was characterized by the joint family system which was prevailing during its period. It further reveals that there existed three classes of family, viz. high, low and middle class families (uccaniyamajjhimāiṁ kulāiṁ)' as distinguished by their respective economic and social status from one another.
Vamsa (Natural Lineage)
In the society great importance has been attached to Vamsa's on both the sides of the father and the mother, along with the 'Kula' from the point of view of the natural lineage and social and cultural position.
1 BhS, 1. 1. 7; 2, 1, 90 (Goyamasrgottenam, Kaccayana gottenam). Ib, 3, 1, 134.
Ib, 2, 5, 108; 109.
4.5 Ib, 3, 1, 134; 9, 33, 383; 11, 9, 417; 11, 11, 429; 12 2, 441.
7 Ib, 15, 1, 540, 41.
13, 6, 491; 15. 1, 540.
6 Ib, 12, 2, 441; 13, 6, 491; 8 Ib, 2, 5, 108-9.
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