Gotras of Kashmiri Pandits

Besides gotra, each family has a kram or nick-name added to the original name by reason of the head of the family's or any of his ancestor's special calling or because of such peculiar circumstance which has occurred to him. For instance, a man, named Wasdev, had mulberry tree growing in his courtyard and, therefore, he was called Wasdev Tul (mulberry). He, in order to get rid of this nick-name, cut down the tree. But a mund (trunk) remained and people began to call him Wasdev Mund. He then removed the trunk of the tree but by its removal a khud (depression) was caused and henceforth people called him Wasdev Khud. He then filled up the depression and the ground became teng (a little elevated) and he began to be called Wasdev Teng. Thus exasperated, he left to do any further attempt to remove the cause of his nick-name and it continued to be Teng which is now attached to the names of his descendents.

The Kashmiri Brahmins perform their religious ceremonies and rites according to the Vedas of Laugakshi Rishi and the Nilamatpurana. They freely partake of fish and flesh. They intermarry, only avoiding gotras on both paternal and maternal sides. A list of gotras, together with the two chief divisions of Bhamamasis and malmasis and the nick-names of the families belonging to each gotra is at the end of this chapter.

Pocock says that there are traces of the settlements of Kashmiris in Greece and from this he infers that the Kashmiri Pandits were originally Greek or Persian settlers in the valley who were Brahmanised. It is by no means improbable that some Kashmiris went to Persia and Greece in the time of Darius Hystapse's invasion of the Punjab and Alexander's conquest of India (331 B.C.) and settled there. Hence there might be traces of Kashmiri settlement in those countries. It is possible that some people from Greece came and settled in Kashmir in ancient times. The tribe Mlecchas which existed here in the time of Ashoka is assumed to have been Greeks (see Rajatarangini I, footnote 10). These were driven out of the country by his son Jalauka. But Mlecchas were quite a distinct race from the Kashmiri Brahmins.

There is a tradition in Maharashtra that white men like Kashmiri Brahmins got drifted in a storm on the Malabar Coast and, being supposed to be dead, were, however, found alive when attempted to be cremated. Probably it was a large number of fugitives from Kashmir in the time when Hindus here were being forced to embrace Islam. They might have been quite exhausted and emaciated as if looking dead after their long and tedious journey. The terms of this tradition are, I believe, a grossly exaggerated form of expression.

During the Muhammadan rule some Brahmins were once given option to either submit to the sword or take food prepared by a Musalman. They naturally quivered at the prospect of death and unwillingly accepted the latter alternative, but, in their anguish to reduce pollution to its minimum. made the Musalman cook boil rice in a new lej or earthen pot and when ready they took it out from the lej with their own hands and reluctantly ate it. They afterwards expaciated for the forcible pollution by performing Prayashchitta but still the Biradari, who were as punctilious as ever, ostracised them, condemmning them for not having preferred death to losing their caste by pollution as thousands others had boldly done under such circumstances. Their descedents are called Lejibat because of their ancestors having eaten food cooked by a Muhammadan in a lej. A stigma also attaches to the members of the caste known as Wurud or Purib who are the illegitimate offspring or are of a mixed union in which one of the parents is brahrmin and the other a khatri. No Brahmin will take food touched by a Lejibat, Wurud or Purib. In the time of Zain-ul-abdin the Brahmins, who studied Persian and took to government service, were called Karkuns. With the advent of Sikh rule in 1819 A.D. some Karkuns began the study of Sanskrit literature again, and they were called Pandits. Karkuns do not, intermarry with Bachabats. Those who are versed in astrology and draw up calendars, cast horoscopes and profess to prophecy future events, are called Jotshis. The priests, who preside over Shiva worship, are called Gurins. The Panyechh are those who receive alms and other offerings connected with funeral obsequies. Their office is legarded as derogatory by the Bachabats as well as the Karkuns who, for this reason, look down on them and refuse to take food from their hands.
 
 

Excerpts from:
The Kashmiri Pandit
by Pandit Anand Koul
Thacker, Spink & Co.
Calcutta