Gautam Brahmins - Distribution

Distribution

Reverend M.A. Sherring in 1860 compiled around 2,000 sub-castes of Brahmins. He considered the list incomplete. The sub-groups and sub-castes of Brahmins are generally classified on the basis of either their affiliation or the geographical regions they are located in.

Gautam Brahmins, in fact, is a culturally heterogenous group of different sub-castes of those Hindu Brahmins, who affiliate either with Gautam gotra and/or with Gautam Dharamasûtra and generally identify themselves with the last name Gautam.

Examples (with triarsheya pravara):
A Gautam Brahmin may identify himself using the full affiliation as:
I am -
(1) - of Gautam gotra, of Kātyāyana Śrautasūtra, of Kātyāyana Grhyasūtra, of Baudhāyana Dharmasūtra, of Vājasaneyi Mādhyandina śākhā of Śukla Yajurveda, of three pravaras named Āngira, Āyāsya, Gautam.
(2) - of Śandilya gotra, of Kātyāyana Śrautasūtra, of Kātyāyana Grhyasūtra, of Gautam Dharmasūtra, of Vājasaneyi Mādhyandina śākhā of Śukla Yajurveda, of three pravaras named Śandilya, Asita, Dewata.
(3) - of Gautam gotra, of Jaiminiya Śrautasūtra, of Gobhil Grhyasūtra, of Gautam Dharmasūtra, of Kauthuma śākhā of Sāmaveda, of three pravaras named Āngira, Bṛhaspati, Gautam.
(4) - of Yajñavalkya gotra, of Kātyāyana Śrautasūtra, of Kātyāyana Grhyasūtra, of Gautam Dharmasūtra, of Vājasaneyi Mādhyandina śākhā of Śukla Yajurveda, of three pravaras named Vaśiśṭha, Lomash, Yajñavalkya.

In modern times, many Hindu Brahmins, however, don’t know their full affiliation, i.e., to which gotra, pravara, sûtra, and shākha they affiliate with.

Some Hindu Brahmins of Saraswat and Gaur group and their sub-divisions in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, who affiliate with Gautam gotra, identify themselves with the last name Gautam.

Some Hindu Gaur Brahmins of western Uttar Pradesh, adjoining Rajasthan and Haryana identify themselves with the last name Gautam because of their affiliation with Gautam Dharmasūtra. These Hindu Brahmins, however, affiliate with various Brahmins gotras.

Some Hindu Brahmins of Kanyakubja, Saryupari and Maithili group and their sub-divisions in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Nepal also assume the last name Gautam primarily because of their affiliation with Gautam gotra.

Some Hindu Brahmins of Gaur group and their sub-divisions, especially Gurjar-Gaur Brahmins in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, adopt the last name Gautam mainly owing to their affiliation with Gautam gotra.

Some Hindu Brahmins in the southern India also adopt the last name Gautham primarily because of their affiliation with Gautam gotra.