232 . Of two Edicts bestowing Land. [No. 3. 



water in bis palm, purified by incurving it into the form of& cow's 

 ear, and by Tens' a grass ; # to the Brahman, the auspicious Vamana 

 Swaini S'arman ; son of the Brahman, the auspicious Varaha Swa- 

 min, and grandson of the Brahman, Deva Swamin ; sprung from the 

 stock of Kus'ika, and from three branches,t those of Vis'wamitra, 

 Audala, and Devarata ; and of the Chhandoga division of the Ve- 

 das ;J has, by us, cognizant of this transaction, and with intent to 



* Of the correctness of this rendering T am not quite positive. Gokarna sig- 

 nifies, primarily, ' a cow's ear ;' and, secondarily, ' the length of a cow's ear, or 

 a long span,' and • an auspicious inflexure of the hand into the form of a cow's 

 ear.' For the last, and least usual acceptation, an authority occurs in the follow- 

 ing couplet, which is adduced anonymously in the A ' chdra-mayukha : 



To continue ; while Jcus'a-latd perhaps intends ' sacrificial grass' simply, ? it may 

 mean ' the grass called leus'a and that known by the name of lata.' But the latter 

 is not, to my knowledge, made "use of for religious purposes': neither, by any 

 forthcoming warrant, is Jcus'a comprehended under the class of lata, or ' creep- 

 ers ;' nor is lata a generic term for c grass,' though it does import grass of a cer- 

 tain species, the panicum dactylon. 



f 'Stock' and 'branch' but vaguely answer to the original words, gotra and 

 pravara ; of which Colebrooke says that the first expresses " descent from an 

 ancient sage— rishi — , whence the family name is derived ;" and that the second 

 indicates " lineage traced to more of the ancient sages." The same venerable au- 

 thority adds that " the distinction between gotra and pravara is not very clear." 

 Miscell. Essays, Vol. II., p. 305. See also, Digest of Hindu Law, &c, Vol. 

 III., p. 327, foot-note : 8vo. ed. 



Prof. Wilson, in his Glossary of Indian Terms, affords no additional aid what- 

 ever towards defining these expressions. Nay ; he does not even lead one to infer 

 that any the slightest difficulty was ever experienced in discriminating them. 

 The most that is known as to the difference between them is, that the gotra is 

 primitive, and that the pravara is somehow derivative from it. 



Sir H. M. Elliot justly observes that " it has become the custom to call all 

 subdivisions of tribes, gotes, or gotras." Supplement to the Glossary of Indian 

 Terms, Vol. I., p. 351. 



In all cases where the family antecedents of a Brahman are unknown, he is pre- 

 sumed to belong to the gotra of Kas'yapa, and the White Yajur-veda is adjudged 

 to him for his portion of scripture. 



1 This is the Sdma-veda, 



