GOTRA
gotra: translation
A gotra is an exogamous kinship division within a jati, or subcaste. Members of the same gotra within a subcaste are not allowed to marry among them-selves; of course, they must marry within their jati. Gotra literally means “the place of the cows”; the concept may thus date back to very ancient times, when kin shared the same cow herds. BRAHMINS particularly will often trace their particular gotra back to one of the seven RISHIS of Vedic times.
Further reading:Morris G. Carstairs, The Twice-Born (Bloomington: Indiana: University Press, 1967); Puro-sottama Pandita, The Early Bramanical System of Gotra and Pravara, a Translation of the Gotra-Pravara-Manjari (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1953).