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DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

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NOTES TO CHAPTER IV 109<br />

12. In addition to the reference in note 4, the reader might find my essay<br />

review Brahmin Clans (JAOS. 73, 1953, pp. 202-208) of some interest. The<br />

best description of the gotra system as accepted by modern brahmin is in J.<br />

Brough : The early brahmanical system of gotra and pravara (Cambridge, 1953)<br />

; Brough’s correction in JAOS. 74, 1955, pp. 263-266 is justified in that I mistook<br />

the Matsya-purdna account as the prototype of gotra lists now extant.<br />

13. My own gotra being Vasi§tha, there is no question of prejudice against<br />

this upstart ancestor. The name, though Aryan, means “ most excellent”, hence<br />

looks assumed. Each clan retained their distinctive hair-dressing in later times.<br />

The Bhrgus were shave-pates, Gotamas and BharadvSjas had five hair-crests,<br />

Atreyas three hair-twists, Vasisthas a single twist to the right. The Vasi$tha type<br />

of hair-braid is not discernible on Indus seals; but the Egyptian statue of Khonshu<br />

has such hair-dressing. Even more clearly a solitary figure (a priest ?) in an<br />

Egyptian relief illustrating a group of Hittite prisoners (Gurney, The Hittites,<br />

plate 2, bis), fits the Vasi^ha description daksinatas-kapardah.

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