Airan Gotra
ऐरन
At a glance
- Founding Rishi
- Airan
- Veda
- Yajurveda
- Pravara
- Agrasena · Airan
Related Gotras
Common surnames
About
One of the 18 Gotras of the Agrawal community, traced to the eighteen sons (or eighteen yajnas) of Maharaja Agrasena of Agroha. Airan (also written Airon, Eran or Yendal) is associated with Rishi Aurva in Agrawal lists, and is found mostly in Haryana, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. Agrawal gotras are clan divisions within one community rather than Vedic rishi lineages, so marriage within the same gotra is avoided, as with Brahmin gotras.
Founding Rishi
Pravara Lineage
The Pravara is the line of illustrious ancestral rishis recited in ritual, from the first ancestor down:
- 1Agrasena
- 2Airan
Regional Spread
The Airan Gotra is predominantly found in:
Etymology
Airan is the Hindi form of a clan name that the sources spell in several ways: Airan and Tairan in Risley's list, Erana in Sherring's, and Aeron and Eran in later lists. Crooke's Sanskrit table gives the gotra as Aurana. The Hindi account of the sacrifices names the sage Aurva as the priest of the tenth, and that is the sage usually paired with Airan. Some community lists name other sages. The meaning of the clan name itself is not given in the sources found.
Historical Journey
In the Hindi account of Agrasena's eighteen sacrifices, which cites the Shri Agrawal Samaj, the tenth was led by the sage Aurva, and the gotra named for it is Airan. Aurva belongs to the line of Bhrigu, and the site has a page on him. Crooke (1896) lists Aurana in his Sanskrit table under the Yajurveda, Madhyandina school and Katyayana sutra. Risley lists Airan and Tairan as separate entries and Sherring lists Erana, so the older lists do not agree on how to count or spell this clan. Airan is not the half gotra in any of the three lists. The Akhil Bhartiya Agrawal Sammelan fixed the list of eighteen gotras by vote in 1983. The Agroha mound in Hisar district shows occupation from about the 3rd or 4th century BCE to the 13th or 14th century CE, with coins inscribed Agrodaka. The Wikipedia account says Muhammad of Ghor destroyed the town in 1194, and Ibbetson (1883) says the Aggarwals spread across Hindustan after Shihab-ud-din Ghori took Agroha in 1195. Agrawals are Vaishnava and Jain, and the two groups share the gotras and intermarry (Jainology; Ibbetson notes that many Delhi Aggarwals are Jain), so a family of this gotra may be of either faith.
Migration & Diaspora
From Agroha, Airan families moved with the Agrawal trading diaspora into Delhi, Rajasthan (Shekhawati and Marwar), western Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, and in the 18th to 20th centuries to Kolkata, Mumbai and the rest of India as Marwari and Agrawal merchants.
Presence Across Regions
Haryana
Agrawal Vaishya
The Agroha homeland.
Delhi & NCR
Agrawal Vaishya
Large urban presence in trade and the professions.
Rajasthan
Agrawal / Marwari
Shekhawati and Marwar trading towns.
Notable Personalities
Maharaja Agrasena
Legendary
Founder of Agroha and of the eighteen Agrawal gotras.
Stories & Legends
The eighteen yajnas
In the Agrawal story, Agrasena performed eighteen yajnas and stopped the animal sacrifice at the last one, turning to non-violence. Each yajna was led by a rishi and gave one gotra its name; Airan is one of them.
The tenth sacrifice and Aurva
In the Hindi account of the sacrifices, Agrasena held eighteen yajnas and each was led by a different sage. The tenth was led by Aurva, and the clan of that sacrifice took the name Airan. The order of the sacrifices is not the same in every list, so the tenth place belongs to this account only. Crooke's Sanskrit table, for example, places Aurana eighth.
Ritual Significance
In sankalpa, Airan families name their gotra as Airan. Agrawal families avoid marriage within the same gotra, and many also avoid the gotras of the mother's family.