Goyan Gotra
गोयन
At a glance
- Founding Rishi
- Goyan
- Veda
- Yajurveda
- Pravara
- Agrasena · Goyan
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. Goyan (also written Gangal or Goyan in some lists) is associated with Rishi Gautama in Agrawal tradition; it is among the smaller of the eighteen. 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
- 2Goyan
Regional Spread
The Goyan Gotra is predominantly found in:
Etymology
Goyan is the Hindi form of a gotra that Risley writes Goin and Sherring Goina; the existing page also notes Gangal as an alternative. The sage named for it in the Hindi account of the sacrifices is Gautama, and Crooke's Sanskrit table has Gautama third. The Hindi account spells the clan name Goin. 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 third was led by the sage Gautama, and the gotra named for it is Goyan (Goin). Crooke's Sanskrit table lists Gautama under the Yajurveda, Madhyandina school and Katyayana sutra. The older lists disagree about which gotra is the half one. Risley's list, as Crooke prints it, ends with Goin as the seventeen-and-a-half gotra. Sherring's puts Goila and Goina together as the seventeenth and ends with Bindal. Crooke's Sanskrit table ends with Nagendra, and the Hindi account also makes the last gotra Nagendra's. Wikipedia's article on the Agrawals reports one folk explanation of the half gotra that ties it to an accidental marriage between two people of the Goyan gotra, and notes that calling any gotra half is held to be insulting, which is one reason the 1983 Sammelan list gives eighteen. 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.
Migration & Diaspora
From Agroha, Goyan 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; Goyan is one of them.
Which gotra is the half one?
Agrawal tradition says Agrasena stopped his eighteenth sacrifice when he saw the animals brought for it, so only seventeen and a half gotras came from his sacrifices. The lists do not agree on which gotra is the half. Risley's gives Goin, Sherring's gives Bindal, Crooke's Sanskrit table gives Nagendra, and a folk account reported by Wikipedia connects the half with a marriage inside the Goyan gotra. The 1983 Sammelan avoided the question by listing eighteen.
Ritual Significance
In sankalpa, Goyan families name their gotra as Goyan. Agrawal families avoid marriage within the same gotra, and many also avoid the gotras of the mother's family.