Nepal is a Hindu-dominated country. Even though there are people from every religion, the government is mainly dominated by people who follow the Hindu religion. Nepal is rich in culture and even within the Hindu religion, there is a lot we need to look into. There are different Gotras people belong to. According to Hindu tradition, “gotra” is a synonym for “lineage.” It basically refers to individuals who have an unbroken male line of descent from a common male ancestor, also known as patriline.

However, in Nepali culture, marrying people from the same Gotras is often shunned upon. Gotras are very important in sealing the deal to marry someone. In total there are 8 Nepali Gotras, and the Gotras first emerged from Rishis who were considered to be the children of Brahma. The eight main Gotras are Atri, Kashyapa, Vishwamitra, Vashista, Jamadagni, Bharadvaja, Gautama, and Agastya along with 49 sub-Gotras within the 8 main Gotras. There are about 284 surnames that exist in Nepal today.

I have listed some of the Nepali Gotras with surnames that exist today in Nepal below:

List of Nepali Gotras

Atri Gotra

The Atri Gotra was first generated from Anasuya Devi and Brahmarshi Atri. Brahmarshi Atri symbolizes the Ursa Major and the seven stars surrounding it. Some of the common castes included in the Atri Gotra are Arjyal, Bhatta, Chapagain, Khatiwoda, Ojha, Wosti, Bam, Mishra, Adhikari, and many more.

Atreya Gotra

Atreya Gotra is known for making significant accomplishments as a scholar in Ayurveda. Some of the common surnames included in Atreya Gotra are, Dawadi, Paudel, Rosyara, Sigdel, Sharma, Thapa, Bhatta, Duwadi, Aryal, Devkota, Dulal, and many more.

Agastya Gotra

Agastya is known to be one of the Sapta Rishis. He was known to be a scholar in different languages within the Indian Subcontinent. One of the surnames that fall under Agastya Rashi is Dhungel.

Angiras Gotra

Angiras is known as the Vedic Rishis. Vedic Rishis are known to have great knowledge and are the teacher of divine knowledge. Some of the surnames that fall under this Gotra are Joshi, Shahi, Sedhain, and many others.

Basistha Gotra

Basistha Gotra was first generated from Basistha Rishi. Basistha Rishi was the teacher of Ram who is a Hindu figure. He was also the oldest Vedic Rishi. Some of the castes falling under this Gotra are Bhandari, Bhattarai, Suyal, Kharel, Gaire, Mudabhari, Raut, Pathak, Chalise, and many others.

Bhardwaj Gotra

Bhardwaj Gotra came from Bhardwaj who was the son of Rishi Atri. He is an honored sage among the Sapta Rishis. Some of the surnames under this Gotra are Lohani, Dudh, Pokharel, Panthi, Panta, Niraula, Wagle, Pandey, Subedi, and many others.

Garga

Garga is a very respectable sage in the Hindu community and he is also said to have named the god Krishna. Some of the castes under this Gotra are Lamichhane, Bhetwal, Chudal, Bhurtel, Acharya, Gajurel, and many others.

Kaudinya Gotra

Kaudinya is supposed to be one of the respected Rishis who gave birth to Kaudinya Gotra. Some of the castes under Kaudinya Gotra are Pathak, Paneru, Khadka, Google, Bhandari, Baskota, Neupane, and many more.

Kaushik Gotra

Kaushik is a very renowned clan for the Brahmins and Kshatriya people. Kaushik is also used as a surname. The most common surnames under Kaushik Gotra are  Basnet, Bishta, Bidari, Dhungana, Dhital, Gaudel, Majhi, Pudasaini, and many others.

Gautam Gotra

People in Gautam Gotra have surnames such as Dangal, Pandey, Bam, Tripathi, Chanda, Tiwari, and many others.

Mandabya Gotra

Mandabya sage is known to have cursed Yama with mortality and was considered a great sage. The common surnames that fall under Mandabya are Panthi, Bajgai, Gyawali, Maskey, and many more.

These are some of the Gotras of the Hindu religion. In Nepali culture, Gotras are highly important, and they play a part on many occasions such as marriage.

Also Read: Classical and Folk Dances in Nepal