urmiladuhan
January 13th, 2003, 10:14 AM
I am referring to book titled Aryan Tribes and The Rigveda by B.S Dahiya. (Verbatim)
It appears that tribal names are based on the name of an ancestor, who was sufficiently important, perhaps a leader/king, to give his name to the descendants- he cannot otherwise become a "Gotra Kara" (founder of Gotra/tribe). That is why, people of a particular tribe consider themselves as sons/descendants of a common father (and hence are all brothers, incapable of inter marriage within the tribe). When the tribe becomes too large to cause difficulties in match making, a part of the tribe separates and forms sister tribe. Even then because of the consciousness of being sons of a common father, marriages between them are not performed for a considerable lenght of time. For eg., Dabas tribe called Dabs/Debices in history, had separated from Dahiya tribe in remote past. They were one when they fought against and killed Cyrus the great, in 6th century BC. They are considered one even today in India, and it was only about 25 years back that an assembly of the 2 tribes was held and it was decided that brotherhood having been maintained for a very long period, inter marriage between Dabas and Dahiyashould be permitted.
It appears that tribal names are based on the name of an ancestor, who was sufficiently important, perhaps a leader/king, to give his name to the descendants- he cannot otherwise become a "Gotra Kara" (founder of Gotra/tribe). That is why, people of a particular tribe consider themselves as sons/descendants of a common father (and hence are all brothers, incapable of inter marriage within the tribe). When the tribe becomes too large to cause difficulties in match making, a part of the tribe separates and forms sister tribe. Even then because of the consciousness of being sons of a common father, marriages between them are not performed for a considerable lenght of time. For eg., Dabas tribe called Dabs/Debices in history, had separated from Dahiya tribe in remote past. They were one when they fought against and killed Cyrus the great, in 6th century BC. They are considered one even today in India, and it was only about 25 years back that an assembly of the 2 tribes was held and it was decided that brotherhood having been maintained for a very long period, inter marriage between Dabas and Dahiyashould be permitted.