Saturday, February 20, 2010

History oF Aggarwal


Maharaja Agrasena (also Agrasen) (Devanagari: अग्रसेन) was a legendary Indian king of Agroha, a city of traders, from whom the Agrawal and Agrahari clans trace its origin. He is credited with the establishment of a kingdom of traders in North India, and is known for his compassion in refusing to slaughter animals in yajnas.


Early Life
Various legends about Agroha and Agrasena are found among the Agrawals. Noted Hindi author Bharatendu Harishchandra (himself an Agrawal[1]) wrote Agarwalon ki Utpatti (The origin of Agrawals) in 1871[2], based on an account in the Mahalaksmi Vrat Katha manuscript.[3]. According to this account, Maharaja Agrasena was a Suryavanshi Kshatriya king, born during the last stages of Dwapar Yuga in the Mahabharat epic era, he was contemporaneous to Lord Krishna. He was the eldest son of the King Ballabh of Pratapnagar. Agrasena fathered 18 children, from whom the Agrawal gotras came into being.

Agrasena attended the swayamvara of Madhavi, the daughter of the King Nagaraj. However,Indra, the God of Heaven and also the Lord of storms and rainfall, wanted to marry Madhavi, but she chose Agrasena as her husband. A furious Indra decided to take revenge by making sure that Pratapnagar did not receive any rain. As a result, a famine struck Agrasen's kingdom, who then decided to wage a war against Indra. Sage Narada was approached by Indra, who mediated peace between Agrasena and Indra.

According to Vachanakosha of Bulakhichand (1680 AD), Agar Rishi married a naga-kanya and had 18 children [4]. A similar account is given in 1885 Bombay Presidency Gazetteer, Rishi Agrasena married 17 naga-kanyas.[5].



Penance

Later, Agrasena started a severe tapasya (penance) to propitiate Lord Shiva in the city of Kashi. Shiva was pleased with the penance and advised him to propitiate Goddess Mahalakshmi. Agrasena again started meditating on Mahalakshmi, who appeared before him and blessed him. She urged Agrasena (who was a Kshatriya) to take up the Vaishya tradition of business for the sake of the prosperity of his people. She asked him to establish a new kingdom, and promised that she would bless his descendants with prosperity and wealth.


Agroha (Janam Bhoomi)

Agrasena then traveled all over India with his queen to select a place for a new kingdom. At one point during his travels, he found a few tiger cubs and wolfs cubs playing together. To King Agrasena and Queen Madhavi, this was an auspicious indication that the area was veerabhoomi (land of the brave) and they decided to found their new kingdom at that location. The place was named Agroha. Agroha is situated near present day Hisar in Haryana. Presently Agroha is developing as agrawal's holy station, Big Temple of Agrasen M & Vaishnav Devi.

Under the leadership of Agrasena, Agroha became very prosperous. Legend has it that a hundred thousand traders lived in the city at its heyday. An immigrant wishing to settle in the city would be given a rupee and a brick by each of the inhabitants of the city. Thus, he would have a hundred thousand bricks to build a house for himself, and a hundred thousand rupees to start a new business. This is a unique example of socialism.

Agroha (29.20 N 75.38 E) (Hindi: अग्रोहा) is an ancient town in Haryana, believed to be the birthplace of the Agrawal and Agrahari communities. Ancient structures, pot-shards, coins and seals have been found in archaeological excavations. Agroha was the capital of legendary Emperor Agrasen.

It is close to Hisar and Hansi on NH 10. During the last 20 years Agroha Vikas Trust has done a lot of development of this Holy town. Now a very fine facility with modern lodging and boarding is available.

A number of temples have been constructed in the Complex. A Medical and Engineering college is also present at Agroha.



Agrawal gotras
Agarwal


Agrasena divided his kingdom among his 18 children, resulting in eighteen Agrawal gotras. Often, the number of gotras is stated to be seventeen. Some sources attributed the half gotra to the illegitimate offspring[6]. Another version suggests that Agrasena proceeded to conduct 18 mahayajnas ("Great yajnas"). During one such yajna, Agrasena noticed that a horse that had been brought to be sacrificed was trying hard to get away from the sacrificial altar. Seeing this Maharaj Agrasena was filled with compassion for the animal. The idea of ahimsa (non-violence) grabbed his mind. Therefore, he put a brake to his eighteenth yajna, announcing that no sacrifices will be made in his kingdom in name of yajnas. Thus, the eighteenth yajna wasn't completed and Agrasena had performed seventeen and a half yajnas. The gods appeared before him and blessed him with seventeen and a half gotras.[7]

In the later part of his life, Agrasena nominated his eldest son Vibhu to the throne and took up the Vanaprastha ashram. According to the legend, Agroha was a prosperous city and a hundred thousand traders lived in the city during its heyday. An insolvent community man as well as an immigrant wishing to settle in the city would be given a rupee and a brick by each inhabitant of the city. Thus, he would have a hundred thousand bricks to build a house for himself, and a hundred thousand rupees to start a new business. Gradually, the city of Agroha declined and was finally destroyed in a huge fire. The residents of Agroha i.e. the Agrawals moved out of Agroha and spread in other parts of India.

It is believed that King Agrasen married Madhavi, daughter of King Kumud of Nagaloka (Snake Kingdom). Thus Agrawals are the progeny of Madhavi and that is why they worship Nagas (snakes) and consider them to be their maternal uncles.

Following are the seventeen and a half gotras of Agrawals: Garga, Goila, Gavala, Batsila, Kasila, Simghala, Mamgala, Kuchhala, Tingala, Airana, Tairana, Thingala, Tittala, Mittala, Tundala, Tayala, Gobhila and Goina (considered as half gotra).

The kingdom of Agrasen flourished and extended from the Himalayas, Punjab, the valley of Yamuna, and the Mewar region. Agra continued to be a prominent place being the capital of the southern part of the kingdom. The other important regions were Gurgaon (ancient Gaudagrama), the goddess mother of this place is revered by Agrawals; Meerut, Rohtak, Hansi, Panipat, Karnal, and Kotkangra. The famous temple of Mahamaya, the Kuladevi of Agrawals is located at Kotknagra. Mandi, Vilaspur, Garhwal, Narnaul were all the parts of the kingdom. Agroha was the capital of the kingdom.

Agrawals are basically a commercial community or Vaishyas. They are one of the most respectable and enterprising of mercantile tribes. Two of Emperor Akbar’s famous ministers are said to have been Agrawals, viz, Todarmal, who introduced an assessment of land, and Madhushah, who introduced ‘Madhushahi’ pice.


Gotras

Fater OF Baniyas'

Agrawal Society in modern India

The Agarwals population was 2,718,390, according to the 1911 census of India. In 1936, Chowdhary Chhotu Ram, a minister in the Punjab Government made a law which cancelled all the debts of the villagers[28]. Many Agrawal traders were ruined and migrated to Delhi in search of a living. They settled in colonies like Kamla Nagar, Shakti Nagar and Model Basti. Their trade took place around the walled city areas of Chandni Chowk, Khari Baoli, Dariba Kalan, Nai Sarak, Naya Bazaar, Sadar Bazaar and Chowri Bazaar.

During modern times, many Agrawals were involved in the Indian Independence struggle like Lala Lajpat Rai. They also established major business houses like Dalmia - Sahu Jain, Birla, Poddar, Bajaj, Singhania, Goenkas of RPG Group, Lala Shri Ram of Delhi Cloth Mills etc. Bharatendu Harishchandra, a major literary figure, was also an Agrawal. The father of modern Lahore, Sir Ganga Ram was also an Agrawal.

Many of India's current notable businesspeople belong to the Agrawal community. These include Lakshmi Mittal of Arcelor Mittal steel, Subhash Chandra Goel of Zee TV, Sunil Mittal of Bharti Telecom, Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways, Naveen Jindal of Jindal Group, Sajjan Jindal of JSW Steel, Anil Agarwal of Vedanta Resources and Indu Jain of The Times Group.

70 comments:

  1. plz convert this history to hindi....

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  2. You can read Hindi information at this link.

    http://www.agrawalsabha.com/page06.htm

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  3. Can you tell me where can I get the book, Agrawalon ki Utpatti? I need it in hurry, please.

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  4. In Gotra , There is a missing gotra named Mahipal .

    Mahipal's are branch of Garg. Please Mention it...

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    1. Mahipal is not a gotra, it's a title related to a same clan
      I am also mahipal or say bhupal
      N sir where are you from

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  5. Is there any gotra named gargee, what are its root

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    1. Gargee must be a corruption of word Garg
      Do you know something of our history?

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    2. Garg are gargi....and I am also a garg....and kuldevi of all agrwals are bala sundri trilok pur...himachal Pradesh...visit it at least once in life

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  6. If Marwaris are Aggarwals, why their surnames e.g Goenkas, Dalmias, Poddars, Khaitans, Songhanias are different from likes of Mittal, Jindal, Bansal, Goyal etc.

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    1. Mittal gotra ki kuldevi batye

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    2. Because their surnames are either professional or place related...e.g Jhunjhunwala means someone from Jhunjhunu but gotra is still Bansal....don't get confused between Gotra and Surname

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  7. thank you for lettig me know my past

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  8. It is really use full to them who dont know about their religion, from where they came from and their past..Thank You for the information...

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  9. What's about the Gupta's community . Are the fall in agarwals .

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  10. Sir, it would be more appropriate now to clear the dust about agarwals vis a vis to other vaish communities claiming to be agarwals. Secondly how agarwals are related to marwaris, rajvansis etc. If some one is willing to marry in purely agarwal community than one should see thru 18 gotra OR may go to marwaris and others. rk agarwal.

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  11. I would be interested to know about the current population of Agrawals in India. I tried to search many articles but could only learn that we may be aprox. 1% of India's population.Is this figure correct?

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  12. Where is the temple of KulDevi of Mangal Gotra ? Do anyone know ???

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  13. It's great to about our past....I am Bansal and titled with choudhary from Jaipur...Jai Agrasen maharaj ki

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  14. It's great to about our past....I am Bansal and titled with choudhary from Jaipur...Jai Agrasen maharaj ki

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  15. Very much confused on Kuldevi and Devta of Goyal Gotra, since my grand mother use to tell that it is near by Siwana in Rajasthan I found Hinglaj Mata as Kuldevi and Mokalsar Khetlaji as Kuldevta of Goyal's few articles also relating the facts but there are many other articles which is not correlating. Pls let me know for Goyal Gotra.. My contact number is 09009200911

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  16. who is the Kuldevi of Mittal Gotra?

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  17. Define the truth about that We are the branch of Shri Ram Chander who was Suryavansi and we are 34th branch of him? described it and given me the reply on my email "ashishmittal865@gmail.com"

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  18. Maharaja Aggrasena was converted from Suryavanshi Kshatriya to take up the Vaishya tradition of business for the sake of the prosperity of his people and Therefore, he put a brake to his eighteenth yajna, announcing that no sacrifices will be made in his kingdom in name of yajnas. He stopped all killing and a non-veg eating.
    Now most of Aggarwal are trading of poltriforms​ and other Meat shops. It means they have left the basics of Aggrawal society rules, they can not be considered Aggarwal now.

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  19. Maharaja Aggrasena was converted from Suryavanshi Kshatriya to take up the Vaishya tradition of business for the sake of the prosperity of his people and Therefore, he put a brake to his eighteenth yajna, announcing that no sacrifices will be made in his kingdom in name of yajnas. He stopped all killing and a non-veg eating.
    Now most of Aggarwal are trading of poltriforms​ and other Meat shops. It means they have left the basics of Aggrawal society rules, they can not be considered Aggarwal now.

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  20. Bogus claim of agarwal a

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  21. A suryavanshi kshatriya can never left his promise its a tottaly bogus claim

    Jaan jaye par vachan na jaye

    Ek dum bakwas article hai ye
    Meat se lekar darru sab ka bussiness kartey ho aur milawatkhori mein sabse agey rehte ho aisa bakwas story aaj tak main nhi padha

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    1. so mr saha, if ur ancestors or present generations do business,then they will not do "milawatkhori", then WHO STOPPED U PEOPLE TO BECOME "IMANDAAR BUSINESSMEN"?

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  22. Who is the kuldevi of garg gutra?

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  23. Can't see gotra Bansal in the list?

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  24. "He is credited with the establishment of a kingdom of traders in North India, and is known for his compassion in refusing to slaughter animals in yajnas." animal sacrifices in YAJNAS is a LIE of white invader injected in our books http://ajitvadakayil.blogspot.in/2014/11/all-animal-sacrifices-in-hindu-temples.html

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  25. Garga,garg
    goila, goyal
    Gavala,----
    Batsila, bansal
    Kasila, kansal
    Simghala, singhal
    Mamgala, manglik
    Kuchhala,----
    Tingala, ---
    Airana,
    Tairana, tayal
    Thingala,singla
    Tittala, -----
    Mittala,mittal
    Tundala,
    Tayala,tayal
    Gobhila -----
    Goina goyanka, can someone correct me if i am interpreting present name of gotras wrong.

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  26. Prabhat Agarwal, Engineer by profession, foodie by habit and a history freak by choice .
    Answered Apr 19, 2016
    I am pretty much qualified to answer this question not only because I myself is a Baniya (Agarwal) but also that I have good knowledge about our history, culture, ritual, social behaviour and many other things. Now some part of my answer may appears weird to you but whatever I am going to write is pure facts, history and sociology. Bania word can be interpreted in two ways, first as a caste and the other is a modern way of calling anyone who is engaged in trade but my answer would be according to caste bania which is also the reason behind the modern day trend of calling traders 'bania'.

    The Bania (otherwise known as Baniya, Vani and Vania) is an occupational community of merchants, bankers, money-lenders,dealers in grains, spices and possibly everything of daily use (except meat of any kind), and in modern times numerous commercial enterprises. (Just to point out founders of Flipkart are bansals, snapdeal Agarwal(one of the two), so as of myntra, ola, oyo and most of the startups, inshort are bania).

    Now modern day bania community includes many castes or subcastes, notably the Agrahari,Agrawals,Barnawals, Gahois, Kasudhans, Khandelwals,Lohanas and Maheshwaris of the north; Oswals, Roniaurs, the Arya Vaishyas of Maharashtra, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana, the Vaishya Vani of Konkan and Goa, and the Modh Baniyas of the west. But according to popular history/believe that the community originated 5000 years ago when an ancestor Maharaja Agrasen (or Ugarsain) of Agroha, Haryana divided the Vaishya (third in the Hindu caste system) community into eighteen clans. They surnames include Aggarwal, Gupta, Lala, Seth, Vaish, Mahajan, Sahu and Sahukar. So, Agarwal was initial the caste out which all other sub-caste of baniyas has evolved. The majority of Bania are Hindu (88%) while 11% are Jain. There are a few Sikhs in Punjab and Haryana.

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    1. Can u tell who is kuldevi of garg gotra and where is our ancestral temple now

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    2. Sir i am sahukar madhesiya vaish community from bihar
      Sir me ye nhi janta ki madesiya baniya ka 18 gotra mese konsa gotra me ata hai
      Please agr apko kuch pata ho to jrur batana

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  27. Traditionally, the Bania are strict vegetarians whose diet consists of wheat, rice, maize, pulses, lentils, vegetables, fruit and dairy products. Many younger men eat meat at social events outside their community. They do not drink alcohol but smoke and chew tobacco and paan (betel leaf.) (as this may appear stereotyping that's why I wrote 'traditionally').Literacy levels are high as both boys and girls are encouraged to study further and attain university degrees. We usually have big fat weddings (trust me on an average we spend far more than other communities on social occasions and the reason for mentioning it that many people think bania don't spend with open hearts). Contributions:

    * 63% of Total Income Tax.

    *86% of total charity fund.

    *Run 14000 out of 16000 GAUSHALA (registered)

    *Has More than 70000 Temples in India with max Tirthdham

    *46% of Shares Brokers are agarwal's and 63% overall as bania.*

    *Most of the Leading companies owners are agarwal's like jindal's group , mittal's arclor mittal, bhartiartl , jetariways (naresh goyal) etc.....even the top Indian blogger is a Aggarwal

    *Own more than 45% of Indain property

    *Contribute around 30% GDP of India

    *Majority of the exams have their toppers from bania community. eg: UPSC 2014 Ira Singhal Delhi, 2013 Gaurav AggrawalPanipat, 2011 Shena Aggarwal Haryana. Similar is the situation of the results from other exams, like if you look at the ITT-JEE results of last 10 years, 2 times a Agarwal boy was the topper and you had at least one Agarwal boy/girl in the top 10 through out the other times.

    *Only with 2% of Indian population

    Location: The Bania number approximately 25 million and live in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal, Haryana, Bihar, Karnataka, Punjab, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh and Assam.Uttar Pradesh has 4.2 million, Rajasthan 4.5 million, Gujarat 2.3 million, Andhra Pradesh 2 million, Maharashtra 1.8 million, Madhya Pradesh1.5 million, Delhi1.4 million, West Bengal 1.3 million, Haryana 950,000, Bihar 790,000, Karnataka 280,000, Punjab 270,000, Orissa 250,000 and Tamil Nadu 220,000.

    Note1 : Whatever is written above, it is for bringing out the achievement, history and contribution of bania community and not for disrespecting any other community in any way. Each community has made their contribution in building of this great nation 'INDIA' in their own way. We all are unique and important in our own ways so cheers to this beautiful and diverse unity of ours.

    Note2: Many of you must be doubting about some of the facts mentioned above like % contribution in income tax, gdp, gaushala and temple trust, so I would like to tell you people that sources of such informations are diverse the major contributor is being the records from Aggarwal Mahasabhas (trust me they document everything possible about their community members specially achievements and contribution plus they are digital in their approach and have their presence in quite large part of the country ). I have combined and normalised results from many sources to create a rough idea about the situation. I tried best from my side to keep facts unaffected by any emotion and purely based on logic but since I am also a human being I don't deny the possibility of errors (still the deviation would be very less in that case).

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  28. What is the name of kuldevta ji of garg gotra...kindly whats up or msg on dis nbr:-9780437350

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  29. Dear Friends, as we all know all Agarwals are family members of a big family. This is an effort being made to collect our genealogy. kindly help to share Agarwal Vanshawali information. Thanks

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/651722271692115/

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  30. Please tell me about names of kuldevta/kuldevi of Kansal Gotta.

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  31. "They also established major business houses like Dalmia - Sahu Jain, Birla, Poddar, Bajaj, Singhania, Goenkas of RPG Group, Lala Shri Ram of Delhi Cloth Mills etc. " need to correct wrter of this blog that BIRLAS are Parsis, not even Hindus.

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  32. About Kansal Gotra I got information like this: Original Gotra: Kaushik, Lord: Manipal, Saint/Guru: Kaushik, Veda: Yajurveda, Branch: Madhyadini or Madhuri and Sutra: Kaatyayni. May somebody explain.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  33. Is bhamoria a gotra or subcaste of baniyas or guptas

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  34. Why are there no sir names in tingal gotra?

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  35. Can a mahajan n agarwal be married

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  36. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  37. What's the kuldevi of Goyal gotra

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  38. Who is kuldevi of mittal gotra of sikeda, muzaffarnagar, uttar pradesh. Please tell, is anyone knows.

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  39. Where can can i find aggarwalon ki utpatti?

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  40. Can any one tell me the kuldevi of MANGAL gotra if anyone can mail me if find at {nishanthaggarwal@gmail.com}

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  41. Hello All,
    My father and forefathers hail from kaithal haryana. And we are jindals. Can you please tell me kuldevi for Jindals.

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  42. Is garg population is equal to combine of other 17 gotras

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  43. Can someone tell me the original name of kucchal gotra or a person with Kashyap sir name is also a aggarwal/bania??

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    1. No kashyapa gotra is different and kashyap caste is different there are lots of diffrent caste which are comes under kashyapa gotra.

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  44. Can you please tell Kuldevi of Tayal Gotra.

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  45. Garg gotra ki kuldevi kon si hi

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