Gotram, Sutram, Veda

[Aniruddhan]

namaste,

>Gotra is the Vedic Rshi you are descended from.  However many non-Brahman
>castes also have a gotra system so this cannot literally be true.  E.g.
>Siddhartha the Buddha was a Kshatriya of Shakya jati who belonged to
>Gautama gotra.  And even amongst Brahmans there is some vagueness.

There is also the interesting case of brahmanas with their gotra as
Kaushika. Kaushika was the name of Rishi Vishwamitra when he was a king and
therefore a kshatriya. Maybe this Kaushika was a different Rishi? Also,
assuming varna is not changeable, was Rishi Vishwamitra still a kshatriya
after becoming a Rishi? In that case, the Vishwamitra gotra among brahmanas
is also an anomaly.

Aniruddhan

Sruti smRti purANAnAm Alayam karuNAlayam
namAmi bhagavatpAda Sam.karam lokaSam.karam