The exogamous arrangements of the Brahmans are also very complex. It
is said that the Brahmans are descended from the seven sons of
the god Brahma, who were Bhrigu, Angirasa, Marichi, Atri, Pulaha,
Pulastya and Vasishtha. But Pulaha only begot demons and Pulastya
giants, while Vasishtha died and was born again as a descendant
of Marichi. Consequently the four ancestors of the Brahmans were
Bhrigu, Angirasa, Marichi and Atri. But according to another account
the ancestors of the Brahmans were the seven Rishis or saints who
form the constellation of the Great Bear. These were Jamadagni,
Bharadwaj, Gautam, Kashyap, Vasishtha, Agastya, Atri and Visvamitra,
who makes the eighth and is held to be descended from Atri. These
latter saints are also said to be the descendants of the four original
ones, Atri appearing in both lists. But the two lists taken together
make up eleven great saints, who were the eponymous ancestors of
the Brahmans. All the different subcastes have as a rule exogamous
classes tracing their descent from these saints. But each group,
such as that of Bhrigu or Angirasa, contains a large number of
exogamous sections usually named after other more recent saints, and
intermarriage is sometimes prohibited among the different sections,
which are descended from the same son of Brahma or star of the
Great Bear. The arrangement thus bears a certain resemblance to the
classification system of exogamy found among primitive races, only
that the number of groups is now fairly large; but it is said that
originally there were only four, from the four sons of Brahma who
gave birth to Brahmans. The names of other important saints, after
whom exogamous sections are most commonly called, are Garg, Sandilya,
Kaushik, Vatsya and Bhargava. These five appear sometimes to be held
as original ancestors in addition to the eleven already mentioned. It
may be noted that some of the above names of saints have a totemistic
character; for instance, Bharadwaj means a lark; Kashyap resembles
Kachhap, the name for a tortoise; Kaushik may come from the _kusha_
grass; Agastya from the _agasti_ flower, and so on. Within the main
group exogamy sometimes also goes by titles or family names. Thus
the principal titles of the Kanaujias are: Pande, a wise man; Dube,
learned in two Vedas; Tiwari, learned in three Vedas; Chaube, learned
in four Vedas; Sukul, white or pure; Upadhya, a teacher; Agnihotri,
the priest who performs the fire-sacrifice; Dikshit, the initiator,
and so on. Marriage between persons bearing the same family name
tends to be prohibited, as they are considered to be relations.