Who was Rishi Gautama?
Rishi Gautama is one of the Saptarishis. In the Ramayana he is the husband of Ahalya. The Gautama Dharmasutra, one of the oldest Hindu law texts, carries his name. Gautama is counted in the Angirasa group of gotras.
What being Gautam gotra means
If your gotra is Gautam, your father's line is traditionally traced back to Rishi Gautama. You inherited it from your father, he from his, and so on. Families from many communities and regions share the Gautam gotra, so it says nothing about caste, and two Gautam families today are usually not closely related.
Can two people of Gautam gotra marry?
Many families avoid it. By custom, people of the same gotra are treated as descendants of one ancestor, so a Gautam–Gautam match is often ruled out at the matching stage.
Indian law does not ban same-gotra marriage. The Hindu Marriage Act 1955 doesn't mention gotra at all. What it does prohibit is marriage between sapindas (close relatives within five generations on the father's side and three on the mother's) and certain listed relatives such as first cousins, unless an established custom allows it. Here's what the sapinda rule covers.
What a gotra can't tell you
A shared gotra means your families trace their father's line to the same rishi, many centuries ago. It doesn't mean two people are closely related today: millions of unrelated people share every major gotra. The reverse matters more. Gotra only follows the father's line, so first cousins through your mother usually have a different gotra. A different gotra doesn't prove you're unrelated. Why gotra only sees half the family tree.
Other gotras
See the full gotra list, or jump to another gotra: