Today, I received a forwarded message on Whatsapp about the Gotra System, which is a part of the Hindu culture and religion. Like a classic propaganda, it was banking on elements of truth, and by using “Science-y” words tries to seem authentic.
What is Gotra system ?
Why do we have this ?
Why do we consider this to decide marriages ?
Why should sons carry the gotra of father, why not daughter ?
How does gotra of a daughter changes after she gets married ?
What is the logic ?
Infact this is an amazing genetic science we follow.
Let’s see the science of genetics behind gotra systems.
The word GOTRA formed from two sanskrit words GAU (means cow) and Trahi (means shed).
Gotra means cowshed.
Gotra is like cowshed protecting a particular male lineage. We identify our male lineage / gotra by considering to be descendants of the 8 great rishi (sapta rishi + bharadwaj rishi). All the other gotra evolved from these only.
Let’s see why human body has 23 pairs of chromosomes (one from father and one from mother) on these 23 pairs, there is one pair called sex chromosomes which decides the gender of person.
During conception if the resultant cell is XX chromosomes then the child will be girl, if it is XY then it is boy.
In XY - X is from mother and Y is from father.
In this Y is unique and it doesn’t mix. So in XY, Y will supress the X and son will get Y chromosomes. Y is the only chromosome which gets passed down only between male lineage. (Father to Son and to Grandson).
Women never gets Y. Hence Y plays a crucial role in genetics in identifying the genealogy. Since women never get Y the gotra of a women is said to be of her husband.
They are 8 diff Y chromosomes from 8 rishis. If we are from Same gotra then it means we are from same root ancestor.
Marriages between same gotra will increase the risk of causing genetic disorders as same gotra Y chromosomes cannot have crossover and it will activate the defective cells.
If this continues, it will reduce the size and strength of Y chromosome which is crucial for the creation of male.
If no Y chromosome is present in this world, then it will cause males to become extinct.
So Gotra system is a method to avoid genetic disorders and attempt to protect Y chromosome.
Amazing bio-science by our Ancestors.
Let’s disect this:
There are some things somewhat correct in this message, but there are MANY things seriously wrong in this news/post.
“In XY - X is from mother and Y is from father. In this Y is unique and it doesn’t mix. So in XY, Y will supress the X and son will get Y chromosomes.”
Here’s what’s wrong with this claim:
This is absolutely wrong!! It is not suppressed, and can’t be suppressed. If it is suppressed somehow, the human individual would actually die, as the X chromosome has several genes that are essential for “life”.
The X chromosome is ≈2.7 times the size of Y. X has ≈25 times more genes than the Y chromosome. Most of them essential for survival, mental functions, etc.
Although one X chromosome is actually suppressed, but that happens only in females (XX). And even that happens randomly during early embryonic development. Some cells in the embryo choose one X and some cells choose the other X. And all the cells that come from those patches of cells have one or the other X turned on and the other suppressed. Here is a video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD6h-wDj7bw
“Hence Y plays a crucial role in genetics in identifying the genealogy.”
And so does Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA in short), that every child (regardless of being a boy or a girl), inherits exclusively from the mother.
The Y-chromosome doesn’t establish complete genealogy. Because, if we track genealogy (scientifically) with only the Y chromosome, then we won’t be able to account for the women, which by the way are *half of the humans on earth.* This is because they lack the Y-chromosome completely. MtDNA on the other hand can be used to trace and track the complete genealogy of the entire human species.
“Since women never get Y the gotra of a women is said to be of her husband.”
I don’t get it, if the women don’t have the Y chromosome (the gotra “carrier” so to speak), why are they assigned the gotra of their husband and more importantly “how” are they assigned the gotra, as they cannot even acquire the “Y-chromosome” and incorporate it into their genome.
They are 8 diff Y chromosomes from 8 rishis. If we are from Same gotra then it means we are from same root ancestor.
This is just not true. There’s literally thousands of Y-chromosomes.
“Marriages between same gotra will increase the risk of causing genetic disorders as same gotra Y chromosomes cannot have crossover and it will activate the defective cells.”
This is just wrong on so many levels! I’ll try to explain! Let’s take it point by point.
“Marriages between same gotra will increase the risk of causing genetic disorders”**.
True, aka inbreeding. But that is to say within VERY close relatives. Because all humans are related to one another to a varying extent, that is why we are the same species. For improving genetic fitness, the best approach would be to marry outside the “caste” altogether, hell, marry outside international borders to get the best shot at producing the best (theoretical genetics) offsprings.
“same gotra Y chromosomes cannot have crossover and it will activate the defective cells”
Ok, so scientifically, “Crossover” is the process of exchange of random bits of DNA during a special type of cell division called meiosis. Meiosis never happens in regular somatic cells (cells that have your information and are never passed to the progeny), but Meiosis happens in the germ cells (the cells who have the potential to transfer information (here genetic and epigenetic) to the progeny. In mammals it is in the sperm progeniter cell (spermatogonium) and ovum (oogonium) [if I remember the names correctly]. So now with the definition of “crossover” out of the way, let’s get to the other part of the process.
Humans have 23 chromosomes from Mom, 23 from their Father and the very important mtDNA from mother. This comprises an individual’s complete genome.
Out of the 23 from mom 22 are chr 1-22 and the 23rd is X chromosome, always. From the father there is Chr1-22 or the ChrX or ChrY, (this is a random assignment as 2 sperm cells originating from the germ cell get X and two get Y, creating a close to 50% chance of passing either X or Y).
The quoted statement above falls apart, when we take these important points in consideration:
Crossover happens in adult humans,
Crossover does not happen in the embryo (the embryo divides with mitosis, just like rest of the somatic cells in an adult, remember I told meiosis only happens in germ cells).
Crossover happens only between paired chromosomes (chr short form) i.e. chr1 with chr1, chr2 with chr2, …, chr22 with chr22.
In men, as there is only one X chromosome, There is no crossover recombination. It does however happen in the females as they have a complete pair of X.
Additionally, the YY genotype, that is assuming Y chromosome from two different “gotras”, is not possible, it is embryonically lethal i.e. the embryo dies because it doesn’t have the essential genes from the X chromosome.
“Marriages between same gotra will increase the risk of causing genetic disorders as same gotra Y chromosomes cannot have crossover and it will activate the defective cells.”
So now you probably see that there will never be same gotra Y chromosomes in an embryo at a given time point.
If this continues, it will reduce the size and strength of Y chromosome which is crucial for the creation of male.
This is 100% nonsense and stupid. 🙂
It doesn’t ever happen (reducing size or strength of chromosomes) 🙂