Bharadvaja is a prominent ascetic and sage in the Ramayana, the first of the two major Hindu epics.
His ashram, or home, is in Chitrakut, which is today a town in Uttar Pradesh's southeastern region, although the epic depicts it as a woodland hermitage.
- When Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana are about to go on their fourteen-year exile, they visit Bharadvaja to seek his blessings (ashirvad).
- Bharadvaja is one of the seven exogamous gotra (lineages) whose names are Kashyapa, Bhrgu, Vasishtha, Gautama, Atri, and Vishvamitra in a larger mythical setting.
All brahmins are said to be descended from these seven sages, with each family's progenitor's name serving as its gotra name.
- These gotra divides are still significant in contemporary times, since marriage within the bloodline is prohibited.
- The bride takes her husband's gotra as part of her new identity after her marriage.
- Prohibitions against marriage may also be found here.
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