Mathur Gotra
माथुर
At a glance
Related Gotras
Common surnames
About
Mathur is one of the twelve Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha sub-castes of north India. Tradition makes it the line of Charu, a son of Chitragupta, and the name is linked to Mathura. Mathurs served as scribes and officers in Delhi, in the Rajput states of Rajasthan and in Hyderabad. The site's index files the clan under Kashyap.
Founding Rishi
Pravara Lineage
The Pravara is the line of illustrious ancestral rishis recited in ritual, from the first ancestor down:
Regional Spread
The Mathur Gotra is predominantly found in:
Etymology
Mathur means 'of Mathura'. Crooke (1896) and Russell and Hiralal (1916) both say the sub-caste takes its name from the city. The family legend is that Chitragupta sent his son Charu to settle at Mathura, so that his descendants became Mathurs. Some writers dispute the link to the city, and no early source proves either account.
Historical Journey
The Chitraguptavanshi tradition counts twelve sub-castes from the sons of the god Chitragupta by his two wives, and lists Charu as the ancestor of the Mathurs. Crooke (1896) records the same descent. The story is a community account; scholars such as Romila Thapar and Ronald Davidson treat the fifth-varna claim as a claim, not a fact. The Mathurs are seen in the record from the Middle Ages. An inscription at Surwaya in Shivpuri district, dated Vikrama 1350 (about 1293 CE), was composed by the Mathura kayastha Jayasimha, son of Lohata. Ramvallabh Somani, in Jain Inscriptions of Rajasthan (1982), notes that some Bhinmal inscriptions name Mathur Kayasthas and that later Mathurs appear in positions of power in the Jodhpur state. Mazumdar (1960) mentions a Mathur-line feudal vassal named Udayasimha. Crooke and Russell and Hiralal record three territorial groups, the Dihlawi of Delhi, the Kachchhi of Cutch and the Lachauli or Panchauli of Jodhpur, which indicates a spread from the Delhi and Mathura country into Rajasthan and Gujarat. After the Mughal and Rajput courts the Mathurs also took service with the Nizams. Karen Leonard's study of the Kayasths of Hyderabad treats the Mathur, Saksena and Asthana as the sub-castes of the city, and shows that kinship and marriage, more than varna, shaped their identity. In the colonial courts of the 1860s to 1920s the varna rank of Kayasthas was argued case by case, and the rulings differed (Bellenoit 2023).
Migration & Diaspora
The sub-caste's name points to Mathura, and its three recorded groups point to Delhi, Cutch and Jodhpur. Many Mathurs moved from north India to take administrative posts under later rulers, and a large Mathur community lives in Hyderabad, where Kayasths held posts in the Nizam's government and where a Chitragupta temple at Falaknuma was built by Kayastha officials. Today Mathurs are found in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.
Presence Across Regions
Mathura and Delhi
Kayastha
The Dihlawi Mathurs of Delhi are named as one of three territorial groups by Crooke (1896) and by Russell and Hiralal (1916).
Jodhpur and Marwar (Rajasthan)
Kayastha
The Lachauli or Panchauli group is tied to Jodhpur. Somani (1982) notes Mathur Kayasthas in Bhinmal inscriptions and later in office in Jodhpur state.
Cutch and Gujarat
Kayastha
The Kachchhi Mathurs are recorded as the group of Cutch in the 1890s and 1910s.
Hyderabad (Telangana)
Kayastha
Leonard's Kayasths of Hyderabad names the Mathur as one of the three sub-castes studied. Many held office in the Nizam's government.
Notable Personalities
Jayasimha, son of Lohata
Vikrama 1350 (about 1293 CE)
Mathura kayastha who composed the Surwaya inscription of the well and garden made by the ranaka Cachiga in Shivpuri district. The inscription now stands in the Gwalior museum.
Udayasimha
11th to 12th century
A feudal vassal named in inscriptions as of the Mathur line, discussed in B. P. Mazumdar's Socio-Economic History of Northern India (1960).
Stories & Legends
Charu and the city of Mathura
In the Chitraguptavanshi tradition, Chitragupta had twelve sons by his two wives, Nandini and Shobhavati, and each son went to a different part of the country. Charu is said to have settled at Mathura, which is why his line is called Mathur. Crooke (1896) records the descent from Charu and the naming from Mathura. It is the community's own account and cannot be dated.
Chitragupta Puja
Kayastha families, Mathurs among them, observe Chitragupta Puja, also called Kalam-Dawat, on Yama Dwitiya, the day of Bhai Dooj in the bright half of Kartika. Pens, inkpots and account books are set before an image of Chitragupta and worshipped, and new books are begun. The day is observed mainly by Kayasthas.
Ritual Significance
Mathurs worship Chitragupta, and Chitragupta Puja on Yama Dwitiya (Bhai Dooj) is the main observance. Kayastha gotra lists differ by region and by source. The Indpaedia entry on Kayasth, citing S. S. Hassan on the Nizam's dominions, names Bharadwaj, Gautam and Kashyap as Kayastha gotras. We found no published list that gives the Mathur their own gotra, so the Kashyap given here is the site's index entry. Crooke and Russell and Hiralal describe exogamy by degrees of kinship and by local sections, not by gotra. Family deities differ by branch and family.
In the Blog
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Kayastha Surnames: Srivastava, Saxena, Mathur and the Chitragupta Tradition
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