Lineage

Utility

Pride in ancestral accomplishments can be a great motivator in one’s own life (especially when it comes to following dharma).

Examples

“If brAhmaNa archaka-s serve in those village temples suffering paltry salaries lower than what the watchman or sweeper gets, it is because of kulAbhimAna and sense of hereditary duty than anything else. Were it not for this familial urge and pride, the shAkha-s of veda which have come down to us would not at all have survived. (To illustrate the point, now that anyone can go to certain veda-pAThashAla-s and study the veda-s, relatively speaking, how many non-brAhmaNa-s have taken to them fully?)”

Echoes elsewhere

“pride in you ancestors is IMO important for achievement as a civilization. Perhaps eventual decline of marUnmatta achievement stems from this v. cause.
OTH, the U2s have developed something called “racism” or on the other hand leftism which allows for such pride to reenter through the backdoor often with the claim of false ancestries.
As for U1s their whole achievement stems stems from their mata being closely aligned with the concept of being a people whose ancestors were chosen ones.” [MT17]

Adoption

kShatropeta-brAhmaNa-s

• References: GA18
• “kSatropeta gotra-s are gotra-s where the founding RSi &/or his son &/or even his grandson of this gotra were originally kSatriya-s. These RSi-s because they saw vedamantra-s & also had the grace of either the ANGirasas or bhArgavas of their time, they were allowed, on an extremely exceptional basis, to adopt either the primordial anGiras or bhRgu RSi-s as their “fathers”. As they ONLY take the primordial aNGiras or bhRgu as ancestor & not actual biological descendants of aNGiras (bRhaspati, bharadvAja, gotama, etc) or of bhRgu (cyavana, jamadagni, etc). Thus, these gotra-s are known as kevala-ANGIrasa-s (kevala means ‘only’) or kevalabhArgava-s.”
• “In the case of the maudgalya-s, there was a noble rAjarSi by the name of bhRmyashva (he of the impetuous/speedy horses); he was the ancestor of the great of north & south pa~ncala. "
• “They are the maitrayava-s, with whom we see an example where the gotra-founder was not a RSi himself but was distinguished enough to lend his name to the gotra. bhRmyashva had five sons (thus, “pancala-s), one of whom is mudgala, who turns out to be a grandfather of vadhryashva. This line is the famous uttara pancala (centered at modern day Bareilly, UP) which will give rise to one of the greatest kings & heroes of the Rgveda, the great sudAsa. mudgala’s grandson vadhryashva was the father of divodAsa of imperishable fame. This divodAsa is deemed a brahmarSi in harivaMsha purANa although he was an impeccable warrior. Some will know that divodAsa crushed a certain insidious enemy whose likely descendant could not be defeated by dasharatha, rAma’s father, who postdated divodAsa by one generation. Some will also know that divodAsa (who became a brAhmaNa in collective memory like his father) had a sister by the name of ahalyA. This divodAsa has a son mitrayu & grandson maitreya soma who choose bhRgu to be their primal ancestor. Some descendants of maitreya-soma become brAhmaNa-s proper who adopt their blood ancestors vadhryashva & divodAsa (who became RSi-s) along with bhRgu as ancestors of their gotra. Certain others continue to be kSatriya-s, and this line will go on to produce the legenddary sudAsa.”