The recitation of the Pravara during these rituals is a way of declaring that the individual is as worthy as their ancestors to offer sacrifices and perform sacred acts.
It provides a clear and precise method of determining a person's position within the exogamous system, guiding marriage practices and ensuring that individuals do not marry within the same Pravara.
In addition to its role in ritualistic practices and exogamy, the Pravara also holds a wider application in modern times, where it is used to establish the lineage of the family and is recited during daily prayers to demonstrate the fitness of the individual to perform sacred acts.
In later times, the pravara came to have a wider application, particularly in the context of regulating marriage and asserting one's lineage as a descendant of worthy ancestors.
The Brahmanas and Sutras provide detailed expositions of the Pravara system and its use in regulating marriage practices and establishing lineage.
The Smrtyarthasdra of Sridhara, composed between A.D. 1150 and 1200, is another important medieval text that discusses the Pravara system and its use in regulating marriage practices.
Inscriptions from ancient India, such as the Maitraka and Gurjara-Pratihara charters, also provide information about the pravara system and its use in establishing ancestral lineages and social identities.
However, as the usage of the term gotra became loosely applied to smaller subdivisions and even individual families, the pravara became necessary to determine the specific exogamous group.
It is a religious obligation for every high caste man to preserve the memory of his ancestors and maintain the line of his family descent unbroken.
[8] For instance, a worshipper says: I belong to a particular gotra (or tribe of Brahmans); I have three ancestors—Angirasa, Sainya, and Gargya; I am a student of the Asvalayana Sutra, and follow the Sakala-Sakha of the Rgveda.