Close blood kin, reckoned on both the father's and mother's side out to a set number of generations, who share pinda (ancestral rice-offerings). Marriage between sapinda relatives is forbidden by the Dharmashastra and, unlike same-gotra marriage, is prohibited by the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955.

Where this term appears

• What is a gotra? Essentials →

  …are unions within the "degrees of prohibited relationship" and within sapinda relationship, that is, close blood relatives on both the father's and mother's side, out to a defined number of generations.

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