Does a wife’s gotra change after marriage?

in most traditions the wife takes her husband’s gotra for household rituals after marriage, but customs vary and her birth family remains hers.

In the classical view, through the wedding rites the bride enters her husband’s household, and from then on her gotra is generally recited as her husband’s in saṅkalpas and pūjās. That is why, after marriage, priests usually ask for the husband’s gotra for both of them. Some texts and communities, however, hold that her birth gotra continues for certain purposes, and in a few communities it is never changed.

This is a matter of ritual identity in the household, not a statement that she stops belonging to her parents. She continues to honour her parents in śrāddha and can perform rites for them; many families also mention both gotras in certain ceremonies.

For daily practice: use your husband’s gotra in household pūjās unless your family tradition says otherwise, and do not worry if you have used the other one by mistake. God responds to devotion, not to bookkeeping.

Customs vary; both gotras are sometimes recited · Source: Dharmaśāstra digests; common priestly practice

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