Aurva

Aurva (or Aurava) is a fierce sage descending in order from Vishnu, Brahma, Bhrigu, Chyavana, Apnuvana. He was born during a bloody feud between the Kshatriyas and the descendants of Bhrigu. He was also the grandson of Vatsa, after whom the Srivatsa gotra is named. His son was Ṛchika (Ruchika), and Ṛchika's son was Jamadagni.

Aurva
Affiliation	Rishi, Bhargava
Personal information
Children	Ruchika(son), Kandali (daughter - wife of Durvasa)

There is an interesting episode regarding the birth and naming of Aurava. According to the Mahabharata, there was a king named Kritavirya who was very liberal to his priests, who belonged to the race of Bhrigu. As such, they became very rich due to his generosity. After the death of the king, his descendants fell into poverty. They begged for help from the Bhrigus, who at that time were very rich; but the Bhrigus refused to help the kings, saying that wealth which is once given to a Brahmin cannot be taken back. To protect their wealth they buried their gold in a secret place. Coming to know about this the Kshatriya kings invaded the ashrams of the Bhrigus and killed all the Bhrigus, not sparing even children that were growing in the wombs of their mothers. Although the Bhrigus were also descended from a warrior class, they could not stop the kings from slaughtering them. One woman concealed her just-born son in her thighs to protect the baby from being slaughtered. The Kshatriyas who came to know about this rushed towards the lady to kill the baby. The baby fell down from her thighs with such a radiance that all the persecutors were blinded instantly. Since the child was produced from the uru (thigh) of a woman he was called Aurava/Aurva.

When he grew up he intended of destroying the whole universe for taking revenge for the slaughter of his family. So he did austere penances. Seeing that the world was about to come to an end the Pitrs came down to him. They prayed to him to change his mind. They said that it was their own decision of dying at the hands of the Kshatriyas, for they were bored of long lives. But they could not resort to suicide for through suicide they would reach hell and not heaven, hence they hid all their wealth underground to enrage the warriors. And when murdered they attained heaven. Hearing this Aurva took the decision of not destroying the universe. As suggested he threw his mental fire into the ocean which consumed water in the form of a horse's mouth named Vadavamukha.

The Sampangirama family is one of the many families that contains the decedents of Aurva. The Sampangirama family goes by many last names, the most notable being Sampangirama, Nagar, and Rao. The Sampangirama family follows the pravara (bloodline): Bhargava, Chyavana, Apnavana, Aurva, Jamadagni, Parashurama. Majority of the Sampangirama family lives in the state of Karnataka.

Vats (clan) gotra brahmins of Hindi belt region (Saryupareen Brahmins) also have five pravaras- Bhrigu, Chyavana, Apnavana,Aurva and Jamadagni. These gotra can be found in people of surname Dubey, Mishra, Jha etc of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Jharkhand and other parts of Awadh, Purvanchal, Bundelkhand , Baghelkhand and Mithilanchal region. Vats (clan) gotra originated from Sage Bhrigu , that is why Vats (clan) gotra is a gotra of Brahmins belonging to Bhrigu lineage.

Sage Vats, also known as Vatsa, was the grandfather of Sage Aurva and great-great grandfather of Sage Ṛchika (Ruchika), and son of Ṛchika was Jamadagni. And hence Vats (clan) gotra brahmins are direct descendent of Sage Aurva.