Thus you see that there is precisely one AprI hymn per family and all these families are the main brahminical and one kshatriya families extant in the subcontinent. The father was supposed to impart the AprI hymn of his clan (in our case X.110) to his descendents at the thread ceremony and it was to be used before any significant vedic sacrifice by sprinkling water around the platform and dipping the samits (twigs) in fuel (oil, butter or ghee) and getting ready the sacrificial pourings including honey, ghee, oils, lac, animal fat, foods etc. An important point to note is that even though RV maNDala VIII is largely a kANva maNDala, there is no AprI hymn in it. Similarly the gautama (IV) and bharadvAja (VI) maNDalas have no AprIs of their own. This suggests that the two Angirasa gotras of the gotamas and the bharadvAjas used a common AprI of dIrghatamA, while the kAnvas who descend from another branch of Angirasa namely priyamedhA and ghora Angirasa follow their own AprI. While the shaunakas originally descended from the bharadvAja Angirasas, they merged with atharvans (bhArgavas) forming a separate gotra of their own and hence their own Apri. The only kshatriya gotra for which we have an AprI is that of the pUrus. There were originally other AprIs of other kshatriya and vaishya clans descending from bhAlandana but were lost with their abilities to perform vedic rituals due extinction and dilution. The one of the pUru kshatriyas was preserved because the so called vAdhula gotra of brAhmaNas adopted it as their AprI. The most striking feature of all the AprI hymns is the invocation of the so called 3 goddesses: sarasvatI, iLA(or pR^Ithivi), and bhAratI (or pR^ishNi) respectively governing the water cycle, the earth and sky. The goddess aditi is also separately invoked in the AprI hymn. Finally agni is referred to under the peculiar name tanU napAt that is syntactically similar to the term apAM napAt also used for agni. The term tanU napAt has been poorly understood, but it is important to note that it frequently comes only in the context of the gotra specific AprI hymns. This suggests a special link with the sacrificer. Thus we can derive the following etymology: napAt: shares the same Indo-European root as nepot (nepotism) meaning a blood relative. TanU mean the self or the body. Thus tanU napAt meant the self-relative. Hence agni called tanU-napAt meant the agni related to one or associated with one's clan- that gives you the legitimacy to perform sacrifice. It also meant in a sacrifice the sacrificer was mirroring the agni within oneself- the all consuming eater of food.