Vatsyayan Gotra is classified under the Saraswat Brahmin sect. They are generally concentrated in North India.
Origin
The Vatsyayan Gotra is a genetic lineage of the sage Vatsayan and his disciples in the Gurukul in Varanasi. Majority of the disciples were sent to the Himalayan Hindu kingdom to promote not only Hinduism, but to put an end to the pagan ritual sacrifices of the tribal lords in the Himalayan region. The Vatsayan missionaries evolved the Tantric goddess Tara to yet another fertility goddess 'Kam-ek-he' and worshipped in the Garo hills of the eastern Himalayan hills. The legend of Kamakhya believed to have appeared in the Kalikaa Puran with the cult of 'Shakti' in the worship of fertility goddess. The temple of 'Kamakhya' was destroyed in the Shan invasion in 12 C. The Vatsayan clans fled through the inner Himalaya to Kashmir. The Vatsayans in the Punjab region have descended from Kashmir. Families of Vatsyayan Gotra are said to have existed in the town of Pattan in Kashmir and later to a village named Gion in Kashmir, till the 11th century AD. Following annexations by the hands of Mughal Kings, they were forced to leave their places and migrate to Sind province,while the original migrants descended to the foothills of Shivalliks in remote hill forests to sanctify the fertility goddess, while others settled down near the towns of Kangra and Una of the Undivided Punjab or towns like Hosiyarpur.
Fifteen instances of migration involving Brahmanas from the Vatsa gotra, which is part of the Bhrigu section of gotras, have been documented through inscriptions across Northern India, similar to those of the Bharadvajas. A significant number of the Vatsas migrated to Orissa, where they received patronage from the Bhauma-Karas, Tungas, Bhanjas, and Somavamshis, with up to seven Vatsa Brahmanas being supported. Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh together accounted for six Vatsa migrants. Meanwhile, Maharashtra and Bengal each became the new residence for one migrating Vatsa Brahmana.
Theories also postulate that Chanakya belonged to the Vatsyayan clan Seeing this experts have fixed the time of Vatsyayan as when Patna was famous as Pataliputra.
Vatsyayans of North and East India (UP, Bihar and Bengal) consider themselves as the descendants of Chanakya.
He is not to be confused with Vātsyāyana the author of Kamasutra.
The name of Vatsyayan also appears in the Vedas as the commentator of Gotama's Nyāya Sutras and its time is said to be around 400 BCE.