The name of a brahmin clan; about twenty individuals belonging to this clan are mentioned in the Piṭakas. In one family, living at Rājagaha, the eldest was married to a Dhanañjāni brāhminee and later became an Arahant. See Bhāradvāja Thera (3)

His brothers: Akkosaka Bhāradvāja, Asurindaka°, Bilaṅgika°, and Saṅgārava°, followed him (S.i.160 ff; SA.i.175 ff; MA.ii.808). Several other Bhāradvājas living in Sāvatthi visited the Buddha there, joined the Order, and became Arahants; viz., Ahimsaka Bhāradvāja, Jatā°, and Suddhika°; Aggika° joined the Order at Veḷuvana, Sundarika° on the banks of the Sundarikā, and Bahudhītīka° in a forest tract in Kosala. Kasi°, Katthahāra° and Navakammaki° became lay disciples.

The elder Piṇḍola-Bhāradvāja also belonged to the Bhāradvājagotta; so did Kāpathika (M.ii.169 f). The clan was evidently considered to be very ancient. Mention is made in the books of a Bhāradvāja is among the authors of the runes of the brāhmaṇas (e.g., D.i.242; M.ii.169, 200; A.iii.224; iv.61, etc.) The Kāliṅgabodhi Jātaka speaks of a Kālingabhāradvāja brahmin, while the brahmin carpenter in the Phaṇḍana Jātaka belongs to the same clan.

The chief priest (purohita) Sucīrata, of Dhanañjaya Koravya (in the Sambhava Jataka), is a Bhāradvāja, as is also Jūjaka of the Vessantara Jātaka. In a Vinaya passage (Vin.iv.6; but see DA.iii.860) the Bhāradvājagotta is mentioned together with the Kosiya as a low clan (hīnagotta).