Kayasthas follow the Chitraguptavanshi lineage with 12 sub-castes. The Al system is unique to Kayasthas — surname-like identifiers indicating family lineage within a sub-caste. The 12 sub-castes are Srivastava, Mathur, Saxena, Bhatnagar, Ambashtha, Nigam, Kulshreshtha, Asthana, Karna, Gaur, Suryadhwaj, and Vaalmik.
Same-gotra marriage is prohibited. Same-Al marriage is typically avoided as it indicates shared gotra lineage. Inter-sub-caste marriages among Kayasthas are increasingly common.
Al is a family identifier unique to North Indian Kayasthas. Common Als include Verma, Sinha, Beohar, Saharia, Raizada.
There are 12 Chitraguptavanshi sub-castes plus CKP in Maharashtra.
Kayasthas follow Kashyap (most common), Bharadwaj, Shandilya, Atri, Garga, and Kaushik.
Al is highly recommended in North Indian Kayastha biodata. BiodataJi includes a dedicated Al field.