_Bhoyar, [359] Bhoir_ (Honorific titles, Mahajan and Patel).--A
cultivating caste numbering nearly 60,000 persons in 1911, and residing
principally in the Betul and Chhindwara Districts. The Bhoyars are not
found outside the Central Provinces. They claim to be the descendants
of a band of Panwar Rajputs, who were defending the town of Dharanagri
or Dhar in Central India when it was besieged by Aurangzeb. Their post
was on the western part of the wall, but they gave way and fled into
the town as the sun was rising, and it shone on their faces. Hence
they were called Bhoyar from a word _bhor_ meaning morning, because
they were seen running away in the morning. They were put out of
caste by the other Rajputs, and fled to the Central Provinces. The
name may also be a variant of that of the Bhagore Rajputs. And another
derivation is from _bhora_, a simpleton or timid person. Their claim
to be immigrants from Central India is borne out by the fact that they
still speak a corrupt form of the Malwi dialect of Rajputana, which
is called after them Bhoyari, and their Bhats or genealogists come
from Malwa. But they have now entirely lost their position as Rajputs.