The Dangis have no subcastes distinguished by separate names, but they
are divided into three classes, among whom the principle of hypergamy
prevails. As already seen, there were formerly twenty-five clans, of
whom the three highest, the Nahonias, Bhadonias and Nadias, claimed
to be pure Rajputs. The other twenty-two clans are known as Baisa (22)
or Prithwipat Dangis, after the king who is supposed to have been the
ancestor of all the clans. Each of his twenty-two wives is said to have
been given a village for her maintenance, and the clans are named after
these villages. But there are now only thirteen of these local clans
left, and below them is a miscellaneous group of clans, representing
apparently later accretions to the caste. Some of them are named from
the places from which they came, as Mahobia, from Mahoba, Narwaria,
from Narwar, and so on. The Solakhia sept is named after the Solanki
Rajputs, of whom they may be the partly illegitimate descendants. The
Parnami sept are apparently those who have the creed of the Dhamis,
the followers of Prannath of Panna. And as already seen, some are named
from women of low caste, from whom by Dangi fathers they are supposed
to be descended. The whole number of septs is thus divided into three
groups, the highest containing the three quasi-Rajput septs already
mentioned, the next highest the thirteen septs of Prithwipat Dangis,
and the lowest all the other septs. Pure Rajputs will take daughters
in marriage from the highest group, and this in turn takes girls of
the Prithwipat Dangis of the thirteen clans, though neither will give
daughters in return; and the Prithwipat Dangis will similarly accept
the daughters of the miscellaneous septs below them in marriage with
their sons. Matches are, however, not generally arranged according to
the above system of hypergamy, but each group marries among its own
members. Girls who are married into a higher group have to be given
a larger dowry, the fathers often being willing to pay Rs. 500 or
Rs. 1000 for the social distinction which such an alliance confers
on the family. Among the highest septs there is a further difference
between those whose ancestors accepted food from Raja Jai Singh,
the founder of Jaisinghnagar, and those who refused it. The former
are called Sakrodia or those who ate the leavings of others, and
the latter _Deotaon ki sansar_, or the divine Dangis. Pure Rajputs
will take daughters only from the members of the latter group in each
sept. Marriage within the sept or _baink_ is prohibited, and as a rule
a man does not marry a wife belonging to the same sept as his mother
or grandmother. Marriage by exchange also is not allowed, that is,
a girl cannot be married into the same family as that in which her
brother has married.