In the Central Provinces the Marathas are divided into 96 exogamous
clans, known as the Chhanava Kule, which marry with one another. During
the period when the Bhonsla family were rulers of Nagpur they
constituted a sort of inner circle, consisting of seven of the
leading clans, with whom alone they intermarried; these are known
as the Satghare or Seven Houses, and consist of the Bhonsla, Gujar,
Ahirrao, Mahadik, Sirke, Palke and Mohte clans. These houses at one
time formed an endogamous group, marrying only among themselves, but
recently the restriction has been relaxed, and they have arranged
marriages with other Maratha families. It may be noted that the
present representatives of the Bhonsla family are of the Gujar clan
to which the last Raja of Nagpur, Raghuji III., belonged prior to
his adoption. Several of the clans, as already noted, have Rajput
sept names; and some are considered to be derived from those of
former ruling dynasties; as Chalke, from the Chalukya Rajput kings
of the Deccan and Carnatic; More, who may represent a branch of the
great Maurya dynasty of northern India; Salunke, perhaps derived
from the Solanki kings of Gujarat; and Yadav, the name of the kings
of Deogiri or Daulatabad. [213] Others appear to be named after
animals or natural objects, as Sinde from _sindi_ the date-palm tree,
Ghorpade from _ghorpad_ the iguana; or to be of a titular nature, as
Kale black, Pandhre white, Bhagore a renegade, Jagthap renowned, and
so on. The More, Nimbhalkar, Ghatge, Mane, Ghorpade, Dafle, Jadav and
Bhonsla clans are the oldest, and held prominent positions in the old
Muhammadan kingdoms of Bijapur and Ahmadnagar. The Nimbhalkar family
were formerly Panwar Rajputs, and took the name of Nimbhalkar from
their ancestral village Nimbalik. The Ghorpade family are an offshoot
of the Bhonslas, and obtained their present name from the exploit of
one of their ancestors, who scaled a fort in the Konkan, previously
deemed impregnable, by passing a cord round the body of a _ghorpad_
or iguana. [214] A noticeable trait of these Maratha houses is the
fondness with which they clung to the small estates or villages in
the Deccan in which they had originally held the office of a patel or
village headman as a _watan_ or hereditary right, even after they had
carved out for themselves principalities and states in other parts
of India. The present Bhonsla Raja takes his title from the village
of Deor in the Poona country. In former times we read of the Raja of
Satara clinging to the _watans_ he had inherited from Sivaji after
he had lost his crown in all but the name; Sindhia was always termed
patel or village headman in the revenue accounts of the villages he
acquired in Nimar; while it is said that Holkar and the Panwar of Dhar
fought desperately after the British conquest to recover the _pateli_
rights of Deccan villages which had belonged to their ancestors. [215]