They number about 150,000 persons, and include many village proprietors
and substantial cultivators. The quotations already given have shown
how this virile clan of Rajputs travelled to the north, south and
east from their own country in search of a livelihood. Everywhere
they made their mark so that they live in history, but they paid no
regard to the purity of their Rajput blood and took to themselves
wives from the women of the country as they could get them. The
Panwars of the Wainganga Valley have developed into a caste marrying
among themselves. They have no subcastes but thirty-six exogamous
sections. Some of these have the names of Rajput clans, while others
are derived from villages, titles or names of offices, or from
other castes. Among the titular names are Chaudhri (headman), Patlia
(patel or chief officer of a village) and Sonwania (one who purifies
offenders among the Gonds and other tribes). Among the names of other
castes are Bopcha or Korku, Bhoyar (a caste of cultivators), Pardhi
(hunter), Kohli (a local cultivating caste) and Sahria (from the Saonr
tribe). These names indicate how freely they have intermarried. It is
noticeable that the Bhoyars and Korkus of Betul both say that their
ancestors were Panwars of Dhar, and the occurrence of both names
among the Panwars of Balaghat may indicate that these castes also
have some Panwar blood. Three names, Rahmat (kind), Turukh or Turk,
and Farid (a well-known saint), are of Muhammadan origin, and indicate
intermarriage in that quarter.