_Rajput, Somvansi, Chandravansi._--These two are returned as separate
septs, though both names mean 'Descendants of the moon.' Colonel Tod
considers Surajvansi and Somvansi, or the descendants of the sun and
moon as the first two of the thirty-six royal clans, from which all
the others were evolved. But he gives no account of them, nor does it
appear that they were regularly recognised clans in Rajputana. It is
probable that both Somvansi and Chandravansi, as well as Surajvansi and
perhaps Nagvansi (Descendants of the snake) have served as convenient
designations for Rajputs of illegitimate birth, or for landholding
sections of the cultivating castes and indigenous tribes when they
aspired to become Rajputs. Thus the Surajvansis, and Somvansis of
different parts of the country might be quite different sets of
people. There seems some reason for supposing that the Somvansis of
the United Provinces as described by Mr. Crooke are derived from the
Bhar tribe; [575] in the Central Provinces a number of Somvansis
and Chandravansis are returned from the Feudatory States, and are
probably landholders who originally belonged to one of the forest
tribes residing in them. I have heard the name Somvansi applied
to a boy who belonged to the Baghel clan of Rajputs, but he was of
inferior status on account of his mother being a remarried widow,
or something of the kind.