The caste have a number of subdivisions, nearly all of which are of
the territorial class and indicate the various localities from which
it has been recruited in these Provinces. The most important subcastes
are the Audhia from Ajodhia or Oudh; the Purania or old settlers;
the Bundelkhandi from Bundelkhand; the Malwi from Malwa; the Lad from
Lat, the old name for the southern portion of Gujarat; and the Mair,
who appear to have been the first immigrants from Upper India and are
named after Mair, the original ancestor, who melted down the golden
demon. Other small groups are the Patkars, so called because they allow
_pat_ or widow-marriage, though, as a matter of fact, it is permitted
by the great majority of the caste; the Pandhare or 'White Sunars';
and the Ahir Sunars, whose ancestors must presumably have belonged to
the caste whose name they bear. The caste have also numerous _bainks_
or exogamous septs, which differ entirely from the long lists given
for Bengal and the United Provinces, and show, as Mr. Crooke remarks,
the extreme fertility with which sections of this kind spring up. In
the Central Provinces the names are of a titular or territorial
nature. Examples of the former kind, that is, a title or nickname
supposed to have been borne by the sept's founder, are: Dantele, one
who has projecting teeth; Kale, black; Munde, bald; Kolhimare, a killer
of jackals; and Ladaiya, a jackal or a quarrelsome person. Among the
territorial names are Narwaria from Narwar; Bhilsainyan from Bhilsa;
Kanaujia from Kanauj; Dilliwal from Delhi; Kalpiwal from Kalpi. Besides
the _bainks_ or septs by which marriage is regulated, they have adopted
the Brahmanical eponymous _gotra_-names as Kashyap, Garg, Sandilya,
and so on. These are employed on ceremonial occasions as when a gift
is made for the purpose of obtaining religious merit, and the _gotra-_
name of the owner is recorded, but they do not influence marriage. The
use of them is a harmless vanity analogous to the assumption of
distinguished surnames by people who were not born to them.