There is no caste corresponding to the Vidurs in the Hindi Districts
and the offspring of unions which transgress the caste marriage
rules are variously treated. Many castes both in the north and south
say that they have 12 1/2 subdivisions and that the half subcaste
comprises the descendants of illicit unions. Of course the twelve
subdivisions are as a rule mythical, the number of subcastes being
always liable to fluctuate as fresh endogamous groups are formed
by migration or slight changes in the caste calling. Other castes
have a Lohri Sen or degraded group which corresponds to the half
caste. In other cases the illegitimate branch has a special name;
thus the Niche Pat Bundelas of Saugor and Chhoti Tar Rajputs of Nimar
are the offspring of fathers of the Bundela and other Rajput tribes
with women of lower castes; both these terms have the same meaning as
Lohri Sen, that is a low-caste or bastard group. Similarly the Dauwa
(wet-nurse) Ahirs are the offspring of Bundela fathers and the Ahir
women who act as nurses in their households. In Saugor is found a class
of persons called Kunwar [719] who are descended from the offspring
of the Maratha Brahman rulers of Saugor and their kept women. They
now form a separate caste and Hindustani Brahmans will take water
from them. They refuse to accept _katcha_ food (cooked with water)
from Maratha Brahmans, which all other castes will do. Another class
of bastard children of Brahmans are called Dogle, and such people
commonly act as servants of Maratha Brahmans; as these Brahmans do
not take water to drink from the hands of any caste except their own,
they have much difficulty in procuring household servants and readily
accept a Dogle in this capacity without too close a scrutiny of his
antecedents. There is also a class of Dogle Kayasths of similar,
origin, who are admitted as members of the caste on an inferior
status and marry among themselves. After several generations such
groups tend to become legitimised; thus the origin of the distinction
between the Khare and Dusre Srivastab Kayasths and the Dasa and Bisa
Agarwala Banias was probably of this character, but now both groups
are reckoned as full members of the caste, one only ranking somewhat
below the other so that they do not take food together. The Parwar
Banias have four divisions of different social status known as the
Bare, Manjhile, Sanjhile and Lohri Seg or Sen, or first, second,
third and fourth class. A man and woman detected in a serious social
offence descend into the class next below their own, unless they can
pay the severe penalties prescribed for it. If either marries or forms
a connection with a man or woman of a lower class they descend into
that class. Similarly, one who marries a widow goes into the Lohri Seg
or lowest class. Other castes have a similar system of divisions. Among
the great body of Hindus cases of men living with women of different
caste are now very common, and the children of such unions sometimes
inherit their father's property. Though in such cases the man is
out of caste this does not mean that he is quite cut off from social
intercourse. He will be invited to the caste dinners, but must sit in
a different row from the orthodox members so as not to touch them. As
an instance of these mixed marriages the case of a private servant, a
Mali or gardener, may be quoted. He always called himself a Brahman,
and though thinking it somewhat curious that a Brahman should be
a gardener, I took no notice of it until he asked leave to attend
the funeral of his niece, whose father was a Government menial,
an Agarwala Bania. It was then discovered that he was the son of a
Brahman landowner by a mistress of the Kachhi caste of sugarcane and
vegetable growers, so that the profession of a private or ornamental
gardener, for which a special degree of intelligence is requisite,
was very suitable to him. His sister by the same parents was married
to this Agarwala Bania, who said his own family was legitimate and he
had been deceived about the girl. The marriage of one of this latter
couple's daughters was being arranged with the son of a Brahman, father
and Bania mother in Jubbulpore; while the gardener himself had never
been married, but was living with a girl of the Gadaria (shepherd)
caste who had been married in her caste but had never lived with her
husband. Inquiries made in a small town as to the status of seventy
families showed that ten were out of caste on account of irregular
matrimonial or sexual relations; and it may therefore be concluded
that a substantial proportion of Hindus have no real caste at present.