The exogamous sections of the caste afford further evidence of their
mixed origin. Many of the names recorded are those of other castes,
as Baretha (a washerman), Bhoyar (Bhoi or bearer), Rawat (herdsman),
Barhai (carpenter), Malia (Mali or gardener), Dhakar (Vidur or
illegitimate Brahman), Bhandari (barber), Pardhan (Gond), Mankar
(title of various tribes), Sahara (Saonr), Kanderi (turner), Agri
(Agarwala Bania), Baghel (a sept of Rajputs), Elmia (from Velama,
Telugu cultivators), and Chalki and Ponwar (Chalukya and Panwar
Rajputs). It may be concluded that these groups are descended from
ancestors of the caste after which they are named. There are also a
number of territorial and titular names of the usual type, and many
totemistic names, as Ghorapatia (a horse), Kawaliha (lotus), Aurila
(tamarind), Lendia (a tree), Gohi (a lizard), Manjur (a peacock),
Bhringraj (a blackbird) and so on. In Bastar they revere the animal
or plant after which their sept is named and will not kill or injure
it. If a man accidentally kills his devak or sacred animal he will
tear off a small piece of his cloth and throw it away to make a shroud
for the corpse. A few of them will break their earthen pots as if a
relative had died in their house, but this is not general. In Bastar
the totemistic groups are named barags, and many men also belong to a
thok, having some titular name which they use as a surname. Nowadays
marriage is avoided by persons having the same thok or surname as
well as between those of the same barag.