No detailed description of the Jats need be attempted here, but
some information which has been obtained on their customs in this
Province may be recorded. They entered the Hoshangabad District,
Sir C. Elliot states, [187] in the eighteenth century, and came
originally from Bharatpur (Bhurtpur), but halted in Marwar on the
way. "They are the best cultivators in the District after the Pardeshi
Kurmis, and though they confine themselves to ordinary crops they
are very laborious, and the tilth of their fields is pleasant to look
on." For the purposes of marriage the caste is divided into exogamous
sections in the usual manner. The bulk of the section-names cannot be
explained, being probably corrupted forms of the names of villages,
but it is noticeable that several pairs of them are considered to be
related so that their members cannot intermarry. Thus no marriages
can take place between the Golia and Gwalwa, the Choyala and Sarana,
the Bhukar and Bhari, and the Lathial and Lalar sections, as each
pair is considered to be descended from a common ancestor.