The caste has a number of subdivisions, of which the bulk are
of the territorial type, as Malvi or the immigrants from Malwa,
Lad those coming from south Gujarat, Daharia belonging to Dahar or
the Jubbulpore country, Jaiswar and Kanaujia coming from Oudh. The
Rai Kalars are an aristocratic subcaste, the word Rai signifying
the highest or ruling group like Raj. But the Byahut or 'Married'
are perhaps really the most select, and are so called because they
forbid the remarriage of widows, their women being thus married once
for all. In Bengal they also decline to distil or sell liquor. [259]
The Chauske Kalars are said to be so called because they prohibit
the marriage of persons having a common ancestor up to the fourth
generation. The name of the Seohare or Sivahare subcaste is perhaps a
corruption of Somhare or dealers in Soma, the sacred fermented liquor
of the Vedas; or it may mean the worshippers of the god Siva. The
Seohare Kalars say that they are connected with the Agarwala Banias,
their common ancestors having been the brothers Seoru and Agru. These
brothers on one occasion purchased a quantity of mahua [260] flowers;
the price afterwards falling heavily. Agru sold his stock at a discount
and cut the loss; but Seoru, unwilling to suffer it, distilled liquor
from his flowers and sold the liquor, thus recouping himself for his
expenditure. But in consequence of his action he was degraded from
the Bania caste and his descendants became Kalars. The Jaiswar,
Kanaujia and Seohare divisions are also found in northern India,
and the Byahut both there and in Bengal. Mr. Crooke states that the
caste may be an offshoot from the Bania or other Vaishya tribes; and
a slight physical resemblance may perhaps be traced between Kalars
and Banias. It may be noticed also that some of the Kalars are Jains,
a religion to which scarcely any others except Banias adhere. Another
hypothesis, however, is that since the Kalars have become prosperous
and wealthy they devised a story connecting them with the Bania caste
in order to improve their social position.