The Khatris have a very complicated system of subdivisions, which it
is not necessary to detail here in view of their small strength in
the Province. As a rule they marry only one wife, though a second
may be taken for the purpose of getting offspring. But parents
are very reluctant to give their daughters to a man who is already
married. The remarriage of widows is forbidden and divorce also is
not recognised, but an unfaithful wife may be turned out of the house
and expelled from the caste. Though they practise monogamy, however,
the Khatris place no restrictions on the keeping of concubines, and
from the offspring of such women inferior branches of the caste have
grown up. In Gujarat these are known as the Dasa and Pancha groups,
and they may not eat or intermarry with proper Khatris. [504] The
name Khatri seems there to be restricted to these inferior groups,
while the caste proper is called Brahma-Kshatri. There is also a
marked distinction in their occupation, for, while the Brahma-Kshatris
are hereditary District officials, pleaders, bankers and Government
servants, the Khatris are engaged in weaving, and formerly prepared
the fine cotton cloth of Surat and Broach, while they also make gold
and silver thread, and the lace used for embroidery. [505] As a class
they are said to be thriftless and idle, and at least the Khatris of
Surat to be excessively fond of strong drink. The Khatris of Nimar in
the Central Provinces are also weavers, and it seems not unlikely that
they may be a branch of these Gujarat Khatris of the inferior class,
and that the well-known gold and silver lace and embroidery industry
of Burhanpur may have been introduced by them from Surat. The Khatris
of Narsinghpur are dyers, and may not improbably be connected with
the Nimar weavers. The other Khatris scattered here and there over
the Provinces may belong to the higher branch of the caste.