gh they are more industrious and intelligent than the generality
of the fighting tribe." [6]

2. Subdivisions.

Owing to the fact that with the transfer of the Sambalpur District,
a considerable portion of the Agharias have ceased to be residents
of the Central Provinces, it is unnecessary to give the details
of their caste organisation at length. They have two subdivisions,
the Bad or superior Agharias and the Chhote, Sarolia or Sarwaria,
the inferior or mixed Agharias. The latter are a cross between an
Agharia and a Gaur (Ahir) woman. The Bad Agharias will not eat with or
even take water from the others. Further local subdivisions are now
in course of formation, as the Ratanpuria, Phuljharia and Raigarhia
or those living round Ratanpur, Phuljhar and Raigarh. The caste is
said to have 84 _gotras_ or exogamous sections, of which 60 bear
the title of Patel, 18 that of Naik, and 6 of Chaudhri. The section
names are very mixed, some being those of eponymous Brahman _gotras_,
as Sandilya, Kaushik and Bharadwaj; others those of Rajput septs, as
Karchhul; while others are the names of animals and plants, as Barah
(pig), Baram (the pipal tree), Nag (cobra), Kachhapa (tortoise),
and a number of other local terms the meaning of which has been
forgotten. Each of these sections, however, uses a different mark
for branding cows, which it is the religious duty of an Agharia to
rear, and though the marks now convey no meaning, they were probably
originally the representations of material objects. In the case of
names whose meaning is understood, traces of totemism survive in the
respect paid to the animal or plant by members of the sept which bears
its name. This analysis of the structure of the caste shows that it
was a very mixed one. Originally consisting perhaps of a nucleus
of immigrant Rajputs, the offspring of connections with inferior
classes have been assimilated; while the story already quoted is
probably intended to signify, after the usual Brahmanical fashion,
that the pedigree of the Agharias at some period included a Chamar.

3. Marriage customs.

Marriage within the exogamous section and also with first cousins is
forbidden, though in some places the union of a sister's son with
a brother's daughter is permitted. Child marriage is usual, and
censure visits a man who allows an unmarried daughter to arrive at
adolescence. The bridegroom should always be older than the bride,
at any rate by a day. When a