the parent caste at home. An instance of this is found among the
Chhattisgarhi Brahmans, who have been long settled in this backward
tract and cut off from communication with northern India. They
are mainly of the Kanaujia division, but the Kanaujias of Oudh will
neither take food nor intermarry with them, and they now constitute a
separate subcaste of Kanaujias. Similarly the Malwi Brahmans, whose
home is in Malwa, whence they have spread to Hoshangabad and Betul,
are believed to have been originally a branch of the Gaur or Kanaujia,
but have now become a distinct subcaste, and have adopted many of the
customs of Maratha Brahmans. Mandla contains a colony of Sarwaria [407]
Brahmans who received grants of villages from the Gond kings and have
settled down there. They are now cultivators, and some have taken to
the plough, while they also permit widow-remarriage in all but the
name. They are naturally cut off from intercourse with the orthodox
Sarwarias and marry among themselves. The Harenia Brahmans of Saugor
are believed to have immigrated from Hariana some generations ago and
form a separate local group; and also the Laheria Brahmans of the same
District, who, like the Mandla Sarwarias, permit widows to marry. In
Hoshangabad there is a small subcaste of Bawisa or 'Twenty-two'
Brahmans, descended from twenty-two families from northern India,
who settled here and have since married among themselves. A similar
diversity of subcastes is found in other Provinces. The Brahmans of
Bengal are also mainly of the Kanaujia division, but they are divided
into several local subcastes, of which the principal are Rarhi and
Barendra, named after tracts in Bengal, and quite distinct from the
subdivisions of the Kanaujia group in the Central Provinces.

6. Miscellaneous groups.

Another class of local subdivisions consists of those Brahmans who
live on the banks of the various sacred rivers or at famous shrines,
and earn their livelihood by conducting pilgrims through the series
of ceremonies and acts of worship which are performed on a visit to
such places; they receive presents from the pilgrims and the offerings
made at the shrines. The most prominent among these are the Gayawals of
Gaya, the Prayagwals of Allahabad (Prayag), the Chaubes of Mathura, the
Gangaputras (Sons of the Ganges) of Benares, the Pandarams of southern
India and the Naramdeo Brahmans who hold charge of the many temples on
the Nerbudda. As such men accept