ted. The claim to take
the leading part in this ceremony is the occasion of many a quarrel
and an occasional affray or riot Such customs tend to show that the
Mahars were the earliest immigrants from Bombay into the Berar and
Nagpur plain, excluding of course the Gonds and other tribes, who have
practically been ousted from this tract. And if it is supposed that
the Panwars came here in the tenth century, as seems not improbable,
[115] the Mahars, whom the Panwars recognise as older residents than
themselves, must have been earlier still, and were probably numbered
among the subjects of the old Hindu kingdoms of Bhandak and Nagardhan.

3. Legend of origin

The Mahars say they are descended from Mahamuni, who was a foundling
picked up by the goddess Parvati on the banks of the Ganges. At this
time beef had not become a forbidden food; and when the divine cow,
Tripad Gayatri, died, the gods determined to cook and eat her body
and Mahamuni was set to watch the pot boiling. He was as inattentive
as King Alfred, and a piece of flesh fell out of the pot. Not wishing
to return the dirty piece to the pot Mahamuni ate it; but the gods
discovered the delinquency, and doomed him and his descendants to
live on the flesh of dead cows. [116]

4. Sub-castes

The caste have a number of subdivisions, generally of a local or
territorial type, as Daharia, the residents of Dahar or the Jubbulpore
country, Baonia (52) of Berar, Nemadya or from Nimar, Khandeshi from
Khandesh, and so on; the Katia group are probably derived from that
caste, Katia meaning a spinner; the Barkias are another group whose
name is supposed to mean spinners of fine thread; while the Lonarias
are salt-makers. The highest division are the Somvansis or children
of the moon; these claim to have taken part with the Pandavas against
the Kauravas in the war of the Mahabharata, and subsequently to have
settled in Maharashtra. [117] But the Somvansi Mahars consent to groom
horses, which the Baone and Kosaria subcastes will not do. Baone and
Somvansi Mahars will take food together, but will not intermarry. The
Ladwan subcaste are supposed to be the offspring of kept women of
the Somvansi Mahars; and in Wardha the Dharmik group are also the
descendants of illicit unions and their name is satirical, meaning
'virtuous.' As has been seen, the caste have a subdivision named Katia,
which is the name of a separate Hindustani caste; and other subcastes
have names bel