; while it is said that Holkar and the Panwar of Dhar
fought desperately after the British conquest to recover the _pateli_
rights of Deccan villages which had belonged to their ancestors. [215]

5. Other subdivisions

Besides the 96 clans there are now in the Central Provinces some local
subcastes who occupy a lower position and do not intermarry with the
Marathas proper. Among these are the Deshkar or 'Residents of the
country'; the Waindesha or those of Berar and Khandesh; the Gangthade
or those dwelling on the banks of the Godavari and Wainganga; and the
Ghatmathe or residents of the Mahadeo plateau in Berar. It is also
stated that the Marathas are divided into the _Khasi_ or 'pure' and
the _Kharchi_ or the descendants of handmaids. In Bombay the latter
are known as the Akarmashes or 11 _mashas_, meaning that as twelve
_mashas_ make a tola, a twelfth part of them is alloy.

6. Social customs

A man must not marry in his own clan or that of his mother. A
sister's son may be married to a brother's daughter, but not vice
versa. Girls are commonly married between five and twelve years of age,
and the ceremony resembles that of the Kunbis. The bridegroom goes
to the bride's house riding on horseback and covered with a black
blanket When a girl first becomes mature, usually after marriage,
the Marathas perform the Shantik ceremony. The girl is secluded for
four days, after which she is bathed and puts on new clothes and
dresses her hair and a feast is given to the caste-fellows. Sometimes
the bridegroom comes and is asked whether he has visited his wife
before she became mature, and if he confesses that he has done so a
small fine is imposed on him. Such cases are, however, believed to
be rare. The Marathas proper forbid widow-marriage, but the lower
groups allow it. If a maiden is seduced by one of the caste she may
be married to him as if she were a widow, a fine being imposed on
her family; but if she goes wrong with an outsider she is finally
expelled. Divorce is not ostensibly allowed but may be concluded by
agreement between the parties. A wife who commits adultery is cast off
and expelled from the caste. The caste burn their dead when they can
afford it and perform the _shraddh_ ceremony in the month of _Kunwar_
(September), when oblations are offered to the dead and a feast is
given to the caste-fellows. Sometimes a tomb is erected as a memorial
to the dead, but without his name, and is surmounted