t-names, but the probability is that
the _kheras_ were the original divisions, and the Rajput _gotras_
have been more recently adopted in support of the claims already
noticed. The Parjas have totemistic exogamous clans and marriage is
prohibited in theory between members of the same clan. But as the
number of clans is rather small, the rule is not adhered to, and
members of the same clan are permitted to marry so long as they do
not come from the same village. The Minas of Rajputana are divided
into twelve exogamous _pals_ or clans; the original meaning of the
word _pal_ was a defile or valley suitable for defence, where the
members of the clan would live together as in a Scotch glen.

Thus among the cultivating castes apparently each exogamous clan
consisted originally of the residents of one village, though they
afterwards spread to a number of villages. The servile labouring
castes may also have arranged their clans by villages as the primitive
forest-tribes did. How the menial castes formed exogamous clans is
not altogether clear, as the numbers in one village would be only
small. But it may be supposed that as they gradually increased,
clans came into existence either in one large village or a number
of adjacent ones, and sometimes traced their descent from a single
family or from an ancestor with a nickname. As a rule, the artisan
castes do not appear to have formed villages of their own in India, as
they did in Russia, though this may occasionally have happened. When
among the cultivating castes the lands were divided, separate joint
families would be constituted; the head only of each family would be
its representative in the clan, as he would hold the share of the
village land assigned to the family, which was their joint means
of subsistence, and the family would live in one household. Thus
perhaps the Hindu joint family came into existence as a subdivision
of the exogamous clan with male descent, on which its constitution
was modelled. In Chhattisgarh families still live together in large
enclosures with separate huts for the married couples. A human
ancestor gradually took the place of the totem as the giver of life
to the clan. The members thought themselves bound together by the tie
of his blood which flowed through all their veins, and frequently,
as in Athens, Rome and Scotland, every member of the clan bore his
name. In this capacity, as the source of the clan's life, the original
ancestor was perhaps