What is the history of Panwar Rajput?

Answer 1

They number about 150,000 persons, and include many

village proprietors and substantial cultivators. The quotations

already given have shown how this virile clan of Rajputs

travelled to the north, south and east from their own country

in search of a livelihood. Everywhere they made their mark

so that they live in history, but they paid no regard to the

purity of their Rajput blood and took to themselves wives

from the women of the country as they could get them. The

Panwars of the Wainganga Valley have developed into a

caste marrying among themselves. They have no subcastes

but thirty-six exogamous sections. Some of these have the

names of Rajput clans, while others are derived from villages,

titles or names of offices, or from other castes. Among the

titular names are Chaudhri (headman), Patlia (patel or chief

officer of a village) and Sonwania (one who purifies offenders

among the Gonds and other tribes). Among the names of

other castes are Bopcha or Korku, Bhoyar(boyar/boya/bhoi/bhoir/bhoirs) (a caste of cultivators),

Pardhi (hunter), Kohli (a local cultivating caste) and

Sahria (from the Saonr tribe). These names indicate how

freely they have intermarried. It is noticeable that the

Bhoyars and Korkus of Betul both say that their ancestors

were Panwars of Dhar, and the occurrence of both names

among the Panwars of Balaghat may indicate that these

castes also have some Panwar blood. Three names, Rahmat

(kind), Turukh or Turk, and Farld (a well-known saint), are

of Muhammadan origin, and indicate intermarriage in that

quarter.