View source for Marwadi-Agarwal: Deccan

=Marwadi-Agarwal=
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This article is an extract from <br/>

THE CASTES AND TRIBES <br/>

OF <br/>

H. E. H. THE NIZAM'S DOMINIONS <br/>

BY <br/>

SYED SIRAJ UL HASSAN <br/>

Of Merton College, Oxford, Trinity College, Dublin, and <br/>

Middle Temple, London. <br/>

One of the Judges of H. E. H. the Nizam's High Court <br/>

of Judicature : Lately Director of Public Instruction. <br/>

BOMBAY <br/>

THE TlMES PRESS <br/>

1920<br/>
*****<br/>
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[[Category:India|M]]
[[Category:Communities|M]]
==(Titles : — Set and Lai.)==

The Agarwals take their name from Raja Agarsen, who is sup- 
posed to have been a descendant of Raja Dhanpal, the original ances- 
tor of the sub-caste. According to a legendary account, Kumud, king 
of the Nagas (serpents), gave his beautiful daughter Madhavi in 
marriage to Raja Agarsen in preference to Indra who was one of 
her suitors. The Raja performed seventeen sacrifices, each being 
attended with the birth of a son to him. Before the eighteenth 
sacrifice was completed, the Raja was so filled with disgust at the ani- 
mal slaughter it involved that he stopped it when half -finished. 
The seventeen sons became tlie founders of the 1 7 gotras, while the 
son born in virtue of the 18th sacrifice represented the half gotra 
Govin. 	

The names of the eighteen sections are as follows : — 

(1) Gargya (10) Air an 

(2) Govil (11) Tairan 

(3) Cawal (12) Thingal 

(4) Batsil (13) Tittal 

(5) Kasil (14) Mitral 

(6) Singhal. . (15) Tundal 

(7) Mangal . (16) Tayal 

(8) Bhaddal . (17) Gobhil 

(9) Tingal (18) Covin. 

The snake is regarded as the maternal uncle by the members 
of these sections and is held in great honour, being neither killed nor 
molested. 

The Agarwalas are divided into two classes. (1) Bisa Agarwala 
and (2) Dasa Agarwala, the latter being the illegitimate offspring of 
an Agarwala by a Sudra woman. These two classes will neither 
interdine nor intermarry. 

==Marriage==

Both infant and adult marriages are in vogue. 
Polygamy is theoVetically permitted but is rarely practised. Divorce 
is unknown. Widows are not allowed to marry again. A woman 
taken in adultery is expelled from the caste. The marriage cere- 
mony does not differ from that of the Mesris except that the bride 
is not carried round the bridegroom at the Torana but both make 
all the 7 pheras (circumambulations) round the sacrificial fire. 

==Religion==

In matters of religion the Agarwalas are either 
Hindus of the Vaishnava sect, or Jains of the Digamber sect. As 
among the Mesris, intermarriages between the members of these two 
sects are freely allowed. Their special goddess is Laxmi, worship- 
ped in the Divali festival. Chunnayati (Marwari) Brahmins serve 
them as priests. 

The Agarwalas are an enterprising people and have spread all 
over the country. They are bankers, shop-keepers, money-lenders. 
The social status of the Agarwalas is as high as that of the Mesris 
and other mercantile classes of Marwar.