Note 2 — Brāhman, Mālwi

The above stories seem to show that the Nāgar Brāhmans are partly of impure descent. In Gujarāt it is said that one section of them called Bārud are the descendants of Nāgar Brāhman fathers who were unable to get wives in their own caste and took them from others. The Bārud section also formerly permitted the remarriage of widows.2 This seems a further indication of mixed descent. The Nāgars settled in the Central Provinces have for a long time ceased to marry with those of Gujarāt owing to difficulties in communication. But now that the railway has been opened they have petitioned the Rao of Bhaunagar, who is the head of the caste, and a Nāgar Brāhman, to introduce intermarriage again between the two sections of the caste. Many Nāgar Brāhmans have taken to secular occupations and are land-agents and cultivators.