The Maratha clan system (also referred to as Shahannava Kuli Marathas, 96 Kuli Marathas or 96K), refers to the network of 96 clans of families and essentially their surnames, within the

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

caste of India. The Marathas primarily reside in the Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

, with smaller regional populations in other states. In Maratha society, membership of a Kul or clan is acquired in a

patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...

manner. People belonging to a clan usually have a common surname, a common clan deity, and a common clan totem (

Devak A devak, in Maratha people of Maharashtra, India culture, is a family guardian or totem in the form of a physical object, such as a tree. Some sources define ''devak'' as being distinct from the more generic word ''totem''. The word Devak implie ...

). Various lists have been compiled, purporting to list the 96 "true Maratha" clans, but these lists vary greatly and are disputed. The list of ninety-six clans is divided into five ranked tiers, the highest of which contains the five primary Maratha clans. Within a clan, ranking also depends on whether a man is progeny of proper marriage or a product of hypergamy. High ranking Maratha clans also historically held rights to hereditary estate or Watan.This included land grants, tax collection rights (revenue Patilki or policing (Police Patilki) of a village. Higher ranking clans held rights to larger estates or

Jagir A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) system. It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, start ...

s. Clans with watan usually hold written

genealogical Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinsh ...

records stretching back several generations. Prominent modern Indian and western historians and anthropologists state that the 96 kul(clans) and genealogies were fabricated after the

gained political prominence. Maratha caste was formed after the families from various peasant subgroups in Maharashtra separated from their original caste and amalgamated into the Maratha caste. These families employed genealogists to fabricate the clans. These clans were flexible enough that most of the Kunbi population got absorbed into these clans even in the 20th century. Thus, these clans have no ritual foundation.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Maratha Clan System

See also

Notes