Elites have practiced intermarriage as a part of diplomatic alliance for long. Royal courtiers too were a part of such alliances.
naigamas
A Naigama family served the Aulikaras of Malwa as “Rajasthaniyas” or viceroys for several generations between 4th to 6th centuries. They are known from several epigraphical records from southern Rajasthan and Malwa during this period.
The stone slab inscription below, from Mandsaur dated to the early 6th century, gives a detailed account of this family and their association with the powerful Aulikaras who defeated the Hunas. 1/n The issuer of this inscription was one Naigama named Nirdosh. The main object of this inscription was to boast about the family’s credentials. Verse 14 of mentions that one member of a preceding generation of this family, Ravikirtti, married a lady named “Bhānuguptā.” 2/n John Faithful Fleet, the epigraphist who initially translated this inscription, identified this Bhānuguptā as a member of the imperial Gupta family. Furthermore, in the next verse, the same inscription refers to Aulikaras as “bāndhava” referring to the kinship between Naigamas and the Aulikaras. However, this kinship could not have been due to a common origin as this record very clearly says that… Sashthidatta, the progenitor of this Naigama family and a wealthy man came into the shelter of the Aulikaras, this he was not a member of this family. Thus, scholars believe that this kinship was not due to a common origin, but a result of intermarriage as was the norm back then.
Families of high ranking officials often intermarried with the royal family. This association further strengthened the association between ministers and the kings. The exact Varna affiliation of the Naigamas is debatable. Fleet, assumed the Naigamas to be Brahmins on account of their Brahminical lifestyle. Not only were the Naigamas were ardent students of Sanskrit and Prakrit, but they were also followers of the Smritis.
Fleet has derived the family name the word Nigama, a synonym of the Vedas. Thus, Naigama, is taken to mean a scholar of the Vedas. However, this assumption might not be accurate. As mentioned above, the progenitor of the family Shashthidatta, was a wealthy man.
Another, member of perhaps the same family named Vishnudatta is mentioned as a wealthy trader. Coupled with the fact that, Nigam also stands for a merchant guild, it seems more likely that Naigamas were perhaps Vaishyas who took to the profession of Kayasthas. In the later centuries, Naigama Kayasthas were closely associated with various Rajput dynasties of Rajasthan serving them as ministers and record keepers.
They were also associated with other Kayastha lineages of Rajasthan during the Rajput rule proving their complete absorption into the Kayastha fold by the early mediaeval era.
The debate regarding the exact origins and Varna affiliation of Naigamas is outside the scope of the topic at hand. We shall discuss it in detail in a separate thread.
Narwar case
The next instance is a case of a marriage between two families of royal officials of the Yajvapala dynasty of Narwar. One family was that of Mathur Kayasthas, and the other was a family of Gaudahara Kshatriyas. 12/n
A 13th century inscription gives a detailed account of the Mathur family in question. The patriarch of this family was Syama and belonged to the Harita gotra. Interestingly, Harita gotra is derived from a Suryavanshi king of the same name and is only to be found among his descendants. 13/n The inscription further mentions that a member of this Mathur Kayastha family named Lohata married a lady named Dharma, who was the daughter of Pithana. This Pithana has been identified with the patriarch of a family of Gaudahara Kshatriyas who served as ministers to Yajvapalas just like the Mathur Kayasthas. He is mentioned in the Braudi Inscription. 14/n This instance shows that not only royal families, but also their ministers of disparate lineages sometimes intermarried to cement their position in the aristocracy.
Jagat singh
The last instance is that of a marriage between a Srivastava Kayastha landlord named Rai Jagat Singh of a village named Amorha near Ayodhya. Legend has it, the Kayastha landlord saved a Brahmin maiden from the atrocities of a Dom chieftain of an another village. The Brahmins father married his daughter with the Kayastha and bestowed upon him the title of Pandey and also the scared thread. This particular lineage of Srivastavas was known as Pandeys of Amorha from then on. 16/n
However, this legend needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Unlike the other instances in this thread, this story is not epigraphically attested. Not only is this legend apocryphal, it also has a few different versions with no certainty about the exact date of this event. It is possible that this story was a later day creation to explain the existence of Brahminical customs and titles such as Pandita, Upadhyay, etc among Kayasthas despite their ambiguous status in the Varna hierarchy. 17/n
Kayasthas also seem to have been the only non-Brahmin recipients of the Brahmadeya landgrants. Thus, it is certainly possible that the above mentioned legend is fictional created to explain certain aspects of Kayastha culture which is not found among other non-Brahmins. n/n