clan unless the cultivating Taga caste of northern India is
derived from them. But the Nagvansi clan of Rajputs, who profess to
be descended from them, is fairly numerous. Most of the Nagvansis,
however, are probably in reality descended from landholders of the
indigenous tribes who have adopted the name of this clan, when they
wished to claim rank as Rajputs. The change is rendered more easy by
the fact that many of these tribes have legends of their own, showing
the descent of their ruling families from snakes, the snake and tiger,
owing to their deadly character, being the two animals most commonly
worshipped. Thus the landholding section of the Kols or Mundas of
Chota Nagpur have a long legend [547] of their descent from a princess
who married a snake in human form, and hence call themselves Nagvansi
Rajputs; and Dr. Buchanan states that the Nagvansi clan of Gorakhpur
is similarly derived from the Chero tribe. [548] In the Central
Provinces the Nagvansi Rajputs number about 400 persons, nearly all
of whom are found in the Chhattisgarh Districts and Feudatory States,
and are probably descendants of Kol or Munda landholding families.

Rajput, Nikumbh

_Rajput, Nikumbh_.--The Nikumbh is given as one of the thirty-six
royal races, but it is also the name of a branch of the Chauhans, and
it seems that, as suggested by Sherring, [549] it may be an offshoot
from the great Chauhan clan. The Nikumbh are said to have been given
the title of Sirnet by an emperor of Delhi, because they would not
bow their heads on entering his presence, and when he fixed a sword
at the door some of them allowed their necks to be cut through by the
sword rather than bend the head. The term Sirnet is supposed to mean
headless. A Chauhan column with an inscription of Raja Bisal Deo was
erected at Nigumbode, a place of pilgrimage on the Jumna, a few miles
below Delhi, and it seems a possible conjecture that the Nikumbhs may
have obtained their name from this place. [550] Mr. Crooke, however,
takes the Nikumbh to be a separate clan. The foundation of most of
the old forts and cities in Alwar and northern Jaipur is ascribed to
them, and two of their inscriptions of the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries have been discovered in Khandesh. In northern India some
of them are now known as Raghuvansi. [551] They are chiefly found in
the Hoshangabad and Nimar Districts, and may be connected with the
Raghuvansi or Raghwi caste of these Provinces.