This was due largely to the efforts of K. M. Munshi, then Home Minister of Bombay Presidency, and Dr. Purshottam Solanki, representative of the Depressed Classes of Gujarat, who stressed that its members were descendants of ancient rulers known as Mayavats.
In a 1931 lecture, Munshi stressed that the Mahyavanshi were the descendants of the Hattiavanshi king Arjuna, arguing that it was because of the slaughter of Parashurama that they had been relegated to a lower caste status.
[8] Also Purshottam Solanki, in a speech given in Bombay Legislative Council, vehemently stressed that Mahars were martial races and their occupation was military too in past.
[3][page needed] Others involved in this affirming this identity were Garibdasji Ramdasji and other Mahants of Ramanandi sect, Phakir Jeevan Mevasi, besides several of their community leaders spread across Bombay State (present day Maharashtra and Gujarat), Sindh ( Karachi and Raban ), Portuguese India ( Nani and Moti Daman ) and also from South Africa, where their population was living in cities like Johannesburg and Pretoria, who in unison impressed upon the government for revision of their social status.
[3] The Mahyavanshis are primarily divided into exogamous clans like Mathariya, Aatekar Pardinar, Damania, Kantharia, Barodia, Chaseia, Surti, Kosadia, Khanvanshi, Parmar, Rana, Rathod, Gohel, Solanki, Tawdia and Vaghela.