[1] The 96 clans that the Maratha caste is divided into were originally formed in the earlier centuries from the amalgamation of families from the (Kunbi), shepherd (Dhangar), pastoral (Gavli), blacksmith (Lohar), carpenter (Sutar), Bhandari and Thakar castes in Maharashtra.
[6] Thus, due to the mainly peasant origin, the claim of the 96 clans to the Kshatriya ritual status in the Hindu Varna hierarchy is considered spurious.
Influential families from this era include, Sawant of Sawantwadi, Ghorpade of Mudhol, Nimbalkar of Phaltan, Mane, Shirke, Mahadik and Mohite.
One of them included killing of Chandrarao More, a fellow Maratha feudatory of Bijapur, and seizing the valley of Javali, near the present-day hill station of Mahabaleshwar.
Other strategies included forming marital alliances, dealing directly with village Patils to bypass the Deshmukhs, or subduing them by force.