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Nandvanshi is a term designating the descendants of Nanda (also known as Nandagopa). According to the Harivamsha and the Puranas, Nanda was the head of the Gopas, a tribe of cowherds referred as Holy Gwals. Vasudeva took his new-born son Krishna to Nanda on the night of the child's birth so that Nanda could raise him.
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Nandvanshi Ahirs
The Nandvanshi Ahirs claim descent from Nanda.
In Rajasthan they are found in Jaipur. Nandvanshi Ahirs are also found in Khandwa and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Aurangabad, Akola, Amravati, Bid, Chandrapur, Jalna, Pune, Nagpur, Nanded, Thane, Wardha and Washim in Maharashtra and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh.
The Kaonra Ahirs of Mandla and the Kamaria ahirs of Jabalpur are considered to belong to the Nandvanshi group.
Nandvanshi and Yaduvanshi titles have fundamentally the same meaning, as the sources suggest that Vasudeva, the Yadu King and Nanda, the professed ancestor of Nandvanshi Ahirs were kinsmen or brothers and thus both belonged to a common ancestry and Nanda having no issue had been succeeded only by Lord Krishna, an Yadu Prince.
Nandvanshi Ahirs constituted the Martial races, who were socially, religiously and geographically closely related to the groups already recruited in the British Indian Army.
Nandvanshi Gurjars
One section of scholars, including K.M. Munshi, is of the openion that the Gurjars are the original inhabitants of India and are descended from Yadavas or Ahirs. A clan of Gurjars even call itself Nandvanshi.
Bharwads
The Bharwads are a Hindu caste found in the state of Gujarat in India who claim Nandvanshi origins.