The
Marāthā clan system (also referred to as
Śahāṇṇava Kuḷī Marāṭhās,
96 Kuli Marathas or
96K) refers to the network of families and essentially their surnames, within the
Maratha and
Kshatriya culture of India. The Marathas primarily reside in the Indian states of
Maharashtra,
Madhya Pradesh,
Gujarat,
Karnataka,
Goa and
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Ta mil Nadu. Various lists have been compiled, purporting to list the 96 clans, but these lists are often at great variance with each other. The list of ninety-six clans is divided into five ranked tiers, the highest of which contains the five primary
Maratha clans.