Kunbi

This article is about the Kunbi community in Maharashtra. For other uses, see Kunbi (disambiguation).

Kunbi (Marathi: कुणबी, Gujarati: કુનબી, alternately Kanbi) is a generic term applied to various Indian communities whose traditional occupation has been as agriculturists or cultivators. These include the Dhonoje, Ghatole, Hindre, Jadav, Jhare, Khaire, Lewa (Leva Patil), Lonari and Tirole communities. The communities are largely found in the state of Maharashtra but also exist in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa. Kunbis are included in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Maharashtra.

Sant Tukaram, one of the most revered Varkari saints of the Bhakti tradition of Maharashtra belonged to this community. Most of the Mawalas serving in Shivaji's military also came from the community. Tensions along caste-lines between the Kunbi and the Dalit communities were seen in the Khairlanji killings and the media has also reported sporadic instances of violence against Dalits.

Etymology

According to the Anthropological Survey of India, the term Kunbi is derived from kun and bi meaning people and seeds respectively. Fused together, the two terms mean "those who germinate more seeds from one seed. Another etymology states that Kunbi is believed to have come from the Marathi word kunbawa, or Sanskrit kur, "agricultural tillage". Yet another etymology states that the derivation of Kunbi comes from kutumba (family), or from the Dravidian kul, "husbandman" or "labourer". Thus anyone who took up the occupation of a cultivator is brought under the generic term Kunbi. Russel and Lai imply that the derivation from kun (root) or kan (grain) combined with bi (seed) is not probable. G. S. Ghurye has posited that while the term may "signify the occupation of the group, viz., that of cultivation ... it is not improbable that the name may be of tribal origin."

Other spellings and variants include: Kulambi (Deccan), Kulwadi (South Konkan), Kanbi (Gujarat), Kulbi (Belgaum), Reddies (Andhra Pradesh), Kurmi (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand). Singh and Lai also report that Cocoona is synonymous with Kunbi in Gujarat.

Demographics

In Gujarat, Kunbi communities are found in the Dangs, Surat and Valsad districts. In 1981 the population of Kunbis in the Dangs discrit was recorded at 35,214. A population of Kunbi (also locally called Kurumbi) is also found in Goa, where they are believed to be descendants of the area's aboriginal inhabitants. They are largely poor agriculturalists, though some of the oldest known landowners in Goa were of this class, and claimed for themselves the Vaishya (merchant) varna. Older gazetteers of various relevant districts record two-three other agricultural castes in addition to the Kunbis. These additional castes include the Mali at 53 thousand and Kunbi are put at 397 thousand in the Pune district. The Sholapur gazetteer clubs the Kunbi and the Marathas together to a total of 180 thousand in 1881. Marathas and Kunbis are recorded under the common heading of Kunbi in the census of 1881.

According to the leaders of the Uttara Kannada district Kunabi Samaj Seva Sangh, the population of their community in the region is 75,000.

The group is often associated with the Kurmi caste, though scholars differ as to whether the terms are synonymous. In 2006, the Indian government announced that Kurmi was considered synonymous with the Kunbi and Yellam castes in Maharashtra.

Kunbi Communities

In Maharashtra, the Kunbi communities include the Dhonoje, Ghatole, Hindre, Jadav, Jhare, Khaire, Lewa (Leva Patil), Lonari and the Tirole communities. The names of subsets of the Kunbi in Bihar, according to Edward Balfour, were Tirale, Maratha, Bawane, Khaire, Khedule, and Dhanoje. In a strict interpretation of the caste system, the word Kunbi does not identify a caste but rather a status, just as the word Rajput. All Kunbi communities of Maharashtra speak Marathi and use the Devanagri script for written communication. In Gujarat, the Anthropological Survey of India records that Kunbis have benefited economically from the government development programmes. While both, boys and girls receive formal education, the drop-out rate or girls is higher due to economic reasons. While diet of the Kunbi commnities vary between vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism, most or all of the communities do not consume pork and beef.

Dhonoje

The Kunbi Dhonoje are primarily a community of land-owning agriculturists with deep roots in Maharashtra, however, their origin and historical background are unknown. Their home districts are primarily the Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Bhandara and Nagpur districts of the Vidharbha region in Maharashtra. The Anthropological Survey of India records in 2003 that while Hindi is spoken by the community while communicating with outsiders, the women of the community can only understand and not speak Hindi. The Dhonoje observe strict endogamy with marriages being mostly arranged by family elders. Kunbi Dhonoje males marry between 20 and 25 whereas the females marry earlier between 18 and 22.

Dhonojes engage a Brahmin priest for conducting their marriage, birth and death rituals. Cremation of the dead is the norm, burial the exception for those less than 11 years of age. Common places of pilgrimage include Nashik, Pandharpur, Ramtek and Tuljapur. Important Hindu festivals observed include Vaishakhi, Akadi, Yatra, Rakshabandhan, Dussera, Diwali and Holi. All women and most men are vegetarian though some are occasional non-vegetarians.

Most Dhonojes live in extended families but there are an increasing number of nuclear families in proportion with breaking away from the traditional occupation and urban migration. In a multiethnic village, it is not possible to tell Kunbi Dhonoje by their surname alone. Formal education has had a positive impact on the younger generation of the Dhonoje women.

Ghatole

The community name Ghatole is derived from Ghat meaning a hilly range. The community belongs mainly to the the western part of the Vidhabha region of Maharashtra. Oral tradition speaks of their arrival from the Sahyadris in Panchimhat. In Vidharbha, they live mostly in the Aurangabad, Nashik, Buldhana, Amravati, Yavatmal, Parbhani and Akola districts. The Ghatole claim to be the same as the economically and numerically superior Tirole or Tilole. Per their oral tradition, those families which interrupted their migration march from the Ghats became the Ghatole whereas those who continued their journey eastwards became the Tirole Kunbi. Despite the oral tradition, the two communities are now two distinct communities due to the strict endogamy for several generations and due to the geographical barriers. All women and most men are vegetarian though some are occasionally non-vegetarians who keep their utensils separate and usually cook outside of the family kitchen. Marriages are generally arranged and families are extended rather than nuclear. Locations of pilgrimage are Nasik, Shirdi, Tuljapur and Pandharpur. More people from the Ghatole Kunbi community from Akola and Washim are known to be associated with the Shiv Sena.

Hindre or Hendre

The Kunbi Hindre are synonymous with the Hindre Patils as far as their perceived distribution in the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra in the districts of Nanded, Parbhani, Yeotmal and Akola is concerned. There are no further subdivisions of the community. The community is said to have migrated from the Sahyadri ranges to the central Vidharbha region. The community does not have an oral tradition of the etymology of the word Hindre or the history of their migration, hence their own origin is unknown to the Hindre themselve; while the Hindre were grouped with the Kunbis of the Khandesh region in early ethnographical studies, the origin of the community is not known. Their numerical numbers have not been properly recorded in any official records and since the community is only found in certain rural districts, the Anthropological Survey of India estimates their population to be in thousands or in lakhs. While the traditional occupation of the Hindre Kunbis is agriculture, better educational opportunities and urbanization has resulted in a disruption of their traditional economy which has caused many of the contemporary Hindre to pursue diversified occupations.

The main language of the community is Marathi with Devanagri script for written communication and community members who visit urban areas for business reasons are able to communicate in broken Hindi. The communities traditional dress is similar to other peer communities. All women and the majority of the men are vegetarians, some are occasional non-vegetarians. Consumption of tea is common, mainly to overcome fatigue.

Hindre are strictly endogamous and their marriages are arranged. Child marriages were practiced in the past but the age of marriage in 2003 has been recorded as being between 20-25 for males and 17 to 22 for females. Cremation of the dead is the norm, exceptions being burial of the stillborn and babies who are a few months old. Brahmin priests are employed for the Hindu rituals. Main festivals of the Hindre include Vaishakhi, Akhadi, Yatra, Rakshabandhan, Dussera and Holi. Places of pilgrimage include Pandharpur, Tuljapur, Ramtek, Nashik and Saptashringi. The traditional caste council which existed in the 20th century for solving issues like divorces and social issues has been supplanted by the statutory gram panchayat of the state government. Common surnames are Jaitale, Wankhed, Chouhan, Gawande, Mahale, Bhoir, Choudhary, Jadhav, etc and it is not possible to identify a Hindre Kunbi on the basis of surname alone in a multi-ethnic village. Changes in surnames have been recorded, an example of which is the changing of Chouhan to Jaitale.

Jadhav

It is not known how the Jadhav came to be known by that name or when and how they were brought under the generic term Kunbi. The home districts of the Jadhav Kunbi are Amaravati, Yavatmal, and Nagpur. The community is strictly endogamous and consanguinal marriages with the maternal cousin are preferred over the paternal cousin However the number of marriages of such nature are low. Marriages are arranged and the preferred age for males is 22 or more and that for the women being 18 or more but these ages are now increasing as of 2003. Cremation of the dead is the norm, burial being the exception for children and for those who have died of snake bites. Brahmins are employed for naming and marriage ceremonies. Surnames are varied and their origins are unknown but they are generally formed from the place of their dwelling, key events in the family from past generations or the names may simply bear a reference to an animate or inanimate object. Amongst the rural Jadhavs, the traditional caste council has been replaced by the Akhil Bharatiya Jadhav Kunbi Samaj, a registered regional council located in Nagpur which also engages in social work. The rulings of the statutory gram panchayat are also abided by at the village level. Jadhav males are non-vegetarian but the women generally do not eat meat. There are no further subdivisions amongst the Jadhavs.

Jhare or Jhade

The name of the Jhade or Jhare Kunbi community, also known as the Jhadpi, comes from Jhadi meaning forest. The home districts of the Jhade are Nagpur, Bhandara, Akola and Amravati. The Jhade of the Bhadara district are also known as the Bowne, meaning 52 in Marathi, due to the high revenue of ₹ 52 lakh generated by them for the Mughal administration. In 1916, the Jhade are recorded by Russsell and Hiralal as belonging to the Gond stock The same ethonographic records state that the Jhade are the earliest immigrants to the Nagpur area. Contemporary Jhade and Bowne contest this claim since they do not have any oral tradition of this nature. Marriages are arranged and typical age of marriage is between 22 to 25 and between 16 to 20 for men and women respectively. Marriages with maternal cousins are preferred. Cremation of the dead is the norm, the exceptions being those who die before five years of age. The Jhade do not employ the services of a Brahmin priest to carry out the death rites. Common Jhade surnames are Katode, Jhanjad, Toukar, Baraskar, Khokle, Shende, Bhoie, Dhenge, Tejare, Bandobhnje, Waghaye, Trichkule, Baraskar, Khawas, Bhuse, etc. The Anthropological Survey of India states in 2003 that the Jhade boys and girls have access to formal education who mostly go on to attain high school education. The Survey also states that the community also has access to modern day amenities like electricity, heath centres, motorable roads, public transport, post offices, drinking water and fair price shops of the Indian Public Distribution System.

Khaire

The Kunbi Khaire derive their name from the local name for catechu, Khair, which the community has traditionally cultivated as an occupation. The home districts of the community are the Chandrapur and Gadchiroli districts and in these districts they are also know as Khedule Kunbi. The community is endogamous and practices arranged marriages, the typical age of marriage for men and women is between 20-25 and 18-22 respectively. Cremation of the dead is the norm, burial is an exception for the economically disadvantaged who cannot afford cremation. Kunbi Khaire men are occasional non-vegetarians whereas the women are vegetarian. Borkte, Kukorkar, Lambade, Tiwade, Thakur, Chatur, Pal, Dhake, Elule, Sangre, Tangre, Timare are only a few of the Khaire surnames from a long list. Important festivals observed by the community are Dussera, Diwali, Holi and Ganeshchaturthi. Traditional places of pilgrimage are Pandharpur, Nasik, Ramtek and Tuljapur.

The use of the traditional jati panchayats have been discontinued by the Khaire community for a long time and the community now makes use of the gram panchayat while still consulting community elders for some social disputes. The Anthropological Survey of India states in 2003 that the Khaire boys and girls have access to formal education who mostly go on to attain high school education, and sometimes higher when conditions are favourable. Drop out rates for girls are higher due to social reasons. The Survey also states that the community also has access to modern day amenities of electricity, heath centres, motorable roads, public transport, post offices, drinking water and fair price shops of the Indian Public Distribution System.

Leva or Leva Patil

Main article: Leva Patil

The Leva or Lewa are synonymous with the Lewa Patil, the suffix, "Patil", being a feudal title. The community does not have an oral tradition of their origin or migration but they generally accept that they have migrated from Gujarat to the Vidharba region via Nimar which is now in Madhya Pradesh. The community is associated with two other communities from Gujarat, the Lewa and the Lewa Patidar, the former are a well known community and the latter are sometimes referred to as their parental group, however, the Kunbi Leva Patil of Maharashtra have roots which are long established in the Kunbi community of Maharashtra. The community perceives their distribution to be in 72 villages in the Jalgaon and Buldhana districts. The Lewa Patil are numerically, economically and educationally superior in some of the multi-ethnic villages of the Buldhana and Jalgaon district. Nuclear families are replacing the traditional extended family system due to a changing economy and due to an increasing number of conflicts over property inheritance. Cremation of the dead is the norm, burial the exception for the very young (up to three to four months age).

Lonari

Main article: Lonari

The Lonari are presently located in the eastern part of the Vidharbha region and in the adjoining districts of Madhya Pradesh. The name of the community comes from Lonar lake in the Mehkar-Chikhli taluka of the Buldhana district from where they migrated. The oral tradition of the community contains an elaborate story of their migration. The tradition states that the community migrated first to Aurgangabad from their original place of origin in the Lucknow district of Uttar Pradesh then to Buldana and finally to their current locations in the Amravati and Betul districts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh respectively. In the two tehsils of Multai and Warud in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashra respectively, the Lonari Kunbi are also known as Deshmukhs and Kumbhares. The Lonari now rely on the gram panchayats under the state government as changes in the sociopolitical landscape have caused the influence of the traditional caste council to diminish.

Maratha-Kunbi

The term Maratha, amongst other meanings, referred to all speakers of the Marathi language in the fourteenth century. An example of this is the record of the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta whose use of the term included Brahmins and Kshatriyas amongst others. Several years later, as the Bahamani kings and other rulers started employing the local population in their military, the term Maratha evolved to have a martial connotation. Those who were not associated with the term Maratha and weren't untouchables at the same time started identifying themselves as Kunbi. According to the Stewart Gordon, the so-called Marathas now differentiated themselves from the others such as the cultivators (Kunbi), iron-workers and tailors. In the eighteenth century, under the Peshwas, newer waves of villagers joined the armies of the Maratha Empire. These newer military men started seeing themselves as Marathas too, thus obscuring boundary between the Marathas and Kunbi. This differentiating boundary between the Marathas and Kunbis thus became unclear giving rise to a new category, the "Maratha-Kunbi".

According to Irawati Karve, the Marata-Kunbi form over 40 percent of the population of Western Maharashtra.

Tirole or Tirale

The Kunbi Tirole are an agricultural community found in the Khandesh region of Maharashtra. The community believe that they are Rajputs who migrated from Rajasthan as a result of a general migration of the tribes of Rajputana. Older ethnographic accounts note that a large scale migration of the community occurred from Rajasthan to Maharashtra in the eighteenth century under the reign of Raghuji Bhonsle. The community enjoys a high social status amongst the other agricultural communities. One reason for their high social status is the fact that some families of this community were chosen to collect revenue in the days of the Maratha Empire. Two separate etymologies exist for the community name. One states that the community is named after the place of their origin, Therol, in Rajasthan. The other states that the community gets its name from their original occupation of Til or sesame cultivation. Compared with the other Kunbi communities, the Tirole are numerically superior to all and their home districts are Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati and Yeotmal districts. Although occasional non-vegetarians men are found in the community, the community is mainly and traditionally vegetarian.

Another agricultural community, the Kunbi Ghatole, claim that they are the same as the Tirole.

Politics

The Kunbis along with the two other backward communities, the Teli and the Mali play a major role in the politics of the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra. The three groups together make up to 50% of the electorate and are known to influence election outcomes. The Kunbis, being landlords, hold the upper-hand in the politics of the region and can decide the outcome of at least 22 seats since they are dominant in every single village of the region. The Kunbis, who are known to have a more tolerant attitude and are more secular than the Telis, prefer the Congress party which has caused the party to hold a dominant position in the region for several decades. However in the last decade or so, the Congress has ignored the Kunbis and other parties like the BJP and the Shiv Sena have seized the opportunity by giving more opportunities to Kunbi candidates in elections.

The Kunbi vote is frequently said to be the deciding factor in elections. In the 2009 elections, resentment of the Kunbis towards the Congress candidate Wamanrao Kasawar was said to have been benefiting Sanjay Derkar, the independent NCP rebel candidate, in a triangular contest which also included Shiv Sena's Vishvas Nandekar. In the 2004 MLA elections in Murbad, the Kunbi vote was said to be the deciding vote in favour of Digambar Vishe, a BJP candidate belonging to the Kunbi community.

The former prime minister of India, P. V. Narasimha Rao who consistently won elections from the Ramtek constituency was forced to run for elections from Andhra Pradesh after polling just 34,000 votes in 1989 to a relatively low key Janata Dal candidate, Pandurang Hajare. Since them Ramtek has elected a candidate belonging to the Kunbi-Maratha community with consistency.

Nationalist Congress Party

According to the Indian Express, soon after its inception in May 1999, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was working hard to get rid of its "Kunbi Only" image because Sharad Pawar found, after breaking away from the Congress, that it was not possible to win elections with just the Kunbi vote. To attract the non-Kunbi OBC vote, which was estimated to form 40 percent of the electorate, Pawar recruited Chhagan Bhujbal, a Mali, and Pandurang Hajare, a Teli. Even though Pawar recruited other Telis like Pandurang Dhole, the Indian Express wondered if it would be enough to counter the the age-old and keen Kunbi versus Teli rivalry. However a closer look at local and regional heavyweight leaders in the NCP revealed that almost all belonged to the Kunbi community. In 2009, the NCP president Sharad Pawar chose Anil Deshmukh over Rajendra Shingane as a party candidate from the Vidharbha region because he represents the huge Kunbi-Marathi community in the region.

OBC vote politics

According to the leading contemporary commentator on religious and political violence in India, Thomas Blom Hansen, one reason for the failure of political parties to consolidate the OBC votes in one block in Maharashtra, unlike in northern India, despite calls for "Kunbi-zation" of the Maratha caste, was the fact that the Maharashrtra had, as early as 1967, identified 183 communities as "educationally backward classes". By 1978 there were 199 communities in this category and the government implemented a policy of reserving 10 percent of educational seats and government jobs for these. The official data used by the government for the definition of the Maratha-Kunbi castes puts them between 30 to 40 percent depending on whether a narrow or an inclusive definition of the caste is used. This causes the percentage of OBCs to vary between 29 to 38 percent of the population. It is critically important for the politicians of the state to ensure a narrow definition of OBC and maximize the Maratha representation. Thus the Maratha Mahasangha (All-Maratha Federation), fearing that the Mandal Commission would divide the Maratha-Kunbis in to Kunbis and high Marathas, took an anti-Mandal stance and tried to attract marginalized Maratha-Kunbis by propagating martial and chauvinistic myths which in turn stigmatized the muslims and dalits. While the organization never received success outside of Mumbai, it showed that political leaders were willing to counter the rising OBC assertiveness.

Forgery of caste certificates

An issue of candidates of the Maratha caste, a non-backward caste, running for elections in wards reserved for OBC candidates got centre stage attention in the 2007 civic polls after the Maharashtra state government on June 1 2004 amended the OBC list to retain the Kunbis but also include Kunbi-Marathas in the list. In 2010, the independent corporator, Malan Bhintade, who was actually later found to be of Maratha caste, lost her membership of the Pune Municipal Corporation after it was established that she had submitted a false caste certificate claiming to be Kunbi-Maratha thus qualifying to run for elections in wards reserved for OBC candidates. Subsequently all candidates who lost to Kunbi-Maratha candidates registered complaints against their opponents claiming falsification of certificates. A similar case of forgery of a caste certificate was reported in 2003 when the former Shiv Sena corporator, Geeta Gore, was sent to jail for falsely claiming to be a Kunbi Maratha. Geeta Gore had won elections in from ward 18 of Andheri (west) by claiming to be a member of the Kunbi-Maratha caste.

Reservation in politics

Ramdas Athvale, the president of the Republican Party of India (Athvale) advocated a caste based census in 2010. He claimed that many members of the Maratha caste in Maharashtra had converted to the Kunbi caste and such conversions and changes in the demographics of backward class populations can only be gauged by a caste-based census. While welcoming the decision of the Union Cabinet to conduct a caste based census in 2011, the OBC leader Gopinath Munde said that 50% of the Kunbi Marathas were in the OBC category and that he supported reservation for the Maratha community in education and employment in the private sector but not in politics. Rajendra Vora stated in 2009 that even though the Marathas form 31 percent of the population, they have controlled 50 percent of the seats in the Maharashtra legislative assembly. In a paper dedicated to the topic, “Maharashtra: Virtual reservation for Marathas”, he claims that the Maratha-Kunbi community has de facto reservation in the Maharashtra legislative assembly. In January 2009, leaders of backward class community met with the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra to persuade him to keep the Marathas out of the OBC quota suggesting that since the Marathas are a part of the Kunbi community and that the Kunbis already have a quota, there is no need for the Marathas to be included as well.

Inter-caste issues

Khairlanji Dalit killings

Main article: Khairlanji massacre

In 2006, four members of a Dalit family with the surname "Bhotmange" were murdered after being tortured by members of the Kunbi caste from the Khairlanji village in the Bhandara district. Two female members of the same family were paraded naked in the village and then raped. The killing of the four members was carried out by an irate group of villagers in a mob-lynching style. 40 members of the Kunbi caste yelled caste-slurs against the Dalit Bhotmanges outside their home prior to the killings. The killings of the Khairlanji village, a village divided along caste lines, resulted in the eruption of caste based violence in the state of Maharashtra. Eight villagers were found guilty of which six were awarded the death penalty in 2008 by a lower court in the Bhandara district. The remaining two were awarded life sentences. The CBI movded the Mumbai High Court appealing the court to enhance the life sentences to capital punishment. At the same time, the defense comprehensively challenged the lower court's verdict. The Nagpur bench of the Mumbai High Court instead commuted the death sentences to life imprisonment and refused to accept the killings as caste atrocity by declining to apply the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 — the PoA Act. Bhaiyalal Bhotmange, the lone survior, stated in July 2010 that he would be moving the Supreme Court of India against the high courts verdict. The Times of India questioned the ruling of the Mumbai High Court that the Khairlangi killings were motivated by revenge and not racism or casteism.

Other voilence against Dalits

The Times of India reported in February 2011 that an honour killing of a Dalit man and Kunbi woman was suspected in Murbad of Thane district. Later in September of the same year, a 20 year old Dalit women alleged that she was raped by a Someshwar Baburao Kuthe of the Kunbi caste in September 2011 in the Sarandi (Bujaruk) village of Lakhandur taluka. The local police registered an offense under section 376, 506 of IPC and under section 3(1) 12 of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Marathas claiming OBC status through Kunbi affiliation

A representative of the Maratha community, Vinayak Mete, stated that the Maratha caste has roots in the Kunbi caste while making a case for extending the benefits of reservation to the Marathas. Mete also noted that the majority of the suicides by farmers in Maharashtra were in the Kunbi-Maratha community. Accoring to Maratha leaders, the OBC status accorded to the Kunbis should be extended to the Marathas since Kunbis are Marathas. However Professor Goswami quotes the Khatri Commission and the Nagpur and Aurangabad benches of the Bombay High Court to reject the notion that the Kunbis are Marathas. In April 2005 the Supreme Court of India denied that the Kunbis are Marathas.

Historical accounts

Over the centuries the community has produced the the prominent Varkari saint of the Bhakti tradition, Sant Tukaram and the Mawalas. The 1885 Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia described the Kunbi as "though quiet and unpretending, are a robust, sturdy, independent agricultural people... though their institutitions are less democratic than those of the Jat and Rajput..." The author also noted that the Hyderabad Kunbi of the period were known to be "wholly illiterate." The 1881 Census of India stated that the Kunbi in all of India numbered 5,388,487.

More recently, in 2003, Singh and Lai, have described the Kunbi of Gujarat as being non-vegetarian and consumers of alcoholic drinks such as mohua. That community believes itself to be of a higher status than some other local groups due to the type of meat which they consume (for example, they believe that the Warlis eat rats, and other groups eat beef). The community practices monogamous endogamy and marriage of cousins is acceptable, as is remarriage by widows. Divorce is permitted and the practice of marriage around the age of 10 - 12 years has been abandoned. Their dead are cremated.

Notable Kunbi

Further information: List of Kunbi people

See also

• Kunabi Sena
• Kudumbi

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