In Chanda the principal castes of stone-workers are the Telengas
(Telugus), who are also known as Thapatkari (tapper or chiseller),
Telenga Kunbi and Munurwar. They occupy a higher position than the
ordinary Beldar, and Kunbis will take water from them and sometimes
food. They say that they came into Chanda from the Telugu country along
the Godavari and Pranhita rivers to build the great wall of Chanda
and the palaces and tombs of the Gond kings. There is no reason to
doubt that the Munurwars are a branch of the Kapu cultivating caste
of the Telugu country. Mr. A. K. Smith states that they refuse to eat
the flesh of an animal which has been skinned by a Mahar, a Chamar,
or a Gond; the Kunbis and Marathas also consider flesh touched by a
Mahar or Chamar to be impure, but do not object to a Gond. Like the
Berar Kunbis, the Telengas prefer that an animal should be killed by
the rite of _halal_ as practised by Muhammadan butchers. The reason
no doubt is that the _halal_ is a method of sacrificial slaughter,
and the killing of the animal is legitimised even though by the ritual
of a foreign religion. The Thapatkaris appear to be a separate group,
and their original profession was to collect and retail jungle fruits
and roots having medicinal properties. Though the majority have become
stone- and earth-workers some of them still do this.