It appears then that a Kunbi has in the past been synonymous with
a cultivator, and that large groups from other castes have taken to
agriculture, have been admitted into the community and usually obtained
a rise in rank. In many villages Kunbis are the only ryots, while below
them are the village menials and artisans, several of whom perform
functions at weddings or on other occasions denoting their recognition
of the Kunbi as their master or employer; and beneath these again are
the impure Mahars or labourers. Thus at a Kunbi betrothal the services
of the barber and washerman must be requisitioned; the barber washes
the feet of the boy and girl and places vermilion on the foreheads of
the guests. The washerman spreads a sheet on the ground on which the
boy and girl sit. At the end of the ceremony the barber and washerman
take the bride and bridegroom on their shoulders and dance to music
in the marriage-shed; for this they receive small presents. After
a death has occurred at a Kunbi's house the impurity is not removed
until the barber and washerman have eaten in it. At a Kunbi's wedding
the Gurao or village priest brings the leafy branches of five trees,
the mango, _jamun_ [24] _umar_ [25] and two others and deposits them
at Maroti's temple, whence they are removed by the parents of the
bride. Before a wedding again a Kunbi bride must go to the potter's
house and be seated on his wheel while it is turned round seven times
for good luck. At seed-time and harvest all the village menials go
to the cultivator's field and present him with a specimen of their
wares or make obeisance to him, receiving in return a small present
of grain. This state of things seems to represent the primitive form
of Hindu society from which the present widely ramified system, of
castes may have expanded, and even now the outlines of the original
structure may be discernible under all subsequent accretions.