The Kunbi has the stolidity, conservative instincts, dulness and
patience of the typical agriculturist. Sir R. Craddock describes
him as follows [39]: "Of the purely agricultural classes the Kunbis
claim first notice. They are divided into several sections or classes,
and are of Maratha origin, the Jhari Kunbis (the Kunbis of the wild
country) being the oldest settlers, and the Deshkar (the Kunbis
from the Deccan) the most recent. The Kunbi is certainly a most
plodding, patient mortal, with a cat-like affection for his land,
and the proprietary and cultivating communities, of both of which
Kunbis are the most numerous members, are unlikely to fail so long
as he keeps these characteristics. Some of the more intelligent and
affluent of the caste, who have risen to be among the most prosperous
members of the community, are as shrewd men of business in their way
as any section of the people, though lacking in education. I remember
one of these, a member of the Local Board, who believed that the land
revenue of the country was remitted to England annually to form part
of the private purse of the Queen Empress. But of the general body of
the Kunbi caste it is true to say that in the matter of enterprise,
capacity to hold their own with the moneylender, determination to
improve their standard of comfort, or their style of agriculture,
they lag far behind such cultivating classes as the Kirar, the Raghvi
and the Lodhi. While, however, the Kunbi yields to these classes
in some of the more showy attributes which lead to success in life,
he is much their superior in endurance under adversity, he is more
law-abiding, and he commands, both by reason of his character and his
caste, greater social respect among the people at large. The wealthy
Kunbi proprietor is occasionally rather spoilt by good fortune,
or, if he continues a keen cultivator, is apt to be too fond of
land-grabbing. But these are the exceptional cases, and there is
generally no such pleasing spectacle as that afforded by a village
in which the cultivators and the proprietors are all Kunbis living in
harmony together." The feeling [40] of the Kunbi towards agricultural
improvements has hitherto probably been something the same as that of
the Sussex farmer who said, 'Our old land, it likes our old ploughs'
to the agent who was vainly trying to demonstrate to him the advantages
of the modern two-horse iron plough over the great wooden local tool;
and the emblem ascribed to old Sussex--a pig couchant with the motto
'I wun't be druv'--would suit the Kunbi equally well. But the Kunbi,
too, though he could not express it, knows something of the pleasure
of the simple outdoor life, the fresh smell of the soil after rain,
the joy of the yearly miracle when the earth is again carpeted with
green from the bursting into life of the seed which he has sown,
and the pleasure of watching the harvest of his labours come to
fruition. He, too, as has been seen, feels something corresponding to
"That inarticulate love of the English farmer for his land, his mute
enjoyment of the furrow crumbling from the ploughshare or the elastic
tread of his best pastures under his heel, his ever-fresh satisfaction
at the sight of the bullocks stretching themselves as they rise from
the soft grass."