Munda boys are allowed to eat food cooked by other castes, except the
very lowest, until they are married, and girls until they let their
hair grow long, which is usually at the age of six or seven. After
this they do not take food as a tribe from any other caste, even a
Brahman, though some subtribes accept it from certain castes as the
Telis (oil-pressers) and Sundis or liquor-vendors. In Jubbulpore
the Kols take food from Kurmis, Dhimars and Ahirs. The Mundas will
eat almost all kinds of flesh, including tigers and pigs, while in
Raigarh they consider monkey as a delicacy, hunting these animals
with dogs. In the Central Provinces they have generally abjured beef,
in deference to Hindu prejudice, and sometimes refuse field-mice,
to which the Khonds and Gonds are very partial. Neither Kols nor
Mundas are, however, considered impure and the barber and washerman
will work for them. In Sambalpur a woman is finally expelled from
caste for a liaison with one of the impure Gandas, Ghasias or Doms,
and a man is expelled for taking food from a woman of these castes,
but adultery with her may be expiated by a big feast. Other offences
are much the same as among the Hindus. A woman who gets her ear torn
through where it is pierced is put out of caste for six months or a
year and has to give two feasts on readmission.