. The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India . er, and the Kunbis are said to bebastard Marathas.^ In Satara the Kunbis have the samedivision into 96 clans as the Marathas have, and manyof the same surnames.* The writer of the Satdj^a Gazetteersays : ^ The census of 18 5 i included the Marathas withthe Kunbis, from whom they do not form a separate Maratha families may have a larger strain of northernor Rajput blood than the Kunbis, but this is not always thecase. The distinction between Kunbis and Marathas isalmost entirely social, the Marathas as a rule being betteroff
. The tribes and castes of the Central Provinces of India . er, and the Kunbis are said to bebastard Marathas.^ In Satara the Kunbis have the samedivision into 96 clans as the Marathas have, and manyof the same surnames.* The writer of the Satdj^a Gazetteersays : ^ The census of 18 5 i included the Marathas withthe Kunbis, from whom they do not form a separate Maratha families may have a larger strain of northernor Rajput blood than the Kunbis, but this is not always thecase. The distinction between Kunbis and Marathas isalmost entirely social, the Marathas as a rule being betteroff, and preferring even service as a constable or messengerto husbandry. Exactly the same state of affairs prevailsin the Central Provinces and Berar, where the body of thecaste are commonly known as Maratha Kunbis. In Bombaythe Marathas will take daughters from the Kunbis in mar-riage for their sons, though they will not give their daughters Rtijaslhdfi, i. 269. ^ Ibidem, ii. 420. ^ Sholapur Gazetteer, p. 87. ^ Satara Gazetteer, p. 64. *< Ibidem, p. STATUE OF MARATHA LEADER, BIMBAJIBHONSLA. IN ARMOUR. II EXOGAMOUS CLANS 201 in return. But a Kunbi who has got on in the world andbecome wealthy may by sufficient payment get his sonsmarried into Maratha families, and even be adopted as amember of the caste. In 1798 Colonel Tone, who com-manded a regiment of the Peshwas army, wrote ^ of theMarathas: The three great tribes which compose theMaratha caste are the Kunbi or farmer, the Dhangar orshepherd, and the Goala or cowherd ; to this original causemay perhaps be ascribed that great simplicity of mannerwhich distinguishes the Maratha people. It seems then most probable that, as already stated, the\Maratha caste was of purely military origin, constituted fromthe various castes of Maharashtra who adopted militaryservice, though some of the leading families may have hadRajputs for their ancestors. Sir D. Ibbetson thought that asimilar relation existed in past times between the R
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