, their forest god, in the
sacred grove; and the Korwas of Sarguja nave periodical sacrifices to
Kali in which many buffaloes are slaughtered. In the pictures of her
fight with Bhainsasur, Devi is shown as riding on a tiger, and the
uneducated might imagine the struggle to have resembled that between
a tiger and a buffalo. As the destroyer of buffaloes and deer which
graze on the crops the tiger may even be considered the cultivator's
friend. But in the rural tracts Bhainsasur himself is still venerated
in the guise of a corn-deity, and pig are perhaps offered to him as
the animals which nowadays do most harm to the crops.

Kunbi

[This article is based on the information collected for the District
Gazetteers of the Central Provinces, manuscript notes furnished by
Mr. A.K. Smith, C.S., and from papers by Pandit Pyare Lal Misra and
Munshi Kanhya Lal. The Kunbis are treated in the _Poona_ and _Khandesh_
volumes of the _Bombay Gazetteer_. The caste has been taken as typical
of the Marathi-speaking Districts, and a fairly full description
of the marriage and other ceremonies has therefore been given, some
information on houses, dress and food being also reproduced from the
_Wardha_ and _Yeotmal District Gazetteers_.]

List of Paragraphs

1. _Distribution of the caste and origin of name_.
2. _Settlement in the Central Provinces_.
3. _Sub castes_.
4. _The cultivating status_.
5. _Exogamous septs_.
6. _Restrictions on marriage of relatives_.
7. _Betrothal and marriage_.
8. _Polygamy and divorce_.
9. _Widow-marriage_.
10. _Customs at birth_.
11. _Sixth- and twelfth-day ceremonies_.
12. _Devices for procuring children_.
13. _Love charms_.
14. _Disposal of the dead_.
15. _Mourning_.
16. _Religion_.
17. _The Pola festival_.
18. _Muhammadan tendencies of Berar Kunbis_.
19. _Villages and houses_.
20. _Furniture_.
21. _Food_.
22. _Clothes and ornaments_.
23. _The Kunbi as cultivator_.
24. _Social and moral characteristics_.

1. Distribution of the caste and origin of name

_Kunbi_--The great agricultural caste of the Maratha country. In
the Central Provinces and Berar the Kunbis numbered nearly 1,400,000
persons in 1911; they belong to the Nagpur, Chanda, Bhandara, Wardha,
Nimar and Betul Districts of the Central Provinces. In Berar their
strength was 800,000, or nearly a third of the total population