. Here
they form the principal cultivating class over the whole area except
in the jungles of the north and south, but muster most strongly in
the Buldana District to the west, where in some taluks nearly half the
population belongs to the Kunbi caste. In the combined Province they
are the most numerous caste except the Gonds. The name has various
forms in Bombay, being Kunbi or Kulambi in the Deccan, Kulwadi in
the south Konkan, Kanbi in Gujarat, and Kulbi in Belgaum. In Sanskrit
inscriptions it is given as Kutumbika (householder), and hence it has
been derived from _kutumba_, a family. A chronicle of the eleventh
century quoted by Forbes speaks of the Kutumbiks or cultivators of
the _grams,_ or small villages. [13] Another writer describing the
early Rajput dynasties says: [14] "The villagers were Koutombiks
(householders) or husbandmen (Karshuks); the village headmen were
Putkeels (patels)." Another suggested derivation is from a Dravidian
root _kul_ a husbandman or labourer; while that favoured by the caste
and their neighbours is from _kun_, a root, or _kan_ grain, and _bi_,
seed; but this is too ingenious to be probable.

2. Settlement in the Central Provinces

It is stated that the Kunbis entered Khandesh from Gujarat in the
eleventh century, being forced to leave Gujarat by the encroachments
of Rajput tribes, driven south before the early Muhammadan invaders
of northern India. [15] From Khandesh they probably spread into Berar
and the adjoining Nagpur and Wardha Districts. It seems probable that
their first settlement in Nagpur and Wardha took place not later than
the fourteenth century, because during the subsequent period of Gond
rule we find the offices of Deshmukh and Deshpandia in existence in
this area. The Deshmukh was the manager or headman of a circle of
villages and was responsible for apportioning and collecting the land
revenue, while the Deshpandia was a head _patwari_ or accountant. The
Deshmukhs were usually the leading Kunbis, and the titles are still
borne by many families in Wardha and Nagpur. These offices [16] belong
to the Maratha country, and it seems necessary to suppose that their
introduction into Wardha and Berar dates from a period at least as
early as the fourteenth century, when these territories were included
in the dominions of the Bahmani kings of Bijapur. A subsequent large
influx of Kunbis into Wardha and Nagpur took place in the eighteenth
century with the conquest of R