Kunbi

This article is about the Kunbi community in and around Maharashtra. For other uses, see Kunbi (disambiguation).

A group of Kunbis in Central India, 1916

Kunbi (alternatively Kanbi) (Marathi: ISO 15919: Kuṇabī, Gujarati: ISO 15919: Kaṇabī)[1][2][3] is a generic term applied to several castes of traditional farmers in Western India.[4][5][6] These include the Dhonoje, Ghatole, Masaram, Hindre, Jadav, Jhare, Khaire, Lewa (Leva Patil), Lonare and Tirole communities of Vidarbha.[7] The communities are largely found in the state of Maharashtra but also exist in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat (now called Patidar), Karnataka, Kerala and Goa. Kunbis are included among the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Maharashtra.[7][a][b]

Most of the Mavalas serving in the armies of the Maratha Empire under Shivaji came from this community.[13] The Shinde and Gaekwad dynasties of the Maratha Empire are originally of Kunbi origin.[14] In the fourteenth century and later, several Kunbis who had taken up employment as military men in the armies of various rulers underwent a process of Sanskritisation and began to identify themselves as Marathas. The boundary between the Marathas and the Kunbi became obscure in the early 20th century due to the effects of colonisation, and the two groups came to form one block, the Maratha-Kunbi.

Tensions along caste lines between the Kunbi and the Dalit communities were seen in the Khairlanji killings, and the media have reported sporadic instances of violence against Dalits. Other inter-caste issues include the forgery of caste certificates by politicians, mostly in the grey Kunbi-Maratha caste area, to allow them to run for elections from wards reserved for OBC candidates. In April 2005, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the Marathas are not a sub-caste of Kunbis.

Maharashtra's Kunbi community shares links with North and Eastern India's Kurmi. Both are farming communities. Both communities have deep roots in agriculture, with "Kunbi" itself meaning "farmer" in Marathi. The Indian government in 2006 recognized them as synonymous and NCBC issued notification that the 'Kurmi' caste / community of Maharashtra is akin to the Kunbis of Maharashtra and is socially and educationally backward..[15][16]

  1. ^ Tulpule, Shankar Gopal; Feldhaus (1999). A Dictionary of Old Marathi. Popular Prakashan. p. 163.
  2. ^ Turner, Ralph Lilley (1962–1966). A Comparative Dictionary of Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford University Press. p. 166.
  3. ^ Shastri, Keshavram K. (1976–1981). બૃહદ્ ગુજરાતી કોશ [Comprehensive Gujarati Dictionary]. Vol. 1. Yunivarsiṭī Graṁthanirmāṇa Borḍa. p. 406.
  4. ^ Lele 1981, p. 56 Quote: "Village studies often mention the dominance of the elite Marathas and their refusal to accept non-elite Marathas such as the Kunbis into their kinship structure (Ghurye, 1960; Karve and Damle, 1963)."
  5. ^ Dhar 2004, p. 1218.
  6. ^ Singh 2003, p. 734.
  7. ^ a b Dhar 2004, pp. 1179–1239.
  8. ^ a b c Lamb 2002, p. 7.
  9. ^ Farquhar 2008, pp. 162–164.
  10. ^ Srinivas 2007, pp. 189–193.
  11. ^ Rajagopal 2007.
  12. ^ Datta-Ray 2005.
  13. ^ J. S. Grewal, ed. (2005). The State and Society in Medieval India. Oxford University Press. p. 226. He [Shivaji] drew his military strength mainly from the mawales, the kunbis of the Mawal region. In the north, particularly in the eighteenth century, the term 'Maratha' was used with reference to all the people of Maharashtra, irrespective of their caste...
  14. ^ Ramusack, Barbara N. (2004). The Indian Princes and their States. The New Cambridge History of India. Cambridge University Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN 9781139449083.
  15. ^ Government of India, NCBC (4 October 2006). ""Kurmi" as a synonym of "Kunbi" be added at entry No.70 in the Central List of OBCs for the State of Maharashtra" (PDF).
  16. ^ "Order Copy By "NCBC"" (PDF).


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