238 
ON TPIE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
Kurumbi or Kudumbi accounts also for the Gruzarati Kulamhi, 
though this expression is said to be only used in works pub- 
lished in the Educational series. 
The term Kudumbi, however, is also mentioned in the 
Madras Census Eeport as current in Tanjore. It must not 
be mistaken for the Sanskrit Kutumbi, householder ; nor 
must it be connected with the Tamil kudumi, a tuft of hair. 
Kumbi was changed into Kunhi, and this again into Ku- 
nabi and Kunubi which forms are found in modern Marathi. 
Should any derivative of Kurmi, Kumbi or Kunbi denote 
agriculture, it must have originated in the same manner 
from Kumbi as Vellanmai has from Vellalan. 
The antiquated Indian caste system is so -far right that 
it assigns the Kui-mis, Kumbis or Kunbis to the Sudra class, 
i.e., to the non- Aryan population. In spite of contradictory 
evidence Colonel Dalton thinks : " it is probable that in the 
Kurmis we have the descendants of some of the earliest of 
the Aiyan colonists of Bengal."^^* 
The Kurmis are on the whole a very respectable, indus- 
trious and well-to-do class, though not credited with much 
intellect. Like many other low-born people some Kurmis 
display a great anxiety to prove their noble extraction, and, 
in order to avoid any mistakes being made on this subject, 
Dr. Francis Buchanan expressly asserts that they are in 
reality Sudras, though some claim to be Ksatriyas. The 
Kurmis of Berar eat meat, di'ink spirits and allow widows 
to remarry. In the Bombay Presidency the Km-mis are 
subdivided into two classes, the Agris and Mardthas, and 
the latter are in their turn again known as Pure Mai'athas 
and Akarmas/i in. The Akarmashis are deemed to be descen- 
dants of slaves, and the Agris are representatives of an 
aboriginal race.'" 
'** See his Ftlniohiji/ of Bonpal, p. 31". 
About thp Kunuis compiiro Dr. Fr. Buch;man's IThfoiy, Antiquitiff^ 
Topography and Statistics of EasUrn Iiidin, vol. I, pp. 16(3, 2S3; vol. II, pp. 
