Kunbi

Brief Details of Kunbi

The term 'kun' means people and 'bi' means seeds; so Kunbi means those who germinate more seeds from one seed. The community people call themselves Kunbi and others also recognise them as the same. The Kukana is a synonymous term for the Kunbi. The Kunbi are mainly distributed in Bangs district. They are also distributed in the districts of Surat and Valsad. The Kunbi who are inhabited in the north of Dangs are influenced by the language and culture of Maharashtra and those of south Dangs by south Gujarat. According to 1981 census their population in Dangs district was 35,214 and under 2001 census population of Kunbi was 43,292, out of which 21,806 were male and 21,486 were female. They communicate with family and kin members in Dagni dialect. Hindi and Gujarati languages are spoken to communicate with the outsiders. Gujarati and Marathi scripts are used. Tattooing marks are reported among them. The community belongs to the constitutional status of scheduled tribes.

The Kunbis are non-vegetarians. They take fish, meat, eggs etc. They prefer roti and rice. The roti is made up of nagli and occasionally with wheat. They consume all pulses and vegetables. Palmolin oil is the cooking medium. They consume seasonally available fruits occasionally. They take alcoholic drinks which are prepared in their own households with mohua flowers. The smoking habit is prevalent among them. Rarely do they chew betel.

The Kunbi follow endogamy at community level. They have various ataks (clans) like Choudhary, Pawar, Chouria, Deshmukh, Suryabanshi, Govli, Dhoi, Gangorda, Dadvi, Mahala, Bagul which regulate the marriage alliances. One's father's name is suffixed after the first name and the respective atak is suffixed after father's name in their naming pattern. The Kunbi consider on having higher status than other communities like Warli, Bhil and Kathodi in the local social hierarchy because of latter's food habits. The Kunbi strictly follow atak exogamy. A man can marry his maternal uncle's daughter and father's sister's daughter. Early marriages at the age of ten to twelve years were practiced by them in earlier times. Now the females and males marry at the age of 16 to 17 and 21 to 24 years respectively. The mates are acquired by mutual consent and also by negotiation. Monogamy is the common form of marriage. Mangalsutra is the symbol of married women. Bride price is given to bride's father in cash. Patrialocal residence is the rule after marriage. Sometimes neolocal residence is also practiced. Divorce (chuto-chero) is permitted on grounds of mal-adjustment, impotency etc. Children are liability of both father and mother. Widow-remarriage is permitted by the society. Nuclear families dominant over the extended families. Avoidance relationship exists between daughter-in-law and her husband's father (father-in-law). Joking relationship is maintained between grand-parents and grand children. Relations of conflict and confrontation develop over the division of ancestral property. The male equigeniture is the rule of inheritance. By convention the eldest son succeeds as the head of the family. The women do not have the right of inheritance of her ancestral property. They have a significant role to play in socio-economic sphere. They take part in agricultural operations, collection of fuel, bringing potable water and other activities. Thus they contribute to the family income besides their routine domestic chores. The women have lower status in comparison to the male members of the society. The woman is not allowed to bring potable water in the advanced stage of pregnancy. In earlier days the delivery used to take place at the household conducted by the midwife. Now-a-days, they go to the health centre for delivery. On the fifth day after delivery, the pachora ritual is observed and conducted by the midwife. The name is given to new born after the day on which the baby is born. For instance, Soma or Somi name is given to a male or a female child if they are born on Monday.

The betrothal (sagai) is performed before the actual marriage. There is a custom of half-marriage (pen) when the groom goes to the bride's house with some sweets and it is distributed among the family members of the bride. After completion of pen (half marriage), bride is sent to her husband's house. The actual marriage (lagan) is performed after one or two years. The marriage rituals are performed at bride's residence. The marriage takes place for three days. On the second day the village deity Maruti is worshipped and the bride and' bridegroom are given a bath. Then dance is performed by the villagers. On the third day, the groom goes to the bride's house with his party. In the evening, the marriage rituals are performed by the bride and bridegroom. The Brahman priest touches a sacred thread (dora.)' applied with turmeric on the neck of both the bride and bridegroom. After the completion of the marriage rituals, a feast is given to groom's party by bride's father followed by dance. Consummation of marriage takes of place at groom's residence. The dead are cremated in the nearby samsan (cremation ground). The corpse is covered by a new cloth and kept on a bamboo bier and is taken to the cremation ground by the family members and relatives. Coconuts are hanged in four corners of, the bamboo bier. Coconuts are broken at the outskirts of the / village. The dead body is kept on the pyre with head towards south and legs towards north. Before keeping the body on the pyre four anti-clock wise phera are taken around the dead by his wife. After completion of the cremation of the dead body, the unburnt bones are kept in an earthen pot which is dipped into the nearby river. After twelve days, the barma ritual is performed. This ritual is associated with pindadan ceremony and mundan of the deceased's son. The religious priest (Bhagat) performs the rituals. At the time of shradh, they worship lord Maruti (village god) and also worship the sacred fire (agnimata) to keep the soul in peace. Traditional custom of burying the dead body with water, vegetables, country liquor and a few coins is very rarely practised. The Kunbi are settled agriculturists. They are 'mainly small and marginal farmers. A few are landless labourers besides contract labourers who serve the landlord for a period of one month, one year or two years, which is called baled. Children are engaged as cowherds. Some of them are working as clerk, forester, forest guard, engineer etc. The main market centre situated at Ahwa-Dang which is fully regulated. They visit weekly markets (hat) for their day-to-day requirements. They have their own traditional panchayat. The members of that panchayat are selected by voice-vote. This council settles the disputes with regard to land, divorce etc. The punishment is given by the council in the form of cash fine, social boycott etc. The statutory panchayat also exists. If the villagers are not satisfied with the decision of Police patel, they go to the court to seek judgment. The statutory council is meant for the implementation of the various welfare programmes for the villagers as directed by state government. The Kunbi profess Hinduism. They believe in Sriram, Srikrishna, and Shankar bhagwan. Parasuram bhagwan and other Hindu gods and goddesses of wider pantheon. The goddess Kansari who is the grain giver (annodatri) is worshipped by them. They also believe in Maruti (Hanumanji) as village god. Marutidev is found in all of their villages. The goddess Chowra is worshipped at the periphery of the village. They also worship Dungridev (hill) Wagdev (tiger), Nagdev (snake) and so on. They participate in the fairs and festivals of Holi; Diwali, Pitra, Nagpanchamai etc. 'At the time of Diwali, they worship Wagdev (tiger) whom they consider as the king of forest. At the time of Nagpanchami, milk is offered to the snakes in the forest. It is performed in the months of August and September. These festivals are celebrated with great enthusiasm associated with dancing and singing. They are having their own folk-songs and folk-lore. They are very fond of dance and music performed with their traditional musical instruments. The tattooing marks are common among them; which are done at the fairs. The Kunbi claim that they are superior in the local social hierarchy than Warlis, Kathodia and Bhils. The Kunbis attend the marriage of Warli, Bhil and Kathodi but do not take food with them. In earlier days, they were not permitted to take water from the wells of high caste Hindus. The traditional hereditary, socio-economic interdependence has changed its forms. Now-a-days the socio-economic interdependence is in the form of contract labourer (batai, solder, chanaguli). Due to the various development programmes introduced by the government, they have adopted new technologies of cultivation. Now-a-days, they use urea instead of cham (cow-dung) and also use pesticides and fertilizers in their cultivable lands. They also cultivate the hybrid varieties of Jowar, rice etc they are economically benefited by various development programmes. The Kunbi boys and girls are getting the formal education from the schools and colleges. But the girls drop-out is higher from the schools because of economic reasons. Previously the Kunbi were totally dependent on indigenous traditional medicare. Still they believe in black magic as the cause of the prevalence of diseases. Some people believe in ritual medicines and herbal medicines. A few make use of allopathic medicines. The people use the modern methods of family planning. The government supplies the drinking water to the remote villages by the tankers. They have been benefited by the integrated rural development programmes. They listen to radio. Electricity is available within their locality. They use cow-dung cakes and fire-wood (lakri) as their main fuel resources. Their cultivation is mainly based on rain water. River water also serves the purpose of cultivation. The children get mid-day meal in the schools. The public distribution system is there and they get rice, palmolin oil from the ration shops.