aghuji Bhonsla and the establishment of
the Maratha kingdom of Nagpur. Traces of these separate immigrations
survive in the subdivisions of the caste, which will now be mentioned.

3. Subcastes

The internal structure of the Kunbi caste in the Central Provinces
shows that it is a mixed occupational body recruited from different
classes of the population. The Jhare or jungly [17] Kunbis are
the oldest immigrants and have no doubt an admixture of Gond
blood. They do not break their earthen vessels after a death in
the house. With them may be classed the Manwa Kunbis of the Nagpur
District; these appear to be a group recruited from the Manas, a
primitive tribe who were dominant in Chanda perhaps even before the
advent of the Gonds. The Manwa Kunbi women wear their cloths drawn
up so as to expose the thigh like the Gonds, and have some other
primitive practices. They do not employ Brahmans at their marriages,
but consult a Mahar Mohturia or soothsayer to fix the date of the
ceremony. Other Kunbis will not eat with the Manwas, and the latter
retaliate in the usual manner by refusing to accept food from them;
and say that they are superior to other Kunbis because they always
use brass vessels for cooking and not earthen ones. Among the other
subcastes in the Central Provinces are the Khaire, who take their name
from the _khair_ [18] or catechu tree, presumably because they formerly
prepared catechu; this is a regular occupation of the forest tribes,
with whom it may be supposed that the Khaire have some affinity. The
Dhanoje are those who took to the occupation of tending _dhan_ [19]
or small stock, and they are probably an offshoot of the Dhangar
or shepherd caste whose name is similarly derived. Like the Dhangar
women they wear cocoanut-shell bangles, and the Manwa Kunbis also do
this; these bangles are not broken when a child is born, and hence
the Dhanojes and Manwas are looked down on by the other subcastes,
who refuse to remove their leaf-plates after a feast. The name of the
Khedule subcaste may be derived from _kheda_ a village, while another
version given by Mr. Kitts [20] is that it signifies 'A beardless
youth.' The highest subcaste in the Central Provinces are the Tirole
or Tilole, who now claim to be Rajputs. They say that their ancestors
came from Therol in Rajputana, and, taking to agriculture, gradually
became merged with the Kunbis. Another more probable derivation of
the name is from the _til_ or ses