And there are traces of a relationship between the cultivators and the menial castes, which would be best explained by such an origin.

At a betrothal in the great Kunbi cultivating caste of the Marathas, the services of the barber and washerman must be requisitioned.

The barber washes the feet of the boy and girl and places vermilion on the foreheads of the guests; the washerman spreads a sheet on the ground on which the boy and girl sit.

At the end of the ceremony the barber and washerman take the bride and bridegroom on their shoulders and dance to music in the marriage-shed, for which they receive small presents.

After a death has occurred at a Kunbi's house, the impurity is not removed until the barber and washerman have eaten in it.