The great Mahar caste of the Maratha country or Bombay are weavers and labourers, and formerly cured hides, like the Chamars and Koris of northern India.

They are regarded as impure and were the serfs or villeins of the Kunbis, attached to the land.

An alternative name for them is Dher, and this is supposed to be a corruption of Dharada a hillman, a name applied in Manu to all the indigenous races of India.

Though the connection cannot be traced in all cases, there is thus no reason to doubt that the existing impure castes represent the subjected or enslaved section of the primitive non-Aryan tribes.
42.

Occupation the basis of the caste system.
It has been seen that the old Aryan polity comprised four classes: the Brahmans and Kshatriyas or priestly and military aristocracy; the Vaishyas or body of the Aryans, who were ceremonially pure and could join in sacrifices; and the Sudras or servile and impure class of labourers.