In both castes, groups of diverse origin seem to have been amalgamated owing to their common calling.

Thus the Kunbis include a subcaste derived from the Banjara (carriers), another from the Dhangars or shepherds, and a third from the Manas, a primitive tribe.

In Bombay it is considered that the majority of the Kunbi caste are sprung from the non-Aryan or indigenous tribes, and this may be the reason why Maratha Brahmans do not take water from them.

But they have now become one caste with a status equal to that of the other good cultivating castes.

In many tracts of Berar and elsewhere practically all the cultivators of the village belong to the Kunbi caste, and there is every reason to suppose that this was once the general rule and that the Kunbis or 'householders' are simply the cultivators of the Maratha country who lived in village communities.