KURMI, cultivators dwelling north of the Kunbi, but to the south of the Rajput and Jat. They form the bulk of the population in the part of Manbhum near the Damuda river ; in consider able numbers in all the central and eastern parts of the North-West Provinces or in Hindustan generally, who there attend to the finer garden style of cultivation much more than the Jat and Rajput ; but, like the Jat race, Kunbi and Kurmi are assisted by their industrious women, who have passed into a proverb for industry : Bhale jat Kunbin ki K'hurpi hat'h K'het nirawen apne pi ke sat'h.' They have villages of their own, and are also spread in detached families or groups. Mr. Campbell considers Kurmi to be identical with the Kunbi, and to from lat. 16° to 23° or 24° N., and from the western frontiers of Gujerat, countries watered by the Wainganga, the Middle Ganga, and upper streams of le Nerbadda. But in the valley of the Ganges they are looked down upon as mere humble tillers of the soil. They are more numerous towards the Jubbulpur and Saugor territories, where they mingle with the Lodhi. Thence westwards, as on both sides of the Nerbadda, in Malwa, where they meet the Jat, and throughout the southern borders of Hindustan, there are numerous Kurmi who speak Hindi. Those in Hindustan are darker and less good-looking than Brahmans and Rajputs ; but Mr. Campbell states (pp. 93, 94) that they are quite Aryan in their features, institutions, and manners.
Sir H. Elliot says seven subdivisions are usually enumerated, as Khariband, Patanya, Ghorcharha, Jaiswar, Kanoujia, Kewat, and Jhunia. These do not eat together or intermarry. The Khari band and Patanya abound in the Central Doab and Oudh ; the Ghorcharha are more to the west ; the Jaiswar in Saugor and Bundelkhand ; the Kanoujia in the lower tracts of the Doab ; the Kewat to the E. of Benares ; and the Jhunia west of the Upper Jumna.
The best agriculturists of the Central Provinces are decidedly the Kurmi, found mostly in rich black soil tracts. It is a common saying that no Kurmi can exist where he is unable to raise rabi crops. They are a most peaceable set of men,
and have always been remarkable for their loyalty to the ruling power. They are very tenacious of their ancestral holdings, and seldom alienate rights in land unless under the greatest pressure of circumstances. The real secret of their unfail ing success in agricultural pursuits generally does not appear to lie so much in their reputed superior skill, as in the fact of women as well as men engaging equally in field work ; while the women of several other agricultural classes are precluded, by prejudice or custom, from assisting the male population in their labours. Scarcely inferior to the Kurmi as agriculturists, are the Lodhi, who, however, are the opposite of the former in natural temperament, being turbulent, revengeful, and ever ready to join in any disturbance. They make good soldiers, and are generally excellent sportsmen. Others engaged in husbandry are Jat, Koeri, Kach'hi, and Lodhi.
Both among Kurmi and Lodhi there is no distinction between a mistress and wife, provided always that the former is of the same caste as the husband, or, better still, the widow of an elder brother or cousin, however far removed. The children born from such connections are on an equal footing as regards inheritance of property, whether personal, real, or ancestral, with those born from regular married wives. A Kurmi who sells himself into slavery (not an un common thing even now) is said to become a Dhanuk. The Kurmi, Kunbi, Jat, and Rajput are the chief territorial tribes of Northern India. Kurmi, Kach'hi, and Murao are the best agri culturists in the N.W. Provinces. The agri cultural and gardening tribes of the •Panjab, Hindustan, Central India, and Maharashtra number about 20,000,000, viz. Jat, 2,630,994 ; Kach'hi, 2,258,769 ; Koeri, 1,207,951; Lodhi, 1,305,391; Kunbi, 5,388,487; Kurmi, 4,065.475; and in the south of India are the Kamma. Kapu, Reddi, Naek, Vellalar, and Wakkaliga.