5. Munurwār and Telenga.
In Chānda the principal castes of stone-workers are the Telengas (Telugus), who are also known as Thāpatkari (tapper or chiseller), Telenga Kunbi and Munurwār. They occupy a higher position than the ordinary Beldār, and Kunbis will take water from them and sometimes food. They say that they came into Chānda from the Telugu country along the Godāvari and Prānhita rivers to build the great wall of Chanda and the palaces and tombs of the Gond kings. There is no reason to doubt that the Munurwārs are a branch of the Kāpu cultivating caste of the Telugu country. Mr. A. K. Smith states that they refuse to eat the flesh of an animal which has been skinned by a Mahār, a Chamār, or a Gond; the Kunbis and Marāthas also consider flesh touched by a Mahār or Chamār to be impure, but do not object to a Gond. Like the Berār Kunbis, the Telengas prefer that an animal should be killed by the rite of halāl as practised by Muhammadan butchers. The reason no doubt is that the halāl is a method of sacrificial slaughter, and the killing of the animal is legitimised even though by the ritual of a foreign religion. The Thāpatkaris appear to be a separate group, and their original profession was to collect and retail jungle fruits and roots having medicinal properties. Though the majority have become stone- and earth-workers some of them still do this.