BHILS, or BHEELS (" bowmen," from

See also:

• DRAVIDIAN (Sanskrit Dravida)

Dravidian

See also:

• BIT (from the verb " to bite," either in the sense of a piece bitten off, or an act of biting, or a thing that bites or is bitten)

bit, a

See also:

• BOW (pronounced " bo ")

bow)  , a Dravidian people of central India, probably aborigines of Marwar . They live scattered over a great part of India . They are found as far north as the Aravalli Hills, in Sind and Rajputana, as well as Khandesh and Ahmedabad . They are mentioned in Sanskrit works, and it is thought that Ptolemy (vii . 1 . 66) refers to them as cl,uX aiTat . (" leaf wearers "), though this word might equally apply to the Gonds . Expelled by the Aryans from the richer lowlands, they are found to-day in greatest numbers on the hills of central India . In many Rajput states the princes on succession have their foreheads marked with blood from the thumb or toe of a Bhil . The Rajputs declare this a mark of Bhil allegiance, but it is more probably a relic of days when the Bhils were a power in India . The Bhils eagerly keep the practice alive, and the right of giving the blood is hereditary in certain families . The popular legend of the Bhil origin assigns them a semi-divine birth, Mahadeva (Siva) having wedded an earth maiden who bore him children, the ugliest of whom killed his father's bull and was banished to the mountains .

The Bhils of to-day claim to be his descendants . Under the Moguls the Bhils were submissive, but they rebelled against the

Mahrattas, who, being unable to subdue them, treated them with the utmost cruelty . The race became outlaws, and they have lived their present wild life ever since . Their nomad habits and skill with their bows helped them to maintain successfully the fight with their oppressors . An unsuccessful attempt was made in 1818 by the British to conquer them . Milder measures were then tried, and the Bhil Agency was formed in 1825 . The Bhil corps was then organized with a view to utilizing the excellent fighting qualities of the tribesmen . This corps has done good service in gradually reducing their more lawless countrymen to habits of order, and many Bhils are now settled in regular industries . The pure Bhil is to-day much what he has always been, a savage forest dweller . The Bhils are a stunted race, but well built, active and strong, of a black colour, with high cheek-bones, wide nostrils, broad noses and coarse features . Like all Dravidians the hair is long and wavy . The lowland Bhils are not now easily distinguished from the low-caste Hindus .

Surgeon-

major T . H . Hendley writes:—" The Bhil is an excellent woodman, knows the shortest cuts over the hills; can walk the roughest paths and climb the steepest crags without slipping or feeling distressed . Though robbers, and timorous owing to ages of ill-treatment, the men are brave when trusted, and very faithful . History proves them always to have been faithful to their nominal Rajput sovereigns, especially in their adversity . The Bhil is a merry soul, loving a jest." The hill Bhils wear nothing but a loin-cloth, their women a coarse robe; lowland Bhils wear turban, coat and waist-cloth . The Bhils have oaths none of them will break . The most sacred is that sworn by a dog, the Bhil praying that the curse of a dog may fall on him if he breaks his word . Their chief divinity is Hanuman, the monkey-god . Offerings are made to the much-feared goddess of smallpox . Stone worship is found among them, and some lowland Bhils are Moslems, while many have adopted Hinduism . The Bhils of pure blood number upwards of a million, and there are some 200,000 Bhils of mixed descent .

See Gustav

Oppert, The Original Inhabitants of India (1893) ; T . H . Hendley, Account of Marwar Bhils," in Bengal Asiatic Journal, vol . 44; W . I . Sinclair in Indian Antiquary, vol. iv. pp . 336-338 ; Col . W . Kincaid, " On the Bheel Tribes of the Vindhyan Range," Jour . Anthrop . Institute, vol. ix .