Bhil
One of the largest ethnic groups in South Asia (only the Gond in India are slightly more numerous), the Bhils number over 8 million today. The Gond are a Scheduled Tribe inhabiting hills and forests in the western part of central India, primarily the watershed of the Narmada River. Their main concentration, over 2 million, is in Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The term "Bhil," derived from the Dravidian word for "bow," their quintessential weapon, covers many subgroups well known by other names, such as Dubla, Garasia, Patelia, and Vasava.
Bhils are a settled agricultural people, albeit with some brigandage in their past. Those without land work as laborers. The villages have a scattered layout, with less than a hundred huts spread over perhaps three to four square kilometers. Each village is surrounded by fields and communal grazing areas. In the past Bhils exploited the forest by hunting and gathering and also practiced slash-and-burn agriculture until it was made illegal. Farms now grow maize, wheat, millet, wild rice, tobacco, peanuts, and a variety of vegetables. Bhils depend on numerous castes in the area for many basic necessities.
Each village, consisting of two or more extended families, is led by a hereditary headman. The villages are generally exogamous, and marriage is virilocal (married couple living in the husband's family's village). Polygamy is rare. A few Bhils are Christian and Muslim, though many are Hindu, and are animists who worship Wagh deo, the tiger god, Nandervo, the god of agriculture, or Kalika, the earth mother.
Further Reading
Koppers, Wilhelm. (1958) The Bhil in Central India. New Haven, CT: Human Relations Area Files.
Singh, K. S., ed. (1994) "Bhil." In The Scheduled Castes (People of India 3). Delhi: Oxford University Press, 118–143.
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