Bhil or Bheel is an ethnic group in western India. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages. Bhils are members of a tribal group outside the fold of Hinduism and the caste system
Bhils are listed as tribal people in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan—all in the western Deccan regions and central India—as well as in Bengal and Tripura in far-eastern India, on the border with Bangladesh. Bhils are divided into a number of endogamous territorial divisions, which in turn have a number of clans and lineages. Many Bhils now speak the dominant later language of the region they reside in, such as Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali or a Bhili language dialect.
Etymology
Some scholars suggest that the term Bhil is derived from the word billa or billu which means bow in the Dravidian lexis. The term Bhil is used to refer to "various ethnic communities" living in the forests and hills of Rajasthan's southern parts and surrounding regions of western India, highlighting the "popularity of the bow and arrow as a weapon among these groups". It is also used as a blanket term to refer to the autochthonous peoples of these areas.
History
The Bhil Kings have been mentioned in the Mahabharata as rulers of Malwa and Central India from the time of the Mahabharata to 325 B.C.
According to John Samuel, as per legendary cum historical records, the Bhil tribals controlled large parts of Gujarat from 11th to 15th century before the Rajputs conquered the territories from these locals.
Rebellion against Mughal
Rana punja was grandson of Bhil Chief Harpal Bhil of Oghna Panarawa. He was the king of Merpur and he supported Maharana Pratap against Akbar.
Bhil Rebellion
The rulers of Idar, Rajpipla, Mándvi Bánsda and Dharampur princely states in southern Gujarat were Bhils.
The Bhils of what is now the state of Gujarat rebelled on several occasions during the British colonial era, notably in 1846, 1857–58 and 1868.
Along with a number of other Indian social groups, the Bhils were designated as a criminal tribe by the British colonial government under the Criminal Tribes Act 1871, which meant that a Bhil could be "randomly picked up, tortured, maimed or even killed" by the colonial authorities. Susan Abraham notes that many of the tribes characterized as criminal under the Act had earlier rebelled against the East India Company and participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. She claims that the British colonial government legislated the Act in 1871 in the wake of these autochthonic tribes' proclivity for rebellion.
Mutiny against Mewar State
According to Ram Pande, in 1881, the Bhils protested against "the census classification, prohibition on alcohol manufacture, establishment of police and customs, and the ban on the killing of witches". Their campaigning was stepped up and given meaning by Govind Guru who was a social and political leader. Pande suggests that because of his long-term Brahminical Hinduism missionary work among the tribe, Govind was able to stop them consuming meat and alcohol, and to pressurize the state for the formation of village councils which could administer their own affairs and for barring forced labor. In 1917, Mewar State's Girasias joined the Bhils in the struggle to get the petty taxes and forced labour quashed, and to get the land revenues decreased. Taking note of these protests, the jagirdars of Mewar had called on a British political agent to suppress the mutiny. Pande noted that 1,500 Bhils got shot in 1908. In 1921, the tribals and peasants united under the leadership of Motilal Tejawat in the struggle against "forced labour, petty taxes, the disparity in taxes, high taxes and the tyrannical ways of the jagirdars". Tejawat's thoughts drew followers from the Bhils and Girasias of the Danta, Idar, Palanpur and Sirohi regions of Gujarat; and he "became a notorious offender against the state".
Demographics
The Bhils are inhabitants of Dhar, Jhabua, Khargone and Ratlam districts of Madhya Pradesh. Bhilai (Bhil= Tribe, Aai= Came, meaning Bhils came), a city in Durg district of Chhattisgarh is named after this. A large number of Bhils live in the neighbouring states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. In Bengal, the Bauris represent the Bhil tribe. They constitute the largest tribe of India. According to Victoria R. Williams, the Bhils are India's "most widely dispersed tribal group". A small population of Bhils also resides in Pakistan's Sindh who are known as the Meghwar Bhil or just Meghwar.