Bhil

Bhil, ethnic group of some 12.6 million people of western India. Historically, many Bhil communities have been known for rugged independence, and some have been associated with banditry.

The Bhil are distributed widely in upland areas of several states, from Ajmer in central Rajasthan on the north, to Thane in western Maharashtra on the south, to Indore in western Madhya Pradesh on the east, and to Surat in southeastern Gujarat on the west. Nearly all of the Bhil engage in agriculture, some using the slash-and-burn (jhum) method but most employing the plow. The highland Bhil generally live in scattered houses made of wattle and thatch.

The relationship between the Bhil and neighbouring peoples is not clear. The Bhil reckon, validate, and dissolve family ties according to Rajasthani tradition in Rajasthan and Maharashtrian tradition in Maharashtra but with easier marriage and divorce procedures. Most Bhil worship local deities in varied pantheons; a few aristocratic segments such as the Bhilala and some plains groups employ Hindu Brahman priests; others are converts to Islam. Their dialects are akin to Gujarati or to other Indo-Aryan languages rather than to the Munda or Dravidian languages of most other Adivasi, or “original inhabitants,” of India.