The Bhils - An Ethno Historic Analysis

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The present book is an addition to the ethnographic studies made by the scholars on Indian tribes since the pre independence days.

This book envisages a holistic study of the Bhils, a major tribe, inhabiting in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The Bhils are supposed to inhabit this part of the country from ancient time and their interaction with Rajputs in medieval time is well known.

The Bhils of Madhya Pradesh have little contact with outside population and as such they have preserved their culture and tradition over the centuries. In this work detailed account of the cultural history of the Bhils have been recorded on the basis of actual field work done by the author.

Here an attempt has been made to understand the life-cycle of the Bhils through their economic activities, material way of life, social organization, world view and religion in their very natural environment. This book also gives some idea about the impact of the nature in shaping the culture of the Bhils.

Dr. Bachchan Kumar (born 1958) secured his M.A. degree in Ancient Indian and Asian Studies, and Economics from Magadh University, Bodh Gaya. He obtained his doctoral degree from the same University. Besides, he has also done Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from National Labour Institute, New Delhi and Diploma in Pali from the University of Delhi, Delhi.

Dr. Kumar has spent over two years with the Bhils of Jhabua district. The present book is a revised form of his thesis. He has participated in various National and International Seminars and Conferences. A number of his research papers, have been published in various journals of national and international repute. He has also worked at the Institute of Archaeology, Hanoi, and visited Thailand in connection with his research work.

The Bhils constitute the largest tribal population in India. Out of 29.8 million scheduled tribe population in India, according to 1971 census, 3.8 million are Bhils. Every seventh tribal is a Bhil.

Dr. Bachchan Kumar has chosen Jhabua district in Madhya Pradesh as his area of study. The Bhils represent 85% of the total population of this area.

Based on his extensive field work, interviews and personal observations, the present study on the Bhils offer us interesting and stimulating fresh insight helpful in unveiling complex mosaic in Indian culture.

Comparing his data from the field with a wide range of ethnographic works published in course of ninteenth and twentieth century, Dr. Kumar has suggested new directions of research on the Bhil population.

On the basis of his in-depth study of a district, the author has reexamined a number of interesting issues relating to the study of the Bhil tribe as a whole.

The origin-myth of the Bhils have been studied in a historical background, focussing the process of the Aryanization of an indigenous tribe of India. The legend which presents Parvati as the sister of the Bhil tribe clearly points to this process.

The author has attempted to uncover the indigenous strata of the Bhil religion on which thick layers of Brahmanical belief system was superimposed in course of centuries.

Three main considerations inspired me to take up the present study. First, there is no comprehensive study on the Bhils in an ethno-historic perspective. Second, the Bhils constitute the largest tribal group in India. Third, the tradition bound tribal societies, living in almost a closed system before the independence, were exposed to various non-tribal cultural traditions. Due to this exposure most of their customs have completely disappeared. Since the Bhils are very conservative so far as their culture and traditions are concerned, many of their rituals are still in vogue. I propose to document their cultural heritage, before it is completely lost due to their growing contacts with the urbanised social systems.

I have examined various aspects of life-cycle ceremonies birth, marriage and death as prevalent among the Bhils of Jhabua district. Though, their rituals are quite different from those practised by other tribal and non-tribal groups, I have made an attempt to focus the links between tribals of the different parts of the country, and to understand the traditional culture of this tribe in a limited area of a district.

**Contents and Sample Pages**