_Bhil._ [310]--An indigenous or non-Aryan tribe which has been much
in contact with the Hindus and is consequently well known. The home
of the Bhils is the country comprised in the hill ranges of Khandesh,
Central India and Rajputana, west from the Satpuras to the sea in
Gujarat. The total number of Bhils in India exceeds a million and a
half, of which the great bulk belong to Bombay, Rajputana and Central
India. The Central Provinces have only about 28,000, practically all of
whom reside in the Nimar district, on the hills forming the western end
of the Satpura range and adjoining the Rajpipla hills of Khandesh. As
the southern slopes of these hills lie in Berar, a few Bhils are also
found there. The name Bhil seems to occur for the first time about
A.D. 600. It is supposed to be derived from the Dravidian word for
a bow, which is the characteristic weapon of the tribe. It has been
suggested that the Bhils are the Pygmies referred to by Ktesias (400
B.C.) and the Phyllitae of Ptolemy (A.D. 150). The Bhils are recognised
as the oldest inhabitants of southern Rajputana and parts of Gujarat,
and are usually spoken of in conjunction with the Kolis, who inhabit
the adjoining tracts of Gujarat. The most probable hypothesis of the
origin of the Kolis is that they are a western branch of the Kol or
Munda tribe who have spread from Chota Nagpur, through Mandla and
Jubbulpore, Central India and Rajputana to Gujarat and the sea. If
this is correct the Kolis would be a Kolarian tribe. The Bhils have
lost their own language, so that it cannot be ascertained whether
it was Kolarian or Dravidian. But there is nothing against its being
Kolarian in Sir G. Grierson's opinion; and in view of the length of
residence of the tribe, the fact that they have abandoned their own
language and their association with the Kolis, this view may be taken
as generally probable. The Dravidian tribes have not penetrated so
far west as Central India and Gujarat in appreciable numbers.