Bhîl—(Sanskrit, Bhilla).—We have in these Provinces only a few
fragments of the great Bhîl race of Central India. Professor Lassen
identifies them with the Phyllitæ of Ptolemy, whom Colonel Yule classes
with the Pulinda, a general term for various aboriginal races.
According to Dr. Caldwell the name Bhilla (vil, bil) means “a bow.”
[47] There is a curious early Hindu legend, which, however, is not
found in the Mahâbhârata, which tells how Drona, the preceptor of the
Pândavas, was jealous of the skill of the Bhîl Râja in archery, and
directed him and his subjects to cut off the forefinger of the right
hand. [48] Another story tells that Mahâdeva was one day reclining sick
in the forest, when a beautiful damsel appeared, the first sight of
whom effected a cure for all his pain. The result of their meeting was
the birth of many children, one of whom, distinguished for his
ugliness, slew the favourite bull of Mahâdeva, for which crime he was
expelled to the woods and mountains, and his descendants have been the
outcast Bhîls. They still call themselves “thieves of Mahâdeva.” [49]
There can be little doubt that they are a branch of the great Dravidian
race which is found along the mountains of Central India, and are akin
to the Gonds, Kharwârs, Mânjhis, Cheros, and Santâls, who live further
to the eastward. Sir J. Malcolm [50] thinks that they have emigrated
from Jodhpur and Udaypur to their present territory, and as a proof
that they were originally lords of the land, he points to the fact of
their giving the tîka to some of the existing Râjput princes. The most
solemn form of oath among them is mixing cowdung, salt, and the jawâri
millet, and lifting the mixture over their heads. [51] They have, like
many of the indigenous tribes, some relations with the local gods, and
are priests to one of the most ancient temples in Omkâr. According to
Sir A. Lyall [52] they are divided into a variety of distinct groups, a
few based on a reputed common descent, but most of them apparently
muddled together by simple contiguity of habitation, or the natural
banding together of the number necessary for maintaining and defending
themselves. Sir J. Malcolm says that the Bhîl women are invariably the
advocates of the cause of good order. They have much influence, and the
principal hope of an enemy’s escape lies in the known humanity of the
women. They worship peculiarly Sîtala, the small-pox goddess, and
Mahâdeva, from whom they claim descent. [53] The chief historical
tradition regarding them in these Provinces is that they were formerly
rulers in Rohilkhand, whence they were expelled by the Janghâra
Râjputs. [54] The clans recorded at the last Census in these Provinces
were the Guranawa, Jaiswâr, Karâwai, Majhûraya, Munaharbhâl, Râma, and
Râwat.
[Manners and customs.] 2. The best available account of the manners and
customs of the real Bhîls is that given by a writer in the Râjputâna
Gazetteer: [55]—“All Bhîls go about armed with the tribal weapons, bows
and arrows; except the headmen and others of consequence, who carry
swords. They are a dirty race. The men wear their hair long, and
hanging in uncombed masses from their shoulders. Their women are small
and ugly, those of rank being distinguishable by the number of brass
rings on their legs, often extending from the ankle to the knee. They
kill and eat kine and are much addicted to spirits, vast quantities of
which are consumed on festive occasions, which frequently end in
quarrels and bloodshed. Fond of fighting, they resort to their weapons
on the slightest provocation, but their most serious affrays arise out
of cattle-lifting and the abduction of women. If a Bhîl run away with a
betrothed girl, a feud will frequently ensue, which will not end till
the villages of both sides have been burnt and many lives lost. As a
rule they keep tolerably quiet in the winter and the rainy season; but
in the summer, between the gathering in of the last harvest and the
sowing of the next, they begin raiding on each other; and even the
richest think this time, which hangs heavily on their hands, favourable
for paying off old scores. There are sixty different sections of the
Bhîl tribe in Bânswâra.
[Marriage.] 3. “Bhîl children are not betrothed by their parents in
their childhood. A Bhîl girl is often unmarried up to the age of twenty
or twenty-five. Her father can take no steps of his own accord for his
daughter’s marriage; were he to do so, suspicion would be aroused that
there was something wrong with the girl. His friends can take steps on
his behalf, but he himself must wait for a proposal from the father of
some eligible lad, which he can entertain or not as he pleases. Should
he accept the proposal, the lad’s father, having provided himself with
a couple of pots of liquor, will return to complete the ceremony of
betrothal (sagari), sitting down under some large tree or other cool
spot in the village. The girl’s father and his friends join them, and
the question as to the amount of money to be paid by the father of the
lad to the father of the girl is there and then disposed of. This
amount varies according to the means and status of the parties
concerned from thirty to sixty rupees. When this is settled, the father
of the boy makes a cup of leaves of the Dhâk tree (Butea frondosa), and
placing it on the top of the pot of liquor, puts inside it two annas
worth of copper coins. The girl’s brother or some other boy among her
relations then takes the coin and turns the cup of leaves upside down.
The betrothal is then complete; and nothing remains but to drink the
liquor, which is done on the spot. The girl’s father then kills a goat
and gives a feast to his future son-in-law and his father, after which
the latter return home.
4. “Some four or six months after the betrothal arrangements for the
wedding are set on foot. The boy’s father takes a present of clothes, a
sheet (sâri), a petticoat, and a corset for the girl, who at once puts
them on. Her father, if well off, kills a buffalo, if poor, a goat, and
gives a feast to all the village, and to the boy’s father and all his
friends. On this occasion a Brâhman is called in, and on receipt of
four annas from each father, fixes some auspicious day for the wedding.
Half the amount previously fixed upon is now paid to the girl’s father
in cash, and the remainder in kind, in the shape of a bullock, etc. On
the day fixed by the Brâhman for the wedding, the boy, after being well
anointed with pît, a mixture of turmeric, flour, etc., proceeds to the
girl’s house, accompanied by all his friends and relations. They halt
at the borders of the village, whither the girl’s father, with all his
friends, and accompanied by drummers and women singing, proceeds to
meet them; and after performing the ceremony of tilak, that is marking
the boy on the forehead with saffron, escorts them into the village,
and settles them down under some large tree or in some other convenient
spot. The girl’s father then returns to his house, and the boy’s father
pays certain customary dues.
5. “On the evening of the wedding day a great feast is given by the
bride’s father; and the bride and bridegroom are provided with a
separate hut for the night, while their friends get drunk. Next morning
the bride’s father presents his daughter with a bullock or a cow, or
with any other worldly goods with which he may wish to endow her, and
after presenting the boy’s father with a turban gives him leave to
depart.
[Funeral rites.] 6. “The following are the ceremonies said to be
performed by the Bhîls on occasions of death. When a man dies a natural
death, his corpse is covered with white cloths, and a supply of food in
the shape of flour, clarified butter and sugar, uncooked (called sâra),
is placed by his side for use on his journey to the next world. They
are afterwards thrown into the water by the side of which he is burnt.
A small copper coin is also thrown on the ground when the corpse is
burnt, apparently as a sort of fee for the use of the ground for the
purpose. Three days after the body has been burnt, the ashes are thrown
into the water, and a cairn is raised on the spot by the people
present, who wring out their clothes over the stones after bathing. On
the twelfth day after death, all friends, far and near, assemble for
the kâta or mortuary feast, for which the heir of the deceased, if
well-to-do in the world, will have provided some two hundred rupees
worth of spirits. In the morning the ceremony of the arad is commenced,
and lasts generally throughout the day.
7. “The Bhopa, or witch-finder of the village, is seated on a wooden
platform, and places near him a big earthen pot with a brass dish over
the mouth of it. A couple of Bhîls beat this with drum sticks, at the
same time singing funeral dirges. The spirit of the deceased is now
supposed to enter the heart of the Bhopa, and through him to demand
whatever it may want. Should the man have died a natural death, the
spirit will call for milk, ghi, etc., and will repeat through the Bhopa
the words he said just before his death. Whatever is demanded is at
once supplied to the Bhopa, who smells the articles given to him and
puts them down by his side. Should the deceased have died a violent
death, the Bhopa generally calls for a bow and arrows, or for a gun,
whichever the deceased was killed with, and works himself up into much
excitement, going through the motions of firing, shouting the war cry,
etc. The spirits of the ancestors of the deceased are also called up by
the Bhopa, and the same ceremonies are gone through with them. In the
evening the Bhîl Jogi appears on the scene and goes through various
ceremonies. He is first of all provided with twelve sers of wheat flour
and five sers maize flour, which he places in front of the bier of the
deceased. The Jogi then plants his brass image of a horse on the top of
the flour and sticks an arrow in front of it, and also some small
copper coins. Two empty jars, the mouths tied up, one with red and the
other with white cloth, are also placed by him in front of the horse. A
rope is next tied round the horse’s neck. The Jogi then calls out the
names of the ancestors of the deceased, at the same time signifying to
the heir that now is the time for him to give alms or religious grants
to the memory of his father or ancestors, which appeal is generally
responded to; and a cow is given to the Jogi. The heir after this
directs the Jogi to provide the deceased with food. The Jogi cooks some
rice and milk and pours it into a hole he has dug in the ground. He
also pours in an ewer full of liquor and drops in a copper coin and
then fills up the hole again with earth. Other mystic rites follow; the
heir makes presents to the Jogi, and the family friends give presents
to the heir. The ceremonies conclude with some hard drinking. The next
day the relatives of the deceased give a feast to the village, each
relation providing something towards this feast,—one rice, another ghi,
and so forth. The honour of providing a buffalo belongs to the
son-in-law of the deceased, and failing him, the brother-in-law and the
brother.
[Widow marriage.] 8. “The widow of the deceased, if young, is now asked
by all the relatives whether she wishes to remain in her late husband’s
house or to be married again—a ceremony called nâtra. If she, as she
generally does, wishes to be married again, she replies that she will
return to her father’s house. If the deceased has a younger brother, he
will at once step forward and assert that he will not allow her to go
away to any other man’s house; and going up to her he throws his cloak
over the widow, who thus becomes his wife, and is taken away by him to
his house there and then. Eight days afterwards, when she is supposed
to have done mourning for her late husband, her new husband supplies
her with a set of armlets in the place of those given by her former
lord, which are taken off. The nâtra is then complete. The younger
brother is not, however, compelled to keep his brother’s widow should
he not wish to do so, but it is such a point of honour that a boy even
will claim and exercise the right. Should the deceased have no younger
brother, then the widow is taken away by her father or relations eight
days after the kâta. She will remain at her father’s house for a month
or two, when either she will be given away in nâtra to some man with
her father’s consent or she will run off and take up her quarters in
some man’s house without his consent. The man she flies to may not wish
her to come, and may have no idea of her intention to do so; but
nevertheless, once she has placed herself under his protection he is in
honour bound to keep her, and she remains as his wife. The widow can go
to any man she pleases provided he be of a different section to that of
her father.
9. “Should the father have given his widowed daughter away in nâtra,
her late husband’s heir will at once pick a quarrel and demand
satisfaction from him. As a preliminary step the heir generally attacks
the widow’s father and burns down his house, after which, in course of
time, a committee (panchâyat) is generally appointed to settle the
dispute, when a sum of money, varying from fifty to two hundred rupees,
according to the means of the parties, is awarded to the heir in
compensation. The father will then in his turn demand repayment from
his son-in-law, and should the latter refuse to pay up, he proceeds to
burn down his house and make himself otherwise objectionable till his
claim is satisfied. Should the widow run off, as she generally does,
without her father’s or relatives’ consent, her deceased husband’s heir
will at once attack the man to whose protection she has gone.
10. “Should some unmarried and unbetrothed girl take a fancy to and run
off with some young man, her father and brothers, as soon as they have
found out where she has gone to, at once attack and burn his house, or
in the event of their being unable to do that they burn any house in
the village which comes handy. This most probably is resented and
retaliated, and the quarrel may be prolonged for some time, but, as a
rule, a panchâyat is sooner or later appointed to settle the dispute.
The compensation awarded to the girl’s father never exceeds one hundred
rupees. A hole is dug in the ground and filled with water. The girl’s
father and his son-in-law then each drop a stone into it, and their
quarrel is finally settled. The panchâyat and party then consume some
liquor at the son-in-law’s expense, and depart in peace.
11. “Should an unmarried and unbetrothed girl refuse to run off with a
man when asked to do so, the man will generally shout out in the
village that he has taken so-and-so’s daughter’s hand, and woe to him
who dares to marry her. A panchâyat is then assembled, and the father
generally gives his daughter to the man, receiving double the
compensation that would have been awarded had the girl consented to
marry him in the first instance. Should a girl unmarried, but who has
been betrothed, run off with somebody else, the man to whom she was
betrothed at once attacks and possibly kills the man whom she has run
off with, and burns both his and the girl’s father’s huts. The quarrel
often goes on for years, and leads to retaliation, till the entire
village community on either side are drawn into the quarrel and turn
out and attack each other.
12. “Should a wife run away from her husband to somebody else, the
injured husband and his friends often burn the whole of the village in
which the recipient of the faithless wife’s favours lives. Eventually,
when a panchâyat is formed, the wife is often given up and taken back
by her husband, any children that she may have borne in the meantime
being left with their father. Should the man refuse to give her up,
then some two hundred rupees is awarded to the husband in compensation
by the panchâyat, not to mention the liquor required by the latter
during their consultation.
[Death customs.] 13. “The Bhîls erect stone tablets in memory of their
male dead (never to deceased women) and, as a rule, the figure of the
deceased is carved on the stone. He is often represented on horseback
with sword, lance, or shield, sometimes on foot, but invariably clothed
in the best of long clothes and armed with a sword and shield,—a style
of dress he was quite unaccustomed to in the flesh. Tablets are also
erected to boys who have died while still minors; but instead of a
figure of the deceased, a large hooded snake is carved on the stone.
[Religion.] 14. “Bhîls will eat the flesh of all animals, even that of
a dead camel. Bhîls and Mînas having no order of priesthood, resort to
the Guru of the Chamârs. These Gurus assume the appellations and badges
of Brâhmans. They do not adopt disciples; but the office is hereditary,
descending from the father to all the sons. The minstrel of the Bhîls
is called Kamriya. The principal deities of the Bhîls and Mînas are
Mâtâji and Devi. They also worship Agru. The Chauhân warrior-saint
Gûgaji is much worshipped in Sirohi as a protector from the bite of the
nâg sânp or cobra. [56] He is worshipped under the form of a warrior on
horseback and also under the form of a cobra.”