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NOVEMBER, 1875.j
a Solar hero. From his time till now most of the district has had peace; but every now and then indications appear that the old spirit has not quite died out.
NOTES ON KHANDESH.
In 1857-8 a Bhill named Kaji Sing raised a considerable force of rebels and plunderers in the north, and was only put down after a sharp action fought at Amba Panî, in the Shada Tâluka; and within my own memory the differences of Bhill Chiefs with neighbouring Native States have three times threatened considerable disturbances. The last and most serious occasion was when the Gaikwad was put in possession, in 1870, of a certain disputed territory called the Wajpûr Taraf, lying between the Nesu and Tapti rivers, which his officials immediately proceeded to administer in a manner that soon produced a state of things amounting to open rebellion in his territory, and organized mosstrooping in the adjacent parts of ours. For the rest, the Bhill, if let alone and unexposed to the corrupting influences of civilization, is a good fellow enough, honest except for occasional dacoities undertaken under pressure of hunger or from gaieté de cœur (like French wars), truthful, generous and cheerful, and even at times industrious in a spasmodic way. His faults are a childish unsteadiness and fickleness, and a considerable taste for country spirits; but the race is certainly improvable. Major Forsyth has recorded a similar opinion from observation in Nimar. It is hardly necessary to add that this race have never exercised any organized government. The petty chiefs of the "Dang" and "Mewis" States are indeed Bhills, though they "make-believe very much indeed" to be Rajpûts; but they are merely captains of bands of thieves crystallized and localized into so-called states by our conquest of the country, the troubles immediately preceding which had enabled them to acquire a certain amount of predatory power.
The Bhills cultivate in a fashion; and as there is much good waste land available they use the plough, and are not often reduced (within Khandesh proper) to the rude agriculture of the kumri system. Where they can, they often shift not only their fields but their villages. But their characteristic industries are those connected with their beloved jungles,
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cutting and carrying timber, firewood, and bamboos; collecting lac and forest fruits; and the unremitting pursuit of almost every creature that hath life. They do not eat monkeys, and I have never myself known them to eat beef, but have every reason to believe that those of the remoter forests do so. With these exceptions almost everything is fish to the Bhill's net. I have seen them eat the grub of the Tusseh-silk moth; and their resources in the vegetable kingdom are equally extensive, including the bitter roots of certain water-lilies; and the fruit even of the pimpal-tree (Ficus religiosa). They have a saying of their own, "If all the world were to die of hunger, the Bhill would remain," which has a double meaning, alluding firstly to their omnivorous palates, and secondly conveying a meaning like that of the Border motto "Thou shalt want ere I want." They use the pike, sword, and matchlock, but their distinguishing weapon is the bow, which those of the hills draw with some effect. The bow and arrow is the mark of a Bhill on any document. They have no separate constructed language, but possess a peculiar vocabulary of their own, which they are rather shy of imparting to any one else; and though I have sometimes imagined that I had got hold of peculiar words, I always found them in the end traceable to other languages. The words Nilog, Nadag, and Nargi, meaning 'a bear,' occur among all the hill-tribes of the Dekhan, and are not specially Bhill. One or two officers have at different times made notes of such words. The Bhills seldom ride, even on ponies; a few were enlisted into a cavalry regiment at Málegâm some years ago, but they mostly deserted. As infantry, however, they are capable of a certain amount of discipline; and the bravery, endurance, and fidelity of the Khandesh Bhill Corps have been long approved, while two generations of good living have improved the descendants of Outram's first recruits into a very fine race, and their hospital is perhaps a solitary instance among military medical establishments of the complete absence of a certain class of diseases.
In Western Khandesh there are three races often confounded with Bhills, but holding themselves separate and superior. The first are the Gawids or Mawachas, whom I suspect
Kumri or Dhalt is the Dahya of the Central Provinces, and consists in cutting down and burning the jungle and
sowing in the ashes.
