Bhil

The Bhils are one of the largest tribal peoples of India. Tribal people, or Adivasi, is what India calls the peoples who were already living in the forests and mountains before the great religions and kingdoms, and who keep their own customs. The name Bhil is often linked to an old word for “bow,” and for centuries they were known as skilled hunters and archers.

There are more than 23 million of them, almost all in western and central India, in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. A smaller group lives in Pakistan, mainly in the Sindh desert. They speak Bhili, a language with many variations from region to region, related to Gujarati and Rajasthani. Today most live from small-scale farming, and many young people move to the cities to work on construction sites and farms.

The Bhils’ faith mixes Hinduism with ancient beliefs: the worship of spirits, ancestors and local gods who protect the village. There are Bhil Christians in some regions, but they are still few compared to the size of the people, and many villages have no church.