14. Language.
The Bhīls have now entirely abandoned their own language and speak a corrupt dialect based on the Aryan vernaculars current around them. The Bhīl dialect is mainly derived from Gujarāti, but it is influenced by Mārwāri and Marāthi; in Nimār especially it becomes a corrupt form of Marāthi. Bhīli, as this dialect is called, contains a number of non-Aryan words, some of which appear to come from the Mundāri, and others from the Dravidian languages; but these are insufficient to form any basis for a deduction as to whether the Bhīls belonged to the Kolarian or Dravidian race.[38]
[1] The principal authorities on the Bhīls are: An Account of the Mewār Bhīls, by Major P. H. Hendley, J.A.S.B. vol. xliv., 1875, pp. 347–385; the Bombay Gazetteer, vol. ix., Hindus of Gujarāt; and notices in Colonel Tod’s Rājasthān, Mr. A. L. Forbes’s Rāsmāla, and The Khāndesh Bhīl Corps, by Mr. A. H. A. Simcox, C.S.
[2] The old name of the Sesodia clan, Gahlot, is held to be derived from this Goha. See the article Rājpūt Sesodia for a notice of the real origin of the clan.
[3] Rājasthān, i. p. 184.
[4] Ibidem, p. 186.
[5] Reference may be made to The Golden Bough for the full explanation and illustration of this superstition.
[6] Rājasthān, ii. pp. 320, 321.
[7] History of the Marāthas, i. p. 28.
[8] See article.
[9] Rājasthān, ii. p. 466.
[10] Malcolm, Memoir of Central India, i. p. 518.
[11] An Account of the Bhīls, J.A.S.B. (1875), p. 369.
[12] Hyderābād Census Report (1891), p. 218.
[13] The Khāndesh Bhīl Corps, by Mr A. H. A. Simcox.
[14] Forbes, Rāsmāla, i. p. 104.
[15] Memoir of Central India, i. pp. 525, 526.
[16] Ibidem, i. p. 550.
[17] Hobson-Jobson, art. Bhīl.
[18] An Account of the Bhīls, p. 369.
[19] The Khāndesh Bhīl Corps, p. 71.
[20] Ibidem, p. 275.
[21] Eugenia jambolana.
[22] Soymida febrifuga.
[23] Phyllanthus emblica.
[24] Terminalia belerica.
[25] Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarāt, p. 309.
[26] See article Kunbi.
[27] Sorghum vulgare.
[28] Loc. cit. p. 347.
[29] Western India.
[30] Asiatic Studies, 1st series, p. 174.
[31] Asiatic Studies, 1st series, p. 352.
[32] Bombay Gazetteer, Hindus of Gujarāt, p. 302.
[33] Bombay Gazetteer, vol. xii. p. 87.
[34] An Account of the Bhīls, pp. 362, 363.
[35] Account of the Mewār Bhīls, pp. 357, 358.
[36] Forbes, Rāsmāla, i. p. 113.
[37] Nimār Settlement Report, pp. 246, 247.
[38] Sir G. Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India, vol. ix. part iii. pp. 6–9.