5. Character.
Captain Forsyth, Settlement Officer of Nimār, had a very unfavourable opinion of the Bhilālas, whom he described as proverbial for dishonesty in agricultural engagements and worse drunkards than any of the indigenous tribes.[4] This judgment was probably somewhat too severe, but they are poor cultivators, and a Bhilāla’s field may often be recognised by its slovenly appearance.[5]
A century ago Sir J. Malcolm also wrote very severely of the Bhilālas: “The Bhilāla and Lundi chiefs were the only robbers in Mālwa whom under no circumstances travellers could trust. There are oaths of a sacred but obscure kind among those that are Rājpūts or who boast their blood, which are almost a disgrace to take, but which, they assert, the basest was never known to break before Mandrup Singh, a Bhilāla, and some of his associates, plunderers on the Nerbudda, showed the example. The vanity of this race has lately been flattered by their having risen into such power and consideration that neighbouring Rājpūt chiefs found it their interest to forget their prejudices and to condescend so far as to eat and drink with them. Hatti Singh, Grassia chief of Nowlāna, a Khīchi Rājpūt, and several others in the vicinity cultivated the friendship of Nādir, the late formidable Bhilāla robber-chief of the Vindhya range; and among other sacrifices made by the Rājpūts, was eating and drinking with him. On seeing this take place in my camp, I asked Hatti Singh whether he was not degraded by doing so; he said no, but that Nādir was elevated.”[6]
[1] This article is based mainly on Captain Forsyth’s Nimār Settlement Report, and a paper by Mr. T. T. Korke, Pleader, Khandwa.
[2] Eugenia jambolana.
[3] Bauhinia racemosa.
[4] Settlement Report (1869), para. 411.
[5] Mr. Montgomerie’s Nimār Settlement Report.
[6] Memoir of Central India, ii. p. 156.