Bhils

Bhils, a pre-Aryan race of Central India, inhabiting the states from the Khandesh district of Bombay to the wild hilly tracts of the Vindhya range, north of the Nerbudda River. In 1825 James Outram organised a Bhil corps in order to utilise the warlike instincts of the people, and at the same time the first Bhil agency was formed. The Bhils are dark, diminutive men, brave and active, but predatory and superstitious. Their normal habit of life has been nomadic, wandering about with their sheep and goats, and living chiefly on game and fruit. At present some faint progress has been made in civilising them, and a very few have been brought to till the ground. They number some 750,000.