Bhil Culture

The Bhils are one of the largest and oldest Adivasi (tribal) communities of India, and they give the eastern, hilly part of Aravalli district its distinctive cultural character. Living across the Aravalli hills and the wider tribal belt of eastern Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the Bhils have a rich heritage of folk dance and music, vivid festivals and fairs, distinctive dress and ornament, and a deep, ancestral relationship with the forest and land. Their dances — energetic, communal, performed to drums — and their participation in great fairs like Shamlaji are central to the cultural life of the region. Bhil deities, customs and oral traditions form a living culture distinct from, yet interwoven with, mainstream Hinduism. The Bhils have also a proud history, including figures and folk-heroes of the freedom struggle and resistance. To encounter Bhil culture — at a fair, a village, or a cultural event — is to glimpse one of India’s deep-rooted indigenous traditions. For the visitor, an awareness of Bhil culture enriches any trip to Aravalli — best and most respectfully experienced at the region’s tribal fairs and through local guidance. (The living Adivasi culture of the Aravalli hills; experience at fairs and with respect; a distinct indigenous tradition.)