70 Major-General Sir J. Malcolm on the Bhills. 



that the BJiills come from the countries N.W. of Malwa.* One of the 

 strongest is, that the principal rwwels and bhats (priests and minstrels) of 

 Rath and Neiimr, and I believe those of Candeish, come once or twice a 

 year from the countries of Udeypur and Jaudhpur, to visit the tribes settled 

 in the more southern districts. 



The Bhills have a fabulous tale regarding their origin, which I have 

 elsewhere stated.f This ascribes their descent to an intercourse between a 

 celestial and terrestrial being. Mahadeva (we are told) became enamoured 

 of an earthly beauty, and had a family by her. One of his sons, alike re- 

 markable for his deformity and vice, slew the sacred bull of his father ; for 

 which sacrilege he was banished to the mountains : where he became the 

 founder of a race inheriting his vices and his turbulence, which took the 

 name of jB/«7& ; an appellation that has been, in course of time, indiscrimi- 

 nately applied to the Chanddla and Nishddat (outcasts of spurious birth), 



* Dr. Drummond, of Bombay, is of a different opinion. He considers the Bhills, as well as 

 the KiiUs, to be originally inhabitants of Guzerat and the south of India. In the latter part 

 of this conjecture I do not coincide; and I am confirmed in my opinion by that of Captain Tod, 

 an officer distinguished by his general attainments in Hindu literature and antiquities, and whose 

 minute local knowledge of the country of Rnjputana, and its inhabitants, exceeds that of any 

 other individual. Captain Tod observes, in reply to my query upon this subject, " We can trace 

 " the Bhills as ponerful communities so far back as the Mahabharat ; for even Virut, to which 

 " the five Pdndawas were banished, formed part of that grand forest, the Herambar tarca, 

 " which comprehended both Surashlra and Gujjararashira, from the world's end (Jagnt Kunt 

 " DivarkaJ to the Malwa frontier, along the Nennada, and embracing Eidiir and Dongerpur. 

 " Abu, and the tracts anciently called Dandhar, comprehending Koliwara and tracts up the 

 " Lernswdti and the western Benas, an immense tract of country. Herambar was the titular 

 " appellation of those forest lords, and there are legends without end of Bhima's pranks with 

 " the fair Bhilmi in the Maluia frontier, and at Girnar in the centre of Sitrashtra. The 

 " name of Bhill is immortalized by his giving the death-blow to the head of the powerful Radu 

 " (Jttdun) tribes. The deified Krishna, who mixed in the fight of Kunt-cshStra, and was 

 " charioteer to his friend Akjuna, when the Poet says, ' He crimsoned the yellow mantle in the 

 " red-stained field.' The curse of the sage Dcrvasas, and the Bhill slaying the Indian Apollo 

 " ( Muralidhar, the flute-holder,) is well known to all the lovers of Hindu legendary tales." 

 t Vide Central India, Vol. I. p. 518. 



J I am infonned by Mr. Haughton, of the East-India College, to whose knowledge of Sanscrit 

 literature I am much indebted, that the term Nishiida, which signifies an outcast race, is ra- 

 dically different from Nishaddha, a country of which Nala (whose misfortunes are so beautifully 

 described in the Mahdbhdrata) was sovereign. This episode has been translated into Latin by 

 the learned Professor Bopp, who is one among the many distinguished men of his country, that 

 have of late made a great proficiency in oriental literature. The European public are promised 



a complete 



