THE ABORIGINAL TRlBEwS. 143 



Bheel. The Bheels were for a much longer period in 

 close contact with Hindus than any other tribe, and that 

 during a period of Indian history when the restrictions 

 of caste were almost entirely in abeyance. Buddhism, 

 and its offspring Jainism, were the ruling faiths in that 

 part of the country up to the eleventh or twelfth 

 century ; and thus it is probable that a much greater 

 admixture of the races occurred there than in countries 

 where the Brahminical forms prevailed. The Bhilalas 

 are now very numerous, occupying large tracts as almost 

 the sole population, but still there is a marked distinction 

 between these and the land-holding chiefs of the same 

 descent. The distinction is, in fact, identical with 

 that between the Raj-Gond and Korkii chiefs and 

 the numerous commoner classes of the same tribes 

 who are nominally pure aborigines, but are really half 

 Hindii. 



As is the case with the divers peoples now included 

 among modern Hindus, it would be wholly impossible 

 now to gauge the extent to which the infusion of the 

 Aryan element has taken place among these aboriginal 

 races. The facility for amalgamation between them — 

 the chemical affinity, so to speak, between the races — 

 seems to be so great, that in a very few generations 

 the points denoting the predominance of one or the 

 other become obliterated. And yet the traveller among 

 them will come on stratum after stratum showing in 

 the clearest manner the intermediate stages between the 

 two races. And, as a rule, variation of physical type 

 will be found to be accompanied in almost equal ratio 

 by divergence from aboriginal manners and religious 

 ideas in the direction of Hinduism. It is probable that 

 the further commixture of blood, excepting through the 



