Bheel Bhils : a hill-tribe referred to as Nishādhas in Vedic literature. In feudal times, many were employed in various capacities because of their knowledge of the terrain & expertise in guerrilla warfare. According to 2001 Census, they form the largest tribal group in India followed by the Gond tribe. Bheels are divided into a number of endogamous territorial divisions, which in turn have a number of clans & lineages. Officially listed as the Scheduled Caste of Ᾱdivāsies, the majority reside in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra & Rajasthan, some in Chhattisgarh & Tripura, & some perhaps in Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka. In Gujarat & Maharashtra, they are now mainly a community of settled farmers, with a significant minority who are landless agricultural labourers, a significant subsidiary occupation remains hunting & gathering. The majority are now Hindu, with the Nidhi & Tadvi Bheels following Islam, & few sub-groups in the Dangs region following Christianity.
... NIRMOL We shall become Bheel housewives. After all, a Scythian throne Was better. ISHANY We have our weapons to befriend us yet. Coomood, look not so pale. Page 871 NIRMOL See, see, Ishany! The Bheels are leaping down upon our rear. ISHANY Quick, bearers, bearers. NIRMOL It is too late. She's taken. Enter Kodal and Bheels. KODAL Whoever wants... Rajpoot noble, General of Edur; formerly in the service of the Gehlote Prince. BAPPA - son of the late Gehlote Prince of Edur, in refuge among the Bheels. SUNGRAM, PRITHURAJ - young Rajpoot refugees, companions of Bappa. KODAL - a young Bheel, foster-brother and lieutenant of Bappa. TORAMAN - Prince of Cashmere. CANACA - the King's jester of Cashmere. HOOSHKA - Scythian captain. ... for a quiet stroll through the woodlands. But I have still hopes of our Bheel cateran, our tangle-locked Krishna of the hill-sides; surely he will not be so ungallant as to let such sweet booty pass through his kingdom ungathered. COMOL I would gladly see this same stripling and talk to him face to face who sets his Bheel arrows against our Rajpoot swords. He should be a man at least, no Scythian ...
... more authentic Bappa "in refuge among the Bheels" take the place of Ajamede. Prince of Edur was written (according to the Bibliographical Note in Vol. 7) "in the very thick of Sri Aurobindo's political activity". Historically, Bappa the hero of the play was the founder of the greatness of Mewar. He had spent his childhood among the Bheels (Bhils) of the forest, become their chieftain, and... and ultimately founded a Kingdom around Chitor. In Sri Aurobindo's play, Bappa of the Bheels - who is really the Prince of Edur in exile - manages to thwart the designs of all his enemies including the usurper Rana of Edur, and marries his daughter as well. The clash of interests and the heady march of events make for dramatic excitement, but Sri Aurobindo seems also to have visualized Bappa in the ...
... same thing holds good with regard to the literature of a particular nation. It is not true that poetry sweet and enthralling, the magic of the ballads, is not known to the Maoris or the Santals or the Bhils. If we leave aside the case of these uncivilised aboriginals, we come everywhere across a decent class of literature among the cultured and civilised peoples. But it is to be questioned whether that ...
... Acts were actually written) some sort of political parable. The story is redolent of the romance and heroism enshrined in the pages of James Tod's Annals of Rajasthan. Bappa among the Bheels is really the Gehelote Prince of Edur, and it is his destiny to get the better of all his rivals and enemies —Toraman the Cashmerean, Pratap of Ichalgurh, and Rana Curran the usurper of Edur—and also ...
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