A GREAT PROMOTER OF BHILI AND BHIL CULTURE

DR. NEMICHAND JAIN : A GREAT PROMOTER OF BHILI AND BHIL CULTURE

It was in early sixties of the last century, when people in Bhilanchal or Bhil Desh disliked the Bhils, Bhili, Bhil culture and the rest a man called Nemichand Jain from Badnagar a small town in the region of Malwa,(Madhya Pradesh),a Bania(merchant) by profession took up an upheal task of of studying systematically on his own the language, literture and culture of a great and hsitorical tribe called the Bhils from whom the Rajputs inherited many of their chiefdoms, states and places,in perilous social conditions of Western Madhya Pradesh. No one valued the initiatives and contributions later Dr. Nemichand Jain would make to the study of lesser known tribal cultures of the largest ancient and Indian tribe of Asia. In those days the Bhils were looked down and called or nicknamed as 'Mama, Bhilda, langotiya, Jungli.......etc in a very derogatory manner. The names still resound with hatredness in the minds and hearts of the senior Bhils of today in Malwa the Western parts of Madhya Pradesh. Of course, there are few more scholars whose names should be recalled such as Rev. Thomson, Russel & Hiralal, Leo Jungblut, T.B. Naik,S. fuchs, W. Koppers, Y.V.S.Nath, G.S.Aurora, Iravati Karve, S.D. Kulkarni, S.L.Doshi, J.K.Doshi, etc. But among all these scholars the contributions made by Dr. Nemichand Jain is a unique and memorable one.

But, this man, called Dr Nemichand Jain, engaged sustematically with a missionary zeal, to study the language, literature, festivals, folklore, customs, proverbs, riddles, vocabulary, hermeneutics, popular and particular usages, history, origin, social encounters, suppressions, exploitation, education, values, world views of a great tribe like that of Gonds, Santhals, Munda and the rest in Indian subcontinent. He saw in the wholistic culture of the Bhils a God given gifts and values, persisting from over two milleniums, inspite of suppressions and oppressions because it was very significant.

As the result of his painstaking research in Bhil region, Dr. Nemichand Jain published many research papers and articles in Nai Dunya, Navbharat, Indore Samachar, Tirthankar, Veena, Rituchakra and broadcast many talks(vartas) from All India Radio(Akashvani), at Indore and Bhopal.
Among the books he contributed through a publication instituted in the loving memory of his loving mother and father called Hira-Bhaiya at Patrakar Colony at Indore, he published several volumes, authored by him and his disciples. They are:
1. BHIL : Bhasha; Sahitya aur Sanskriti
2. Bhili-Hindi Kosh
3. BHILI Ka Bhasha Shastriya Adhyayan(For this he was awarded Ph.D and later D. Lit.)

Besides these significant and rare publications he promoted many scholars and writers who had real interst for the love of the oppressed, exploited and great ethnic society like that of the Bhils for which Dr. Nemichand Jain's father, Hiralal Jain had left behind the funds for instituting this publication. Some more works of Dr. Nemichand Jain remains to be published.

Not many people and scholars appreciated the contribution and the rare venture that Dr. Nemichand Jain made. But today his writings are very much valued and appreciated by students, scholars, Government officials and research scholars both from India and abroad. The Bhil society shall remain alway indebted to this great and pioneering scholar who laid down a strong and unshakaeable foundation for the study of Bhil language, literature and culture on which Bhil society and Bhilanchan can stand with great pride.

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