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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THE BHIL HEROES

A great pre-historian, Hindi scholar, linguist and over all Bhil scholar Dr. Nemichand Jain mentions in his two famous books ' Bhili ka Bhasha Sahitya-Adhyayana' and 'BHILI.: Bhasha Sahitya aur Sankriti' about one of the versions of Ramayana in Gujarati called Bhilodi Ramayana. It is composed accoriding to the oral tadition of the Bhils and of the region that it was composed by one of the great Bhil heroes, called Valmiki. Valmiki from the region of Nishad Desh clearly appears to have been a Bhil poet ,not only a rogue but also a scholar who later in his conversion days, composed Valmiki Ramayana. Similarly Eklavya who was more expert that the Pandwas especially Arjuna,,in the military skill of archery in those days, to defeat and dampen him the great Guru Dronacharya in his great wisdomasked for the thumb of right hand in return of his gurudakshina (tuition fee) and ever since the Bhils do not use the thumb of the right hand for the archery. Eklavya was a local prince and a Bhil hero. In Ramayana and Mahabharata and Puranas we find many Nishad or the Bhil heroes.Tulsi Das in his Ramcharitra Manas says that the Nishad king Guha went to welcome Rama with his council of ministers near present Shrungverpur when God Rama was approaching towards forest for vanvas and Shabari was 'parangat' (expert/specialised) in shastras (sacred books). Rana Punja Bhil the right hand of Maharana Pratap, the great hero of the Rajputana when deserted totally by his fellow Rajputs was attended and supported by the Rana Punja Bhil in the great war against the Mugals in Haldighat not only during the war but later in his las days as a defeated and deserted hero by the great patriotic Bhils. When the army of Akbar attacked Agra a Bhil chief of the opposite army faced the Mogul army. And today we are fmiliar with the Great patriot and Tribal hero of India Sant Tantia Bhil. Such national heroes of the Great Bhil tribe are over a hundred in the written and the oral tradition of the Bhils of Charans, Dholis(Bhil Bards), Ravalyas(Bhil Historians) and vartaryas(story tellers). A famous tribal historian of Rajasthan, Hariram Meena has been doing a valueable research along this line. The two tribal journals 'Aravali Udghosh'and 'Mangargh Sandesh' are aslo making significant contribution in this field.

In the oral tradition of the Bhils and in the life of the Bhils heroes the innate and uncorrupt values of the Bhils is exhibited in a sacredway, against the corrupted values which are percolating in tribal areas today in the social, cultural and political encounters with other castes, The Central Government and state governments of India, must promote the innate, sublime, and sacred values of the Bhils in the Bhilanchal regions,by the written and oral tradition of India, the life and values for which these great Bhil heroes stood firmly and did not support the invading Muslims and the British like many castes and other groups did contrary in the political history of India. Not only this, India should not promote only non tribal heroes who belong to the minority population of India, but should represent 80% of the national heroes from the 80% population of India who are SC, ST & and OBC folks. It today great discrimination, injustice and damage to the human rights is being done to the Great Bhil heroes, the Bhil community and these SC, ST & OBC who are originally80% indigenous peoples of India.

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BHILS

It is believed that some 67 % of the indigenous folks of the world live in Asia and good many are in the form of Scheduled Tribes whom we can Adivasi. Adi means original and vasi meaning residents, inhabitants of this Nishad Desh. This name was given to these Deshaj or original peoples or inhabitants by no other than the 'outsiers' who came to their geographical habitats as invaders as the histry and prehistory suggests or indicates. Ever since this name has rightfully stuck to them, though due to some reasons these names are being played or under mutation.

Among these indigenous folks of Indian Subcontinent the oldest and largests among them are the autochthons , indigenous of those days are the Nishads the pre historic people of the good old or bygone days whose main remnats are the Bhils of today who are also known with many regional and local names in these states. These are actually speaking not the very people who were called Asuras, Rakshas or giants in the ancient days. They were the people of this category such as the kings, princes and community chiefs of those days who are indiscriminately narrated so, Eklavya, Shabri and many others are the remnants of them. Due to the social enounters with the invading races, castes and people their culture regressed, they were suppressed and they lost or deproved totally of their language, cultures, religion, land, states, status, dignity, identiy and illogically assimilated . This Nishad Land streched far and wide a territory beyond the comprehension of today's mind. They occupied a territory streching today Uttarpradesh, Punjab, Pakistan, Sindh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhatisgargh, Parts of Andhra, Tripura, Assam and so on. One can no longer imagine the area they ocupied in those days without having the idea of history of these Nishad Desh peoples. They are the original adivasis of this subcontinent whose physical, cultural, social hsitory needs to be revived, respected and to some or geater extent restored.

Their life, culture, society, folklore, relgion, values, world views, dignity, needs to be recognised and restoed within the Constitutional framework of India in view to their social, cultural human and other rights as 5th and 6th Schedule also supports. Today this section of the people in the Indian subcontinent are under serious threats of survival due to the oppression and negligence by the mainstream people. Similar status should be restored for more than 500 Adivasi folks of India who are seriously suffering for their basic human survival against the onslaughts of the stronger ones in India where progressive policies are being framed for the survival of competent and doom of the weaker ones.

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THE BHILS : The Largest Indigenous Population of Asia

The pre-historians of India and Europe have called the Bhils residing in the Indian subcontinent as autochthons. Their origin and history is totally concealed in the mystery and mist of timeof the remote past. One thing is certain to the pre-historians, physical anthropologists, cultural anthropologists, historians that they are different race having their own blood group, world views, values, religion and folklore ,etc. The culture of the Bhils or the Nishadas in Vedic and even pre Vedic era had reached a certain level of cultural growth. Remnants of the same we can see in Ramayan, Mahabharata in the unique charachters of Eklavya,Shabari etc. The Asuras of that time were not the real giants but the Nishada, Deshaj, Adivasi or the tribal kings and royal kings and pricnes of those bygone and glorious days of the present day Adivasi whose history, culture and society regressed after the coming of non adivasi peoples into their geographical space. The Great Nishad-Desh was stretching from Central, North(including Pakistan) Wedstern and partly Southern parts of India to many other regions. A fact that is not known to many but cannot be denied. Dr. Stephen Fuchs, Dr. S.L.Doshi, Dr. Wilhelm Koppers, Prof. Brij Raj Chauhan, L. Jungblut, Dr. T.B.Naik, Dr. Nemichand Jain. Dr. J.K. Doshi, Dr. Y.V.S.Nath and many others hold to this view. The Nishadas of those days and their major persisting social group in the form of the Bhils and their values still persist up to this day. This is because this was th different race altogether.

Today this race in the form of Bhils, known also under many regional and local names is thrieving for the physical, social and cultural survival. If we put together all these persisting groups of Bhils spread over many states of India specially Rajasthan, Punjab, Pakistan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Orissa, Chhatisgargh, West Bengal, Tripua, Assam, etc it will form the biggest or the largest indigenous proup of India. Hence it shall be able to form its own geographical space in the form of a state within the of the healthy survival to maintain thier own human and cultural and religious rights with are very much denied today.

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BHILVANI. Weekly News Magazine of Bhils to Protect their Human and Cultural Rights

The Bhils are possibly more that 150 millions all over the country known under various regional and local names. They are spread in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Chhatisgargh, West Begal, Assam, Tripura and also in Pakistan. This is one of the community of India which is largely neglected by the mainstream communities even though some claiming to work for them about their society, culture, folklore, language, religioun, worldviews and values, festivals, tribal heroes, folk-history, ancient Bhil land, demographic presence, schedued areas, etc including by the Church NGOs working in the Bhil regions claiming to be honestly dedicated to the uplisftment of the Bhils. By and by, the Bhils under these external influences, forms of tribal development imposed and exploitations, even though billions and billions of Rupees came for them did not reach to them. It is a matter of seriuous regrett. On the contrary, the others in the name of developing the Bhils have far and wide developed themselves and imposed on the Bhils their own way of life, including the missionaries of regular and free churches.Some of the so called NGOs are working among the Bhils for more than 100 years under whom the Bhils have regressed and not progressed. If they continue to impose their ideas and life style the existence of the Bhils will be vanished.

Bhilvani is but a humble attempt to elevate the Bhils through a methodology called adivasikaran, as the eminent cultural anthropologist of India Prof. Sachidananda calls it a wholistic and ideal approach for the tribal development in India.
Bhilvani is a weekly news and views magazine committed for the protection of their human and cultural rights against the mainstream invasions under several damaging factors, while innovating, preservng, promoting and integrating the Bhils in the national mainstream as the respectable citizens of the country. Bhilvani has made a humble beginning. It is being written, edited in Bhili Mathias Bhuriya and published by a Bhil himself from Jhabua. All the NGOs if they are interested in the Bhils should promote the language, culture and society of the Bhils otherwise a day is not far when the Bhil community shall face the final face of suppression.

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ALCOHOL IS THE MAIN CAUSE OF BACKWARDNESS OF JHABUA BHILS

The Bhils or Adivasi community who Jhabua district including the present district of Alirajpur is the archaic or the indigenous tribal community of India as an eminent cutural anthropologist of India Dr. Stephen Fuchs SVD often called. Prior to the coming of Outsiders to the home land of the Bhils called Nishad Land in the ancient days in the North India, they were the rulers, village cheifs, petty kings, kings of ranks who are described indiscriminately described as Asuras or Rakshashas or Giants in the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upnishadas or other sanscritic literatures. Ever since the coming of non-Nishadas, or non Bhils to the land of these indigenous peoples, they have constantly fought unsuccessful wars with Aryans, Rjputs, Moguls, Marathas and Brtitish peoples and all others till today since the outsiders were more able and competent as compared to these indigenous folks . As a consequence of these encounters,in the history from prehistoric times till today, the incoming peoples have done great injustice to the Nishadas or the Bhils till today. Their geographial space vastely shrunk like that of the ancient Gondwana, or their land was alienated, society and culture was damaged and destroyed, language and folklore was discouraged, they were illogically or irrationally assimilated, destory and their history was unwritten , their heroes were killed and their names are wiped away from their history, as a whole their till today being wiped away from the face of Nishad-Land. But the Constitution of India under the pioneering leadership of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar upholds their overall human rights with dignity for the safe and legal revival if need be.

To forget these historical, social, cultural and over all psychological tradgedies they drink, sing and dance. The money lenders, alcohol merchants and the non tribals encourage them to drink more and more so that the resources which are further remaining may go to them easily and automatically. Only from the district of Jhabua including Alirajpur some worth of over 100 crores worth of alcohol is being consumed and no NGOs have seriously taken the cause of uplifting the tribals since they too want to be beneficiries of the inheriting the remaining resources of the Bhils.

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The Need of Today for Tribal India

Today the SC, ST & OBC communities are most deprived, marginalised and neglected by all the sections of Indian communities including 98% of the Christian and non christian NGOs who claim to have come to the isolated regions of these communities to save from being lost in oblivion, with exceptions to Jesuit Missionaries and SDB Missionaries in certain Central and Eastern tribal zones of India with practically no exceptions,filling their own pockets, channellising tribal and other funds elsewhere, further impoverishing these communities espcially the tribals while establishing their communities and kins, as it very evident in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat besides other states in India. The need of the hour is to protect frm the so called social workers, NGOs etc the human rights of all types, Otherwise the second slavery of the tribals shall be impossible to lberate from the clutches of their Indian bretheren.

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