Bhilat Dev and Rani Kajal, together with the clan and ancestral deities of the Bhil peoples of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in western India, among the largest Adivasi communities on the subcontinent. Bhil religion centres on ancestor veneration, local guardian spirits and seasonal agricultural rites rather than a single fixed pantheon, and it has absorbed elements of neighbouring Hindu devotion without ceasing to be its own tradition. Much of the surviving record comes from colonial and postcolonial Indian ethnography rather than from any written scripture of the Bhil's own.
Facts
Structure
Structure of the PantheonLocal and lineage cults gathered under one name, with no single frame 1 Divine HeadshipNo sovereign; the gods act as peers 1 Succession Between Divine GenerationsOne divine generation; no succession between generations is recorded 1 Attestation
Era of AttestationHeld from the beginning in the tradition's own terms; documented in the outside record from the 19th century 1 Veneration TodayActively venerated in a living tradition 1 Sources
Primary SourceOral tradition recited by badwa ritual specialists, with published ethnography 1 Organisation
Membership of the PantheonEvery place, clan and lineage adds its own 1 How Mortals Enter the PantheonAncestors and founders become objects of cult 1 Cult
Principal Cult CentreNo single centre. The shrine of Rani Kajal draws pilgrimage from across the Bhil country, and clan deities are kept at village and household level 1 Connections
Associated With
This source names Gujarat directly: "deities of the Bhil peoples of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in western India, among the largest Adivasi communities on the subcontinent."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Its own cited description places the Bhil peoples in western India.
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
This source names Rajasthan directly: "of the Bhil peoples of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in western India, among the largest Adivasi communities on the subcontinent."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Originated In
Sources
1. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source Bhil (Wikipedia)
Originated In: India, LeadQuote, Originated In: India, Lead
Bhil or Bheel are various indigenous groups inhabiting western India, including parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and in Sindh, Pakistan.
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