Mewar as Focus of Guhila State (Part-XXII)

All these contributions made by the local Bhil population towards the maintenance of the state ran parallel to the continuing process of peasantization of the Bhils in the nucleus of local Rajput states. — Prof. Nandini Kapur Sinha

The state also depended on local Bhil Chiefs for the occasional mobilization of Bhil as militia for the state. This statement can be true at least for the territories within the limits of Oghna-Panarwa and Undri. 

The chief of Oghna-Panarwa has been significantly described as the 'head of five thousand bows'. Traditions have preserved accounts of the Bhils fighting for both R??a Hammira in the fourteenth century and Rana Pratap in the sixteenth century. The chivalry exemplified by the Bhils in the battle of Haldigha?i remains a popular theme in Bhil folklore. The mobilization of armies by the different deities of Chittaur leading to the victory of the mahara?as of Mewar is a recurrent theme of Bhil songs. These songs not only reflect the popular image of the Guhila rulers but also Bhil involvement in the Mewar army. However, such themes seem to emanate more from the ranks of Bhil chiefs.

All these contributions made by the local Bhil population towards the maintenance of the state ran parallel to the continuing process of peasantization of the Bhils in the nucleus of local Rajput states. Direct evidence of this process comes from the Mala copper plates of the thirteenth century from Vagod. Two Bhils, Nadhol and Ralhu?, figure as witnesses to the royal grants made in the village of Mala near Dungarpur. In his discussion of religious attributes of the Bhils, R.S. Mann observes that the plough is an implement of occasional worship, possibly since the time the Bhils shifted to a settled agricultural economy and became dependent on agriculture. The importance of agriculture is also reflected in the folk-songs of those Bhils who were settled in villages. Themes such as field preparation, the harvest and protection of crops from animals are common.

However, peasantization seems to have involved very few Bhils in the core of the Guhila state. It must be remembered that the majority of Bhils had been practising hunting, gathering and shifting agriculture. The traditional economic pursuit of a majority of Bhils is reflected in one of their legends popular among the Bhils of Gujarat. Once Mah?deva took a Bhil-girl as his bride. Her brothers went to Mah?deva for the bride price. They were offered Nandi, the bull. P?rvati (the Bhil bride in this case) told her brothers that the hump of the bull contained unlimited wealth-hinting thereby that by yoking the bull they would be prosperous. The greedy foresters killed the bull to possess the wealth immediately. This angered the goddess and she cursed the Bhils to perennial poverty. The legend proves the unpopularity of agriculture among most Bhils, but the economic process of state formation (involving the horizontal spread of rural settlements) brought about a transformation in some tribal pockets in which at least a small section of the Bhils emerged as agriculturists.

In spite of Bhil participation in the functioning of the state apparatus, a paradox emerges: in the state's image of the Bhils they were a socially despised ethnic group. Though the tik? ceremony performed by the Bhil chiefs at the royal coronations is known to have continued at a latter period, there is no such mention in the official Guhila records. The official attitude is clearly expressed in a thirteenth-century record from Chittaurgarh: 'the enemies of king Alla?a being incapable of showing their contempt towards him in the battlefield, treat Sabara women disrespectfully and they describe his actions as pleasures in each of the mountains'. This official attitude possibly also point out that the fact that women were used as weapons in a clash between two political opponents and that 'disrespect' (rape?) of women was used to denigrate the opponent points to the patriarchal nature of the polity in which women had no say except as instruments of patriarchal political interests. Secondly, the Bhil residents of the village Mala have been merely designated as 'Bhils' without any such titles as r?ul, r?val, etc., that designated some of the contemporary Rajput residents of the village Mala. An understanding of the official image of the Bhils perhaps reveals the actual situation of the Bhils in society and highlights the problem of tribal integration in the state. In spite of a close and long Bhil-Guhila interaction, the state had to reassert itself again and again in the Bhil localities.

The problem is especially evident in the fifteenth century, probably due to the long absence of Guhila authority in Mewar for a major part of the fourteenth century. Also, the element of egalitarianism, dominant in the Bhil social structure, would have generated problems for the Bhil chiefs (even those of Oghna-Panarwa and Undri) in controlling Bhils beyond their limited territorial jurisdiction. Recurrent Bhil revolts have plagued the history of Mewar. R?n? Hammira is credited with victory over the Bhils of Jilwara (Merwara tract) in the Srngir?i Inscription of the early fifteenth century. R?n? Khet? is eulogized in the Amarakavyam for having conquered and annexed the territories of the Bhils and the Min?s. In the fifteenth century, Mah?r?n? Kumbha fortified many passes to control the Bhils of Panarwa. Every possible step was taken to fend off possible attacks by Bhils. Significantly, Tod observes that khalis? (royal land) in Mewar was bounded on three sides by wandering barbarous tribes. In the area between the Bhil tract and the core of the state were estates of Rajput chiefs. Bhil discontent was perhaps responsible for the settlement of a Solarmki Rajput chief, Aksaya R?j?, in Panarwa in the fifteenth century. One of Aksaya R?j?'s successors settled in Oghna in the sixteenth century. Prior to the Solamkis, a Rajput of Yadu lineage, and a Dudhi? Br?hma?a Udair?ja, are known to have lived i in the Bhil areas of Panarwa and Oghna respectively. All this had a significant impact on the Bhil chiefs. The presence of Solamki chiefs in Oghna-Panarwa is likely to have been responsible for the Bhil-Solarhki marriage in the subsequent period and claims to Solamki descent by the chiefs of Oghna-Panarwa. It is well-known that the Bhil chiefs of Oghna-Panarwa claim descent from the Solamki lineage of the Rajputs, Similarly, some other Bhil groups of Mewar, Magra, Kalyanpur, etc., claimed descent from different Rajput lineages. The Solamki Bhils of Oghna-Panarwa may be the oldest case of 'Rajputization' among the Bhils of southern Rajasthan. The Bhils claiming Rajput descent are called the Bhil?l?s (progeny of Rajput fathers and Bhil mothers). They claim a rank superior to the Bhils.

To be continued ...

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