A Bhilala is a tribe found in the Malwa and Nimar of the Central Provinces and in Central India. The total strength of the Bhilalas is about 150,000 persons, most of whom reside in the Bhopawar Agency, adjoining Nimar. Only 15,000 were returned from the Central Provinces in 1911. The Bhilalas are commonly considered, and the general belief may in their case be accepted as correct, to be a mixed caste sprung from the invading immigrant Rajputs with

Bhils Bhil or Bheel is an ethnic group in western India. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages. As of 2013, Bhils were the largest tribal group in India. Bhils are listed as tribal people of the ...

of the Central India hills. The original term was not improbably Bhilwala, and may have been applied to those Rajput chiefs, a numerous body, who conquered small estates in the Bhil country, or to those who took the daughters of Bhil chieftains to wife. The bhilalas in the central province are descendants of male Rajput with female

and take the name of the Rajput clan to which they trace their origin. The Bhilalas are landholders and live like

mukhi Mukhi (''mukhia'') is the title used for a head of community or village elitesIndia's Villages. Development Department, West Bengal, 1955 and their local government in Western India and the Sindh.Peasant Pasts: History and Memory in Western India. ...

s, darbar or thakur. Systematic anthropological research of Bhilala communities began in the 1960s with a study of two of their regional subgroups, the

Rathwa The Rathva or Rathwa also spelled as Rathava and Rathawa is a Subcaste of the Koli caste found in the Indian state of Gujarat. Rathava Kolis were agriculturist by profession and turbulent by habits but now lives like Adivasis such as Bhil be ...

Bhilala and Barela Bhilala although they had been recorded as early as 1832. In that year,

John Malcolm Major-General Sir John Malcolm GCB, KLS (2 May 1769 – 30 May 1833) was a Scottish soldier, diplomat, East India Company administrator, statesman, and historian. Early life Sir John Malcolm was born in 1769, one of seventeen children of Ge ...

used the term ''Bhilala'' to describe people of Bhil-Rajput descent and his usage has persisted, although in 1908 Michael Kennedy, another colonial administrator, preferred a more refined classification of such people as being any one of Baria, Dangi,

Parmar Parmar is a Rajput clan found in Northern and Central India, especially in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Kutch, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and North Maharashtra. See also * Paramara Dynasty * Panwar Dynasty * Pawar * Pan ...

and

Rathod The Rathore is a Rajput clan found in Northern India. Subclans Jodhana, Vadhel, Jaitawat, Kumpawat, Champawat, Meratiya, Udawat, Karamsot etc. are the branches or subclans of Rathore Rajputs. Coverage This article discusses the "Kanauji ...

. The co-mingling probably has its origins in the medieval period when Rajputs fleeing southwards from the Muslim invasion of India, conquered and took control of

Bhil Bhil or Bheel is an ethnic group in western India. They speak the Bhil languages, a subgroup of the Western Zone of the Indo-Aryan languages. As of 2013, Bhils were the largest tribal group in India. Bhils are listed as tribal people of t ...

settlements, taking Bhil women for

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

Bhilala Dynasty

Several Bhilala families hold estates in Nimar and Indore, and their chiefs now paradoxically claim to be "pure" Rajputs. The main Bhilala houses, as those of Bhamgarh, Selani and Mandhata, do not inter-marry with the rest of their original caste, but only among themselves and with other families of the same standing in Malwa and Holkar's Nimar. On succession to the Gaddi or headship of the house, representatives of these families are marked with a

tilaka In Dharmic culture, the ''tilaka'' ( sa, तिलक) () is a mark worn usually on the forehead, at the point of the Ajna chakra, or sometimes another part of the body such as the neck, hand, chest or arm. ''Tilaka'' may be worn daily or for ...

or badge on the forehead and sometimes presented with a sword, and the investiture may be carried out by custom by the head of another house. Bhilala landholders usually have the title of Rao or Rawat. Ironically and ahistorically, they do not admit that a Bhilala can now spring from intermarriage between a Rajput and a Bhil. The Bhilala Rao of Mandhata is hereditary custodian of the great shrine of Siva at Onkar Mandhata on an island in the Nerbudda. According to the mythological family tradions, their ancestor, Bharat Singh, was a Chauhan Rajput, who took Mandhata from Nathu Bhil in A.D. 1165, and restored the worship of Siva to the island, which had been made inaccessible to pilgrims by the terrible deities, Kali and Bhairava, devourers of human flesh. 1. BHARUDPURA, BHUMIA RAJA THAKUR UDAI SINGH chiefs were Chouhan Rajput of Anjana section Belongs to a Bhilala family, born about 1848; succeeded to the gadi In 1858. The population of the State was 1724, mainly Hindus. Area of the state was 57 km² and revenue was Rs 6000/-. Residence. Bharudpura, Bhopawar, Central India. 2. CHHOTA BARKHERA, BHUMIA RAJA THAKUR MUGAT SINGH Born 1865 ; succeeded to the gadi 14 September 1889. He was descended from a Bhilala family and was a chouhan rajput. The population of the State was about 1259, mainly Hindus. Area of the state was 60 km² and revenue was Rs 5000/- Residence. Chhota Barkhera, Bhopawar, Central India.

Chauhan Bhilala

The tradition of the tribe says that, after the

Ghurid The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; fa, دودمان غوریان, translit=Dudmân-e Ğurīyân; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty and a clan of presumably eastern Iranian Tajik origin, which ruled from th ...

invasion around 200,000 Chauhans fled to Mewar and after

Alauddin Khalji Alaud-Dīn Khaljī, also called Alauddin Khilji or Alauddin Ghilji (), born Ali Gurshasp, was an emperor of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrativ ...

's invasion many fled to the Vindhya hills and took

women in marriage. These male Chauhans "lost their caste" and were called Bhilalas. The Chauhan Bhilalas gained importance during the

Pindari The Pindaris were irregular military plunderers and foragers in 17th- through early 19th-century Indian subcontinent who accompanied initially the Mughal army, later the Maratha army, and finally on their own before being eliminated in the 1817� ...

raids in Central India by enlisting under the

Holkar The Holkar (Pronunciation: �o(ː)ɭkəɾ dynasty was a Maratha clan of Dhangar origin in India. The Holkars were generals under Peshwa Baji Rao I, and later became Maharajas of Indore in Central India as an independent member of the Mara ...

rulers, one of the famous Chauhan Bhilala's during this period was Nadir Singh, the Bhumia of Jamnia.Life Style, Indian Tribes: Locational Practice, Volume 3 By S. T. Das. Pg.276.
/ref>

Bhilala Dynasty

Chauhan Bhilala

References

Further reading