BHERA

[s. 100] : A town of about 17,000 inhabitants situated on the Jhelam River in the Punjab, India; station of the UP (1884), with 1 mi ionary and his wife, 2 mi ionary women and 2 outstations. BHILS An aboriginal Kolarian race of Central India. One of their typical men is about 5J feet in stature, with short arms, prominent cheek bones, thick lips, black hair and heavy beard. Together with other Kolarian aborigines they were pushed back by an early Aryan invasion from the plains into the hill country, and are now found scattered over Rajputana, the hills of the Vindhya and Sappura ranges, the outlying portions of Indore and Gwalior provinces, the hills as far south as Poona, and eastward along the Godavari and Wand rivers. Their favorite: abode is along the rugged, wooded banks of the Tapti, Mahi and Nerbada Rivers which flow into the Arabian Sea. Their estimated number is Cruelly treated by the Marathi, 3,000,000. they have lived apart, with their own chieftains 8S and councils which settle disputes between individuals and communities, the British authorities maintaining a difficult supervision over them. the cultivated into expeditions country, brigandage, the chase with bow and sheep and goats, arrows as weapons, the raising of some rude agriculture, and some simple manu- Marauding factures in bamboo have been their means of support. When at home, they dwell in little hamlets, called -pals, each homestead, tolerably well built of loose stones and interwoven bamboo, located on a separate hillock so that an enemy may not surprise a whole town at once. Their clothing is meager. They have now no separate They are addicted to drink, and language. when intoxicated are quarrelsome. Polygamy is practiced, but more than two wives is unusual. Women are chaste after marriage. Their religion is spirit worship, with additions from Hinduism. They are firm believers in ghosts and in witches. The latter they swing head downwards until they die or confe ; but upon confe ion the witch is punished with death or banishment. Siva and other Hindu deities are worshipped and local deities are numerous. Gatamji, their patron saint, occupies a niche in most Bhil houses. A Brahman is usually called in to officiate at the naming of the child and at marriage. The dead are burned and the ashes cast into sacred streams, for unle they have such a resting place, their spirits are supposed to trouble surviving relatives. Mi ionary work was begun among the Bhils by the Church Mi ionary Society in 1880. It was at first very difficult to get in touch with this scattered, secluded and suspicious highland folk, but persistent kindne at last won their confidence. The first converts were enrolled in 1889, but in 1900, after twenty years of labor, the mi ion numbered fourteen baptized and fifteen catechumens. The work of the mi ionaries in famine relief in 1901-2 proved the turning point in the history of the mi ion, and since the Gospel has been welcomed, you sands of children have been enrolled in the schools, and in the spring of 1903 fifty-four converts were baptized and the Bhils undertook the building of their own church. The Bhil Mi ion of the Church Mi ionary Society occupies four stations in Rajputana; Kherwara, Lusaria, where there is a girls’ orphanage; Baulia, and Bilaria, with a boys’ orphanage. The history of other mi ions has been similar. The United Free Church of Scotland has an encouraging Bhil Mi ion in Rajputana with a “Bliil Home” at Udaipur. Amkhut is the field of the vigorous Bhil Mi ion of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, with educational, medical, orphanage, and industrial departments. The Christian Bliils have proved good mechanics. The baptisms in 1901-2 numbered 105. The Bhils are at a crisis in their history, and before long will become either Hindus or “Christians. Because of the absence of caste, they do not meet the opposition which the Hindus do from their own people when they try to improve their condition. They are now coming to know their need, and at present they seem peculiarly open to the Gospel. Wild Races of S. E. India, Lewin (T. H.), London, 1870; Brief History of the Indian Peoples, Hunter (W. W.), London. 100