1. Habital regions: Bhils live in inaccessible and uninhabited mountainous regions. They live in Aravalli, Vindhyachal and Satpura mountains and in forest regions. Bhils are found in four states of India – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Bhils are found mostly in Banswara, Dungarpur, Udaipur and Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, Dhar, Jhabua and Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, Panchmahal and Vadodara in Gujarat, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, Nashik and Dhule districts in Maharashtra.

2. Economy: Bhils reside in lonely place of forest and mountainous region. The main base of their livelihood is food collection from forest, hunting, shifting agriculture arid rearing livestock. Women collect and store ediable roots, flowers, fruits from the forest. They hunt wild animals and birds. They produce food grains, vegetables and fodder. They perform the work of cattle breeding also.

(a) Hunting: They hunt animals in the forest using arrow and bows. Men catch fish from ponds. Earlier, they were excellent hunters, but now they perform farming also. Almost 80% of the Bhils perform farming now. Jhooming cultivation in mountainous regions is called Chimata and cultivation done in plain regions is called Dajia.

(b) Food: They eat maize for the entire year. At the time of festivals, they prepare chokha (rice) and lapsi. They made ‘Rabari’ by boiling butter milk and flour. Wheat, urad, moong and vegetable are also included now in their foods. According to tradition, they are vegetarian.

(c) Clothes: Bhils used to wear very less clothes before independence. Men used to wear boxers made of husk and women wore peticoats. Now – a – days, men have started wearing shirt, dhoti, turban or pant – shirt. Women wear ghaghara, kanchali and loongari. Boys wear laincloth and girls wear ghaghari and odhani. The Bhils wear ornaments made of silver, bronze, zinc and nickel. Bhil women embellish themselves with lakh and glass bangles.

(d) Residence: The houses of Bhils are found to be scattered. Their houses are called Koo. They usually live in huts. Their houses are made of grass and weed and rag. Group of their small villages is called Fala and a large village is called Pal.

(e) Tools and Utensils: Bow – arrow, sword and dagger are their major weapons. Arrows are of two types – one is called Hariyo and the other is called Robado. A type of snare called Phatakiya is used to catch birds. Richer Bhils have started using guns also. It is mandatory for the Bhils to use utensils made of clay, treadmill to grind maize and cradle are made of bamboo.

3. Sociaty and Culture: Bhils remain organised in various patriarchal groups and clans. People of every clan live in separate villages. Every clan has its respective clan symbol. Whether he is an old or a young person, every Bhil has a wife even if it is a normal marriage or she has been ravished and brought. Polygyny is also prominent in their society.

Normally, the proposal of marriage comes from the groom’s side. In this tradition, a price is paid for the bride, called Dapa system, which has to be paid by the father of the bridegroom. Through the system of ‘Gol – Gadhedon’, any young man gets the right to choose his bride by showing his valour and courage.

They are worshippers of nature. They also worship agricultural implements and equipments also, as most of the Bhils are farmers. Many gods and goddesses are worshipped by them. Some people worship Nag-devata. They are superstitious and believe in ghosts. They perform cremation of the dead.