Interrogating Bhakti within the Bhil Adivasi Communities of Western India

This presentation makes a critical intervention in the study of *bhakti* (devotion) from the perspective of the Adivasis, the indigenous communities of India also classified as the “Scheduled Tribes.” This examination focuses on the study of the religious songs of the Bhils, i.e., the Adivasi communities of the Sabarkantha district of north Gujarat. Using archival and ethnographic data, this paper argues for the recognition of Adivasi tribal religions as a site for uncovering subaltern modes of devotion. The paper includes the first-ever English translations of religious songs found in Bhili, an Adivasi language spoken in the hilly borderlands of Gujarat. 

*Bhakti* in Gujarat has received a precarious position in the Brahmanical Sanskrit tradition of the Purāṇas. The narrative of the Padma Purāṇa depicts the origin of *bhakti* in Southern India, and it grows old and feeble by the time it travels to Gujarat. Such a narrative ignores the role of Gujarati literature and poets who have played a pivotal role in the dissemination of *bhakti* in the vernacular. Neelima Shukla Bhatt's (2014) insightful study on Narsinha Mehta, Parita Mukta’s (1994) work on the songs of Mīrābāi, and Francoise Mallison's (2020) explorations in the history of religious traditions of Gujarat provides a necessary corrective in this direction. However, an inquiry about the presence of *bhakti* within the lowermost Adivasi tribal communities remains unexamined. This neglect partly arises from scholarly assumptions that subaltern traditions lack an orientation towards devotion or *bhakti*, emphasizing a template of "worship without devotion instead." This model assumes that the subaltern strata of society are mainly concerned with transactional relationships with deities, seeking only worldly benefits and protection, most of which could be obtained by observation of specific rituals. While this model is not entirely untrue, it ignores emotional/affective relationships that tie subaltern religious communities with their gods.  

Examining the religious practices of Bhil Adivasi communities, this presentation inquires how "Adivasi *bhakti*" can effectively capture the affective, sensory, and embodied dimensions of Bhil religious tradition. While previous studies have examined *bhakti* beyond traditional Brahmanical Hindu contexts, such as within Muslim, Jain, or Sikh traditions, the religious songs of the Bhil Adivasis of the Khedbrahma/Sabarkantha region of Gujarat allow us to expand the discursive boundaries of what constitutes *bhakti*, distinguishing itself from forms of *bhakti* that emphasize ultimate liberation. This positions Bhil subaltern religions as independent traditions comprising their own literary corpus that affectively engages with their gods, some of whom also are part of the broader South Asian world. 

To forward this argument, the author presents a sample of four *bhajans* (devotional songs) sung by the Bhils in various ritual contexts. These include two *bhajans* gathered during the author's ethnographic fieldwork spanning ten months over three visits and two others collected by Bhagwandas Patel, a scholar of Gujarati and Bhil literature at the Gujarat University in Ahmedabad. 

The first and the second *bhajans*, collected during the author's fieldwork, depict emotions associated with a devotee’s longing for Krishna. In the first *bhajan*, Mīrā is depicted as a tribal woman who passionately yearns for her "Kanudo," a term of endearment for Krishna. Envious enemies of Mira also subjected her to a local poison found in the forests, an element that emphasizes its Adivasi context, adding a regional and contextual element to the song. The second *bhajan* focuses on the marriage of Rādhā and Krishna, an event that contradicts the popular narrative where Rādhā and Krishna are erotic lovers rather than a domestic couple. The *bhajan* narrates the story of Girdhārī (Krishna) testing the love of Radha after their wedding night when he decides to leave Radha away and disappears, saying that he wants to work in the fields. Krishna returns back to Radha deciding to adorn a feminine dress, wearing bangles characteristic of a tribal woman.   

The third and the fourth *bhajans* are translated from Bhagwandas Patel’s compilation of Bhili epics. The third sample is derived from the text Rom Sitmānī Vārtā, representing the Bhili rendition of the renowned epic Rāmāyaṇa. Contrary to the popular versions of the Rāmāyaṇa, where Rāma ascends to the throne of Ayodhya and banishes Sitā from the kingdom due to her alleged impurity, the Bhil Rāmāyaṇa offers an alternate conclusion. Here, Rom (Sanskrit: Rāma) relinquishes his claim to the throne, insisting that Lakṣmaṇ and Bharat jointly rule the kingdom while he desires to travel through the forests to meet those who remember him and those who are performing his *bhakti*. This alternate ending illuminates diverse facets of the narrative distinctive to Bhil Adivasi traditions. It presents Rāma's persona in a manner distinct from the regal portrayal found in the versions of Vālmikī or Tulsidas. The fourth and final *bhajan*, extracted from Bhīlonu Bharat, the Bhīl version of the Mahābhārata, portrays *Bhakti* as a mother and a goddess emerging from the pātāla loka, one of the nether regions. Kuntī, the mother of the Pāṇḍavas, asks her five sons to rescue Bhakti from the nether regions and bring her back to the realm of the humans. Her emergence is considered a necessary corrective to the miseries of the Kali Yuga. 

Bhagwandas Patel, the compiler of Bhil religious literature, asserts that these songs are passed down orally through generations and, therefore, frozen in time. He suggests that the Bhil tribal songs influenced the earliest authors of the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa. I argue that Patel's historiography reflects an attempt to establish the indigenous and ontologically prior status of Bhil Adivasi religious traditions. Barbara Holdrege (1996) argues about the tension between creative reconstruction versus verbatim reproduction, as found in the Sanskritic traditions of India. Oral narratives, such as those found in the Vedic texts, are often considered authoritative in India because of their status as reproduced verbatim through centuries. By borrowing this template of Vedic oral traditions as verbatim reproduction, Patel attempts to situate Bhil Adivasi religious traditions as authoritative and authentic.