New Delhi
The United Nations marked the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on August 9, with this year’s theme, “Honouring Indigenous Midwives: Safeguarding Life and Well-being,” highlighting their contribution to community health. Established in 1994, the Day recognises indigenous peoples who comprise about 6 per cent of the global population but continue to face poverty, displacement and inadequate access to healthcare and education.
This year’s focus acknowledges midwives not only as birth attendants but also as custodians of traditional knowledge. It also draws attention to discrimination against Indigenous healing practices and their need for greater recognition within formal healthcare systems.
Where The UN Theme Comes Alive
Nowhere is this year’s theme more vividly reflected than in the hilly, forested landscapes of southern Rajasthan—Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh, and parts of Udaipur and Sirohi—home to the Bhils, India’s largest tribal community and the most populous Scheduled Tribe in Rajasthan.
Alongside them live the Garasias, Meenas and the Sahariyas of Baran, one of India’s officially recognised Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). Together, these communities represent a way of life shaped over centuries by the Aravalli hills and forests, where the wisdom of traditional midwives and the community’s relationship with its land remain deeply intertwined.
Anthropologists regard the Bhils as one of the oldest tribal communities in the Indian subcontinent, although their precise ethnic origins remain a subject of scholarly debate. Their name is widely believed to derive from the Dravidian word villu (or vil), meaning “bow”—a fitting description of a people renowned for their archery skills, who once served as bowmen and forest guardians to the rulers of Mewar.
Today, the Bhils account for nearly two-fifths of Rajasthan’s tribal population, with related communities spread across Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Several towns, including Dungarpur, trace their origins to Bhil rulers, underscoring the community’s enduring place in Rajasthan’s history rather than at its margins.
Midwifery Rooted In Culture, Nature And Community
For generations, Bhil life has centred on small forest settlements, mud-and-thatch homes and hillside farming. Families traditionally revere an ancestral tree that is never felled. Village disputes are settled by community elders, customary ceremonies are conducted by hereditary priests known as Bhagats, and traditional healers, or Badvas, are consulted for both physical and spiritual ailments. In the Bhil worldview, the two are inseparable.
This holistic understanding naturally extends to pregnancy and childbirth—the very relationship the United Nations seeks to recognise through this year’s theme. Among the Bhils, childbirth has traditionally been assisted by respected elder women whose knowledge combines generations of experience, locally available medicinal plants and rituals intended to protect both mother and child during one of life’s most significant transitions.
Health studies describe Bhil approaches to illness and childbirth as a blend of practical herbal treatment, cultural rituals and community support. Maternal care is closely linked to the surrounding forest ecosystem, reflecting an indigenous healthcare tradition in which medicine, spirituality and nature function as an integrated whole rather than as separate domains.
While modern healthcare services have expanded in many tribal areas, traditional midwives continue to command deep trust because they understand local customs, speak the community’s language and provide emotional reassurance that institutional healthcare often struggles to replicate.
A Living Culture, Not A Museum Piece
Bhil culture is woven into everyday life rather than preserved as a relic of the past. Traditional art forms such as the Ghoomar dance, the ceremonial Gair dance-drama and the vibrant Mandana wall paintings around Udaipur’s Inya Parvat continue to flourish. Equally important are the hereditary Bhads—genealogists who preserve oral histories while recording births, deaths and family lineages, creating a living archive passed down through generations.
Nature lies at the heart of Bhil spiritual life. The community venerates the Panchatattva—the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and space—and regards trees, hills, rivers and open landscapes as sacred. Local deities such as Gramdev and Kuldev are viewed less as separate gods than as manifestations of these natural forces. Worship generally takes place beneath sacred trees, on hilltops or beside water bodies rather than inside permanent temples.
Within this tradition, Badvas and Bhagats work together to restore harmony when illness or misfortune is believed to have disturbed the balance between people, nature and the spiritual world. Their healing practices combine herbal remedies with prayers, chants and rituals that have been preserved over generations.
This spiritual tradition also shaped Bhil resistance against colonial rule. The Bhagat reform movement led by Govind Guru combined religious reform with political mobilisation, culminating in the 1913 Mangarh massacre—an event that remains central to Bhil collective memory and identity.
Language is another pillar of that identity. Most Bhils speak Bhili, an Indo-Aryan language with strong Gujarati, Marathi and Rajasthani influences. Predominantly oral in nature, Bhili has long faced challenges in formal education systems dominated by Hindi and English. Initiatives such as the Ministry of Tribal Affairs’ Adi Vaani platform are helping preserve Bhil oral literature and traditional knowledge for future generations.
(The writer is an Assistant Professor at University School of Management & Entrepreneurship, Delhi Technological University. Views expressed are personal.) Contd...
