Bhili
names 9objects 7ISO 639-3 bhb
Spoken in Bhil village 2, north-western Maharashtra, Bhil villages 2 and 4, and Pawra villages 5 and 6, north-western Maharashtra, Bhil villages 9 and 11, Mavchi Bhil 7 and 12, Kokna 10, north-western Maharashtra, Bhil villages of Nandurbar and Dhule districts, north-western Maharashtra, Bhil villages, north-western Maharashtra, Bhil, Mavchi Bhil, Vasave Bhil, Pawra and Kokna villages of north-western Maharashtra, Chikhli, Bhil village, north-western Maharashtra, Varpada and Pachmauli, Bhil villages, north-western Maharashtra, Varpada, Bhil village, north-western Maharashtra.
tribal 9
See the Bhili sky on the chart →
The sky in Bhili
| Name | Object | Meaning | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hulgi | Auriga | the hulgi bird, with two eggs Only a small triangle within Auriga is recognised — ε Aurigae is the bird and η and ζ Aurigae its two eggs. | tribal |
| Daatiya / Daatlo | Leo and Virgo | 'a sickle' If the Moon passes beside Leo it is a good omen; if it merely grazes the head of Leo, a bad one. | tribal |
| पांबर Pambar | Orion | an agricultural implement used to sow seed The Bhils explain the ragged shape of the figure by saying the implement was made by an incompetent workman who could not assemble it properly, the four bright corners (Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Rigel, Saiph) being its spare parts. Two villages used the constellation as a clock during the night. | tribal |
| [Jeth and sunbai's road; no single form printed] | The Milky Way | 'the road of Jeth (the husband's elder brother) and of the sunbai (the daughter-in-law)' The band visibly forks, and the story explains the fork: a man walking the main path meets his younger brother's wife coming the other way, and out of respect for her husband's elder brother she turns aside and takes the other path. | tribal |
| Guvavya / Govaadi / Dhorkya porya | The Pleiades | 'cattle herders' The herders are hiding behind Taurus, a shrub, to catch the hulgi birds. | tribal |
| hulgi | The Pleiades | the eggs of a pigeon-like bird A trap had been set by cattle herders to get the eggs — the herders being the Hyades and the shrub they hide behind Taurus. | tribal |
| Medhi Taara | The pole star | 'the pole star', medhi being the central post of an oil mill All the other stars go round the Medhi Taara as the oxen go round the post of the mill. At Madkani the Bhils hold that if it is ever not seen, an important person has died. | tribal |
| डायला / पाटील / कोतवाल Diala / Patil / Kotwal | Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) | the village elder, the village chief and the sheriff The general theme across all the communities is three thieves at the cot; individual villages substitute a cast of local officials. Village 4 gives Talathi (तलाठी), the revenue collector, in place of the elder. | tribal |
| [a cot; no vernacular form printed] | Ursa Major (the Big Dipper) | 'a cot', its shape distorted because a thief pulled at one of its legs At Varpada the three thieves are two brothers and a pregnant sister who needed the cot for her delivery; the brothers came back with the stolen cot too late, and the furious sister pulled at its leg. Pawras and Mavchi and Vasave Bhils say instead that the four legs were of gold, silver, copper and iron and a thief pulled the golden one. Most villages also see Mizar's companion, calling the middle thief a pregnant woman or giving the thieves a small child. | tribal |
Sources
- Shreya Shetye, Ganesh Halkare and Aniket Sule, 'Bhil, Pawra and Kokna astronomy', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 26(2), 441-468 (2023), p. 464 link
- Shreya Shetye, Ganesh Halkare and Aniket Sule, 'Bhil, Pawra and Kokna astronomy', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 26(2), 441-468 (2023), p. 462 link
- Shreya Shetye, Ganesh Halkare and Aniket Sule, 'Bhil, Pawra and Kokna astronomy', Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 26(2), 441-468 (2023), p. 463 link