Bheel, a tribe of Mewar, is known for its fighter spirit and skills in archery. Bheels are said to be the biggest tribe of South Asia constituting almost 40% of the population of Rajasthan. Even Ramayan and Mahabharat have mentions of Bheel tribe. Kevat and Shabri as depicted in Ramayan belonged to Bheel tribes. Bheels have lived in Western, Central and Northern India for more than a 1000 years now.

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Bheel worships and religious activities differ from place to place. They worship Vaghdev (Tiger God) and local deities like Sheetlamata, Bhairobaba and since they don’t have temples, they consult the local sorcerers as they are highly superstitious. The religious rites are performed by bahgats and local disputes are taken care of by the mukhiya of bheel village.

Bheels are very fond of music and dance, and they are a very colourful tribe. They perform Ghoomar and Gair dances during their traditional performance “Gavri” in which they celebrate by means of plays and dances to show the forms of humans, demons and Deity. They are also talented in making clay sculptures. Their staple food is maize and wheat is only used for very special occasions.

Bheels are a tribe with robust personalities, very daring and there was a time when they basically used to be hunters. Now they have taken up agriculture. It is also said that some missionaries tried to convert the bheels and forced them to follow other religion but very few Bheels gave in and the maximum of clan stuck to their own beliefs and opposed conversions and stayed as is with their own tribes.