Madhya Pradesh Quiz: Population and Tribes (Bhil, Gond, Baiga)

The Bhil is the most numerous tribe of Madhya Pradesh and is concentrated in the western hills of Jhabua, Alirajpur, Dhar, Barwani, Khargone and Khandwa, with the Bhilala, Barela and Patelia counted among its groups.

These western districts, with Dhar, Khargone and Khandwa, form the Bhil country of the state, a hilly tract where the tribe makes up a very large share of the people; Alirajpur and Jhabua have the highest proportion of tribal population in Madhya Pradesh and also its lowest literacy.

These three communities of the state are classed as particularly vulnerable tribal groups, a category identified by pre-agricultural practices, very low literacy, small and stagnant or declining numbers and relative isolation.

The Baiga of Dindori, Mandla, Balaghat and Shahdol practised bewar, also called dahiya: a forest slope was cleared and burnt, seed was broadcast in the ash and the plot was abandoned after a crop or two.

Patalkot is a deep, almost hidden valley in Chhindwara district, sunk a few hundred metres below the surrounding plateau, and the Bharia live there as well as in parts of Jabalpur and Mandla.

Gondi, spoken by the Gonds of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Telangana, is a Dravidian language, which is striking because it is spoken deep in central India far from the south.

The Bhagoria is held in the Bhil and Bhilala areas of Jhabua, Alirajpur, Dhar and Barwani in the weeks leading up to Holi.

The 2011 Census put the sex ratio of Madhya Pradesh at 931, below the all India figure of 943 for the same year, and the state's child sex ratio was lower still.

Indore, the commercial capital of the state, had the largest population of any district in 2011 and continues to be the largest urban centre, while Harda had the smallest district population.

Jangarh Singh Shyam was a Pardhan Gond artist from Patangarh in Dindori district who moved his community's wall painting onto paper and canvas, filling animal, tree and spirit forms with fine dots and lines.

In 2011 Scheduled Tribes were roughly a fifth of the state's people, and because Madhya Pradesh is large, that share gave it the biggest tribal population of any state in India in absolute numbers.

The Sahariya live in Sheopur, Shivpuri, Morena and Gwalior in the north of the state, a dry, ravine-cut forest country, and they also extend into the Baran district of Rajasthan.