Akkalkua tahsils, Mathwadi is also used by outsiders as well as insiders in a restricted sense to denote the Barutiya language as a specific name. And it was noticed that Noiras who are staying more towards the
top of hills use Mathwadi Bhil in an exclusive sense to refer to the Bhils in and around Dhadgaon and Akkalkua who may be closer to the plains than the former. Both insiders and outsiders use Mathwadi,
but Barutiya is completely an outsider name used by at least Noiras and Vasavas as an alternate name for the variety spoken by a group of Bhils in and around Dhadgaon, a group which may number up to
100,000 people. Considerable cultural difference was not observed between Barutiya and Noiri speaking people in this survey, and no restriction for marriage relationships between these groups was reported.
The above information is summarised in table 2.
Table 2. Different language names, nature of use, way of using and its summary Language
name: Insider and
or Outsider name:
Nature of use:
Used by: For the language spoken by:
Barutiya Outsider
Specific name
Noiras and Vasavas A group of Bhils in and around
Dhadgaon and Akkalkua.
Noiri Insider and
Outsider name
Specific name
Themselves and by Vasavi and Barutiya
speakers Another group of Bhils spread
throughout Akkalkua, Dhadgaon and Shirpur tahsils in
Maharashtra and Pansemal tahsil of Madhya Pradesh.
Vasavi Insider and
Outsider name
Specific name
Themselves and by Noiri, Barutiya and
others in the area Another group of Bhils who
identify themselves as Vasava in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Mathwadi Insider and
Outsider name
General name
Bhils living in the plains
Bhils living in Satpuda hills, especially Noiri and Barutiya
speakers.
Specific name
Themselves and by those Noiras who
stay more towards top of hills
Barutiya speakers in and around Dhadgaon and Akkalkua.
Bhilori Insider name
Outsider name
General name
Themselves and by others in the area
Vasavi, Noiri and Barutiya speakers.
Specific name
Themselves Barutiya speakers in and around
Dhadgaon and Akkalkua. In short, Bhilori can mean Vasavi, Noiri and BarutiyaMathwadi specific usage varieties, whereas
when Mathwadi is used by Bhils in a larger sense in the plains, it includes Noiri and Barutiya.
1.5 Other groups
1.5.1 Nahali of Toranmal
The similarity in pronunciation and the reported high lexical similarity between Nahali and Noiri led the researchers to collect some information about Nahali. The Nahali that is spoken by Nahals of Toranmal is
reported as different from many Bhili varieties, but similar to Pauri. Toranmal is located in the Dhadgaon tahsil of Nandurbar district in northern Maharashtra. The village is situated in the reserved
forest, thus isolated from other areas. The inhabitants of the region claim their origin from Nahargarh of Rajasthan, from where they fled to the area about 600–700 years ago so as not to be enslaved when
their king was defeated in a war. Now the people have started to intermarry with other Bhils of the region, but there are still more than 15,000 Nahali speakers in twelve villages around Toranmal.
1.5.2 Nihali
Stahl 1986:52 reports a community called Nihals living generally in and around Korku villages. He goes on to say that Nihals in Chikaldara tahsil of Amaravati district and in Akot tahsil of Akola district
Maharashtra identify themselves with Korkus by speaking their language. The same is true of Nihals living in Khaknar block of Khandwa district in Madhya Pradesh. The Nihals of Chikaldara tahsil are
found mostly in the Melghat hills. Stahl also mentions that Nihals in Jamod Jalgaon tahsil of Buldana district of Maharashtra speak a language very different from Korku. Marriage relationships exist between
the Nihals who continue to speak Nihali and Nihals who reportedly speak Korku. It is reported that Nihali speaking Nihals can also converse in Korku. These groups were included in our research to see if
there is any relationship with Nahals of Tornamal. Though the language is classified under the Munda family, it has some Dravidian based words. People are very backward in education and other amenities.
Singh 1994:918 uses Nahali as an alternative name for Nihali.
Watters 2013:7 talks about a group called Nahale, north of Amalwadi in Chopda tahsil of Jalgaon district, reported to speak a language similar to Ahirani. Ahirani, also called Khandeshi, is the regional
language of Khandesh, which comprises Nandurbar, Dhule, Jalgaon and Nashik rural districts. Due to time constraints, we could not collect any information from there. Ethnologue 2000 lists a language
called Nahari alternatively called Nahali, spoken by a small group in Chhatisgarh, classified as an Indo- Aryan language under the Bengali-Assamese branch. It is very likely that this language is distinct from
the NahaliNihali varieties included in our research.
1.5.3 Kotli
