Bhilat Dev is a popular godling of the Narmada valley and the Nimar country of western Madhya Pradesh, worshipped by Bhils alongside neighbouring pastoral and tribal communities. In the legend recorded by Russell and Hira Lal, he was born to a childless Ahir or Gaoli herdswoman through the favour of the god Mahadeo, was carried off by Mahadeo disguised as a beggar, and grew into a great hero who performed many conquests and miracles before returning to live with his herdsman parents. The Nimadi ballad tradition documented by Shyam Parmar tells how he caught a serpent by the hood and received hundreds of cows, after which he was worshipped as a deity; among the Bhils he counts as a serpent-god who guards people and livestock from snakes, and his devotees are believed to become possessed by his spirit. His best-known modern shrine stands at Nagalwadi in the Nimar region.