This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Brown claims a borrowing from Sanskritभीति(bhīti, “fear, alarm, dread, danger”), but this seems semantically suspect. Burrow, on the other hand, considers this a native Dravidian term, and links it to Konda-Dora [script needed] (bīduṛ, “poor, wretched”).”
