Nomads of South Asia - Siti Xoom

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Nomads of South Asia

Anthology of 400 NomadicAnthology of 400 NomadicGroups and Gypsies of IndiaGroups and Gypsies of India

Nomads ofSouth Asia

• Renato Rosso •• Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty •

itn-cover & techn-gypssy A 11/29/99, 8:47 AM1

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Anthology of 400 Nomadic Groups and Gypsies of India


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• Renato Rosso •• Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty •

Nomads ofSouth Asia


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Anthology of 400 Nomadic Groups and Gypsies of IndiaNomads of South Asia

ContentsPage no.

Dedication v1. Foreword

Nomads in India ixKalyan Kumar Chakravarty

2. IntroductionFirst encounter with Gypsies xxiRenato Rosso

3. Re-tracing the most significant xliiisteps in Nomadic historyor human history.

4. List of the Groups 015. Description of different groups 056. Appendix-A

Comparative Languages 10277. Appendix-B

Bibliography 10638. Quick Reference 1081


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Dedication

The tent of the Gypsies cannot offer one the facilityof a computer, an electricity connection or enoughroom for academic life. Dr. Riccardo Tobanelli, who,having obtained a Doctoral Degree in Anthropologyand Sociology in London, returned to Bangladesh,put his heart and soul into the process of arrangingall the matierals and documentations, I have been ableto collect over the years in their present order andsequence.

- Renato Rosso


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Foreword

Nomads in India* Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty *


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Nomads in India

This volume has grown out of intense scholarly work, doneover nearly two centuries among nomads by western scholars. The scholarship, however, reflects the Orientalist idea of

Karl Marx, about Asiatics, reflected in his statement in the 18thBrumaire of Louis Napoleon, “they cannot represent themselves; theymust be represented”. The representation is hegemonic, armed by abattery of ideological prejudices. The various articles in this volumehave to be read in the backdrop of the British mission to establishpolitical authority over Indian society, and, of the exteriority of rep-resentation by British Orientalists, standing outside the Indian con-text, existentially and intellectually. The accounts exclude and dis-place the real nomad for the represented nomad, who is seen as adark, hovering, fringe presence in a colonised country, and as a crimi-nal, cruel savage. Transcending the description of their life ways,comes out the constant attempt to classify the nomads under pejora-tive categories, be they religious mendicants like Bairagis or Jogis,wandering minstrels like Bauls, acrobats like Bazigars, bards likeBhats, professional beggars like Dewars, worshipper priests likeKoravas, sorcerers like Kurumbas, magician priests like Pradhans, orgroups like Chapparbands or Jogis. They are defined as people withcriminal, extortionate practices, or, with demonic tendencies, asswindlers, manufacturers of spurious coins, or as dealers in basemetal.Indiscriminate slaughter of game by Bhils, railway thefts byBhampas, burglary by Doms, robberies by Minas, theft by Kalandarsor Rahwaris, pugnacious nature of the Gosains have been mentionedwith a barely hidden distaste, and robbery has been described as acongenital part of the religion of some groups, without comprehend-ing the various ways, in which their lifestyles have been disturbedby alien intrusions, and without understanding that the victims ofdestruction should not be blamed as agents of such destruction.

The marriage rules, ceremonial pollution practices, origin myths,legends, festivals, ways of worship, deities, self management meth-ods, sexual habits of the nomads are described in this volume.Theaccount is interspersed with valuable discussions of the languages,literature,folk tales and songs of groups like the Bhats, Kanjars, Kodasor Todas,or, of the subsistence technologies, including shifting culti-vation of the Baigas, hunting gathering of the Bhils, cow herding ofthe Gaddis. The folk deities and self governing tribal councils of vari-ous groups, including those of the Bagdis, have been listed. Valu-able information has been given on the so called demonology ofKanjars, and material has been reproduced on the mythology of


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Singbonga or sun worship among the Mundas. However, this dis-cussion was not pursued, as decision had been taken to leave thesegroups to their own ways, rather than to learn or learn from theirlanguage. There is, instead, a concentration in the description on hu-man sacrifices, witchcraft, female promiscuity, premarital license,grotesque appearance, drunken revels of various groups like Banjaras,Barwas, Bhils, Budukalas, Madaris, Oraons. There is little attemptto comprehend the wisdom, method or relevance of the locationspecific nature of the skills and technologies, or, to understand thereligion, the philosophy, or the ritual, supporting these folk cults. Asa result, the nomadic groups have been presented as a faceless amor-phous mass, characterised by animistic or fetishistic practices, whodo not have an intimation of the best and finest in human thoughtor intellection.

The nomads have, therefore, in this view, become people who are inthe need of law, mission, civilisatrice. The view is permeated by atheory of control over people, who require, even beseech domina-tion. The implicit suggestion of a redemptive mission, to protect theIndian territory from tribalism, dissension, mutual violence, is basedon the universalising discourse of Europe and its self assumed telosto civilise the non European world, without its consent. In this way,the production, circulation or history of representation of nomadiccultures has become entangled with power mongering and empirebuilding. The community habitats of the nomads have been seen asthe outlying possession of the European world for appropriation asits own other. The absence of individual titular rights of the nomadsand their herds on their camp sites in their zone of movement, hasbeem held against them, on an alien jurisprudential premise of TerraNullius, to dislodge them from their camp sites, and to appropriateand mine their bio cultural landscapes, in the interest of the empire.

The contemptuous attitude to Indian nomads, implicit in these ac-counts, reflects similar attitudes, adapted towards the nomads allover the world.(Jean Paul Clerbert, The Gypsies, 1963; W.R.Rishi,Ed. Roma, 1974 till date) They have been variously called Gypsies,Gypos, Bohemians, Egyptians or Rabouin (messengers of the devil);accused of causing natural scourges and epidemics; treated by Gov-ernment as Pariahs, as a pest and a plague; as filthy rogues withincomprehensible language and manner; as non human, void of nor-mal human rights; exposed to the slave market; subjected to militaryor tax obligations, and excluded from the pale of civilised society.The Gypsies are seen as the descendants of Cain (blacksmith inSemitic languages), brother of Abel, who is cursed in the Genesis


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text, “when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield untothee her strength: a fugitive, a vagabond shalt thou be on the earth”.In the Tempest, Caliban (Kaliben is a Gypsy word meaning black-ness) is a tortured spirit.The persecution mania is evident in theprophesy of Ezekiel, “I shall scatter the Egyptians around the na-tions”. It is evident in the mythology, linking the ironsmith withenemies of Gods, as giants digging the bowels of the earth and tam-ing the central holocaust, as Prometheus tamed the fire. The nomadicdiaspora has been comparable to the Jewish diaspora, and hundredsof thousands of Gypsies have been liquidated by the Nazis in theirconcentration camps in the same way as the Jews were. The reasonfor such persistent and relentless persecution of the nomads is thereductive stereotypes established the world over about theirdupery,their practice of diabolical witchcraft, their lascivious habitsand their criminal tendencies.Suspicion about them has been associ-ated with the growing sedentary nature of human civilisation, inwhich virtue has come to be identified with fixed habits, habitationsor employments. The nomadic habit of vagabondage, of wanderingabout without a recognised domicile or occupation, has been consid-ered an offence. No wonder that such sustained persecution shoulddrive the nomads to the deviant behaviour they have been accusedof.

The blanket terms, originally used to describe nomads like Baluchis,Yoruks (wanderers in Turkish), Amorites, Scythians, Cimmerians,Sarmatians have now come to apply later to ethnic communities.Nomadic pastoralism has been demonstrated to contain an ambiva-lence and continuum between sedentarisation and nomadisation;between hunting gathering, centred around seasonal base camps indefined territories, equipped with water resources, ceremonial, killand hunting sites on the one hand, and wide spread migration pat-terns, dependent on mobile pastoral capital and variable seasonalpastoral availability on the other. In India, Bhotias, Gujjars and Gaddisvariously combine cattle rearing with mercantile and farming activi-ties. The insistence on the rehabilitation of nomadic and denotifiedtribes, under one common category, so that they may stay at oneplace, build houses and live as good citizens of communities, showthe continuing fixations and prejudices against the nomads and therefusal to understand the value of their traditions.The researcher maybe able to acquire an understanding of the Nomads only when hetranscends the reductive homogenising categories for nomads, andlooks at the variety of nomadic approaches to resource managementand survival in different ecosystems. He has to go beyond establishedprototypes about the linguistic correlations of nomadic names like


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Luri and Nuri, Dom and the Lom, Zotts and Jats in India and theMiddle East, Manush in France and in India; the similarity of tech-nologies and professions; the unity of roots of the basic tongue; theuniformity of the secret sign language Patrin, communicated throughpatterns, drawn on walls or tree branches; the common characteri-sation of the non nomadic groups by nomads as Gadjo or clod hop-ping peasants. The researcher has to also go beyond the romantic mythabout the child of Bohemia, about his majestic freedom,wanderjahreand unaffected beauty; and, beyond the image of the nomads as peo-ple with loose clothes, dishevelled hair, long ears. He has to recol-lect and recapitulate their skills in horse rearing and dealing, inmetal smithy, fishing, and embroidery; their broad trophic base, in-cluding berries,mushrooms, roots,wild fruits, vegetables, molassesand small mammals; their music and dance, like Flamenco orChochek, accompanied by musical instruments like tambourines,drums, citharas, lutes, cymbals, pipes and violins, and by varieties ofjumps, leaps, squats, and cart wheels. He has to investigate their pre-dictions and divinations about the terrain and environment; theirsubsistence and resource management technologies; their pharmaco-poeia, using plants, magic and music; the shape and meaning of motifslike snakes and stars, sun and moon,inscribed by them on amuletsand talismans, batons and sceptres, on coats, boots, spurs,or tattooedon bodies. He has to reconstruct the significance of their multiple useof the caravan as a dwelling, workshop and transport; their round,barrel vaulted, bower like tents and shrines,varying with seasonalchanges.Finally, he has to step back and recollect their oral knowl-edge, folklore, religion and philosophy, preserved in dialects. Valu-able lessons of socialisation, marketing strategies and communityliving can be learnt from the way the Bhotia settlements were man-aged in the seven river valleys of Uttarakhand, on the strength ofinstitutions like the youth dormitories, called Rangh-Bang, the Ranthsor lineages, and linked across mountain passes with Tibetan Mandisor market places. The variety of castes, underlying the occupationalnomenclature of the Gaddis, the various religious denominationsand survival strategies, comprehended by the term Gujjar, cannot beignored in applying uniform identity markers to these groups.

During most of their time on this earth, the ancestors of the contem-porary human being have moved as nomadic foragers and hunters,frequenting deserts, mountains, jungles or arctic waste lands, repre-senting climatic and environmental extremes. The life enhancing strat-egies, evolved by them in course of such movements, the self im-posed limitation on their property and material technology, the in-formality of their socio-political organisation, the ceremonies related


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to their life cycles, remain sources of valuable information for alter-native life ways. The earliest tool makers in Pleistocene cultures werehunter gatherers, who created a rich body of rock and cave art andart mobilier. The memory of the prehistoric environment still sur-vives in the nomadic ways of labour division, product distribution,authority structures. It survives in the inborn migration patterns ofthe symbiotic communities of men and herds, released by the move-ment of their internal biological clock, through annual cycles, in-duced by fluctuations in hormone balance, temperature and day light.According to the l3th century Arab thinker Ibne Khaldun, author ofthe Muqaddimah, the migratory drift, resulting from or culminatingin territorial aggrandisement, was mostly inter woven with the dy-nastic cycle of civilisations. This is evident in the ways, in which thevarious nomadic tribes in India link their fortunes historicallyormythologically with the vicissitudes in the fortune of political rulersand kingdoms, specially in Central and Western India. The Gaduliaor Gade Lohar or blacksmiths using big and small bullock carts, calledwan and tango, are supposed to have taken a pledge, after fightingshoulder to shoulder with Rana Pratap of Chittor, not to lead a set-tled life, sleep on a cot, draw water from wells, to use lamps or to visitthe Chittorgarh fort. While this may or may not be borne out by his-torical facts, the conviction establishes the validity of Ibne Khaldun’sstatement. In recent history, the Tibetan migratory movements havebeen caused by Chinese occupation of Tibet and subsequent assaultson practice of religion, on hair styles, or on taboo against animalslaughter by Tibetan women. The memory of these compulsive move-ments, reflected in nomadic material culture, offers clues to the cog-nitive beginnings of the human language before the invention of thescript. The nomadic oral traditions regulating pasture allocation,migration routes and herd rights provide a corpus of unwritten law.The nomadic tradition is a source of the oral history of the people ofthe earth, recorded in delicate patterns, inscribed on stones, textiles,masks, Buddhist temples, across the near East and Central Asia, inthe mountain arc of Taurus-Zagros, from the Atlas mountain to theAltai. Most of the motifs in the vocabulary of early Indian art cameout of the shared corpus of the nomadic cultures of Central and West-ern Asia. Motifs like mythical monsters, griffin, triton, centaur,palmette, honeysuckle, bead and reel, lotus and bell, fret and spiral,volute and swastika, rosette and petal, tree and mountain, bells andflags, umbrellas and banners have travelled through ceramic andtextile designs in nomadic migrations of balladeers, reciters, pictureshowmen, rope walkers. These motifs reduce anthromorphic,zomorphic, theriomorphic forms to essential geometric patterns, andspeak of a life dominated by the abstractions of nature.


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Rugged and bleak terrains, littered with stone slabs, marking gravesof brave men; goat skin, goat hair or felt tents, tapestries and rugs,providing shelter and sustenance in chill, or gusty winds, steep slopesand high passages of mountains, steppes and deserts; house boatswith drying garments, and fishing nets; elaborate, multi colouredhead dresses with costume jewellery, sequin adorned sparklingdresses; community meals, shared from the same plate, communitydances and ritual combats; salt, gathered in pot holes, transportedon camel back to barter it for food, cloth and household utensils;skin water bags, water proofed by reddish brown acacia bark solu-tion; leather covered calabash, resonating to a taut bow, drawn acrossa horse hair string; dark glistening bodies in waters, or bodies, weav-ing around in a circle; flaring beards, carefully nurtured whiskers;garish, colourful, massed anklets, bangles, and ornaments, made ofcowrie shells, metal beads, and polished brass spools, these are thescenes one comes across among the nomads of the earth.

The nomadic camps being located in upland valleys, and on alluvialdeposits below abrupt slopes in high energy, geomorphic environ-ments in the Near east, have been subject to degradation, distur-bance and concealment by hill wash, which may have protected suchsites in high mountain pastures and steppes and should be lookedfor. The tents, leather vessels and baskets, the fragile camp sites,located in inclement territories and weathers, have accounted for thedearth of material specimens of nomadic culture. Microstratigraphyhas revealed pottery sherds, bread oven pits, grind stones and slabs,ceramic churns and grinders,hearths, bathing platforms, levelledfloors, stone corrals, composite dwellings, from abandoned summercamp sites of nomads , Afghanistan, Iran,Turkey, Persia. The Mughalarmy camps, the ruins of towns like Persepolis, and several Romantowns, imitate tent settlements, and tents have actually been used onthe ruins of Sassanian palaces and ruined Caravanserais of Seljukperiod (Rogers Cribb, Nomads in Archaeology, 1991: pp.77-81, 84,112,149-151).

Fr Rosso’s work has to be placed in the backdrop of this rich nomadicheritage and the history of its neglect. He has been visiting the vari-ous nomadic communities of the world as part of his obligation tocarry on the mission of the prototypical shepherd of folks, the ProphetChrist. He has been catering to the education of the shepherd peopleand their children in different parts of the world. He has captured therhythm of their life and the changes in their expression at differenttimes of the day, in moments of gravity, anxiety, wonderment, amuse-ment, fun, shy withdrawal, sardonic amusement, eager curiosity, in


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portraits of unusual quality. He has recorded their cooking and foodhabits, the polychromy of their dress and accoutrements, the robustethical profiles of their families, in intimate and convivial groupsand feasts. He has seen the gnarled, corrugated, creased faces of theold and the pensive and playful moods of children, images of love-liness and innocence. He has built up a gallery of images of a proud,self respecting, unanxious folk, with great love of ornament andbeauty, with a straight and unabashed gaze, and a deep sense ofcommunion for animals, who give them their food and livelihood.The photographs show Fr. Rosso living with the nomads, assumingtheir attire and identifying himself in many ways with the peoplehe is trying to serve. It is this empathy which redeems his record frombeing a mute study of the other and brings it close to the smell of theearth, trodden by the nomadic people,and sanctifies it with thedust of their hearth, and their work stations. The Rabaris, GaduliaLohars, Kalbelias have come alive in images of responsive smilesand gratitude. The Bhopa paintings have been shown in colourfulprocessional paintings of kings and soldiers, horses and elephants.

Fr Rosso’s efforts and the present compilation of colonial chroniclesabout Indian nomads assume special significance in the light of therecent resurgence of sentiments of global fellowship among the no-madic communities of the world. This resurgence has been demon-strated variously in the development of the Romano Ekipe, the WorldRomani Union, which has been holding International congressesand festivals since l971; by the creation of the Kris Romani or theInternational Romanic Court of Elders, to mete out justice withinRomanic Codes of law; by the activities of learned bodies like theIndian Institute of Romanic Studies, headed by Dr W R Rishi, whohad the distinction of heading the World Romani Union as its hon-orary President; by the accumulation of scholarly work to investi-gate the roots of the nomadic folk tale, music, language and theelements shared by the Romas the world over with the survivingremnants of their culture in North Western India in the Baro Than.The resurgence of self awareness has been amply evident in the cour-age and persistence with which the Romas have engaged in lobby-ing, advocacy and fighting for their basic rights under the UN Decla-ration of Universal Human Rights. Romas have not only been inves-tigating the legal status of their brethren in every country and fight-ing racial discrimination, but they have also been dealing with theissue of reparation for the war crimes and the genocide, perpetratedagainst the nomads in course of Porrajmos or the Holocaust, duringand before the second World War. Finally, the courage of the Romashas been demonstrated in exploding the myth of their being sub


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human, untermenschen, whose lives are not worthy of life. Theyhave done this by creating , reliving and recapitulating music andpoetry , vibrant with poignant emotions and full of an incrediblebeauty of fellow feeling for other elements of nature and universe,and, by giving birth to outstanding linguists, scientists and creativeartists of world renown like Yul Brynner or Musicians like Reshma,whose heart rending songs (Hai O Rabba naiyon Lagda dil mera: Iam crying O Lord! My heart is not at rest at all !), are laden with thepent up tears and sorrows of nomadic life, carried across centuriesof desolate, timeless terrains.

The Roma example and the present account demonstrate the need todraw the surviving remnants of the itinerant communities of Indiainto a larger nomadic brotherhood, to break down prejudices, trans-mitted through such accounts, and to simultaneously follow up thevaluable clues to nomadic identities, gathered by meticulous researchin these accounts, for infusing the energy and creativity of nomadicways into sedentary civilisations. It will be a sad day when the hu-man being will forget his nomadic past and reduce himself to a com-pletely settled life, frozen in fixed moulds. The contemporary pre-fabricated portable structures, transient urban townships and publicworks, synthesised fusion music, metonomic beats, on off bombard-ment of electronic signals, sensationalist arts, gory with sex and vio-lence, the incessant breakdown of social, political and economic in-stitutions, speak of the fragility, instability and uncertainty of con-temporary living, minus the nomadic sense of family and institu-


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tional ethic, of simple but not unbeautiful living.The nomads shouldbe recognised as the ecosphere communities living in communionwith different ecosystems.They could still provide the ideological dykeagainst the invasion of the biosphere people, who have been switch-ing from one ecosystem to another, exploiting and exhausting them,and, who have been steering globalisation, homogenisation andtechnification, that are engulfing the fragile ecosystems of the earth,like a deluge.

Fr. Rosso’s mission among the neglected nomadic people, the photo-graphic exhibits, musical cassettes and journals gifted by him to themuseum, and this precious volume, compiled and annotated throughhis efforts, are important to the Museum of Mankind. The volumerepresents the European attempt to articulate the Orient accordingto its perceptions; to domesticate living community contexts into si-lent texts; and, to consign various human groups to a mortician’s gal-lery of a museum space, as ethnographic curiosities. Fr. Rosso’s lifework among the Indian nomads represents an attempt to use theinformation provided in such volumes, and transcend their intellec-tual solipsism, to revivify nomadic self respect, and reanimate thenomadic living space in our minds. It is of great relevance to theMuseum of Mankind at Bhopal, which has been engaged in modestefforts towards in situ revitalisation rather than mere ex situ display;towards recollection of traditions, rather than mere collection of ob-jects, among the Indian nomads. It is committed to working with theceaseless groping of disadvantaged, peripheralised human commu-nities towards bounty and well being. As such, it dedicates this vol-ume on nomads as a modest contribution to the demuseumisation oftrackless spaces and time zones, which carry the visible and invisiblesignatures, failures and hatreds, struggles and victories of our no-madic brethren.

Dr. Kalyan Kumar ChakravartyDirector

Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya(National Museum of Mankind)

Bhopal (INDIA)


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IntroductionFirst encounter with Gypsies

* Renato Rosso *


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This paper is concerned with Nomads that can be encounteredin different countries across the continents of the world, who,though living in extremely different contexts, have remark-

ably similar attitudes. Think of the Eskimos living in icy regions andthe Bedouins living in the sand of the deserts, or consider some No-mads squatting in encampment tents and others moving around ingroups on small boats, sailing on rivers or by the sea’s shores. Theyall have in common the culture of ‘the journey’ and they have beenindelibly marked by their tradition of incessant migration. These No-

mads were not born in the gar-den of heaven— they are theproduct of the whole of hu-man history.

At this point a glimpse intotheir known history will pro-vide for us a reliable founda-tion. A form of settled life, in

contrast with the nomadic life of theSemitic peoples, began about 6000years ago in the north of Egypt.The wealth gen- erated by settledlife attracted many of those whowere wanderers. Moreover the or-ganised power of settled society wasvery successful in either imposing thenew form of life on the Nomads, orenslaving them in order to enlarge itsown power base. (The same phe-nomenon may have started 1000years earlier in M e s o p o t a m i a ,turning that society in a greatly de-

Renato Rosso


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veloped civilisation. The same might have happened in the HinduValley Civilisation, probably at the same time or later.)

Slowly, settled life, either in spontaneous forms or through conquest,extended to all the known world. Nevertheless some fringe groupsremained attached to the nomadic way of life and maintained a sort


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of bridge or communication net-work between the groups thathad by then become settled andno longer traveled along the oldroutes.

Those whom nowadays we callGypsies might be the descend-ants of those groups. Even at thepresent time they have not be-


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come settled. I say they “might be”, since the discourse on them isquite complex. On the one hand, these groups may have tried topreserve intact their way of life, and yet in order to survive they havehad to accept into their own clans the integration and incorporationof foreign ethnic elements. Those coming from the outside tended tofully endorse the prevailing spirit of the group, but at the same timeintroduced new elements into the culture. This process has been tak-


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ing place across millennia,producing changes in thesize and shape of theirphysique, in the colour oftheir skin and, moreover,in the perceptions of theGypsy soul.

For all these reasons wecan underline the fact thatour recorded history, ofwhich we so often speakand are proud (or fre-quently ashamed of), en-compasses a period of timethat does not extend backbeyond ten thousandyears. Whereas pre-his-tory, which has seen all theefforts of humans to comeout from the forest and be-gin the process of their in-tegral ‘humanisation’, be-longs to Nomads and ismillions of years long.

Occasionally the Nomads, drawnor repelled by the most disparatephenomena, adapted their way oflife to climates and environmen-tal conditions which were notmerely difficult, but virtually un-inhabitable. They did not suc-cumb either to 70 degrees belowzero during the glacial era, or 70degrees above zero in the deserts.They were permanently lookingfor the most suitable environ-ments to live in. Running awayfrom major dangers, they man-aged to reach all the continents.They were scattered across theglobe without becoming extinct.


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The Nomads were the first to experience encounters with God andtherefore to grow different forms of faith sustained by some sort ofreligious structures. They organized tight family groups and the firstsocial structures. Across millennia they have made discoveries onwhich civilisation as we know it has laid its foundations. The No-


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mad’s civilisation is thegreatest of all, the onewhich has made all theothers possible.

Having learned to smileand to cry, they learnedto play games. Slowlythe games became morecomplex and difficult,and in what we call ‘ourcivilisation’ they wereturned into wars andhard work. In the lastmillennia the game hasturned into a struggle forpower and glory. Theplayers have becomeworkers. The winnerswere anointed as emper-ors and the defeatedwere enslaved. Never-theless, along this path ofcomplex and frag-

mented history some fringes of humanity have remained Nomads,always interacting with other cultures, but choosing freedom for them-


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selves even at the terribleexpense of alienation.

When Europeans orAmericans say that Gyp-sies come from India,they often think of Indiaas just a point on theAsian continent, but if wego to India we immedi-ately realise that the In-dian Nation is not just a point but a continent in itself— the IndianSub-continent. Its human and social realities are extremely heteroge-neous and complex. Meeting the Nomads of India we ask: “Do theybelong to this nation of peoples or do they come from other coun-tries?”


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I would like to spend some more time considering whether or not itis acceptable to speak of ‘Indian Gypsies’. Regarding the use of theepithet ‘Gypsies’, it can be said that when the British came to Indiathey met some Nomads who were very similar to those they knew bythe name of Gypsies back in Europe, and therefore called them Gyp-sies. They did this even before realising the deep connection betweenthe Indian and European Nomads. The name has become a common


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noun associated with the proper names of the different regions inwhich they are found. So, in Europe we often say Italian Gypsies,Spanish, Polish, French, Russian etc. We also call them by their propernames: Rom, Sinti, Kalão, etc. In India we often speak of Indian Gyp-sies and then specify their divisional names such as Lambadis, GadiaLohar, Koravas, Rabaris, Baydda etc.

Therefore to use the word ‘Gypsy’ is not only acceptable but also veryprecise, since it is the word that, nowadays, represents faithfully theNomadic groups. Nevertheless ‘Gypsy’ is not synonymous with ‘No-

mad’. For instance, in my opinion, the name ‘Gypsy’ should not beapplied to the Nomads living in isolation in a Himalayan forest andwithout any relationship with settled groups. They should be calleda ‘nomadic tribe’. For example, the Eskimos, due to their past isola-tion were never called ‘Gypsies’. Proper anthropological and philo-logical literature has extended the name ‘Gypsy’ to a variety of groups(which will be considered later), resorting to an analogy of the Euro-


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pean and American groups, as well as seeing some real connectionsbetween them.

Allowing the use of a metaphor, it can be said that Gypsies are bridgesbetween different settled societies, whereas Nomadic tribes might justbe isolated pillars without the connecting arches. Such arches mighthave fallen or they might have never existed, at least in recent his-tory. Nevertheless, if we care about bridges, we should also pay at-tention to ‘isolated pillars’ since they could still surprise us by reveal-ing interesting connections which existed in the distant past.

To someone asking: “Do the European gypsies come from India? Fromwhich particular group do they come?” I can only answer that, ifnowadays on the Indian Sub-continent we can list about 400 groupsand sub-groups of Nomads, we can deduce that 500 years earlier,there were probably only 100 groups, only 50 a thousand years ear-lier, and even less 2000 years ago. All throughout history the groups


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differentiated, fragmented and multiplied. The conglomerate of allthese groups, not of one specific group, may be considered the ances-tors of those groups that migrated to Europe first and then to America.

If research into the different groups is to be legitmate and account-able in establishing new connections to enrich their history, it needs


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to make use of all the elements available. This means including thelanguages of settled groups and the way of life of Nomads not strictlyconsidered Gypsies.

In recent years, there has been a strong emphasis on the fact that thePanjabi language is very close to the European language of the Gyp-


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sies. I tend to think that Gujarati is more similar to it than Panjabi.Anyway, both languages belong to settled groups, whereas if we en-ter a Nomadic camp of the Lambadis, Koravas or Baydda, we find asort of language that in the last few centuries has grown far apartfrom them both, but in the demeanor of these Nomads we find burn-ing the fire and flair of their Gypsy soul.

When I use the term ‘people’s soul’ I am not using it in the philo-sophical or theological sense, but I refer to the natural soul of hu-mans, through whose instincts, feelings, reflection, trust, hope, ag-gression, altruism, egoism and cooperation, has made it possible for

humanity to grow, mature, decay andthen evolve again. This soul variesfrom person to person and from peo-ple to people. This is the soul I referto when I speak of a Nomad or Gypsysoul. It is a soul that is not consideredsimply in racial, historical or linguis-tic terms alone, but embraces and over-whelms all these dimensions. It is thesoul of Gypsy People— it cannot bedescribed, but only experienced whenthe Gypsies offer it to you.

- Renato Rosso


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Re-tracingthe most significant steps in


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I f we think of our human ancestors living on planet earth we onlyneed to go back in time for about 20 million years. Archaeologists have found some traces of the Dryopithecus dated around

15-14 million years ago. In spite of being just over a meter high witha brain slightly smaller than a one year old child of the Homo Sapi-ens, he was able to travel across three continents. Signs of his exist-ence were found in China, India, Pakistan, Hungary, Austria, Mac-edonia, Germany, Spain, France and Egypt. Among his descendantswe can recognise the Pingidae, the Gigantopithecus— who was not agiant at all— and the Ramapithecus. The first two, after having ex-plored China, India and East Africa, became extinct, while theRamapithecus went on to become the ancestor of the Homo Erectus.14 million years ago, he would move around between India, Paki-stan (Islamabad) and East Africa, in the nearby area of the TurkanaLake and Koobi Fora. Then the archaeological trail was lost for thenext 8-9 million years. He re-surfaced again with the discovery of animportant fossil found at Afar in northern Ethiopia. This Hominidspecimen was 1.25 meter high, had a brain size of about 400 cubiccentimetres and was 4 million years old. A skeleton, found at KoobiFora was, by some, considered 3.6 million years old, but others, re-duced its age to 2.5 million years. Therefore it is very difficult toestablish the place where this important step of evolution (the sub-stantial increase in brain size) took place: did it happen in Asia, orAfrica?

In the mean time, this Hominid was becoming Erectus. Though inAfrica he was coming of age, he soon started to move towards Eu-rope and Asia. He reached the southern Himalayas, and moved acrossthe north of India on his way to the northern regions of China. At theLonguppo site, near the Yangtze lake and not far from Beijing, twopre-molars of about two million years of age were found. Then, theErectus descended into the Indonesian Islands. There, some humanremains were discovered under the rubbles of a volcanic eruptionthat took place about 1.7 million years ago on Jawa Island. On hisway back to Africa, he left some tell-tale signs dated around 1.5 mil-lion years ago in Israel at Ubeidiya, as well as a twelve-year-old sonin Kenya, near the Turkana Lake. In the same period, those who hadstayed in Asia were spending a long time in areas south of Beijing.Their one-million-year-old remains were found at Chen-Cha-Wo andNihewan. Younger remains from 600 thousand years ago were dis-covered at Yunxian. The Homo Erectus reached Beijing 400 thou-sand years ago. Those groups who had travelled to Europe had ar-rived in the area of Budapest 200 thousand years earlier.


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The first footprints of a Homo Sapiens of 300 to 250 thousand yearsago— who had a brain similar to ours, and a hundred cubic centime-tres larger than the brain of the Homo of Beijing— were discoveredin France at Swanscombe and Montmaurin. A primitive type of Ne-anderthal 150 thousand years old has left archaeological evidence nearWeimar in Germany and near Rome in Italy.

From 80 to 35 thousand years ago humans started to come of agewith a brain size between 1350 and 1700 cubic centimetres. The ‘clas-sic’ Neanderthal was by now ready to set out on the longest everjourney in the history of humans: after a long glacial era the planetwas once again becoming warmer and humans had started the re-conquest of its lost northern plains, and in a short while all the spacesof the planet were recovered. Many scholars tend to agree that thosetravelling humans had already reached Australia 50 thousand yearsago.

Between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago the Neanderthal man started toassume the physical forms of a modern human: the Homo Sapiens.Skeletons surrounded by some precious archaeological items, discov-ered mainly in Western Europe, give evidence about a real NomadSapiens who was a good hunter and fisherman able to use imple-ments made of bones and teeth of bears and lions. Even though hedid not use yet bows and arrows for hunting, he knew how to use aharpoon. He did not cook food yet, but he knew how to sew andfasten leather with some sort of rudimental buttons. He did not havedomestic animals, not even a dog, which was tamed later. He wasstill a ‘primitive’ hunter who did not domesticate animals or use so-phisticated weapons, but he knew how to hold a flute in his handsand play music to celebrate life: he had really become an adult hu-man being.

It is worthy of mention the fact that the Homo Erectus had survivedtill that time and, probably, having lived together with the Homo Sa-piens for some time, he was assimilated by the latter. The HomoErectus, after having travelled for more than two million years, lefthis last fossil trace 35 thousand years ago. He disappeared, leavingthe Homo Sapiens as the only survivor of human prehistory.

Thirty thousand years ago, a significant turn in the life of Nomadstook place. Until that time they had been moving around on vastopen spaces which had made hunting, fishing and fruit gatheringquite easy, even though their way to do that was very rudimentaland primitive. But by now glaciation was taking place. Large partsof the globe were being covered by ice. The Nomads had to migrate


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from the north to the south of the planet. They had to leave the moun-tains, a natural refuge from wild beasts, to occupy valleys and plainswhich were warmer. But the wild animals like rhinos, elephants, rein-deer, aurax, nasicoxir and bears did the same. Life was becomingmore difficult for everyone and humans had to face these wild beasts.Although earlier humans were unable to kill such animals, and wouldinstead run away from them or move to the protected heights of moun-tains, this was no longer possible. Humans had to unite in groups toovercome the power of the wild animals. Soon they discovered thatas a group they were stronger and even took chances to attack otherhuman groups occupying the best locations. It was probably at thistime that Nomads started to organise themselves in social groups andclans. Necessity made them use their intelligence, which was notlacking, since they had a brain size of 1700 cubic centimetres. Theyinvented new ways of hunting and fishing, using traps, hooks andlines. Therefore they were soon able to hunt larger animals. Throughhunting and fishing they had enough to subsist; they had food, clothes,shelter, tools and implements for hunting and fishing which weremade out of leather, bones, horns and teeth. Everything was becom-ing useful for intelligent humans. They did not even deprive them-selves of the luxury of art. They applied an aesthetic view to themaking of tools and to the paintings on stone walls depicting theirdaily life. The history of 30 thousand years of nomadic life is re-corded on stone and cave walls paintings in Australia, Europe, Asiaand Africa.

Around ten thousand years ago the Nomadic way of life faced a newdevelopment: the beginning of a settled way of life. The ability tostock dry seeds and fruits for the whole year and primitive forms ofcultivation were beginning to divide the human community: on theone side there were those who settled down and on the other thosewho continued to be Nomads. Very soon the Nomadic world wouldundergo a further division. On one side were those who carried onliving as Nomads— but in isolation in forests and deserts withoutany sort of relationship to settled groups. On the other side, therewere those who lived alongside other semi-nomadic or settled groups,building bridges across the different groups and cultures, and ena-bling the exchange of cultural, artistic and economic goods. Moreo-ver they were creating a real and specific culture that cautiously Idare to call a ‘Gypsy Culture’ (though the word Gypsy will only ap-pear much later), which still survives in the Gypsy camps in the dif-ferent countries of the world. Agriculture is responsible for this greatrevolution in the Nomads’ way of life. The first archaeological evi-dence of cultivation of crops like beans, peas and cucumbers is datedat around 9500 BC. in Thailand. A portion of such crops were dried


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and stocked for the whole year. Nevertheless this ancient form ofcultivation does not show any connection with the one which cameabout later and which was a real agricultural culture as a consequenceof the semi-settled or settled groups of humans. Some carved stones,dated around 5.000 years B.C., were probably used as agriculturalimplements. Around the years 5,000 to 4,000 B.C., the culture of farm-ing shows up in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Iranand India. In Mexico an independent development of the same agri-cultural crops was taking place. The primitive forms of agriculturewere very different. For instance, think how different would be thetype of agriculture among semi-nomadic people from our own formsof farming. Basically, there were three types of farming. The firsttype consisted of carrying around between the different forests (whichwere the natural environments of clans on the move) vegetable seedsand saplings of palm or any other tree which would produce a known,useful and consumable type of fruit. A second type of farming wasmuch more sophisticated. It required the burning of woodlands inorder to plant seed in the fertile ashes. This type of agriculture reliedon abundant rainfall and did not require particular implements ormetal tools. The third type of agriculture would only come aboutlater, with the ability of humans to make proper tools for sowing andplanting, compounded with the ability to harness the labour force ofdomesticated animals.

After the early changes due to the appearance of settled ways of lifeand farming, Nomadism took a new turn when humans learnt todomesticate and breed animals. Also in this case, pastoral nomadismseems to coalesce into two distinct branches: semi-pastoral groupsconnected with the farming communities; and pastoral Nomads.

The primitive communities, after having developed the first forms ofagriculture, discovered that the domestication of some wild animalscould offer them significant advantages: they could both harness themas supplementary labour on the land and obtain from them milk and,in few cases, meat as a source of food. The first archaeological evi-dence of domestication of animals goes back between 8.000 to 6.500years ago in Palestine and the Middle East. The first animals to bedomesticated, with the due exception of dogs which had already be-come friendly with humans in Siberia, were sheep, goats, pigs andfowls. It is only later in Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, South Europeand Tibet that cattle, asses, camels and yaks were domesticated. Inconnection to this, the first semi-pastoral communities were estab-lished: they would go around with herds every year for a certain pe-riod of time and then come back to the village to farm. In some case,


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part of the family would stay back at home, while the young maleswere those going out to face the hardship of pastoral life.

Pastoral nomadism developed within farming communities whichhad become semi-nomadic. Developing alongside this was a kind ofpastoral nomadism in communities that had never become settled,dependent on land farming, or attached to the ‘house’ with a sense ofhome. After the domestication of animals, the earlier Nomads— whowere hunters, fishermen and gatherers— started to incorporate withintheir camps and migratory journeys a more or less large herd of do-mestic animals. Archaeological research is not conclusive in produc-ing evidence referring respectively to the two different pastoralgroups. Nevertheless some evidence of a nomadic pastoral groupthat was never involved in farming, never settled down in one place,and had its own specific culture, was found in Inner Asia in the areaof Minussinsk-Altai. In the year 2000 BC. these Nomads already pos-sessed cattle, sheep and horses. Later than this, it can be seen thattribal hunters of Mongolia, Kazaksthan and Siberia also started toassume a pastoral culture which radically changed their economy andway of life. At the same time in West Asia the Kassites, Hittites andMitannis tribes, around the years 1.900 to 1.700 BC., were harnessinghorses to carts for work and war. The use of horses in war expandedquickly to Europe, North Africa, Central Asia and East Asia. It is alsoworth mentioning the fact that around 1.500 B.C., with the domesti-cation of camels in Arabia, another form of pastoral culture was be-ginning to develop: the Bedouin culture that survives well into thepresent days. From Arabia the Bedouin culture, under differentnames, moved West towards North Africa in the Sahara desert andEthiopia, and moved East well into Iran. Along with camels theyalso started to breed other animals like sheep and goats which wouldprovide them with wool, leather, milk and meat. With the use ofcamels the Bedouin soon became transporters of goods and protec-tors of small caravans. This practice spread to Pakistan, Afghanistanand West India, where it survives until the present.


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Here follows the Anthology of 400 Nomadic groups andGypsies of India.At times I could find that some of the con-clusions or even assertion. The Authors of the past havereached on a group are too negative. Still I did not hesitateto quote the same, without watering it down. Thus this be-comes an authentic reference work for researchers. Themajority of the analysis is mainly on some parts of a groupin a short historical time period.

- Author.

Anthology of 400 Nomadic Groups and Gypsies of IndiaNomads of South Asia

List of the Groups


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Abdâl.Advichincher.Agale.Aghori.Aghori.(Aghorpanthi,Aughar)Aghori.Agris.Ahar.Aheriya.Ahír.Ahiwasi.Alakhgir.(Alakhnâmi,Alakhiya)Andis.Asurí.Ateri.Ayawar.Badhak. (Badhik)Badhak.(Bâgri,Baoria)Bagata.Bagdi.Bagdis.Baheliya.Bahna.Bahrot.Bahurupia.Bahurupias.Baidya.Baiga.Bairâgi.Bairâgi.Bajania.Bajgi.Bakarwal.Bâlasantósha.Balija.Bandar.Bangâli. (Bengâli)Banjâra. (Wanjâri,Labhâna, Mukeri)

Bansohor.Bânsphor.Barwâr.Barwâr.Basdewa.(WasudeoHarbolaKapariaJagaKapdi)Basdewa. (Harbola)Bashara.Basor.Baul.Bauri.Bauri.Bauri.Bavuris.Bawariya.Bazigar.Bedar. (Boya)Bedar.Bediya.Beldâr.Béldâr.Be¡¡lda¡¡ri¡¡.Bépâri.Beria. (Bedia)Beriya. (Bediya)Beshara. (Bashara)Bhaina.Bhâmta. (Bhâmtay)Bhâm†í.Bhând. (Bhânr)Bhand.Bhântu. (Bhâtu)Bhar.Bharatri.Bharbhunjas.Bharia.(Bharia -Bhumia)Bhat.(Rao,Jasondhi)Bhat.(Bhât)Bhatiya.

Bhatra.Bhatrâzu.(Bhâts,Bhatrâzus,orBhatrâjus)Bhavaiya.Bhíl.Bhíl.Bhíl. (Bhíl orBhilódi)Bhilâla.Bhopa.Bhot. (Bot, Bhotiya)Bhotiya.Bhuiya.(Bhuinhâr,Bhumia)Bhulas.Bhumij.Bhumij.Bhunjia.Biloch.(Baloch,Biluch)Bind.(Bin,Bhind, Bindu)Binds.Bírhâ®.Birhor.Birhor.Bonthuk.Bot.Budubdikids.Budubudiké.(Budubududala)Bukekari.Bukka.Chabel.Châi.(Châin,Châini)Chain.(Châin, Châi,Barchâin))Chamar.Champa.(Changpa)Changars.Chapparband.Chapparbands.Charan.


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Charau.Chetti.Chisaris.Chitrakathi.(Hardas)Chitrakathi.Chunaris.Chunkar.Cutchi.(Meman,Kachhi Muamim)Dafalis.Dakots.Dandasis.Darveshis.Dâsari.Dasari.Dasnami.Dewâr.Dewar Pardhan.Dhadi.Dhangar.(Dhanuhâr)Dhangar.Dhanwâr.Dharhi.Dhârhi.Dhoba.Dholis.Dhunia.Dhuri.Dhuri.Dom.(Domra,Domahra)Dom.(Domra)¸óm.Domb.(Dombo)Dommara.Dudekulas.Durgimurgiwala.Fakir Ciners.Gadabâ.Gadaria.(Gâdri)Gadariya.(Gârariya,Gâderiya,Gânreriya)

Gadba.(Gadaba)Gaddi.Gadhvi.Gagra.Ganak.Gandhi.Gangeddu.(Gangeddulu)Gangeddulus.Gâróπís.Gasain.Gauria.Ghadshi.Ghosi.Ghosi.Godagulas.Góndaliga.Golendaz.Golla.Gond.(Gonr)Gond.Gondhali.Gopâl.(Borekar)Goriya.(Guriya)Gosain.(Gusain,Sanniâsi, Dasnâmi)Gîjar.(Gujar)Gulgulia.Gulguliâs.Hâbîra.Hakkipikki.Halam.Hallir.Harnis.Hawaldar.Helava.Helevas.Hensi.Hijra.(Khasus)Holia.Idaiyan.Jabel.Jajabor.(Manta,Bede)

Jalâli.Janappan.Jangal Jati.Jangam.Jangama.Jarawa.Jashodhis.(Karohlas)Jasondhi.Jât.Jati.Jetti.Jógi.Jogi. (Yogi)Joshis Sarvadas.Juâ©g.(Patuâ)Kachera.(Hawaldar)Kadera.Kahals.Kaikâri. (Kaikâdi,Bargandi)Kakkalan.Kakkalans.Kakkans.Kallan.(Kollan)Kallar.Kamad.Kamâr.Kambalattans.Kandera.Kanjar.Kanjar.Kanjar. (Khangor)Kanjari.Kanphatta.Karohlas.Kathak. (Kathik)Kaththiravândlu.Kattu Marathi.Kaur.Kavarai.Kawar.(Kanwar,Kaur)Kéla.Képumâri.


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Khairwâr.(Kharwâr,Khaira, Khairwa)Khambas.Khangâr.(Khagâr)Kharia.Kha¡®iâ.Kharwis.Khója.Khond.(Kandh)Khumras.Killékyâtâ.Killekyatas.Koπâ.(Korâ)KOl.(Munda, Ho)Kol.(Kâmâli orKâlahâ)Kolâm.Kolhati.(Dandewala,bansberia, Kabutari)Kólhâ†í.Kora. (Korâ, Kórâ,Khairâ, Khoyrâ)Korachas.Koraga.Koragas.Korava.Korku.Korwa.Korwa.Korwa.Korwâ.Kuramwâr.Kurarias.Kîrkî.Kuruba.Kuruman.Kurumba.(Kurumba)Kuruvikkaran.Kuruvikkaran.(Vagiri)Lâπis.Laheris.Lakheras.

Lambâdi.Langoli.Larhia.Lodhas.Lohar.Lohar.Lohar.Lohar.(Khati,Ghantra,Ghisari,Panchal)Lhârí.Lorha.Luniyas.Madâri. (Madariya)Mahli. (Mahili)Mahtams.Mailâri.Majhwâr. (Mânjhi,Mâjhia)Mal.Mâl.(Mâle,Mâler,Mâl Pahâria)Malaivedan.Malayan.Maleyave.Mâna.Mânbhao.Mandula.Mandula.Mâng.Mangan.Manganiyar.Manihar.Mannewâr.Maravans.Masanjogi.(Mahars)Matkuda.Medra.Meo.(Mewâti)Methar.(Bhangi,Hari Dom, Lâlbegi)Mianas.Mína. (Deswâli,Maia)

Mirâsi.Mochi. (Muchi,Jínger, Jirayat,Jíldgar, Chitrakâr,Chitevari, Musabir)Mondarus.Mondis.Mors.Muchi.Mundas.Munda.(Mura,Horo-hon)Mu∑πâ.Mu∑πârí.Munjkut.Munurwar.Murli.Musahars.Nagarchis.Nagasia.(Naksia)Nahâlí.Naikpod.Naiks.Nandiwalas.Naqqal.Nar.(Nar,Nat,Nartak, Nâtak)Nat.Nat.(Badi,Dang-Charha,Karnati,Bazigar, Sapera)Na†í.Nikkalavandhu.Nunia.(Noniyan)Nuniyas.Od.ÓπkÏ.Ojha.Ojha.Oraon.(Uraon,Kurukh,Dhangar,Kîda, Kisân)Oudhia.Pakhiwaras.


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Pandarams.Paravan.Pardhân.Pardhi.(Bahelia,Mirshikar,Moghia,Shikari, Takankar)Parja.Pathrot.Patras.Patwas.Pena.Pe∑πhârís.Perike.Pichigunta.Pichiguntas.Pinjara.Pulluvan.Qalandar.Qa∆âí.(Qasâb)Qualandar.Qualandars.Rahwâri.Raj Parivars.Raji.Rajjhar.(Rajbhar,Lajjhar)Rajwar.Rajwars.Ramavanshis.Ramoshis.:Râmosi.(Râmoshi)Rao.Rawals.Rayaranada.(Mahars)Sahar.Sahariyas.Sakuna Pakshi.Salat.Sanaurhia.Sani.Sêsís.Sansia.Sansiya.Santâls.(Santali)

Sarania.Sarvade Joshi.Sâtâni.Satanis.Satia.Saur.Savar.(Sabar, Saur,Sar, Sayar, Suri,Swiri)Savar.(Sawara,Savara, Saonr,Sahra)Savara.(Saura,Sowra)Savara.(TheSavaras, Sawaras, orSaoras)Savara.Sehria.Shikari Pardhis.Shompen.Sikalgârí.Singiwala.Soar.Sonkar.Sor.Soregar.Sosia.Sudugabusiddha.Tagus.Takankar.Takari.Takaris.Takia.Targala.Thepatkari.Thoris.Tipperah.(Triprâ)Tirmali.Toda.Tottivans.Tottiyan.Turaihas.Turi.

Turi.Turi.Tîrí.Uppalingas.Upparas.Vada.Vaddar.Vadi.Vaghe.Vagiri.Vaidu.Vaidu.Vajantris.Varli.Vendan.Wâghya.(Vâghe,Murli)


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Nomads of South Asia - Siti Xoom

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