Historic development[edit]

Nomadic tribes have always been a source of suspicion to sedentary people. In the colonial period, the British normalized a set of notions about such groups that echoed European ideas about the gypsies, whose origins are in the Indian subcontinent. They listed such groups that posed a ‘threat’ to settled society and introduced a legislative measure, the Criminal Tribes Act (CTA) in 1871 and as a result of which nearly 200 such communities stood ‘notified’ as criminal.

The Targalas or Nayaks have been itinerant drama troupes in Gujarat who moved from village to village to perform ‘Bhavai’, a folk dance theatre form. These performers too carry the stigma of criminality. There are numerous folk tales of ‘the skillful thefts’ allegedly committed by Bhavai troupe members. And if a burglary had taken place in a village where Bhavai had been performed, members of the troupe would be arrested and interrogated. The itinerant Bhavai players have always been expected to report their entry, stay and exit to the village headman.

The folk dance drama of Bhavai probably originated in the then Anart Pradesh (now North Gujarat). It then spread over other parts of Gujarat, Saurashtra, Kutch and Marvad (now Rajasthan). It has been a popular form of entertainment among the rural and the townsfolk from the 14th century through to the 19th century in the North-west region of India. Although its origin are in the worship of the Mother Goddess, Bhavani, it has gathered secular elements with the passage of time and come to embrace the whole range of human emotions of the rural community. It is to Gujarat what Yakshagana is to Karnataka, Nautanki to Uttar Pradesh, Tamasha and Lalit to Maharashtra - a veritable folk dance drama.

The performing Targalas are believed to be the descendants of the poet Asait Thakar of Unjha who lived in the 14th century. As the legend goes, Asait was an Audichya Brahmin of Unjha in North Gujarat. His host Hemala Patel’s daughter Ganga was kidnapped by a Rawal Ratan Singh, Sardar Jahan Roz. Hemala Patel urged Asait Thakar to use his artistic skills to help liberate his daughter from the Sardar. Asait told the Sardar, after pleasing him with his performance and songs that he should liberate the girl, who he claimed was his.

Indian distinguished from other nomads in India in that they breed animals and this distinguishes them from other groups that which make a living by combining with other itinerant professions such as blacksmithing by Gadia Lohar, or selling salt by the Lambadi. These pastoral groups are concentrated in certain regions such as the semi-arid and arid Thar desert region and the neighbouring salt marshes of Kutch along the Indo-Pakistan border, the alpine and sub-alpine zones above 3200 metres in the Himalayas forming the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.[5]

Types of livestock kept in mobile pastoral systems include buffaloes, sheep, goats, camels, cattle, donkeys, and yaks among others. Unlike in the Middle East, where pastoralist are organized in tribes occupying distinct areas, in India pastoralist are integrated in the caste system, representing endogamous social units specialising in animal husbandry.[5]

In western India in the Kutch region, there are a groups of pastoral nomads known as the Maldhari. The word Maldhari means in the local Kutchi language means an "owner of animal stock".[6]

Peripatetic nomads[edit]

Throughout South Asia, there are groups of nomads who are peddlers, itinerant minstrels, dancers and dramatists. These peripatetic nomads do not constitute a monolithic groups, but includes numerous groups often refer to themselves as jatis or quoms.[1]

See also[edit]

• Nomadic tribes in India

References[edit]

• 1. ^ Jump up to:a b Nomads in India : proceedings of the National Seminar / edited by P.K. Misra, K.C. Malhotra

  2. ^ Tavakolian, Bahram, ed. (2004). "Whither South Asian Pastoralism?". Nomadic Peoples. White Horse Press. 8 (2): 274. JSTOR 43123738. In fact Rao and Casimir point out that the largest numbers of nomads in the world are not to be found in the Middle East and Africa, where most past studies have directed our attention, but in South Asia where they contribute 7 percent of India's huge population (2003: 1).

  3. ^ Mohanty, Ranjita; Tandon, Rajesh (2006). Participatory Citizenship: Identity, Exclusion, Inclusion. India: SAGE Publishing. pp. 110–111. ISBN 978-9352805457. The nomadic population in the South Asia is the largest in the world. In India, nomadic communities form nearly 7 per cent of population and consists of about 500 different communities of mobile herders, foragers and traditional peripatetics (Rao and Casimir 2003 :1).

  4. ^ Customary strangers : new perspectives on peripatetic peoples in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia / edited by Joseph C. Berland and Aparna Rao

1. ^ Jump up to:a b chttp://www.dfid.gov.uk/r4d/PDF/outputs/ZC0181b.pdf

   1. ^ "Maldhari tribe and their clash with lion conservation", on Biodiversity of India wiki, 25 November 2011, retrieved 23 February 2012

   2. ^ Abdal in People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part One edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 28 to 31 Seagull Books

   3. ^ Marginal Muslim Communities in India edited by M.K.A Siddiqui pages 344-356

   4. ^ People of India Rajasthan Volume XXXVIII Part One edited by B.K Lavania, D. K Samanta, S K Mandal & N.N Vyas pages 40 to 44 Popular Prakashan

   5. ^ Bakho in People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part One edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 97 to 99 Seagull Books

   6. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part One edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 164 to 167 Manohar Publications

   7. ^ People of India Punjab Volume XXXVII edited by I.J.S Bansal and Swaran Singh pages 66 to 70 Manohar

   8. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part One edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 172 to 176 Manohar Publications

   9. ^ Jump up to:a b People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Two edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 582 to 587 Manohar Publications

   10. ^ People of India Hayana Volume XXIII edited by M.L Sharma and A.K Bhatia pages 63 to 67 Manohar

   11. ^ People of India Punjab Volume XXXVII edited by I.J.S Bansal and Swaran Singh pages 94 to 96 Manohar

   12. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part One edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 235 to 239 Manohar Publications

   13. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part One edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 340 to 344 (Manohar Publications)

   14. ^ People of India Hayana Volume XXIII (Manohar Publications) edited by M.L Sharma and A.K Bhatia pages 137 to 141 Manohar

   15. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh, Volume XLII Part 1 (Manohar Publications), edited by A Hasan & J C Das pp. 438-440.

   16. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part One edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 441 to 445 (Manohar Publications)

   17. ^ Tribes and Castes of the North Western Provinces and Oudh Volume II by William Crook

   18. ^ People of India Hayana Volume XXIII edited by M.L Sharma and A.K Bhatia pages 166 to 170 Manohar

   19. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Two edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 498 to 500 Manohar Publications

   20. ^ People of India Punjab Volume XXXVII edited by I.J.S Bansal and Swaran Singh pages 194 to 196 Manohar

   21. ^ People of India Hayana Volume XXIII edited by M.L Sharma and A.K Bhatia pages 208 to 215 Manohar

   22. ^ People of India Punjab Volume XXXVII edited by I.J.S Bansal and Swaran Singh pages 25 to 28 Manohar

   23. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Three edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 1399 to 1405 Manohar Publications

   24. ^ Tribes and Castes of North Western Provinces and Oudh Volume II by William Crook pages 498 to 499

   25. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part One edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 673 to 676 Manohar Publications

   26. ^ Marginal Muslim Communities in India edited by M.K.A Siddiqui pages 319-329

   27. ^ Kanjar in People of India Rajasthan Volume XXXVIII Part Two, edited by B.K Lavania, D. K Samanta, S K Mandal and N.N Vyas, pages 498 to 500, Popular Prakashan ISBN 81-7154-769-9

   28. ^ Kanjar Social Organization by Joseph C Berland in The other nomads : peripatetic minorities in cross-cultural perspective / edited by Aparna Rao pages247 to 268 ISBN 3-412-08085-3 Köln : Böhlau, 1987

   29. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Two edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 730 to 735 Manohar Publications

   30. ^ Marginal Muslim Communities in India edited by M.K.A Siddiqui pages 424-436

   31. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Two edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 973 to 977

   32. ^ People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part Two edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 683 to 685 Seagull Books

   33. ^ People of India Delhi Volume XX edited by T. K Ghosh & S Nath pages 475 to 477 Manohar Publications

   34. ^ People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part Two edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 686 to 688 Seagull Books

   35. ^ Conservation and mobile indigenous peoples : displacement, forced settlement and sustainable development / edited by Dawn Chatty and Marcus Colchester New York ; Oxford : Berghahn Books, 2002 ISBN 1571818413

   36. ^ Jump up to:a b S. Theodore Baskeran (1989). "Introduction to Narikorava Studies, from Gift Siromoney's website". Retrieved 26 July 2008.

   37. ^ The Land Pirates of India, Pg 64

   38. ^ Viramma, p 287

   39. ^ People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part Two edited by Surendra Gopal and Hetukar Jha, pages 722-725

   40. ^ Jump up to:a b People of India Haryana Volume XXIII edited by M.K Sharma and A.K Bhatia pages 380 to 385 Manohar

   41. ^ People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part Two edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 748 to 749 Seagull Books

   42. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Three edited by A Hasan & J C Das page 1142 to 1146 Manohar Publications

   43. ^ People of India Haryana Volume XXIII edited by M.K Sharma and A.K Bhatia pages 400 to 403 Manohar

   44. ^ Peripatetic peoples and Lifestyles by Aparna Rao in Disappearing peoples? : indigenous groups and ethnic minorities in South and Central Asia / edited by Barbara A. Brower, Barbara Rose Johnston pages 53 to 72 ISBN 1598741209

   45. ^ The Sansis of Punjab by Sher Singh Sher

   46. ^ People of India Uttar Pradesh Volume XLII Part Three edited by A Hasan & J C Das pages 1268 to 1272 Manohar Publications

   47. ^ People of India Punjab Volume XXXVII edited by I.J.S Bansal and Swaran Singh pages 398 to 400 Manohar

   48. ^ People of India Bihar Volume XVI Part Two edited by S Gopal & Hetukar Jha pages 849 to 851 Seagull Books

   49. ^ Sapuria in Marginal Muslim Communities in India edited by M.K.A Siddiqui pages 385-398

(Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomads_of_India)