Banjara

Banjara, who are also known by numerous other names - such as Laman, Lambadi, and Vanjari - are a nomadic tribe, who may have origins in Afghanistan or in the Marwar region of what is now Rajasthan, northern India. They are now found mostly in the south Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana but also elsewhere in the country.

Etymology

According to B. G. Halbar, the word Banjara is derived from the Sanskrit word vana chara (wanderers in jungle). The word Lambani or Lamani, by which the community is also known, is derived from the Sanskrit word lavana (salt), which was a principal product they transported across the country.[1] However, Irfan Habib believes the origin of banjara to lie in the Sanskrit word variously rendered as vanij, vanik and banik, as does the name of the Bania caste, which historically was India's "pre-eminent" trading community. Despite the community adopting a multitude of languages, Banjara is used throughout India, although in Karnataka the name is altered to Banijagaru.[2]

History

A traditional Banjara dress

The origin of the Banjaras has been a much-debated topic. One opinion is that they originate from the Marwar region of Rajasthan, whilst another suggests their origins lie in Afghanistan.[3][4] It may be that the constituent groups that form the Banjara do not in fact share a common origin and that theories suggesting otherwise reflect the systemic bias of nineteenth-century British ethnographers who were keen to create simple classifications.[5]

Banjaras were historically both pastoralists and transporters of goods on the inland plains of India, for which they used boats, carts, camels and oxen. Although not referred to as Banjara until the sixteenth century, Habib believes that the royal court chroniclers Ziauddin Barani and Shaikh Nasiruddin documented them operating in the Delhi Sultanate some centuries earlier, around the time of the rule of Alauddin Khalji. They often travelled in groups for protection, this tanda[lower-alpha 1] being lead by a headman variously described as a muqaddam, nayak or naik.[7] Such tandas usually comprised carriage of one specific product and thus were essentially a combined trade operation.[8] Jahangir, a Mughal emperor who reigned in the early seventeenth century, described them as

a fixed class of people, who possess a thousand oxen, or more or less, varying in numbers. They bring grain from the villages to the towns and also accompany armies. With an army, there may at least be a hundred thousand oxen, or more.[9]

The Banjaras comprise a multitude of subgroups, some of which engaged in trading specific goods but most of whom traded in anything that might make them money. The Labana subgroup (salt), the Multani (grain) and the Mukeri (wood and timber) were among the specific traders. Although some older sources have suggested that they did not use credit, Habib's analysis of historic sources suggests that they did and that some were reliant on it. Similarly, although the seventeenth-century traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier noted them as being Hindus, Habib finds that in fact a substantial number were Muslim, especially in northern India.[10]

The peripatetic nature of Banjara life significantly affected their societal behaviours. Laxman D. Satya notes that it

generated tremendous diversity within the Banjara society in terms of language, customs, beliefs and practices. It developed in them a rather casual, unorthodox and open attitude towards religion, family, and women. Many of the practices which were prohibited in the mainstream orthodox Hindu and Muslim society were freely practised in the Banjara community.[11]

Many Europeans historically thought the Banajaras to be similar to Gypsies, although this was unjustified as there were significant differences. Habib notes that "Superstitions of all kinds, including suspected witch killings and sacrifices, reinforced the Gypsy image of the class".[8] They were notorious for committing crimes such as roadside robbery, cattle lifting, and theft of grain or other property. The women took a leading role in such criminality, led by the headman of the gang. In the event of someone being convicted, the other members of the gang would take care of their families.[12]

In 19th century, the British colonial authorities brought the community under the purview of Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 which forced them to give up their traditional occupations.[13] This led to some of them settling down as farmers near mountains and hilly regions, while others were driven into the forests.[14]

Culture

Language

Banjaras speak Gor Bol; also called Lambadi, it belongs to the Indo-Aryan group of languages. As Lambadi has no script, it is either written in Devnagri script or in the script of the local language such as Telugu or Kannada.[15] Most Banjaras today are bilingual or multilingual, adopting the predominant language of their surroundings.[16]

Art

Traditional Banjara dress consisting of kanchali (blouse) and phetiya (skirt)

Banjara art includes performance arts such as dance and music as well as folk and plastic arts such as rangoli, textile embroidery, tattooing and painting.[17] Banjara embroidery and tattooing are especially prized and also form a significant aspect of the Banjara identity. Lambani women specialise in lepo embroidery, which involves stitching pieces of mirror, decorative beads and coins onto clothes.[18] Sandur Lambani embroidery is a type of textile embroidery unique to the tribe in Sanduru, Bellary district, Karnataka. It has obtained a GI tag.[19]

Festivals

Banjara people celebrate the festival of Teej during Shravana (the month of August). In this festival young unmarried Banjara girls pray for a good groom.[20] They sow seeds in bamboo bowls and water it three times a day for nine days and if the sprouts grow "thick and high" it is considered a good omen. During Teej the seedling-baskets are kept in the middle and girls sing and dance around them.[20]

Dance and music

Dancers wearing traditional dress of the Banjara Lamadi or Lambani tribe in Andhra Pradesh

Fire dance and Chari dance are the traditional dance forms of the Banjaras. Banjaras have a sister community of singers known as Dadhis or Gajugonia[21] They are Muslim Banjaras who traditionally traveled from village to village singing songs to the accompaniment of sarangi.[22]

Religion

The majority of the Banjara people profess faith in Hinduism. They are known to worship deities such as Balaji, Jagadamba Devi, Bhavani of Tuljapur, Renuka Mata of Mahur, Mahadev, Khandoba and Hanuman. They also hold Guru Nanak in great respect.[23]

Sevalal or Sevabhaya is the most important saint of the Banjaras. According to their accounts, he was born on 15 February 1739 in Sevaghad district of the state of Andhra Pradesh to Bhima Naik and Dharmini Bai, and died on 4 December 1806. A cattle merchant by profession he is said to have been a man of exemplary truthfulness, a great musician, a courageous warrior, a rationalist who fought against superstition and a benighted devotee of the goddess Jagadamba.[24] The colonial British administrators also quote his stories but they place him in the 19th century and identify his original name as Siva Rathor.[25]

Society

Although the Banajaras were traditionally a migratory people, they did mostly settle each year in fixed village accommodation during the monsoon months of June - August.[26]

Distribution

Banjaras are found all over India under various synonyms.[27] Venkatesh Vaditya said in 2012 that most inhabited Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, although there were significant populations elsewhere.[3] Around seven million have been reported in Madhya Pradesh,[28] around 3.5 million in Rajasthan,[29] and almost one million recorded in Karnataka in 2001.[30]

Classification

As of 2008, the Banjara community has been listed as a Scheduled Tribe in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. They were designated as an Other Backward Class in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, and as a Scheduled Caste in Karnataka, Delhi and Punjab.[31]

References

Notes

A tanda refers to a caravan of bullocks but was also used to describe a Banjara encampment.[6]

Citations

Halbar (1986), p. 14
Habib (1990), pp. 374, 379
Vaditya, Venkatesh (2018). "Cultural Changes And Marginalisation Of Lambada Community In Telangana, India". Indian Journal of Dalit and Tribal Studies and Action. 2 (3): 55–80. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
Burman, J. J. Roy (2010). Ethnography of a Denotified Tribe: The Laman Banjara. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. p. 15. ISBN 978-8-18324-345-2.
Habib (1990), pp. 377-378
Habib (1990), pp. 374-375
Habib (1990), p. 373
Habib (1990), p. 378
Habib (1990), p. 374
Habib (1990), pp. 375, 377
Satya (1997), p. 314
Singh, Kumar Suresh (1993). Tribal Ethnography, Customary Law, and Change. Concept Publishing Company. p. 253.
N. Shantha Mohan (1988). Status of Banjara Women in India: (a Study of Karnataka). Uppal Publishing House. p. 4. ISBN 9788185024462.
Shashi, Shyam Singh (2006). The World of Nomads. New Delhi: Lotus Press. p. 143. ISBN 81-8382-051-4.
Bhukya (2010), p. 233
Halbar (1986), p. 20
Naik (2000), p. 132
Naik (2000), pp. 26-27
"Sandur Lambani embroidery gets GI tag". The Hindu. 30 September 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
"Banjara tribe refuses to snap ties with its culture". The Hindu. 23 August 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
Naik (2000), p. 70
Naik (2000), p. 50
Deogaonkar & Deogaonkar (1992), p. 42
Naik, Lalitha (2009). Banjara Hejjegurutugalu. Bangalore: Karnataka Rajya Patragara Ilakhe. pp. 42–84. ISBN 978-8190843812.
Bhukya (2010), p. 209
Satya (1997), p. 315
"Adivasis facing threat from Banjaras". The Hindu. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
"Give reservation to banjara caste". Daily Bhaskar. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
"Rajasthan: Cong and BJP are ignoring nomads who form 8% of the population". Business Standar. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
"Banjaras population" (PDF). Registrar of the Census Commission, India. p. 1. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
"Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Communities" (PDF). National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes. 30 June 2008. p. 50. Retrieved 12 October 2018.

Bibliography

Bhukya, Bhangya (2010), Subjugated Nomads: The Lambadas Under the Rule of the Nizams, Orient BlackSwan, ISBN 9788125039617
Deogaonkar, Shashishekhar Gopal; Deogaonkar, Shailaja Shashishekhar (1992), The Banjara, Concept Publishing Company, ISBN 978-81-7022-433-4
Habib, Irfan (1990), "Merchant Communities in Precolonial India", in Tracy, James D. (ed.), The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World, 1350-1750, Cambridge University Press, pp. 371–99, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511563089, ISBN 978-0-52145-735-4
Halbar, B. G. (1986), Lamani Economy and Society in Change, Mittal Publications
Naik, Dhanasing B. (2000), The Art and Literature of Banjara Lambanis: A Socio-cultural Study, Abhinav Publications, ISBN 978-81-7017-364-9
Satya, Laxman D. (1997). "Colonial Sedentarization and Subjugation: The Case of Banjaras of Berar, 1850-1900". The Journal of Peasant Studies. 24 (4): 314–336. doi:10.1080/03066159708438653.