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| Banjara woman in traditional dress | |||||||||||||||
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| ca. 5.6 million[1] | |||||||||||||||
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other Hindustani populations |
The Banjara are a class of usually described as nomadic people from the Indian state of Rajasthan, North-West Gujarat, and Western Madhya Pradesh and Eastern Sindh province of pre-independence Pakistan. They claim to belong to the clan of Agnivanshi Rajputs, and are also known as Banjari, Pindari, Bangala, Banjori, Banjuri, Brinjari, Lamani, Lamadi, Lambani, Labhani, Lambara, Lavani, Lemadi, Lumadale, Labhani Muka, Goola, Gurmarti, Gormati, Kora, Sugali, Sukali, Tanda, Vanjari, Vanzara, and Wanji. Together with the Domba, they are sometimes called the "gypsies of India".[2]
They are divided in two tribes, Maturia, and Labana.[3]
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Distribution [link]
The origin of Banjara community is stated[by whom?] in the area between Bikaner and Bahawalpur, Pakistan. After the fall of the Rajputs, they started spreading across the country. The Banjara had spread to Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and other states of India. About half their number speak Lambadi, one of the Rajasthani dialects, while others are native speakers of Hindi, Telugu and other languages dominant in their respective areas of settlement. Rathod, Parmar, Pawar, Naik, Chauhan,and Jadhav castes belong to Banjara community in Rajasthan and Gujarat now are in General Seats after the communal rights taken place in Rajasthan for Reservation in 2008 as they were landlords in Amarkot, Fathaykot and Sialkot before Partition of India and Pakistan. They are a Scheduled Tribe in Andhra Pradesh (where they are listed as Sugali), Orissa, Karnataka, Haryana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh. Even though they settled across the country, they still consider themselves as nomad community.
Etymology [link]
The word "Banjara" must have evolved from Prakrit and Hindi and Rajasthani words "Bana/Ban or Vana/Van" meaning Forest or Moorlands and "Chara" meaning 'Movers'. The Banjara are (together with the Domba) sometimes called the "Gypsies of India".[4]
The word Banjara is a deprecated, colloquial form of the word of Sanskrit origin. The Sanskrit compound-word vana chara, "forest wanderers" was given to them presumably because of their primitive role in the Indian society as forest wood collectors and distributors.
Culture [link]
Food [link]
The traditional food of Banjara is bati (roti). Daliya is a dish cooked using many cereal, such as wheat or jawar. Banjara people also enjoy many non-vegetarian foods. Among the non-vegetarian dishes unique to them are saloi, made from goat blood and other goat parts. In Andhara, fish is their main food. The Banajara are also known for preferring spicy food.
Dress [link]
Women are known to wear colorful and beautiful costumes like phetiya (as ghagra) and kanchalli (as top) and have mehendi tattoos on their hands. The dress is considered fancy and attractive by Western cultures. They use mirror chips and often coins to decorate it. Women put on thick bangles on their arms (patli). Their ornaments are made up of silver rings, coins, chain and hair pleats are tied together at the end by chotla.
Men wear dhoti and kurta (short with many folds). These clothes were designed specially for the protection from harsh climate in deserts and to distinguish them from others.
Arts, literature and entertainment [link]
Their customs, language and dress indicate they originated from Rajasthan. They live in settlements called thandas. They lived in zupada (hut). Now many of them live in cities. They have a unique culture and dance form. On many occasions they gather, sing and dance.
Their traditional occupation is nomadic cattle herding. Now they are slowly moving into agriculture and trade.
The accurate history of Lambanis or Lambadis or Banjaras is not known but the general opinion among them is that they fought for Prithvi Raj Chauhan against Muhammad of Ghor. The trail of the Lambadi/Banjara can be verified from their language, Lambadi borrows words from Rajasthani, Gujarati, Marathi and the local language of the area they belong to.
Banjaras originally belong to Rajasthan and they were Rajputs[citation needed] who migrated to southern parts of India for trade and agriculture. They settled down in the southern or central area of the country and slowly loosened contacts with Rajasthan, and their original community. Over a period of time both the communities separated and they adopted the local culture. The language spoken by Banjaras settled in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha, Maharashtra is an admixture of Hindi, Rajasthani and Marathi.
Lambadi Dance is a special kind of dance of Andhra Pradesh. In this form of dance, mainly the female dancers dance in tune with the male drummers to offer homage to their Lord for a good harvest. At Anupu village near Nagarjunakonda, Lambadi dance originated. They are actually semi-nomadic tribes who are gradually moving towards civilization. This dance is mainly restricted among the females and rarely the males participate in Lambadi dance. Lambadi is a special kind of Folk Dance which involves participation by tribal women who bedeck themselves in colorful costumes and jewelry.
Related communities [link]
Three other castes that claim kinship with the Banjara are the Labana of Punjab, the Gawaria of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and Lavana of Rajasthan. The banjara community needs to be compared with the 'Harappa and Mahenjodaro' history to trace the origin and the pali language and the deep study of sanskrit words to locate the foundation of their spoken language.
There are many more eminent scholars and political leaders like D Ravindra Naik, Manohar Ainapur, and writers like P K Khandoba, D B Naik, Puttappa R Jadhav, and much more leaders in India. There is a prominent social transformer from Mandavi Kinwat of Maharastra like Baliram Patil, Uttam Rao Rathod.
Gotras [link]
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This article may be confusing or unclear to readers. Please help clarify the article; suggestions may be found on the talk page. (February 2011) |
The Banjaras are grouped into five gotras, or super-families, also called goth or pada in Lambadi.
- Banoth, Pangoth
- Rathod, Bhukya
- Chavan, Jath (Moodh)
- Amgot, Pawar
- Jadhav, Vadtya
- kelavath
Some believe the Rahtod/Bhukya gotra is split into two, making Banoth as a separate gotra by itself and bringing the total to six gotras. Others claim the Turi/Badawatis form an additional (sixth) gotra. Each gotra is divided into subdivisions called jaaths, which are generally used as surnames of its members.
Marriage [link]
Members of the same gotra cannot marry as they are considered brother and sister, a term known as bhaipana (brotherhood). Members of different gotras may marry, and this state is known as kai-laageni (can marry). Traditionally, the jaaths of prospective couples are checked by experts known as dhadi bhaat who knew the gotra/jaath system and could identify proper marriages. Nowadays the Banjarpoint website (coded by two Banjara software engineers) fulfills a similar function with gotra/jaath webpages to identify which can marry which.In Banjara community marriages will take place for a week with many celebrations. Like Vadai, saadi thanero, Bhang peyero, Gol khayero, maand ramadero, Vokaldi dhokayero, Davlokarero, Sagai, etc.
Sevalal Maharaj Temple [link]
Sant Shree Sevalal Maharaj was born on 15.2.1739 to parents Shri Dharmani Yaadi (mother) and Shri Bhima Naik on this holy land around 271 years back. At that time this location was popularly known as Ramagundam or Ramji Naik Tanda (Ramji Naik is grand father of Sevabhaya, who come to the location with 360 families of his Tanda and about 4000 loaded cattles). Ramji Naik Tanda when deserted by the end of 18th century, the local people built a village known as Chennarayani palle. This land now falls in the revenue village of Peddadoddi, Taluk / Mandal – Gooty, Dist. Anandpur, Andhra Pradesh.
Sevabhaya lived with his parents at this place upto the age of 12. He bathed in “Kalo Kundo” (transparent clean water of natural spring water pond), worshipped in Chennakesava (Shiva) temple on the top of the Chandrayanagutta (hill) nearby Ramji Naik Tanda and grazed his cattle in “Zhoomri Jhol” (Forest of Palms). All the relics and monuments are existings even today. Banjaras and non-Banjaras in the locality hold Bhima Naik Katta (platform) in high esteem and reverence since the “ORE” (residue) of Sant Shree Sevalal Maharaj is buried under the ground of this platform which is the tradition of the Banjaras to bury the residue after the delivery of the baby. Shri Bhima Naik delivered his judgements to Banjaras of his and neighbouring Tandas from this Katta.
In narration and in praise of sevabhaya’s life and deeds, there are abundant folk songs and folklores sung and oral history is also told by Banjaras for last 250 years. It is mentioned that “Gooty – Bellary – Ma – Janam lido Sevabhaya” (meaning : Sevabhaya was born at Gooty – Bellary). Gooty taluka was in the then Bellary District of the then Madras province of British Raj. During that period there was no separate District called Anantapur as the Anantapur town was part of Bellary District. In Peddadoddi revenue village there is a piece of land of 18 acres next to dilapidated Ramji Naik Tanda and the same is shown in revenue records as “Nayakuni Bhoomi” (land of Nayak). It is also mentioned in the book “Sevadas Leelamrut” authored by Sant Shri Ramrao Maharaj of Pohragad (Sevabhaya’s Samadhi place) that Gooty Bellary was birth place of Sevabhaya. Sant Shree Ramrao Maharaj is living Sant of Seventh generation of Shri Sevabhaya family. Even well known author, poet and Banjara folk singer Shri Atmaram Rathod of Yevatmal (Maharashtra) has also established the same location in his popular book “Shri Sant Sevadas Leela Charitra” as Sevabhaya’s birth place. After lot of research works and explorations by many research scholar, linguistics, historians particularly Banjara Dharmik Parishad of Bangalore have identified and proved this location as sevabhaya’s birth place.[5]
Ancient Sri Shiva Anjaneya Temple [link]
Sri Shiva Anjaneya Temple is a 150 year old ancient temple situated at Devla Naik Tanda, Thunkimetla Village, Bomraspet Mandal, Mahabubnagar Dist, renovated by V. Pandari nayak jadav with the help of local banjara people, political leaders, business people, employee's of state & central government and other devotees.
See also [link]
References [link]
- ^ population figures from joshuaprojct.net
- ^ Lamani Economy and Society in Change. Mittal Publications. pp. 16–. https://books.google.com/books?id=3NUA2DYuiY8C&pg=PA16. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
- ^ (sir.), Alfred Comyn Lyall (1870). "Appendix A : Sketch of Banjáras of Berár". Gazetteer for the Haidarábád assigned districts commonly called Berár. Printed at the Education Society's Press. p. 195. https://books.google.com/books?id=qA4EAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA195. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
- ^ "Lambanis or Gypsies". Kamat. https://www.kamat.com/kalranga/people/lambani.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-03.[unreliable source?]
- ^ https://www.banjarajanasangh.com/sevalalmaharaj.htm
External links [link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Banjara |
- Banjarazone.com
- Banjarajanasangh.com
- Banjarpoint.com
- The Banjaras, a photo essay at Anilcherukupalli.com
- The Joshua Project
- Chennai Museum
- Biomedcentral.com
- Maharashtra.gov.in
- Banjar Times
- Krep Publishers
- Sevalal Nagar Tanda Map [1]
- Gor Banjara[2]
- Ranjit Naik [3]
