Gypsies From the Ganges to theThames

The first three chapters of this book were originally published as Gypsies: From India to the Mediterranean and translated into ten European languages including Romani. This newly expanded book begins by tracing the path followed by the Gypsies from India to Constantinople and the Mediterranean. It then follows them on through the Balkans to Western Europe and finally across the channel to England.

For a brief golden age, the Gypsies were welcomed as pilgrims and penitents as well as entertainers and skilled craftsmen. Yet soon they became seen as a threat to society and were everywhere either executed or expelled or forced to relinquish every single aspect of their lives that set them apart. In Romania Gypsies were still bought and sold as slaves as late as 1864.

Of particular interest to historians, linguists and other academics researching the origin of the Romanies is the Introduction, which considers the many controversial and conflicting theories about the origin of the Gypsies. The book also looks at the Gypsies' distant relatives who stayed in India or stopped off on the way west and who still carry on a nomadic life in Iran and neighbouring countries. A final chapter explains how links are being forged between Europe's last nomads and modern India.
The Romanies are a people living in Europe and elsewhere who, it is generally believed, originate from India. Most of them still speak one of the many dialects of the Romani language. In the past, many, though not all, were nomadic, travelling with their families with carts and tents, and later with caravans. They were not nomads with cattle but did a variety of jobs. Others have been settled in the same place for centuries. Since the end of the Second World War in 1945 most governments in Europe have been trying to get the nomadic Romanies to settle down.

On many occasions Romanies have asked me about their early history and I have had to reply that there was nothing easily available which told the story in full. Now, there is.

First published as Gypsies: From India to the Mediterranean in 1993 and translated into nine languages including Romani this greatly expanded new edition surveys the many theories explaining the origin of the Roma and then tracks them across Europe from Constantinople to the River Thames, looks at nomads of Indian origin who have remained in the Middle East and, finally, traces the development of new links with the mother country, India.
Introduction: Where do the Romany Gypsies come from?

PART ONE

I. From India to Persia: 224 - 642

Immigrant workers; the Shah's Musicians; the vardo story; the Silk Road

2. Under Arab rule: 642 - c.900

The 'Zott'; a breakaway state; the Battle of Ain Zarba; the Sindhi; the Zott in Antioch; the Dom; the last migrants from India; departure from Persia - The linguistic argument (1) ; the way goes through Armenia - The linguistic argument (2); earning a living

3. In the Byzantine Empire. c.900 - 1454

The Romanies reach Constantinople; the Atsingani

PART TWO

Introduction - Europe in the fourteenth century

4. In the Balkans

Under the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (1185-1389); Christian Gypsies in the Balkans under the Ottomans; on the Mediterranean islands and Pelopennesos; bootmakers at Modon; Egyptians; serfs and slaves in Romania; flight to the west

5. In Central Europe

Emperor Sigismund and the Gypsies; coppersmiths; to the Adriatic

6. In Western Europe: refugees, pilgrims and penitents

Outriders; the Great Company; visits to the Pope; Letters of Safe Conduct

7. In Western Europe: acrobats, fortune-tellers and magicians

A guarded welcome; crossing the Channel

Postscript - Across the Atlantic

PART THREE

8. Gypsies in India, Central Asia and the Middle East

India: the Banjara or Ghor; the Sapera; the Narikorava; Pakistan; Afghanistan; Industrial nomads in Central Asia and the Middle East: the Banu Sassan; Central Asia; the Bosha of Armenia; the Luri and Koli of Iran; the Dom or Nawwar; Domari ­ the language of the Dom; Dom in Europe; Egypt and Sudan

9. India: the Great Mother

W.R.Rishi and the Chandigarh Connection

Appendices

Appendix One: The Romani Language

Appendix Two: Marcel Courthiade: Kannauj.

Further Reading