Chroniclers Reveal Who and Why in India

[Shari]

Who were the ancient Indian people who became Romani after their agonizing historical beginnings? Why did they leave India? To which of India’s castes did they belong?

This website - http://www.newindianexpress.com/columns ... 370407.ece - contains an April 9, 2016, article written by Gautam Pingle, former Dean of Research and Consultancy, Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad. Excerpts below are from his article:

“Both linguistic and DNA analysis have cleared doubts of Roma origins. DNA analysis has estimated periods when the Roma were taken from their homeland. Yet the causes of these exits are beyond the scope of scientists. This requires an understanding of events in the sub-continent based on robust historical evidence. Direct historical evidence is provided by Muslim chroniclers. They record the terrifying and disastrous wave of raids by Arabs and Afghans...”


“...It is clear from the DNA studies combined with Muslim historical records that the modern Roma (12-15 million strong) are the descendants of waves of unfortunate Hindus who were terrorized, captured, enslaved and sold in the slave markets of Arabia, Mesopotamia, Persia and Central Asia. Over the centuries, the Roma slowly began to move towards the West in search of a better life. They have been there since the 15th century...”

Within his article the author recounted times and places of “the terrifying and disastrous wave of raids by Arabs and Afghans...”

“...The total number of slaves thus acquired in the towns of Sind was high and embraced all social ranks, ‘daughters of princes and Ranas were made to stand in line with the menials’. At Rur, a random 60,000 captives, amongst whom ‘thirty ladies of royal blood’, are said to have been reduced to slavery...”

It seems in ancient times that the raiders were not concerned with social ranking while capturing our Romani ancestors for slavery.

List of six of the most significant castes in India - http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/featu ... ystem-work.

This is from http://asianhistory.about.com/o d/india/p/indiancastesystem.htm:
“The origins of the caste system in India and Nepal are shrouded, but it seems to have originated more than two thousand years ago. Under this system, which is associated with Hinduism, people were categorized by their occupations...”

More to read:
http://dnaconsultants.com/Default.aspx?; PageID=6615567&A=SearchResult&SearchID=9205387&ObjectID=6615567&ObjectType=1
http://www.gfa.org/dalit/the-caste-system/
http://reason.com/archives/2012/01/24/t ... caste-syst

[christopherswink8]

This is most interesting. Thank you for sharing this. I do have Scinti on my Rare Genes results. What I also find interesting with this article is the mention of Nepal as I come up with small amounts of Indo Tibetan on Gedmatch calculators.