The Nomadic Subject

The Nomadic Subject Postcolonial Identities on the Margins

Edited by

Mchel hAodha

CAMBRIDGE SCHOLARS PUBLISHING

The Nomadic Subject: Postcolonial Identities on the Margins, edited by Mchel hAodha This book first published 2007 by Cambridge Scholars Publishing 15 Angerton Gardens, Newcastle, NE5 2JA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright 2007 by Mchel hAodha and contributors

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN 1-84718-286-0; ISBN 13: 9781847182869

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Mchel hAodha Chapter One................................................................................................. 2 A Short Account of the Gypsies (Roma) and how we Perceive Them Freyne Corbett Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 12 Narratives from the Pastoral and the Nomadic Worlds of the Deccan Ajay Dandekar Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 25 Representative strategies in Liam OFlahertys The Tent and The Stolen Ass Paul Delaney, Trinity College Dublin Chapter Four.............................................................................................. 36 Some Thoughts on Roma Immigration and Irish Society Pat Guerin, Irish Refugee Council Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 45 The Cryptolectal Speech of the American Roads: Traveller Cant and American Angloromani Ian Hancock Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 62 Tionchar na Gaeilge ar Shelta Lucht Taistil Mchel hAodha Chapter Seven............................................................................................ 73 The Emergence of Traveller Advocacy in Ireland: An Overview Mchel hAodha

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Table of Contents

Chapter Eight............................................................................................. 84 Writing the Romani Artist: Some Thoughts on Colum McCanns Zoli Mchel hAodha Chapter Nine.............................................................................................. 87 Pavees and Muscers: Police Diversity Training, Irish Travellers, and the Limits of British Pluralism Colm Power Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 117 Gitano Identity in lvaro Senz de Heredias film Papa Piquillo (1998): A Function of Culture or a Function of Socio-Economic Status? Dagmar Reschke Contributors............................................................................................. 128

INTRODUCTION

This volume is another addition to the burgeoning subject areas that are Migration/Diaspora Studies and Irish Studies. It is also, in part, an attempt to give a window on the world for representational literature reflecting both the real-life experiences and the long-held myths as evidenced towards cultures and communities who, until very recently, have inhabited the margins of mainstream dialogue - the hidden Irish, the migrant, the Traveller, the Gypsy and the new or immigrant Irish. The scholars and activists writing here have engaged with the questions of ethnicity, identity, racism and social history as relating to those newer disciplines often referred to today as Traveller Studies and Romani Studies. These controversial questions have been discussed within the broader context of a fast-changing global situation where the dynamics of representation and modernisation, are changing with incredible speed. It is to be hoped that this collection of essays will generate both comment and debate in those new and exciting areas of enquiry that are the more liminal interstices of Irish Studies, Traveller Studies, Romani Studies and Diaspora and Migration Studies. Some of the distinctive worldviews, as expressed in this volume have had little opportunity for public expression previous to this. Hopefully, volumes such as the following will function to change this historical anomaly. IN the process it may be possible to provide a forum for enhanced dialogue between the old and the new, the local and the foreign, the indigene and the migrant. Dr. Mchel hAodha Traveller, Roma and Migration Initiative, University of Limerick, Ireland

CHAPTER ONE A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE GYPSIES (ROMA) AND HOW WE PERCEIVE THEM FREYNE CORBETT

It was Stalin who was supposed to have said, and he would know, that a single death is a tragedy but a million deaths are a statistic. For some reason humans have difficulty comprehending murder on a vast scale though death on a limited scale creates great empathy and sorrow. The twentieth century has seen the worst and most mass murders in history and the listing of them reduces these murders to statistics and intellectual numbing. In the west the Jewish Holocaust is the most well known because thousands of books, articles and films constantly remind us of the German war against the Jews. Other holocausts, the destruction of the Herero people of Namibia, the Turkish genocide of Armenians and even Maos murder of millions of peasant Chinese, said to be the greatest mass murder in history, are not kept in the public consciousness and are slowly being forgotten. This essay looks at the history of the imagination of Gypsies in the settled community in order to comprehend their treatment in the world war period. Given the horrendous treatment of Gypsies in many parts of Europe apart from Germany, particularly Yugoslavia and Romania, the focus here will be on those countries where the official approach to Gypsies was, by comparison, relatively benign. Because of limited space, only France and Italy will be studied. The attempted extermination of the Sinti, Romany and other Gypsies, during the second world war, called the Porrajmos or great devouring, which may have murdered up to 500,000 Gypsies, has never received the attention it deserved. Whilst a huge amount of research has been undertaken and is still being undertaken into the Jewish Holocaust, very little has been written on the Gypsy mass murder and persecution. This is not just a gaping oversight historically but attacks on Gypsies today are desensitised by the omission, and awareness of the Porrajmos could mitigate current persecution or at least create more media attention.

A Short Account of the Gypsies (Roma) and how we Perceive Them

Since the Iron Curtain came down there has been an increasing number of racially motivated attacks on Gypsies in Eastern Europe and efforts to repatriate them in Western Europe.1 For accounts of racially motivated attacks on Gypsies the Patrin website provides many such instances. The two stories related below of German Sinti are of survivors and should not obscure the thousands with no story. The representation of Gypsies in the settled community has a long history of mythology and prejudice. The use of the word Gypsy is itself of non-Gypsy construction and stems from the name egyptian, given to these travellers who arrived in Europe from the east, probably from India, in the fourteenth century. For the purposes of generalisation this essay will refer to the various groups of Kaldera, Lovari, Sinti, Manu and many more as Gypsies.2 Over the years Gypsies became stigmatised with a variety of criminal or simply evil mythologies such as child stealing, complicity in the execution of Jesus Christ, casting evil spells, cannibalism and being Islamic spies. They were even accused of stealing the infant Jesus swaddling clothes and their dark and exotic appearance aroused suspicions and ultimately persecution from xenophobic settled communities.3 Because of their nomadic lifestyle they were branded as being asocial, degenerate, work-shy and criminal. There probably was a large element of envy in these accusations from feudal communities tied to the land with no hope of change. At the same time Gypsies were consulted for fortune-telling, herbal remedies, love potions and, in the age of superstition, magic spells. During their migrations westward the Gypsies, in order to survive, took on traits more pleasing to their hosts; converting to christianity, learning the local language and even inter-marrying with non-Gypsies. Persecutions continued however, and murder, eviction and restriction were frequently used against the Gypsies. In parts of Europe, particularly Romania, they were enslaved by the local elites, only being emancipated in the 1860s.4 In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in an effort to discover the origins of Gypsies, studies under the umbrella of the Gypsy Lore Societies delved into the language and customs of Gypsies. The results of this drive to taxonomise and racially identify Gypsies owe more to the ideas of the researchers than to science. As well as the origins of
1

David M. Crowe, A history of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia, (New York, 1994) pp.230-232. 2 Jean-Pierre Ligeois, Gypsies: an illustrated history, (London, 1986) p. 13. 3 Donald Kenrick and Grattan Puxon, the destiny of Europes gypsies, (USA, 1972) pp. 26-30. 4 Crowe, History of the Gypsies, pp. 107-121.

Chapter One

Gypsies it was fashionable, unscientifically, to ascribe characteristics to Gypsies. Thus they were said to be proud, driven by sexual passion as well as criminal, treacherous, idle and heathen.5 The image of swarthy, fancy-free Gypsies with piercing eyes, flashing white teeth, mysterious provenance, earrings, fiddle-toting, and gaily coloured caravans is still imprinted in the collective consciousness. Above all they had to be nomadic. This construction may seem benign but by creating the myth of the ideal Gypsy, the question of racial purity and origins became important to the romantic definition. There had to be genuine Gypsies who fit the image and the rest were poseurs, fakes and work-shy parasites. As the ideal never existed this othering of Gypsies led to harassment in the more benign societies and worse in the autocratic ones. As long as the romantic imagery prevailed Gypsies, particularly settled Gypsies, have struggled against the notion that they are not real Gypsies.6 Like Jews, the Gypsies have always existed outside Western European society and the concept that for the good of that society these minorities should be either assimilated or removed is one that dates from the early nineteenth century. The rise of nationalism, in the same century, gave birth to the desirability of purity in a racial group. These ideas of race, allied to the pseudo-science of social Darwinism, were best propounded by Joseph-Arthur de Gobineau, who believed that the dynamic races, European of course, were doomed to mediocrity through miscegenation with inferior races. These ideas were quickly taken up by many in Germany, particularly Wagners son in law, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, who identified the cause of the European decline as being the dilution of pure Aryan blood by lesser races. It did not take long to identify the culprits: Jews, Gypsies and Blacks. Whilst these ideas remained popular, and repression of minorities continued, it would be the Nazis who made the theory an essential component of their rule.7 Now there existed two images of Gypsies, the romantic, shiftless and criminal Gypsy and the racially inferior Gypsy who was endangering the dynamic German people. The second representation is important, not only because of the consequences, but because the Gypsy was being attacked, not for

5 Jane Helleiner, racism and the politics of Culture Irish Travellers, (London, 2000) pp. 35-38. 6 Ian Hancock, the Pariah syndrome, (Michigan, 1987) Chapter XV, pp. 3, 4. 7 Debrah Dwork and Robert Jan van Pelt, Holocaust a history, (London, 2002) pp. 20-24.

A Short Account of the Gypsies (Roma) and how we Perceive Them

his way of life or behaviour, but for what he was. Even if a Gypsy settled down, got a job and went to church he was still an outcast and pariah.8 There is no doubt that the rise to power of the Nazis in the 1930s gave momentum to the persecution of Gypsies. It would be a mistake, however, to think that persecution was practised by them alone. In the same way that persecution of the Jews during the Nazi era, is often seen as exclusively carried out by the Nazis when in fact vast numbers of ordinary Germans, and other Europeans were implicated in the destruction of the Jews.9 That Gypsies were victimised in France, the creators of Libert, Egalit and Fratrnit may come as a surprise but there is a history of persecution in France that predates the Nazi invasion. In the aftermath of the First World War came greatly increased population control in Europe, the introduction of travel documents; passports, visas, work and residence permits, designed to facilitate official control rather than ease the movement of people, which impinged heavily on nomadic Gypsies. The concept of an alien person is a creation of the post-war period.10 Gypsies, who for centuries had avoided persecution by fleeing to a safer ground, now found border posts and immigration officials blocking their escape routes. In keeping with the romantic view of Gypsies, the French referred to them as Bohmiens or Romanichels until 1912 when new legislation coldly grouped all Gypsies under the name nomades. With the arrival of hordes of Gypsies in the late nineteenth century from Eastern Europe came a national fear of the travellers and refugees which was played up in the newspapers. With true sensationalism this writer invoked the spectre, guaranteed to alarm and titillate the reader, of sexual violence:
These new arrivals, whether Romanichels, Zingari, Tsiganes or even Frenchmen, are particularly dreaded, for their passing through is always accompanied by depredations of every sort. Guilty of every misdeed, they are robbers of washing, of chickens, of rabbits from insecurely fastened hutches; incendiaries of barns; satyrs exploiting the isolation of a woman or young girlto appease their brutal passion.11

Gunter Lewy, the Nazi persecution of the Gypsies, (New York, 2000) p. 4. Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, Hitlers willing executioners ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, (London, 1996) p.6. 10 Dwork and van Pelt, Holocaust, pp.104-105. 11 Henri Soul-Limendoux, Ambulants, forains et nomades, Imprimerie moderne, (1935) p 79. in Marie Christine Hubert, the internment of Gypsies in France, in Kenrick, D. (ed.), In the shadow of the Swastika the Gypsies during the second world war, (Hertfordshire, 1999) p. 60.
9

Chapter One

The new laws of 1912 forced all travellers to declare their itinerancy to local authorities, and obtain and carry an identity card with photograph and anthropometric data, such as; length of right ear, fingerprints, and length and circumference of head. They had to present these to local authorities for stamping, upon entering and leaving any area of France. Added to this was the requirement that heads of families were obliged to carry a collective identity card for all members in his family.12 During war Gypsies were particularly vulnerable to emergency regulations and restrictions. Considered suspicious, by both sides, many ended up in internment camps in the First World War or were expelled as being a drain on limited resources. At the onset of the Second World War Gypsies were not interned in concentration camps but were prevented from travelling and the military restrictions on travel were allied to efforts on the part of the government to permanently settle gypsies. The German occupation of France initially propelled Gypsies, like the Jews to the free zone of the Vichy regime, where they were interned in two nomadic camps, but the effort was half-hearted and Gypsies, in general, survived the war in the Vichy free zone without especial harassment. In occupied France, however, the Germans demanded the internment of all Gypsies and created a system of concentration camps, to be run and financed by the French authorities, and by the end of 1940 around 1700 nomads were interned in ten camps in the Occupied Zone. Eventually around 6,500 Gypsies, ninety percent of whom were French citizens, were imprisoned in the camps where conditions were intolerable. As the demand for manpower grew in Germany many adult male Gypsies were sent to work there and some ended up in Buchenwald Concentration camp. Among the records that survived from Auschwitz, the names of one hundred and forty five French Gypsies are listed although there is no record from the French camps that they were sent there.13 Although the French camps were disease-ridden and many, particularly children, died in them, there was no systematic deportation to the death camps as there was in other Nazioccupied countries. The Fascist Italian approach to the Zingari, the Italian Gypsies, Sinti in the North and Romani in the South, seemed to have been exclusionary, that is they restricted entry into Italy, and within their general racial policies. The Sinti worked in the circus and show business whilst the Romani were limited nomads, travelling only within fixed areas
12

Marie Christian Hubert, the internment of Gypsies in France in Kenrick, D. (ed.), in the shadow of the Swastika the Gypsies during the second world war, (Hertfordshire, 1999) pp. 61, 62. 13 Hubert, the internment of Gypsies, pp. 63-87.

A Short Account of the Gypsies (Roma) and how we Perceive Them

to find work and beg. It appears that, apart from the expected effort to control the movements of Gypsies, and the predictable alarms about public health and safety, Gypsies were left alone. This level of tolerance ended in 1940 when the chief of police, Arturo Bocchini, instructed all town administrations to intern all those likely to engage in spying or sabotage. This carte blanche instruction was followed up by specific instructions to intern all Gypsies as they constituted a danger due to their innate nature and because they sometimes commit serious crimes. The extent to which these orders were complied with is in doubt, although there are many accounts of the cruel conditions in the camps, it appears that many Gypsies avoided internment. It is to the credit of the Italian authorities that when Gypsies from Yugoslavia fled that country to escape persecution by the Ustashe and German regimes there, they were issued with travel documents for Italy.14 The fate of Italian Gypsies after the fall of fascism in 1943 and the German occupation is largely unrecorded but the mass deportation of Italian Jews to the Nazi camps for extermination is well documented and there is little doubt that many Gypsies accompanied them. As in France there seems to have been reluctance on the part of the authorities in Italy to implement racial programmes despite Mussolinis avowed intention to take:
positive action directed towards the quantitative and qualitative improvement of the Italian Race, an improvement which could be gravely compromised by interbreeding and bastardisation.15

It is easy to minimise the internment and mistreatment of an ethnic group when it is constantly compared with the more famous destruction of another group. It is always easier too, for a nation to deflect culpability when there is a convenient whipping boy to attract the worlds attention. These factors do not apply in Germany where the persecution reached the incomprehensible levels of mechanised mass extermination. The story of Otto Rosenberg, number Z6084 at Auschwitz, a Sinto German who survived the Nazi years, provides a glimpse of Gypsy life in those dangerous times. As a small boy, in 1936 or 1937 he encountered Dr. Robert Ritter who headed the Racial Hygiene and
14 Giovanna Boursier, Gypsies in Italy during the Fascist dictatorship and the Second World War, in Kenrick, D. (ed.), In the shadow of the Swastika the Gypsies during the second world war, (Hertfordshire, 1999) pp. 15-35. Kenrick and Puxon, the destiny of Europes gypsies, pp. 108,109. 15 Boursier, Gypsies in Italy pp. 14, 15.

Chapter One

Population Biology Research Unit of the Ministry of Health at BerlinDahlem and his assistant Eva Justin. They were gathering information on Gypsies, mainly genealogy and family relationships, which would be used later to collect Gypsies for extradition to the concentration camps. Otto remembered the gradual removal of people to Ravensbrck KZ* including his mother in 1938. As a teenager Otto was sentenced to four months imprisonment for borrowing a magnifying glass and on completion of his sentence was first sent to Auschwitz and then to the Gypsy camp at Birkenau. As an adult remembering the past Otto has great difficulty in speaking of his shame and embarrassment at the treatment accorded Gypsies, who have strict codes or taboos on hygiene and decency. In the camps men and women, young and old, had to wash and relieve themselves together, and the shame seemed to etch itself deeper into Ottos soul than the murder and deprivation all around him. Otto witnessed the mechanised slaughter of Gypsies and Jews and lived within a few hundred yards of the crematoria, met the diabolical Dr. Mengele but survived to be moved to Buchenwald.16 After the able bodied were transferred to Buchenwald, the Gypsy camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was dismantled and all the inmates murdered. Otto was put on work detail and eventually sent to BergenBelsen and was there when the camp was liberated by the American army. Amazingly Otto has little time for thinking of revenge though he lost most of his family in the camps, and even took pity on demobbed German soldiers, after the war, begging in the streets. He received no compensation because he had no papers to prove his time and that of his family in the camps.17 Rosa Mettbachs story shares many harrowing details with Otto Rosenbergs and although she lived in Austria, the Gypsies there, around 11,000 in number, were not spared the Porrajmos. Rosa and her family were initially interned at Lackenbach, an Austrian Zigeunerlager, that is, a Gypsy concentration camp, in late 1940, where typhus thrived in the filthy conditions. Almost a year later the Gypsies were transferred to Litzmannstadt with her family. On route she escaped and was never to see her family again. Recaptured and flogged, the seventeen year-old Rosa was sent back to Lackenbach, escaped again, married a Sinti man serving in the German Wehrmacht, was again arrested and sent to Auschwitz. Rosa, like Otto, was moved to Birkenau just before the destruction of the Gypsy camp and its remaining human population at
Otto Rosenberg, my time in Auschwitz, (London, 1999) pp. 25-29, 46-54, 64, 65, 72-77, 83, 84. 17 Rosenberg, my time in Auschwitz, pp.109, 126-128. *Abbreviation for Konzentrationslager (concentration camp).
16

A Short Account of the Gypsies (Roma) and how we Perceive Them

Auschwitz. Subsequently Rosa escaped, for the last time, on route to Dachau, and makes her way home in the dying embers of the war. She desperately wished for some members of her family to be alive but the Austrian authorities confirmed that she was the only survivor.18 When the carnage was over there was very little accounting done and the surviving Gypsies found, in many cases, the same bureaucrats directing their lives as if nothing had happened. Even Dr. Ritter and Eva Justin were permitted to continue working after the war despite the testimony of many Gypsies to their crimes.19 Although total justice was impossible, the Gypsies were at a serious disadvantage in claiming compensation, even in cases of forced sterilisation, where the evidence was literal, because of their reluctance to speak on such a taboo subject and because of their high illiteracy rate. When the truth of the concentration camps became generally known it was the Jewish Holocaust that dominated and the Gypsy experience was ignored. Of course the worst stories cannot be told because the storyteller is dead. The survivors not only have to live with their memories but also the guilt of surviving. That guilt was too much for one survivor, not a Gypsy but an Italian Jew, Primo Levi, who eventually committed suicide. Only one German Gypsy in five survived the Porrajmos and in some parts of fascist Europe the death toll exceeded this.20 Horror stories, like statistics, reach a numbing point and the collective and individual cruelties practised by one group of people on another in the fascist era are too many; they can only, ultimately, hide the reality. In this essay the desire was to look at a miniscule slice of Gypsy life in three countries, to compare their treatment by the gade, that is non-Gypsies, not an account of the Holocaust. The danger lies in comparisons; the French and Italian treatment of their Gypsies tends to be excused through the mass murder of Gypsies in Germany and elsewhere. Surely society has a duty to protect those weaker groups in its ranks that only ask to be allowed to live in peace and privacy.

18

Toby Sonneman, Shared sorrows, (Hertfordshire, 2002) pp. 55, 57-58, 64, 74, 75,213, 224. 19 Lewy, the Nazi persecution of the Gypsies, pp. 209,210. 20 Kenrick and Puxon, the destiny of Europes Gypsies, pp. 112-115.

10

Chapter One

The entrance to Auschwitz21

References
Boursier, Giovanna, Gypsies in Italy during the Fascist dictatorship and the Second World War, in Kenrick, D. (ed.), In the shadow of the Swastika the Gypsies during the second world war, (Hertfordshire, 1999). Crowe, David M., A history of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia, (New York, 1994). Dwork Debrah and van Pelt, Robert Jan, Holocaust a history, (London, 2002). Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah, Hitlers willing executioners ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, (London, 1996). Hancock, Ian, the Pariah syndrome, (Michigan, 1987). Helleiner, Jane, racism and the politics of Culture Irish Travellers, (London, 2000).
21 Image available online at www.artcoregallery.com/.../auschwitz.html accessed 31 April 2007.

A Short Account of the Gypsies (Roma) and how we Perceive Them

11

Hubert, Marie Christian the internment of Gypsies in France in Kenrick, D. (ed.), in the shadow of the Swastika the Gypsies during the second world war, (Hertfordshire, 1999). Kenrick, Donald and Puxon, Grattan the destiny of Europes gypsies, (USA, 1972). Lewy, Gunter, the Nazi persecution of the Gypsies, (New York, 2000). Ligeois, Jean-Pierre, Gypsies: an illustrated history, (London, 1986). Rosenberg, Otto, my time in Auschwitz, (London, 1999). Soul-Limendoux, Henri, Ambulants, forains et nomades, Imprimerie moderne, (1935) p 79. in Marie Christine Hubert, the internment of Gypsies in France, in Kenrick, D. (ed.), In the shadow of the Swastika the Gypsies during the second world war, (Hertfordshire, 1999). Sonneman, Toby, Shared sorrows, (Hertfordshire, 2002).

CHAPTER TWO NARRATIVES FROM THE PASTORAL AND THE NOMADIC WORLDS OF THE DECCAN AJAY DANDEKAR

Some Notes on Typology

The most common categorizations of pastoralism relate to the degree of movement involved. This ranges from the very-nomadic through to the transhumant and the agro-pastoral. Cultivators also keep livestock for work or as a source of marketable produce, although this practice is not usually regarded as pastoralism. Many classifications as relating to pastoralism need to be treated with caution. Pastoralists are by nature flexible; they are quick to seize any economic opportunity and can rapidly switch modes of production in addition to operating a range of economic systems depending on the niche-opportunities available and the environment for production. The impacts of climate on pastoralism patterns are also very significant. Pastoralism relates in part to a managed ecosystem that evolved as an adaptive practice in relation to climate. Weather systems and climate change have also influenced the types of pastoralism practiced on the Indian sub-continent in a manner which is both subtle and complex. Pastoralism as related to animal production may also take many diverse and complex forms based on the type of animals that are reared and herded. One can make a distinction between true or nomadic pastoralism where the whole household moves along with the herd or flock, transhumant pastoralism where only the herder moves with his stock, and semipastoralism where cultivation (usually of cereals) constitutes a significant segment of the overall economic activity. Then there are further intermediate forms where the whole family may move with the herd or with a part of it for either short or long periods. These movements can be periodic or pendulum-like - (that is, linked to climatic and seasonal

Narratives from the Pastoral and the Nomadic Worlds of the Deccan

13

change), or aperiodic - (dependent on random climatic changes in both time and space). Additionally, one can further differentiate pastoral systems according to the type of stock which is kept: e.g. cattle, one or two-humped camels, sheep and goats, horses, reindeer and even yak or llama. These characteristics can also be combined with various diverse geographic situations. One can thus distinguish between transhumant pastoralists and periodic nomads i.e. those who having their homeland in the mountains spend the cold seasons in the plains as opposed to those herders, who, having their homeland in the plains move to the mountains for the dry hot season. The pastoralists landscape is one which is dotted with invisible resources. Pastoralists, by necessity, have to balance their knowledge of pastures, rainfall, disease and particular political insecurities and national boundaries with effective access to various markets and infrastructures. They have a tendency to prefer established migration routes, one where they have developed longstanding bartering arrangements with farmers so as to make use of crop residues or provide particular trade goods. Pastoralists normally diverge from these existing patterns only in the face of drought, pasture failure or the spread of an epizootic. This flexibility in terms of both economy and migratory patterns is often the key to their very survival. Transhumance is the regular movement of herds between certain fixed locations so as to exploit the seasonal availability of particular pastures. In regions with a high propotion of mountains e.g. Switzerland, Bosnia, North Africa, the Himalayas, Kyrgyzstan and the Andes this nomadism tends to consist of a vertical movement, usually between certain established locations, ones where the routes are more often than not very old or long-established. There is a strong preference for pastures with higher-rainfall zones. Locations with good levels of precipitation and where there is a good supply of forage are also popular. Some wealthier herders can afford to develop permanent relations with particular locations by building small houses, for example. Horizontal transhumance is a more opportunistic form of transhumance where movement between certain locations develops over a few years but is often disrupted or brought to an end by climatic, economic or political change. Transhumant pastoralists frequently have a permanent homestead or base where the older members of the community remain throughout the year. Their economic activities are also more often than not associated with the production of particular crops, crops which the herders produce for their own use rather than for sale on the open market. In many

14

Chapter Two

temperate regions snow can block animals access to pasture during certain periods of the year and haymaking is therefore an important component of the transhumants system. Make hay while the sun shines is a very relevant proverb as applied to these economic processes. Hay needs to be cut, dried and bundled during the summer so that it wont rot while in storage. Hay production in tropical regions is less common than in temperate zones as the movement of the herds is between higher and lower-rainfall zones in the hope that there will be forage available in both areas. In West Africa, for example, there is a very identifiable pattern of southwards movement in the dry season, when grass is readily available and problems with insects are at a minimum. A return movement northwards follows during the wet season, when humidity-related diseases tend to increase and there is pasture available in those regions further north. A similar pattern can be seen in the nomadic systems of movement of the Dhangars, the shepherds of the Deccan plateau in India where the movement is from east to west and back as relating to the precipitation cycle and the availability of pasture. A characteristic feature of transhumance is herd splitting, whereby the travelling herders take the majority of the herd in search of grazing, but leave their base community - (young children and elderly members of the community) - in charge of a nucleus of lactating females. There are many variations on this pattern and the availability of modern transport has meant that the shepherds and their extended families are not separated from one another for as long a period as would have been in the case in the past. Whether they are milking females, weaker animals or work animals that the herders decide to leave behind depends primarily on the transhumance system being pursued, and may even vary within the individual system on a year-by-year basis. It goes without saying of course that the transhumance patterns of particular communities is being transformed by the introduction of modern transport in many regions of Eurasia. Wealthier countries in the Persian Gulf such as Oman and Saudi Arabia now provide vehicles at subsidized rates to assist pastoralists with animal transport. It seems likely that this pattern will become more and more frequent, given that the issue of controlling animals in increasingly densely-settled environments is becoming more serious. Agro-pastoralists can be defined as settled pastoralists who cultivate sufficient areas to feed

Narratives from the Pastoral and the Nomadic Worlds of the Deccan

15

their families from their own crop production. Agro-pastoralists hold land rights and use either their own labour or hired labour to cultivate land and grow staple crops. While the ownership of livestock is still highly valued, agro-pastoralists herds are usually smaller than those found in other pastoral systems, possibly because they no longer rely solely on livestock and depend on a finite grazing area which can be reached from their villages within a days journey. Agro-pastoralists invest more in housing and other local infrastructure and, if their herds become very large, they frequently send parts of their herd away with more nomadic pastoralists. Agro-pastoralism is also frequently the catalyst for much of the interaction between the sedentary and mobile communities. As they often have the same ethno-linguistic identity as the pastoralists, agro-pastoralists frequently act as brokers/negotiators in the establishment of cattle routes, negotiations for the camping of herds on particular farms - (when crop residues can be exchanged for valuable manure) and the arrangements concerning the rearing of work animals, all of which add value to overall agricultural production. The narratives we will now discuss give an indication of the diverse range and nature of some of the historical relationships that have existed between various pastoralists and nomads, relationships encompassing both trade and conflict.

Pastoralists Narratives
We will now examine a number of present-day narratives as relating to the Dhangars (the shepherd pastoralists of the Deccan plateau) culturally and imaginatively recreate the their communities. These narratives are a reflection of Dhangar history and community culture as recorded by the Dhangars themselves. Where appropriate the stories have been supplemented with explanatory notes or background information by the ethnographer/transcriber of the narratives. The narrative stories of the heroes as relating to the pastoralists have sometimes been paraphrased as a consequence of space constraints. All ethnographic notes and other explanatory material reproduced is as provided/described by the Dhangar storytellers themselves. The following narrative is the story of Babir, the shepherd boy:

The Story of Babir

Yelu bai gavlan had no child. She was alone in the world as her husband had passed away. She worshipped the lord Mahadeva for twelve years . Every time she would go to Singanapur Mahadeva and offered prayers.

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The road to the temple went through a thick forest but that did not deter the woman. She braved the wind and the rains and continued the pilgrimage to the temple. The god was satisfied with her devotion and granted her a boon. She asked for a son from the lord. The lord offered a difficult choice. He said, either you can have a brave and a wise son who will live for twelve years or you will have a crazy son who will live forever. She opted for the first option. In due course the lord himself arranged that a birth would take place in the house of Yelu bai. She had a son and named him Babir. Young Babir grew up quickly. He was soon working in the fields and became an expert at tending pastures. Soon twelve years passed. One day Babir took his flock into the pasture lands of Ramoshis, in the area of Rajali. He then realised that the Ramoshi clan which consisted of some three hundred and fifty families would come after him. Babir left Rajali as quickly as possible and journeyed to a place near Rai -Rui where he found an abundance of pasture-land. He let his cattle graze on the pastures of Rai-Rui and relaxed for a while. However, the Ramoshi clan had followed him in the meantime and they surrounded him. He killed all of them except for two of them who had hidden themselves in the surrounding area. Babir felt thirsty after the fight and went to the river to drink water. As he bent down, the two Ramoshis killed him with one stroke. The memorial to the god Babir is still standing at Rai-Rui today. We can safely state that wherever we find a settlement of cattle-herders we are also sure to find some of these hero\memorial stones or icons in memory of Babir. The settlement of the cattle-herders was known from then on as the Marad. Even today this practice is followed amongst our people. There are various ways of making the icon and we do not follow any particular standardised pattern when making the icons. We each have our own individual style. These are primarily ancestor-stones. They are our ancestors and it is our duty to look after our ancestors and their well being.

The Story of Kaba and Baji

Kaba was the mirdha of his Wada (Settlement). The settlement was located at Dholdara. During those days, the Dhangars did not herd sheep. They had herds of cattle instead and only small herds of sheep were kept. This is a story of those old days! When the wada was located at Dholdara and when Kaba, the mirdha, had numerous cattle there was once a drought. There was no water to drink there and no fodder for the cattle. The situation was critical. Kaba then took a decision. He appointed men in pairs. They were given instructions to locate water and fodder and to see if there had been any rains anywhere in the countryside. The first pair of

Narratives from the Pastoral and the Nomadic Worlds of the Deccan spotters was sent to Khandesh. The second pair was sent off to Mandesh. The third pair was sent off into the heart of the Mugal territory. The fourth pair was despatched to the Konkan, the West Coast. Then the last pair was appointed. Then Kaba instructed this last pair as follows: - Go to the Phaltan area. See where you can find some water and fodder. The first pair came back from Khandesh. They had failed to find any fodder or water. They were followed by the pair from Mandesh. They had also met with the same fate. They said, there is no fodder available. The cattle will break their legs unnecessarily. The pair who had gone to the Mugal territory now returned. They despairingly reported another failure. The fourth pair to return came back from Konkan and they too were unlucky. They said that there was no water or fodder there also. All but one pair had failed to find any water or fodder. All the hopes then rested on the pair that had gone to the Phaltan area. Let us now see, said Kaba, what news the pair from Phaltan brings us? The fifth pair had arrived in the area of Phaltan gujari. The forest and fields of Asu Songaon were drenched with rainwater. The salu and wheat flourished in the fields of Asu Songaon. The grass was green and abundant in the fields and in the forests. The pairs joy knew no bounds. They picked up five loads of grass and hurried back to the wada. Back in the Wada, Kaba tells his wife, Pema, Peme, the first four pairs met with utter failure. The fifth pair is returning today and they look happy! They are coming from the Phaltan Gujari area. Welcome them! Pema bai prepared an arati and welcomed them. As she was welcoming them, the arati blew off. This was a bad omen. Then Pema asked, where is this water and fodder? Why is this bad omen today? There is water and fodder, the grass is green and plenty! Where? The wheat is abundant and the fodder is green! At which place? The frogs are crowing and the wells are overflowing! But where is this, in which area, Pema became impatient now. All this we found in Asu Songaon. Here, we have the five loads of grass from the same area. But there has been a bad omen. Lets not go to that village! Naturally, Pema was shaken by the bad omen. These women! The women and the ash of the kiln! Both are the same! Kaba was now livid with her. But Kaba, we have had a bad omen! The arati could not be performed. Nothing doing. I must take my cattle there and get them water and fodder. Kaba was now adamant. The mirdha instructed them to move and the wada moved on towards Asu Songaon. The first night they were in the region of Radicand. It was a moonless night. The darkness had engulfed the pastoral nomads and their camps. Kaba told the guards of the night, keep your eyes open for the tiger. Ill take a nap and then you can go to sleep once I get up. Kaba got up after a brief nap. The night guards then went off to sleep. A tiger came roaring

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Chapter Two out of the night and started dragging one of the cows away. Kaba saw this and ran after the tiger. He held the tiger by the jaws and tore him apart. He then came back and slept serenely for the rest of the night. The next morning Pema got up early. She wanted to collect the fuel from the forest and finish her morning ablutions. She came out and saw the massive and fierce animal sprawled on the ground. She ran back in terror and threw herself on Kaba. Kaba was furious. Why did you do this? I have barely slept the night and now you have wrecked my sleep. Pema was still terror stuck. She just mumbled, tiger, tiger. Yes, yes, I killed him last night and threw him there. Now how will I know this? Pema then got up and finished her morning chores. The cattle were then driven across the pastures and moved towards Asu Songaon. Kaba was now happy. He chews tobacco while the cattle pastured in the direction of Asu Songaon. He followed them at his own pace. As the cattle travelled towards the land of Asu Songaon, the pastureland turned more green; the fields were more lush with large standing crops of wheat and rich green fodder. The cattle were roaming freely in the standing crops and happily gorging on the abundant fodder there. Kaba made camp in the forests of Songaon. The next day, the cattle roam the fields freely. Baji Sonalkar was the Patel of the village and he was informed of the latest developments. Which enemy has entered my village? They have left any pasture or any fodder for my village. All the standing crop has been destroyed. I will meet them tomorrow. By now, Kabas cattle were satiated and content and were now resting in the forest. The next day Baji got up early. He had his bath, applied tilak to his forehead, girdled his sword and galloped to the nomads camp. Ram, Ram! Oh! Ram Ram Daji (Brother-in-law). Pema offered him lunch and Kaba his hospitality. After all Baji was Kabas brother in law. No, thanks. Baji declined the food offer. This is not the lunch we should eat Daji. Baji had by now hatched a treacherous plan. He had planned to eliminate Kaba. This way he would stand to gain a lot of wealth. Daji, let us go and have some red vegetable. But where will we get that vegetable? Oh, come on Daji, we will go for a hunt and get it in the forest. Baji was insistent. The brother-in-laws went for the hunt in the forest. Kaba was walking and Baji was riding his horse. They spotted a flock of deer and Kaba urged Baji, Daji, dont waste this opportunity, kill them! Oh Daji, they are just the poor deer. There is not any fun in killing them. Up ahead they confronted a wild boar. Bhavji, said Kaba, See! Oh Daji, do we kill such animals, such poor souls? Why should we kill them, these poor animals, theyre not worth killing! Then Daji, we are hunting for what? Come, Ill show you, let us go a bit ahead! Ahead lay the tigers lair. The forest around it was so thick that even the passage of

Narratives from the Pastoral and the Nomadic Worlds of the Deccan air through it was a dangerous proposition. The huge and magnificent tiger lay in the lair and Baji was aware of the great danger they faced. Baji then told Kaba, let us hunt in this thick undergrowth. Kaba went inside the hideout. Baji had a sword in his hand, while Kaba had no weapons on him. Baji then thought to himself Let Kaba go up ahead. What the hell do I have to do with it! The tiger will kill him and I will have rid of him forever. Baji withdrew from the hideout and Kaba moved on ahead. However, Kaba was a real man! He woke the tiger up. As the tiger pounced on him, Kaba held him by the jaws and killed him on the spot. Such was Kabas bravery! Then Kaba came out of the hide-out and said, oh, that bastard is running away like a whore! Daji, why are you running away instead of killing the tiger? Oh, one animal does not warrant two hunters. I was nearby only. Only one should kill the tiger. Kaba, satisfied with this explanation, asked for some water to quench his thirst. Baji took him to the fresh water of the river Nira. Kaba was now tired due to his exertions and his tryst with the tiger. He flung himself into the water and dipped his mouth into the fresh, clear water of the river Nira. Baji was waiting for this opportunity only. He unsheathed his sword but Kaba saw the reflection of his sword in the water. My brother-in-law is playing a prank on me, he thought Let him. Ill go ahead and quench my thirst. As Kaba bent down to drink the water Baji dealt him a mighty blow and almost severed Kabas head. There Kaba lay, murdered by treachery, and in his dying moments, he cursed Baji - my wife is pregnant. If she delivers a daughter, she will fetch water for your household but if she delivers a son, he will take revenge on you in front of the entire village assembly. Kaba then died. Now Pema bai had no one to turn to but her brother. She had to stay as one of the dependents of her brother. Both she and Bajis wife were pregnant. Pema delivered a baby boy while Bajis wife delivered a daughter. The boy grew older and he remembered his fathers vow of revenge. He would outplay any kid in the village and made merry. Baji said to himself - This boy is a rascal. Every day there is some complaint against him. The boy had grown up now and he vowed revenge. Baji in the meanwhile said, friends, kill the boy. Every day he is unto something. He lets loose his cattle in our fields and troubles all of us no end. The villagers gathered together and went to the sons wada. Kabas son was having his lunch of milk and rice. His mother started crying and feeding him. The son asked her, 'why are you crying? My brother has set up the village to kill me. Eat this last meal in peace What do you mean? See them! They all have turned up to kill you! Why do they all want to kill me? He murdered your father and now he wants to do the same to you. So eat the meal at least! Mother, do not worry. Let them come. Ill eat my meal later. He went out and asked the group of killers why the hell have you come here? You bastard, we have come to eliminate you! Thats all! Kabas son took a sharp rod in his hand and finished everyone off. Then

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Chapter Two he went to the centre of the village where Baja Sonalkar was holding court and shouted, come out you bastard, I Kabas son have come to take revenge! He dragged Baji out of the Chavdi and cut him to pieces. He then took Bajis severed head in his hands and went to his mother. Mother see! Now sit on this head and take a bath, only then will I be satisfied that my revenge is complete. Kabas mother took the ritual bath and Kabas revenge was complete.

Even today the temples of Kaba and Baji along with the temples of the deities families are to be found near Phaltan. Similar stories on the theme of revenge are widespread as the stories of Viththal and Birdeva indicate:
'Once upon a time Viththala and Bramal (Biroba) felt that they required a new place to stay. They started looking for a new place and came down to Pattankodoli. Here they saw a huge empty space and decided to settle down there. In the meanwhile, Kallya learned that these Dhangar gods had come to live in the settlement. He immediately summoned Lingusha Patil, Dattoba Kulkarni and Japtap. They were informed about the new arrivals. Kallya also complained that now that they have come they will surely kill a goat and the blood will flow past my door! The leaders of the village decided that they would not allow them (the gods) to stay in the village. The next day Viththal and Bramal sent out to Soma Pradhan to find out whether anyone else was willing to give them lodgings. As nobody was willing to deliver this message i.e. that they were not very welcome in the village the message was conveyed instead to Soma who reported this in turn to the gods. The gods then become angry and bhandara was sprinkled over the village. The entire population of the village, the brothers excepting, went blind. The leaders then rushed to the gods. The gods agreed to restore the sight of the people if shelter was granted to them. Thus an agreement was reached and they stayed in the village. (Viththal Virappa Mahatmya, 1988)

The Dhangar oral tradition is replete with such stories. (see Sontheimer, 1989). All of these stories are evidence of a basic conflict as existing between the pastoralists and the other animal-herders. For the purposes of this essay it is necessary to explore this conflict within the social and cultural history of this semi-arid regional belt and examine some of the responses of the local government to this conflict.

The Story of Girija

A beautiful girl was found in the forest by the Malu gavli. He brought her home and named her Girija. Girija grew up into a beautiful woman. The lord Mahadeva heard about her beauty and was enamoured of her. He

Narratives from the Pastoral and the Nomadic Worlds of the Deccan came on his Nandi and met the gavli and demanded the daughters hand in marriage. The Gavli finally agreed and the marriage was arranged. The god then asked the Bali raja to organise the arrangements for the grooms wedding party. When everyone had assembled and they applied the yellow turmeric powder to Girija, she fainted. They decided then that the golden lamb was required to undo this calamity. The golden lamb was in the court of Lord Indra where nobody was willing to go and fetch it. Finally, it was decided that only Birdeva (The lord of the shepherds) was deemed capable of going in search of the lamb. Birdeva was thus summoned by Mahadeva and asked to fetch the golden lamb. After many difficulties and hardships, Birdeva was able to fetch the lamb and Girijas marriage could be conducted.

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The story of Balis birth is another classic example of the convergence of the small/local tradition and the greater (more literary/aristocratic) traditions. The tale of the birth of Bali raja is generally told entirely from the perspective of the Brahmans and can be summarized as follows: The lord Mahadeva was once taking a bath. In the process of bathing he removed the dirt from his body and created the king Bali raja. Since that day Bali raja is the god of the farmers, and rules over them.

The flip-side of the coin

Nineteenth-century colonial anthropology as applied in an Indian context used a process of categorisation and classification to create one single category from many diverse and frequently unrelated ethnic groups or tribes. A range of societal groups, some of whose traditional occupations had declined as a consequence of profound political and economic change during the colonial period - and had, by necessity to make their colonial masters aware of these changes now found themselves all re-categorized as the Criminal Tribes. This categorization obscured the social history of these diverse social and cultural groups prior to the colonial era and projected them into an exotic and Other category along with the Maharajas, the Snake charmers and a wide range of mendicants. It is interesting to note that this listing of the Tribes and Castes was preceded by the now infamous categorisation of those tribals now referred to as the criminal tribes - including any gang, class or a tribe. The historic role of the police and the Indian legal authorities in shaping the popular perceptions of these marginal communities as threats to the well-being of Indian civil society had gradually taken shape during the colonial period. It has since become an academic truism to argue that it was the British colonial administration and their fellow-travellers,

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those scholars of an Orientalist bent - who placed the question of caste into a new, false and constructed framework within Indian society (see Inden, 1990). The groups who became the de-notified tribes of modernday India were actually categorized and constructed during the colonial period- beginning with Sleeman in the 1830s and continuing with Taylor, Thugge and with Kennedy in the 1920s in addition to a host of other ethnographer-bureaucrats during the intervening century - with the enunciation of the theory that certain Indian communities were hereditary criminals by caste. However, social categories such as the constructions that were the criminal castes also had certain classificatory precedents from within Indian society itself. The classification of Indian peoples by the author of the Indica, written in the third century B.C. is but one example of a very early interest in the various forms of hierarchical categorization that became commonplace nearly 2000 years later in the nineteenth century. While the criminal tribes did not exist as a conceptual entity prior to their reinvention during the colonial era, they were certainly not conjured out of thin air. Such conceptual groupings were frequently viewed as political and social categories within Indian society although not generally as subordinate caste-groups at the bottom of a traditional caste hierarchy - as is the case today. In India the concept that certain communities are by nature criminal or of a lower social or moral class has almost certainly already existed for many thousands of years. The next subject discussed here is an example of the way in which the categorization of certain socio-cultural groups as criminal continues to have very real and damaging ramifications right down to the present day.
Bhagwan Bhosales ancestors once lived near the forests, hunting small animals such as hares and deer. However, history branded the tribal PhasePardhis (Marathi for trap-hunters) born-criminals and hounded them like beasts of prey. (Anonymous member of the Bhosale community).

This social stigma is still the curse of their community as each time there is a theft or a crime in the locality; denotified tribals like the Bhosale are always the first suspects. "Even God does not recognize us," an elderly man said, the hurt visible in his eyes. "A Pardhi1 is always a criminal in the eyes of the society and in the eyes of the police." (ibid).
1

The Pardhis, also known as Phase Pardhi or Phasse Pardhi are a tribe in India. This ethnic group is often stereotyped as a criminal tribe and frequently faces harrassment by Indian law enforcement agencies. Communities of Pardhis are to

Narratives from the Pastoral and the Nomadic Worlds of the Deccan

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Flames of prejudice consumed a Phase-Pardhi settlement in Diksal in 1998 when a group of police set fire to these settlements and assaulted various local women; and also in Kalamb, in 2001 when upper-caste villagers torched 150 houses on foot of a rumour that the people living there had poisoned some wells. The ultimate insult to humanity occurred when Kamchand Nakya Bhosle gave birth to her baby on the wayside after a Pune hospital refused to admit her. Stigmatised for decades, the Pardhis live in constant fear. A typical example of this is the case of A.J. and his wife K. from the Diksal region. Only a few months ago, K.L., the son of an influential farmer in from this same region, attacked their house and threw their utensils out. His attack on the couple was motivated by the fact that their son, W. aged thirteen, had allegedly plucked a few corncobs from the farm of the Ls. The police booked K.L. under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. To add insult to injury, however, W. alleged that he had been forcibly sodomised. When K, the boys mother, questioned the accused (K.L.) about this he responded by threatening her. Since then, the boys mother has not walked the dirt road that links Diksal and the Pardhi settlement on the banks of the Ujni for fear of further reprisals. Aside from incidents such as the above, the Pardhis dare not engage with the so-called civilized world for fear of prejudice and attack. In April, a mob damaged the house of T.K., aged 65, simply because she had come to visit her son who was working with a local nonPardhi building contractor. R.W., a Pardhi, has been living in a no-man's land between Jawla and Boroti in Osmanabad for the previous fifty years. Although he has voted a couple of times in elections he has never found anyone willing to assist him in securing a ration card. "People of both villages say that I belong to the other," he says. Worse than this still is the fact that he has to work as a security guard in order to earn his living, a job the duties of which involve ensuring that no other Pardhis enter the villages!

be found mostly in Maharashtra and parts of Madhya Pradesh. The Phasse are a sub-tribe of the Pardhi caste. The Phasse make up a population of about 60,000 in total and include as many as 10,000 child beggars who live in Bombay. Pardhi is the term for "hunter". The criminal branding of the tribe goes back to 1871 after the British colonial administration passed the "Criminal Tribes Act." About a hundred and fifty tribes were then categorised as criminal, and the police were given sweeping powers to arrest them and watch over their movements. Despite being exonerated by the Indian government, the Pardhi community is still frequently perceived as a criminal caste.

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Taken as a whole, these various narratives can be seen to span the communal imagination of the past and the grim realities of the present as lived by a range of stigmatized Others in the Deccan region. For each of the narratives cited here there are many hundreds of others, some of which apply to equally diverse socio-cultural groups and traditions. The older narratives of many of these farmer/nomads incorporate elements of dignity/loyalty and its flip-side treachery and the sub-human attitudes frequently evinced towards the Indian Other by mainstream Indian society. Their rich narrative traditions remind us that - where once groups such as the Dhangars and the Pardhis struggled successfully to survive in an inhospitable and often-prejudiced world they, in addition to other similarly Othered groups now face the ultimate challenge - i.e. whether their cultures can survive the harsh realities that are the margins of the modern or so-called civilized world.
(Note: The initials of the people mentioned in the incidents above have been changed in order to protect their identity.)

References
Clifford, J. 1988) The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth Century Ethnography, Literature and Art, Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press Dandekar A. (2005) The Tribal World In Angana Chatterji and Shabnam Hashmi eds. Dark Leaves of the Present; New Delhi: Anhad Hawley, J.S and Wulff, D.M. eds. (1998) Devi:Goddesses of India; Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Inden, R. (1990) Imagining India; Oxford: Basil Blackwell Khazanov,A.M, Nomads and the Outside World. London, 1984. Leshnik L.S. Pastoral Nomadism in the Archaeology of India and Pakistan. in World Archaeology, Vol. 4, pp. 150 1972 Leshnik L.S and Sontheimer G.D. eds. (1975) Pastoralists and the Nomads of South Asia; Wiesbaden Pattankodoli (1988) Viththal Virappa Mahatmya, India: Pattankodoli Randhawa, T.S. (1996) The Last Wanderers: Nomads and Gypsies of India; Ahmedabad: Mapin Ratnagar, S.F. Studies in History, N.S. July December 1991. Sontheimer G.D. (1989) Pastoral Deities in Western India; Oxford: Oxford University Press