on the gipsies of bengal - rajendralal mitra, 1867

8/12/2019 On the Gipsies of Bengal - Rajendralal Mitra, 1867

1/4

[Comments on]: On the Gipsies of BengalAuthor(s): Babu Rajendrlla MitraSource: Journal of the Anthropological Society of London, Vol. 5 (1867), pp. clii-clivPublished by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3025255 .Accessed: 12/05/2014 09:10

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserveand extend access to Journal of the Anthropological Society of London.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 14.9 8.125.241 on Mon, 12 May 20 14 09:10:42 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=raihttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3025255?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3025255?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=rai


2/4

clii Journal ofthe Anthropological Society.

Faugh, use cross-bows; those south, bows like this. I hopeto procure ancl send a Fanh cross-bow ancl bolts soon.

39.Thirty arrows,

some of thempoisoned,

macleby Isyaga, pur?chased at Buali; called by Iveia, moulai, but this name, I

think, is rightly the name of the poison only.40. A quiver, macle by Isyaga, purchased at Buali, and called by

Iveia, isogolu.41. A piece of bark and two leaves, given to R. B. N. W. by Rem-

pales head slave, an Esyebo, before starting up the OrembaOkancla; the Okancla tribe are supposed to be powerfulmagicians, and the Inlenga are quite unable to counteracttheir spells, but the Osebo are equally if not more powerful;the bark and leaves were to be kept constantly about me,and placed at night under my pillow, Avhichwould preventharm coming to me during sleep; for it is at night thatthese people most fear the influence of witchcraft andsorcery; a man who by clay possesses a fair amount ofcourage, becomes at night a pusillanimous coAvarcl; nothaving reached the Okancla tribe I was unable to put thevirtues of my counter-charm to the proof.

42. Eleven iron necklets of the Ba-Fanh, Gaboon, W.

43. An iron bracelet of the Ba-Fanh, clitto.44. A girdle of the Ba-Fanh, clitto.45. A sword of the Ba-Fanh, clitto.46. A clagger of the Ba-Fanh, ditto.

Nos. 19 and 20, ancl 23 to 46, both inclusive, are collected anclpresented by R. B. N. Walker, Loc. See, A.S.L., Gaboon.

N.B.?d is pronounced aw; 6 has nearly the same sound as cl;v is a combination of v and io, or sometimes of b, v, ancl w; nl is acombination of the two letters very frequent in the Mpongwe lan?

guage,but sometimes the n is

nearly mute,at others the l.

Oremba (-bavv) means river, and is the proper form of the wordRembo used. by Du Chaillu ; it makes Itemba in the plural.

The first paper read was

On the Gipsies of Bengal. By Babu Bajendralala Mitra.Abstract. [The paper will appear at length in the Memoirs. ]

The author pointed out at some length the general belief in Europethat the gipsies are of Asiatic origin ; ancl gave the various names bywhich the gipsies, who call themselves Rominichal, or wandering men,became gitanos in Spain, zingari in Turkey, tatters in Holstein, wed-dahs or nuts in Southern India, and bediyas in Bengal. He comparedthe last-named with the gipsies in Europe, with-whose habits greatsimilarity existed. A long description of the customs, appearance, ancllanguage of the bediyas was given, illustrated with vocabulariesshowing the differences ancl resemblances between the Becliya anclHindustani Bengali dialects.

Mi\ Hyde Clarke considered the paper to be a valuable one, as it

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/4

Mitra on the Gypsies of Bengal. cliii

established the identity of character of the gipsies of the east withthose of the Avest. The gipsies of Asia Minor, however, had not thesame character for plundering as the

gipsies generallyhave, ancl

selclom came within the notice of the police. They follow in otherrespects the same practices as the classes of gipsies in Bengal. Manyof the women were fortune-tellers, ome were dancers, ancl they ex?hibited the same looseness of demeanour ; but he believed they couldnot be charged with want of chastity out of their own caste. Manyof the women earned their livelihoocl by working at the iron trade,in which small furnaces were employed. Their mode of habitationAvas he same as that of the gipsies of Bengal. In Turkey the gipsiesare never employed as soldiers, for Avhich occupation they are consi?dered to be unfitted. In their outward conformity o the religion ofthe country they inhabit they also resemble the gipsies of Bengal.They went to the Greek church or were Mussulmans, according tocircumstances. At Constantinople the female gipsies were dancers,ancl bore a loose character, but they were not prostitutes. Thepaper, he considered, contained much valuable information as it en-abled them to compare the western gipsies with those of the east.

Mr. C. Carter Blake macle some remarks on that part of the paperwhich noticed the practice of the extraction of sinews from the flesh,

which he said was not a local peculiarity nor confined to any particularrace or period. The custom was now known among the Esquimaux,and there Avas vidence, from the appearance of the bones, that it wasa common practice among the dwellers in the bone caves of SouthernFrance ancl Belgium. It was a curious fact that such a custom,which had existed at periods so distant, should prevail at the presenttime.

Dr. Dutt said there was no doubt a race of people in Bengal calledbedyias, but whose characters had been much exaggerated in the

paper.There were two classes called

bediyas,who differed from

each other. The people of one class were not thieves, nor were theydirty in their habits, but they got their livelihood by juggling. Theothers, also called bediyas, were a class of rogues. In the paper bothclasses were confounded together. The women of one of those classescliclnot go about telling fortunes, but were very hard working womenand employed themselves in making baskets and other articles for sale.There Avas another class sometimes called bediyas, who were notnatives of Bengal. They went about the country to cure diseases ofmen as well as of cattle, and clid not pretend to be fortune-tellers.They very much resembled gipsies in character, but whether they be?longed to the same race Avas doubtful. That they were not natives ofBengal coulcl be tolcl from their pronunciation of the language, andfrom the use of peculiar words. In Mr. Borrow s work on the gipsiesit was stated that out of 2,600 words in their vocabulary there Avasnot one peculiar to Bengal, but that there were several that AvereHindostanee; therefore, he inferred the race came from India, but notfrom. Bengal. His own impression was that those wandering in Bengalhacl been confounded by the author of the paper with the others Avho

are not people of Bengal, but Avhose native place he coulcl notdetermine.



4/4

cliv Journal of the Anthropological Society.

Major Oaven thought it probable that the author of the paper inspeaking of Bengal had not limited his observations to the province ofBengal but to the Presiclency, which included the Avhole ountry. Thisclass of j^eople were not peculiar to Bengal, but the race were foundelseAvhere. One class was saicl to congregate much in Benares, fromAvhich place they distributed themselves and return d at certainperiods. Major Owen mentioned that during the mutiny in India ina remote part of the country his soldiers founcl some children of thegipsy race Avho vouIcI not give any account where they came from, norcoulcl the tribe to AAdiich hey belonged be discovered. He said thatthe gipsies in speaking the Hindu language among themselves invertedthe position of the letters so as to make a slang language unintelligibleto others.Mr. Higgins saicl there Avas tribe in Madras called Brinjari, whoAverenever found living in towns, and Avere considered by many per?sons to be gipsies. He should be glad to know Avhether hey werethe same as the Bediyas mentioned in the paper; ancl also Avhetherphilologists traced any resemblance betAveen the Avords Brinjari anclZingari. They Averenot a vagrant race, but were employed in carry?ing corn.

Dr. Dutt, in explanation of his previous observations, said there

are Avomenwho wander about Bengal ancl speak the Bengalese lan?guage so imperfectly as to show that it is not their own dialect, butthere are others Avho peak it correctly. They were different classesof bediyas. There was another wandering class mentioned in theseventh volume of Asiatic Researches, by Captain Richardson. Hisown impression was that the two classes who are juggiers are notgipsies; but that the other class, who go about the country professingto cure diseases, may belong to the same race as the gipsies, but thatthey are not natives of Bengal.

Mr. Hyde Clarke commented on the grammatical structure of thelanguage of the gipsies, remarking that, although it was considerablyaffected by the language of the country in Avhich hey resided, it wasdecidedly of an Indian character. The gipsies in Spain adoptedseveral Spanish Avords, ncl it was the same with those in Italy.

Dr. Charnock agreed with Mr. Hyde Clarke in considering thepaper to be valuable, as showing a connection between the gipsies ofthe east and those of the west. In the vocabulary of the language,he founcl twenty-seven worcls out of forty-nine derived from the Hin-dostanee or Bengalee; in some of the worcls the letters had been in?

verted, so as to make what is called back slang. In the Lord s Prayerin the gipsy language, he found that two-thirds of the Avords were de?rived from the Hindostanee. He thought the way in AAdiichhe gipsiessettled their disputes wraswrorthy f imitation.

The following paper was then read :?

On a Bechuana Skull. By R. W. Payne, Esq., F.A.S.L.A few worcls on a skull. When a boy at school I recollect a skull

Avas defined in some elementary book as a bony box coArering nd

protecting the brain. Since then it has appeared to me as rather an


on the gipsies of bengal - rajendralal mitra, 1867

Documents