Book Reviewed: The Gypsies, by Angus Fraser

The Romani People; from a historical perspective

This is the story of gypsies, who arrived in the Balkans in medieval times and gradually spread over the Europe and Americas. For centuries these nomadic people have migrated aimlessly, but practiced their culture and maintained a distinct identity. They are traditionally known for music, metal-working, fortune-telling and horse-dealing. This book traces their origin to India and their trail out of the Indian regions of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Sindh provinces of modern India. The Romani history shed light on their racial, ethnic and linguistic features and the uniqueness of their language that has grammatical characteristics of Indian languages. It shares the basic lexicon with Hindi and Punjabi, phonetic features with Marwari, and grammar with Bengali language.

Recent genetic study of 800,000 genetic variants (single nucleotides polymorphisms) from 13 different Romani groups are compared with the DNA from diverse group of Indian population. This study clearly suggests that ancestors of Romani people departed from northwestern India around 500 CE. From there, they traveled to Central Asia, the Middle East and subsequently to Europe, specifically to the Balkan region of Bulgaria. Romani migration continued around 1,100 CE into the heart of Western Europe.

Originally Romani ancestors came from Rajasthan province of India and moved to Punjab and Sindh areas around 250 BC. Their subsequent westward migration, possibly in waves, is now believed to have occurred beginning in about AD 500. Some scholars suggest that the exodus of ancestors of Romani to Europe occurred due to invasion of Islam into the Indian sub-continent. The ancestors of modern-day Romani people were Hindu, but in Europe, they adopted Christianity or Islam depending on their local traditions. Romani social behavior is partly regulated by Hindu purity laws. Some of their practices run parallel to the practices of "Shaktism," which gives prominence to a woman or female deity. For example, some Romani people worship Christian God, often prayers are conducted through the Virgin Mary, a practice unique to Romani people.

History documents the atrocities committed on Romany populations. They were expelled from parts of Germany in 1416, Milan in 1493, France in 1504, Sweden in 1525, and England in 1530. During WWII, the Nazis embarked on a systematic genocide of the Romani population. They were often killed on sight, especially by paramilitary death squads. It is estimated that between 220,000 and 1,500,000 may have been killed. In the summer of 2010, French authorities demolished at least 51 Roma camps and began the process of repatriating their residents to other European countries. Romani people are continued to be victimized and politicians and the media largely ignore these problems and focus on politically correct issues.

This book was first published in 1992, although somewhat outdated and does not contain the recent genetic studies that positively links the Romani (gypsy) people to India, but the linguistic evidence discussed in this book gave credence to their Indian origin. The book is a scholarly work of one of the experts in this field. This is a fascinating account of Romany migrations into Persia, the Byzantine Empire and Balkan nations; and latter into Europe, and the Americas. This work is recommended to readers interested in the ancient history of gypsy people and their distinctive culture.