I am proud to be banjara

The Banjara are a class of usually described as nomadic people from the Indian state ofRajasthan, North-West Gujarat, and Western Madhya Pradesh and Eastern Sindhprovince of Pakistan. They claim to belong to the clan of Agnivanshi Rajputs, and are also known as Lakha Banjara means 'Lakhapati', Banjari, Pindari, Bangala, Banjori, Banjuri, Brinjari, Lamani, Lamadi, Lambani, Labhani, Lambara, Lavani, Lemadi, Lumadale, Labhani Muka, Goola, Gurmarti, Gormati, Kora, Sugali, Sukali, Tanda, Vanjari, Vanzara, and Wanji. Together with the Domba,

Distribution

The origin of Banjara community is stated in the area between Bikaner and Bahawalpur, Pakistan. After the fall of the Rajputs, they started spreading across the country. The Banjara had spread to Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra,Uttar Pradesh and other states of India. About half their number speak Lambadi, one of theRajasthani dialects, while others are native speakers of Telugu, Kannada and Gor boli,Hindi and other languages dominant in their respective areas of settlement. Rathod, Pawar, Naik, Chauhan, and Jadhav castes belong to Banjara community in Rajasthan and Gujarat now are in General Seats after the communal rights taken place in Rajasthan for Reservation in 2008 as they were landlords in Amarkot, Fathaykot and Sialkot before Partition of India and Pakistan. They are a Scheduled castes in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh(Gorakhpur,Lucknow, Bareiiy and Moradabad divisions where they are known as Gual, Nat Brijvasi and speaking fluently Gor boli) and Scheduled Tribe in Andhra Pradesh (where they are listed as Lambani in Karnataka & Sugali in A.P.), Orissa, Haryana, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh. Even though they settled across the country, they still consider themselves as nomad community.They are also called Lakha.

Etymology

The word "Banjara" must have evolved from Prakrit and Hindi and Rajasthani words "Bana/Ban or Vana/Van" meaning Forest orMoorlands and "Chara" meaning 'Movers'. The Banjara are (together with the Domba) sometimes called the "Gypsies of India".^[4]

The word Banjara is a deprecated, colloquial form of the word of Sanskrit origin. The Sanskrit compound-word vana chara, "forest wanderers" was given to them presumably because of their primitive role in the Indian society as forest wood collectors and distributors.

Culture

Food

The traditional food of Banjara is Bati (roti). Daliya is a dish cooked using many cereal, such as wheat or jawar. Banjara people also enjoy many non-vegetarian foods. Among the non-vegetarian dishes unique to them are saloi, made from goat blood and other goat parts. In Andhra, fish is their main food. The Banjara are also known for preferring spicy food.In U.P they are they are very fond of Malida(mixing Moti Roti, Gud and deshi Ghee).

Dress

Women are known to wear colorful and beautiful costumes like phetiya (as ghagra) and kanchalli (as top) and have mehendi tattoos on their hands. The dress is considered fancy and attractive by Western cultures. They use mirror chips and often coins to decorate it. Women put on thick bangles(bandiya) on their arms (patli). Their ornaments are made up of silver rings, coins, chain and hair pleats are tied together at the end by chotla.

Men wear dhoti and kurta (short with many folds). These clothes were designed specially for the protection from harsh climate in deserts and to distinguish them from others.

Arts, literature and entertainment

Their customs, language and dress indicate they originated from Rajasthan. They live in settlements called thandas. They lived in zupada (hut). Now many of them live in cities. They have a unique culture and dance form. On many occasions they gather, sing and dance.

Their traditional occupation is nomadic cattle herding. Later they slowly moved into agriculture and trade.

The accurate history of Lambanis or Lambadis or Banjaras is not known but the general opinion among them is that they fought for Prithvi Raj Chauhan against Muhammad of Ghor. The trail of the Lambadi/Banjara can be verified from their language, Lambadi borrows words fromRajasthani, Gujarati, Marathi and the local language of the area they belong to.

Banjaras originally belong to Rajasthan and were Rajputs^{[citation needed]} who migrated to southern parts of India for trade and agriculture. They settled down in the southern or central area of the country and slowly loosened contacts with Rajasthan, and their original community. Over a period of time both the communities separated and they adopted the local culture. The language spoken by Banjaras settled in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha, Maharashtra is an admixture of Hindi, Rajasthani and Marathi.

Lambadi Dance is a special kind of dance of Andhra Pradesh. In this form of dance, mainly the female dancers dance in tune with the male drummers to offer homage to their Lord for a good harvest. At Anupu village near Nagarjunakonda, Lambadi dance originated. They are actually semi-nomadic tribes who are gradually moving towards civilization. This dance is mainly restricted among the females and rarely the males participate in Lambadi dance. Lambadi is a special kind of Folk Dance which involves participation by tribal women who bedeck themselves in colorful costumes and jewelry.

The people of Lambadi such as belongs to Rajasthan. Only in the state Rajasthan, they are OBC category and in other states they are scheduled tribes. The Lambadi people have large white bangles, called "bhalia". The bhalias are part of a dress code and it is believed to save anyone wearing them from curses or evil.In Maharashtra also they are OBC category.

Related communities

Three other castes that claim kinship with the Banjara are the Labana of Punjab, the Gawaria of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and Lavanaof Rajasthan. In Maharashtra they are called the Laman, Gormati and Banjara. The banjara community needs to be compared with the 'Harappa and Mahenjodaro' history to trace the origin and the pali language and the deep study of Sanskrit words to locate the foundation of their spoken language . Dhadi branch of the Mirasis are musicians, balladeers and panegyrists. Under the patronage of the sixth Sikh Guru Hargobind (1595 to 1644), the community prospered and converted in their entirety to Sikhism. Their name is derived from a dhad, which is a small drum, which they use. Other instruments used are the sarangi, the pakhwai (two ended drum) and daf (a tambourine). The Dhadi are associated with singing stanzas called karkha praising the soldiers of the Sikh guru’s armies as well as other hymns.[13] dhadi equated with bhats the dhadi clans 1 Tajnath 2pochala 3 rathnavat or rathna 4 dungroth 5 sehravat 6 rudha or rudi 7 Baji 8 sagrawat or sugunavat 9 Bhimla 10 Bhagrawt or banavath , bane bani 11 ramdas 12 dehavat or Devavat, hindu cast dhadi is orginall bhat cast

Gotras

The Banjaras are grouped into five gotras, or super-families, also called goth or pada in Lambadi.banjara are sub divided with sub caste as follows :- badawath (Vadatya) :- 52 "padha" or sub cast e.g.-(kantiwal mudawath,lakawath,ajmera etc.... ) bhukya :- 27 "padha" or sub cast e.g.-(Khetavat,dhalyawal,mundi phoda,nanawath etc....) pawar :- 12 "padha" or sub cast e.g.-(Amgot,Eslavath,vankdoth,Jaruplavath,Amgoth,pamadia,bani,tarbani,Inlot pamar,Ingravath,Ivat pamar,chevath pamr) chavan :- 6 "padha" or sub cast e.g.-(korravath,mudh,bhat,etc....) Jadav :- 52 "padha" or sub cast e.g.-(Goram,daravath,tejavath,barmavath,lokavath,jatoth,meravath,etc....)

Some believe the Rahtod/Bhukya gotra is split into two, making Banoth as a separate gotra by itself and bringing the total to five gotras. Others claim the Turi/Badawatis form an additional (sixth) gotra. Each gotra is divided into subdivisions called 'jaaths, which are generally used as surnames of its members.In Rathod goras have many sub gotras Like Ramavath,Rajavath,Dungavath,Dhegavath,Ketavath,nenavath,Dharamshot,Pathlavath, etc. dhadi equated with bhats the dhadi clans 1 Tajnath 2pochala 3 rathnavat or rathna 4 dungroth 5 sehravat 6 rudha or rudi or rudavath 7 Baji 8 sagrawat or sugunavat 9 Bhimla 10 Bhagrawt or banavath , bane bani 11 ramdas 12 dehavat or Devavat, hindu cast dhadi is orginall bhat cast

Gotras

Marriage

Members of the same gotra cannot marry as they are considered brother and sister, a term known as bhaipana (brotherhood). Members of different gotras may marry, and this state is known as kai-laageni (not-related). Traditionally, the jaaths of prospective couples are checked by experts known as dhadi bhaat who knew the gotra/jaath system and could identify proper marriages. Nowadays the Banjarpoint website (coded by two Banjara software engineers) fulfills a similar function with gotra/jaath webpages to identify which can marry which.In Banjara community marriages will take place for around three months with many celebrations.

Sevalal Maharaj Temple

Sant Shree Sevalal Maharaj (Seva Bhaya) was born on 15.2.1739 to parents Shri Dharmani Yaadi (mother) and Shri Bhima Naik on this holy land around 274 years back. At that time this location was popularly known as Ramagundam or Ramji Naik Tanda (Ramji Naik is grand father of Sevabhaya, who come to the location with 360 families of his Tanda and about 4000 loaded cattles). Ramji Naik Tanda when deserted by the end of 18th century, the local people built a village known as Chennarayani palle. This land now falls in the revenue village of Peddadoddi, Taluk / Mandal – Gooty, Dist. Anandpur, Andhra Pradesh.

Seva Bhaya lived with his parents at this place up to the age of 12. He bathed in “Kalo Kundo” (transparent clean water of natural spring water pond), worshipped in Chennakesava (Shiva) temple on the top of the Chandrayanagutta (hill) nearby Ramji Naik Tanda and grazed his cattle in “Zhoomri Jhol” (Forest of Palms). All the relics and monuments are existings even today. Banjaras and non-Banjaras in the locality hold Bhima Naik Katta (platform) in high esteem and reverence since the “ORE” (residue) of Sant Shree Sevalal Maharaj is buried under the ground of this platform which is the tradition of the Banjaras to bury the residue after the delivery of the baby. Shri Bhima Naik delivered his judgements to Banjaras of his and neighbouring Tandas from this Katta.

In narration and in praise of Seva Bhaya’s life and deeds, there are abundant folk songs and folklore sung and oral history is also told by Banjaras for last 250 years. It is mentioned that “Gooty – Bellary – Ma – Janam lido Sevabhaya” (meaning : Sevabhaya was born at Gooty – Bellary). Gooty taluka was in the then Bellary District of the then Madras province of British Raj. During that period there was no separate District called Anantapur as the Anantapur town was part of Bellary District. In Peddadoddi revenue village there is a piece of land of 18 acres next to dilapidated Ramji Naik Tanda and the same is shown in revenue records as “Nayakuni Bhoomi” (land of Nayak). It is also mentioned in the book “Sevadas Leelamrut” authored by Sant Shri Ramrao Maharaj of Pohragad (Sevabhaya’s Samadhi place) that Gooty Bellary was birthplace of Sevabhaya. Sant Shree Ramrao Maharaj is living Sant of Seventh generation of Shri Sevabhaya family. Even well-known author, poet and Banjara folk singer Shri Atmaram Rathod of Yevatmal (Maharashtra) has also established the same location in his popular book “Shri Sant Sevadas Leela Charitra” as Sevabhaya’s birthplace. After lot of research works and explorations by many research scholar, linguistics, historians particularly Banjara Dharmik Parishad of Bangalore have identified and proved this location as sevabhaya’s birthplace.^[5]

Sant Shree Sevalal Maharaj is also called as Mothivala, Toda vala, Nardhari, Narbhedi, Akhand Brahmachari, Bharosobhari etc., in their native language.