Accounts of the Gypsies of India by David Macritchie, 1886

8/14/2019 Accounts of the Gypsies of India by David Macritchie, 1886

1/275


2/275


3/275


4/275


5/275


6/275


7/275

ACCOUNTS

OF THE

GYPSIES OF INDIA

COLLECTED AND EDITED BY

David Mac Ritchie

AUTHOR OF ANCIENT AND MODERN BRITONS '

WITH MAP AND TWO ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDONKEGAN PAUL, TRENCH CO., i, PATERNOSTER SQUARE

1886


8/275

DX

hi-

(The rights of translation and of reproduction ate reserved.)


9/275

PREFACE.

u There are four hundred books on the

gypsies, says a modern tsiganologue, butin all not more than ten which tell us any-hing

new or true about them. Whether

this statement is meant to be acceptedliterally or not, it is evident that much ofwhat is written upon this subject is merelythe echo of previous accounts. And also,that a false light has frequently been thrown

upon the figures of the gypsies, owing to thefact that they have often been described bypeople having little or nothing of intimacywith them, and knowing little or nothing oftheir history. This being so, it is necessarythat an addition to the four hundred


10/275

vi PREFACE.

should show good cause why it has comeinto being.

Nothing in the way of apology requirestobe made for the introducingof Professor DeGoeje's treatise to English readers ; to themost of whom it has the desired qualitiesfnewness and truth. The translation here

given has had the benefit of the author'scareful revision, and has met with his ap-roval.

This was most necessary, as theeditor is neither the translator, nor has heany acquaintance with the authorities quoted,nor with the languages in which they wrote.As a study,by an Oriental scholar, of certainpassages in the historyof an Oriental race,the Contribution is unquestionably ofvalue. The same theme had previouslybeen treated of in 1853, by Dr. Pott, and,earlier still,y M. Paul Bataillard,in 1849 but not with the fullness of research displayedby Mr. De Goeje.

The names of Bataillard and De Goeje,


11/275

PRE F AC, vi I

however, represent two very oppositesides,in certain matters of belief; and it is notinappropriateto remark that, with everyrespect for the erudition which the Contri-ution

displays,its editor does not whollyconcur in all the deductions of its learnedauthor. This difference of opinion showsitself in more than one passage in the

appended Notes, and elsewhere.As for the Appendix itself,it is essential

to remark that,although explanatory in somedegree of several of the allusions in Mr. DeGoeje's treatise, it reallyembodies a gooddeal of other information. Had this longseries of notes been the only thing appendedto the Contribution, forming with it aseparate publication,the portentous size ofthe Appendix would have been an unpardon-ble

offence, to author and to reader. Butit seemed convenient to incorporatevariousother remarks with those which directly

te to the Contribution; and in this


12/275

Vlll PREFACE.

lies my excuse for the bulk of this Appendix.A like apology must also be offered to theAuthor, for the expression, in the sameplace, of more than one sentiment at variancewith the opinions which he holds.

The description given of the siege ofBhurtpoor must necessarily appear an ex-rescence

to gypsiologists pure and simple.But it is easy to evade the reading of it.On the other hand, a different class ofreaders may find more interest in it than in

the other portions of the book. It is theformer, however, who are chiefly addressedin these pages, and it is hoped that they willfind, even in the restatement of various factswell known to them, something that willthrow fresh light upon the subject.


13/275

( oNTENTS.

A Contribution tu the History of the

Gypsies. By M. J. De Goeje, Professor of

Arabic in the University of Leydcn.

i

Appendix to Professor De Goeje's Treatise 6i

The Siege of Bhurtpoor... . ...

127

Remarks on Certain Gypsy Characteristics 204

Miscellaneous Remarks... ... .

223


14/275


15/275

A CONTRIBUTION

TO THE

HISTORY OF THE GYPSIES.BY

M. J. DE GOEJE.

{Extracted from the Proceedings of the KoninklijkeAkademie van Wetenschappen of Amsterdam, 1875 ;by permission of the Author. From a translation byMr. J. Sni/'ders, of Edinburgh.)

Sinxe the publication of Pott's book uponthe gypsies about thirty years ago wehave come to regard the origin of this

singular people with considerable unanimityof opinion. Almost nobody doubts now thatthey are Indians ; and the assumption thatall the gypsies scattered throughout Europeare descended from one parent stock meetswith little contradiction. Both of these

B


16/275

PROFESSOR DE GOEJE ON

beliefs are the outcome of the investigationof their language. But, on the other hand,the history of the gypsies, prior to 141 7 when they emerged from Hungary andcrossed the frontiers of Germany is almostcompletelyshrouded in darkness. Scatteredproofs have been found of their residence, atan earlier date, in the Slavonic countries andin the island of Cyprus, but all else is con-ecture.

Thus, Grellmann has placed theirdeparture from India in the time of Timur,an idea more fullyworked out by Rienzi andHeister, who assume that they were em-loyed

by Timur as spies and foragers,1andthat they were afterwards carried furtherwest by the Turks, in the same capacity.So far as I am aware, this theory has con-inued

to remain a mere supposition unsup-ortedby proof. There is nothing to be

found in the historyof Timur for or against1 This theory is perhaps derived from Vita Timuri,

Manger's edition,iii.p. 804, et seq., taken in conjunctionwith i. p. 487. But these passages do not warrant thebelief.


17/275

THE ZOTTS, OR J A UTS.

it. Others, again, place the gypsy migra-ionin a very remote past. I am not here

referringto the exquisite hypothesis whichSteur has recently advanced in his Ethno-raphic

des peoples de FEurope? that thegypsies may be the descendants of thedwellers in the sunken Atlantis. But Batail-lard 2 is inclined to believe that there is aconnection between the Sicani, the aboriginalpeople of Sicily,and the Zigeuncrs 3 (orZigani). He leaves us in doubt, however,as to his reasons for this conjecture,beyondthe uniformity in name. 1 believe I havealso seen it stated somewhere that there isa possible connection between the Siculi(Zekel, Sycli) of the Hungarian chroniclesand the Zigeuners. The Siculi are certainly

1 iii.p. 266, et seq.2 Revue Critique, 1870, ii. p. 213; compared with

p. 208, note 2.[Except on such an occasion as this,where it is

obviously necessary to retain the originalword, I haverendered Mr. De Goeje's Zigeunerby our own equivalent,gypsy. Ed.]


18/275


described as a race possessing many pecu-iarities.1But then, they had inhabited

Hungary for centuries before there can beany question of gypsies in that territory. Inplace of all these conjecturaltheories, how-ver,

I believe I am in a position to com-unicatecertain positive accounts, which I

desire to submit to your consideration.

Pott, in the introduction to his book,2 andquoting from the Shah-Name of Firdousi,informs us that, during the fifth century ofour era, the Persian monarch, Behram Gour,received from an Indian king 12,000 musi-ians

of both sexes, who were known asLuris. Now, as this is the name by whichthe gypsiesof Persia are known even at thepresent day, and as, moreover, the authorof the Persian work Modjmal at-tawarikh*

1 Script, rerum Hungar., ed. Schwandtnen, Vzndoby1746-48, i. pp. 33, 78, 334, (758),786.

2 i. p. 62.s See Reinaud, Memoire sur PInde, p. 112. As regards

the authorities in this book, Reinaud refers to them in


19/275

THE ZOFl'S. OR J A UTS.

emphaticallyays that the Liiris or Lulis ofmodern Persia are the descendants of thesesame 12,000 musicians, there is no hazardin the assumption that we have here the firstrecorded gypsy migration. Confirmation ofthis is afforded by the Arabian historian,Hamza of Ispahan, who wrote half a centurybefore Firdousi, and who was well versed inthe historyof the Sassanides. It is relatedby this author that Behram Gour caused12,000 musicians, called Zott, to be sentfrom India for the benefit of his subjects.And Zott is the name by which the gypsieswere known to the Arabs, and which theyeven bear in Damascus at the present day.In the Arabic dictionaryal-Kamus this entryoccurs : Zott, arabicized from Jatt,a peopleof Indian origin. The word might be pro-ounced

Zatt with equal correctness. Asingle individual is called Zottt. In the

the preface to his Fragments arabes et persans, p. vii,etsea. See also Elliot,History of India, i. p. 100, etseq.;ii.p. 161, et sea.


20/275


lexicon Mohtt we read : Zott, a race fromIndia, arabicized from Jatt; Zottish clothesare named after them, a single piece beingcalled Zotti. These are the people who arecalled Nawar in Syria,and sometimes theyare styled Motribiya (i.e.musicians),theiravocation being that of playersupon stringedinstruments and drums. They are likewisedancers. Their name is also employed asa term of contempt. Thus people say, whenthey wish to characterize others as low orcontemptible,So-and-so is a Zotti,'or, moredirectly,You Zotti ' 1 Under the headingNawar, the gypsies are described at greatlength,in terms which recall the type withwhich we are familiar. Bocthor says, in hisFrench-Arabic dictionary,that Bohemien (particularizeds wandering Arab, Tchin-ghiane, who tells fortunes, steals, etc. )iscalled at Kesrowan Nawari, plur. Nawar,and at Damascus Zotti, plur.Zott? Lastly,

1

[SeeAppendix,Note A., Zotti,a Term of Contempt. ]2 [See Appendix, Note B., Arabic and EnglishPlurals. ]


21/275

THE ZOTTSy OR J ACTS. J

Yullers, in his Persian dictionary,quotes thisfrom a native Persian dictionary: Djatnomen tribus segregate infinite sortis etdeserta habitantis in Hindustan. In thelibraryof Leyden we possess a remarkablelittle book, as yet unpublished, written aboutthe year 1235 by Jaubari, entitled SecretsRevealed, in which are described all the occu-ations

of the people whom we designatekcrmisvolk} In this book, of which I havegiven a lengthy account in the twentieth part

1 [That is,fair-people by which is meant travellingshowmen, mountebanks, acrobats,ugglers,minstrels,fortune-ellers,

card-sharpers,thimble-riggers,nd others of thatclass of itinerant performers, once so conspicuous afeature of the Dutch (as of the British)fair or market.From two subsequent references of Mr. De Goeje's (atpp. 30 and 48),it is evident that he regards those kermis-volk as being, or as having been originally,ypsies byblood. Mr. C. G. Leland also bears a like testimony,when he says of such people (atp. 140 of The Gypsies):' If there be not descent [from the Romane], there isaffinityy marriage,familiarity,nowledge of words andways, sweethearting and trafficking,o that they knowthe children of the Rom as the house-world does notknow them, and they in some sort belong together. Ed.]


22/275

s PJvOFJlS.: or de GCl V

of the Z: ft der deutsc/ien morgenldnd-:hen Gcscllschaft% the gypsies are again

spoken of under this name Zott.For the fatherland of these Zott, or Jatt.

_

have not long to seek. Istakhri1 andIbn-Haukal.2 the celebrated tenth-century^rographe: 3unt as follows : M Betweenal-Mansura and Mokran the waters of theIndus have formed marshes, the borders of:iich are inhabited by certain Indian trib

called Zott : those of them who dwell nearthe river live in huts, like the huts of theBerbers, and subsist chiefly on fish andwater- fowl ; while those occupying the levcountry- further inland live like the Km\supporting themselves on milk, cheese, andma:

In these same regions there are yet nmore tribes placed by these geographernamely, the Bodha and the Me: The

1 Page 1 80 of my edition.1

Page 235 of my edition. Mokaddasi \ similaraccount to Istakhri

The pronunciation of both these names is variable


23/275
http://www.forgottenbooks.org/in.php?btn=4&pibn=1000266807&from=pdfhttp://www.forgottenbooks.org/in.php?btn=3&pibn=1000266807&from=pdfhttp://www.forgottenbooks.org/in.php?btn=2&pibn=1000266807&from=pdfhttp://www.forgottenbooks.org/in.php?btn=1&pibn=1000266807&from=pdf


24/275

IO PROFESSOR DE GOEJE ON

which are sought after all over the East, andfrom which the celebrated breeds of Balkhand Samarkand are descended. They bringtheir produce to market at the town ofKandabil,1 where also they procure for them-elves

other necessaries. They are truenomads, livingin huts like the Berbers, andfindinga safe retreat in their reedy fen lands,where they support themselves by fishing.The Meid dwell along the course of theIndus, from the borders of Multan down tothe sea ; and the plain stretching betweenthe Indus and Kamohol affords them manypastures and camping-grounds, winter andsummer. They form a large population.A later writer2 adds to this that they differlittle from the Zott. That the Bodha pro-erly

belong to the Zott is confirmed by theModjmal at-tawdrtkk? wherein it is stated

1 Not far to the east of Kosdar (Reinaud, Memoire,p. 234) ; the modern Gandava (accordingto Elliot,Historyof India, i. p. 385, et seq.).2 Yakut, iv. p. 773, 1. 3.

8 Reinaud, Fragments, p. 25, et seq.


25/275

THE ZOTTS, OR JAUTS, I I

that of old there were only two tribes inSind, the one called Meid, the other Zott,and both descended from Ham.1 After thelatter of these, says this writer, the Arabsstill term this district the country of theZott. 2 In course of time, the Meds (toadopt the spellingfavoured by Sir HenryElliot) overcame the Zotts, whom theytreated with such severity that they had toleave the country. The Zotts then

estab-ishedthemselves on the river Pehen,3 where

they soon became skilful sailors. Next, theybegan to make piraticalaids upon the Meds(who supported themselves by sheep-rearing),until the latter were at length compelled toconclude a treaty with them, by which theyagreed to ask from the king a prince who

1 [SeeAppendix, Note D., The Meid or Meds. ]2 \Dera-Jat,hat portionof the Punjaub which stretches

for fullytwo hundred miles alongside the course of theUpper Indus, which river forms its eastern boundary. Ed.]

Elsewhere called the Beher. It is,o doubt, a branchor affluent of the Indus.


26/275

12 PROFESSOR DE GOEJE ON

should govern them both together. Underthe sway of this sovereign, Sind becamepopulous and cultivated ; and the Zotts andMeds were each assigneda separate territory.

That division of the Meds that dwelt alongthe coast lived by piracy. They were knownas Kork * (orKerks), and their voyages evenextended to great distances. In the reign ofthe Khalif al-Mansur, in 768, they evenpenetrated into the Red Sea, and capturedJidda,the port of Mecca.2 So much dreadedwas the very sight of their vessels, calleddart, or bdrija,that by some Arabic authorsthe name of their ships has been transferredto the pirates themselves.3 And it is mostnoteworthy that to this day the gypsies use

1 See an account of them in Elliot's History of India,i. p. 508, et seq. [AlsoAppendix, Note E., The Kork,or Kerks. ]

2 Tabari, iii.p. 359 ; Ibno-'l-Athir,ed. Tornberg, v.pp. 455 and 466; Kitabo-l-Oyim, p. 264 of my edition(Fragmenta Hist. Arabic.): compare Yakut, iv. p. 690,1. 4; Reinaud, Mbnoire, p. 181.

8 BirQni, according to Reinaud, Fragments, pp. 91 and120; compare my Glossary to Beladsori, p. 13.


27/275

THE ZOTTS, OR J A UTS. 13

this word (baro) for a ship. 1 Those divi-ionsof the Zotts livingfarthest to the north

are known as Kikan, and were famed asbreeders of horses.2 It is a strange thingthatour geographers make no mention whateverof buffaloes,which must then as now,3 and intimes still earlier have constituted the mostimportant part of the flocks and herds of thesepeople. A strong proof,surely,of how littleis signifiedy an argumentum ex silentio.Now, these tribes some of whom, in alllikelihood,existed in earlier times as wander-ng

bands, livingin true gypsy fashion (asone may still find them in various parts ofIndia) require,as hunters and herdsmen, agreat extent of territory. And, consequently,they are from time to time compelled, astheir numbers increase, to send out successive

1 Pott, ii. p. 89. Elliot (History of India, i. p. 539et seq.)is of opinion that from this word barija, comesour [i.e.he Dutch] barge. [See Appendix, Note F.

Barge, etc. ]2 Beladsori, pp. 432, 433, and 445.1 See Ritter, Erdkunde, vii. pp. 173 and 175.


28/275


detachments, as happens in other landsamong similar people. Where the contiguouscountries are badly governed, they are in-aded

by these detachments, who therebyenlarge the dominion of their race ; but whenthese intruders find themselves confronted bypowerfulstates, then nothing is left to thembut to become the servants of the inhabitants.This latter event repeatedly came aboutduring the prime of the Sassanides. Except-ng

the account of the 12,000 musicians whocame into Persia in the reign of BehramGour,1 we have, indeed, no direct informationin this respect. But, during the wars of thePersians and Arabs in the seventh century,we find in the Persian army numerous regi-ents

recruited from these tribes ; who,when the Shah's fortunes began to waver,went over to the side of the Arabs andembraced Islamism, on condition of receivingrank and pay.2 They joined themselves to

1

[a.d.420-448. Ed.]a Bel dsorl,pp. 372-377 ; Mobarrad, Wright'sedition,p. 82, 1. 16, et seq. ; Ibno-'l-Athir,ii.p. 174.


29/275

THE ZOTTS, OR J A UTS. I 5

the Banu-Tamim, a large number of themsettlingin Basra. We also learn from thenarrative of the rebellion of the Arabs underAbu-Bekr,1 that companies of the Zotts weresettled in Bahrein, at al-Khatt, a town on thesea coast. Nor did the Indians who werethus brought into Western Asia consist onlyof soldiers,but of whole families,who, withtheir goods and chattels,had been conveyedto the banks of the Euphrates, with, in allprobability,he twofold purpose of occupyingthe fen lands, and of being at the same timea protection against the Bedouin Arabs.Thus, we read in Beladsori2 that whileanother Indian tribe, called the Sayabija,wasestablished before the beginning of Islamismon the sea coasts, the cattle of the Zotts were

pasturing in the Tofuf, as the bottom landsof the Euphrates, in the neighbourhood ofBabylon, are called. An old canal in theBatiha [i.e.he marshes of the Euphrates,

1 Ibno-'l-Athir,i.p. 281.2 Page 373, penultimateline.


30/275

1 6 PROFESSOR DE GOEJE ON

near Babylon) was known, even for a longtime after that, as the Nahro-'z-Zott, or theCanal of the Zotts. 1 Moreover, there wasa colony of Zotts established in Khuzistan.It is true that Dimashki, a comparativelylate geographer,says2 that these Zotts onlycame there in the time of Hajjaj, in thebeginning of the eighth century ; but, on theother hand, Beladsorl3 mentions az-Zott (acontraction of Haumato-'z-Zott, or Haiyizo'-z-Zott ; i.e. Territory of the Zott ) as amongthe districts which were conquered in thereign of Omar.4 This territory,which issituated between Ramhormuz and Arrajan,and consequentlyin the direction of Farsistan,retained this name even long after its originalinhabitants had disappeared,or at any rate

1 Yakut, under Nahr.2 Mehren's edition, p. 179, fourth line from foot of

page. The writer is evidentlynot well informed. Thetext, moreover, is corrupt (read wahowa jilonjda bihi?n).

3 Page 382. Cf. p. 377.4 [a.. 635-644. His conquest of Persia was completed

in 642. Ed.]


31/275


32/275


in Antioch known as Mahallato'z-Zott ( thequarter of the Zotts ),while, at the sametime, there were Zotts said to be descendantsof these people living in Biika, which iswithin the dominion of Antioch. Here, then,we have the earliest settlement of Zotts inthe neighbourhood of the frontiers of theByzantine Empire.1

It was partlyon account of the resistancemade by the Meds2 and the Kikan3 (as thenorthmost division of the Zotts was called 4)that the first invasions of the Arabs intoIndia were unsuccessful. But these tribeswere soon convinced of the power of theirnew enemies. And when, in the beginningof the eighth century, under the khalifate ofWalid I., the Moslems undertook their firstserious expedition against India, they foundin the Zotts and Meds allies,and not oppo-

1 [See Appendix, Note G., Earliest Settlement ofGypsies in Europe. ]2 Beladsori,p. 433. 3 Ibid.,p. 432, et seq.

4 Ibid.,p. 445.


33/275


nents. The army with which Hajj j,thegovernor of Irak, sent his nephew, Moham-ed

ibno-'l-Kasim, to the Indus Valley wasnot a large one,1 but it was graduallyin-reased

by volunteers from among the Zotts.2They did not, however, make very trust-orthy

allies,and it was therefore resolvedthat a considerable number of them shouldbe deported. By this proceeding, anotherand a most necessary end was gained. TheTigris,like the Euphrates, had its stretchesof marsh land, especiallyn Kaskar, an other-ise

very rich province lying towards Khu-zistan. For the cultivation of these tracts,no more suitable inhabitants could be foundthan these very Zotts, reared among themarshes of the Indus; while buffaloes, ofwhich their herds mainly consisted, are theonly cattle that will thrive in marshy districts.3

1 Beladsori,p. 436.2 Ibid., p. 438. See also Elliot,History of India, i.

pp. 161, 187, and 435.8 See, for example, Petermann, Reisen, ii. p. 423,

Remark 31 relatingo i. p. 171.


34/275


We are told by Beladsori 1 that other familiesfrom Sind, as well as the Zotts, were con-eyed

thither, together with their women,children, and buffaloes ; but the Zotts seemto have supplied the main contingent,as thewhole colony was named after them. Thisevent must have happened about the year710. For we read that al-Walid, who diedin 714, caused a part of these Zotts, withtheir buffaloes,to be transported to Antiochand al-Macciga. Other relative information 2gives us also an estimate of the greatness ofthis deportation. Abu-Noman of Antiochrelates : The road between Antioch and al-Mac^cjca (theancient Mopsuestia) was in oldtime unsafe on account of wild animals, andmore than once a traveller was attacked by alion. When complaints of this were broughtto al-Walid ibn-Abdo-'l-malik, he sentthither 4000 buffaloes, both bulls and cows,and through these Allah gave deliverance.

1 Page 375.IJcladsori,p. 162, 167, 168, and 376.


35/275

THE ZOTTS, OR J.iri 2 1

(Itis a well-known fact that the buffalo hasthe courage to withstand the lion.1) ForMohammed ibno-'l-Kasim at-Thakafi, Hajjaj'svicegerent in Sind, had sent from thereseveral thousands of buffaloes, and of theseHajjaj sent 4000 to Syria to al-Walid whilst he disposed the remainder amongthe fens of Kaskar. When, after the deathof Yazid ibno-'l-Mohallab, in the year 720,the property of the Mohallabites was con-iscated,

there were found amongst theirpossessions 4000 buffaloes in Kaskar andthe bottom lands of the Tigris. Thesewere sent by Yazid II.,along with the Zottfamilies connected with them, to al-Macci9a,and thus there were altogether8000 buffaloesconveyed to that place. During the agitatedtimes of Merwan II., the last khalif of theOmayades, the inhabitants of Antioch andKinnesrin appropriated a share of theseherds. But when al-Man^ur, the second

1 See, for instance, Kazwini, Wiistenfeld's edition,i.P- 883.


36/275


khalif of the Abbasides, came to the throne,he commanded them to be returned to al-Maccica.1 Thus the buffaloes now found in

3 3 3

Antioch and Buka are descended from thosewhich were brought by the Zotts who hadbeen taken thither by Moawia and Walid I.

While thus the first colonies of Zotts werebrought into Upper Syria in the reign ofMoawia, a second colony was subsequentlysent thither by Walid I., and this wasfollowed by a third under Yazid II. Now,as the principalcolony remained in Kaskar,we can reckon that the number of Zotts

transported thither by Mohammed ibno-'l-Kasim was very considerable. It is notuntil the year 820 that we again hear ofthese.2 The Zotts had increased greatlyinnumber in these Kaskar lowlands, and hadso availed themselves of the state of semi-

1 This town was rebuilt by al-Man^ur, on account ofwhich it was named al-Mancura, as we are told by Edrisi(Jaubert'stranslation,. p. 162).2 Ibno-'l-Athir,vi. p. 256 ult. ; Abu-'l-Mahasin, i.p. 590.


37/275

THE ZOTTS, OR JAUTS. 2^

anarch)- into which the country was castduring the war between the sons of Harimar-Rashid, al-Emin and al-Mamun, that theyhad obtained the mastery throughout the

ions of the Lower Tigris. Strengthenedby runaway slaves and malcontents who hadfound a refuge amongst them, they wereemboldened to take possessionof the high-ays

by land and water to plunder shipsand caravans, and to sack the granaries ofKaskar ; l whereas formerly, as Beladsorirelates,2the utmost they dared to do was toimportune passers-by for alms, and to stealwhat they could, unnoticed, from passingships. But now, in 820, matters had reachedsuch a pass that people no longer dared tocross their territory,nd ships destined fromBasra to Baghdad with provisions remainedlying at Basra.

1 Ibn-Mashkowaih, p. 471 ult., my own edition(Fragm. Hist Arabic); and Tabari, iii. p. 1167, et seq.Reinaud has altogether misunderstood the accountsrelatingo this rebellion (Memoire, p. 200).

1 Page 375.


38/275


The expeditions sent against them by thekhalif in 820 and 821 were altogetherun-uccessful,

with the result that his prestigesuffered greatlytherefrom. When, in the year824, submission was demanded, on humiliatingconditions, from Nacr ibn-Shabath, an Arabchief who had made himself independent inSyria during the civil wars, he retorted thus : Shall I consent to this ? Can this man

imagine he is able to compel the very flowerof the Arabs, when he is not even able tobring into subjection some four hundredfrogs,who have rebelled under his wing ?

By this he signified the Zotts, as thechronicler remarks;1 but their number greatlyexceeded four hundred.

This state of things lasted until 834, whenMotacem who had succeeded Mamun resolved to grapple with the difficultynearnest. And it was high time, too, as thesupply of provisionsfrom Basra to Baghdad

1 Tabarl (iii.1069),and after him Ibno-'l-Athir,vi.P- 275-


39/275


40/275


Mokran in Sind),and will cause the lord ofthe throne1 (Babek the Persian) to laughwith glee. And we further see that as soonas this Zottic insurrection had been quelled,one of Motacem's generals was despatchedagainsttheir Indian kinsmen.

Thus no time was to be lost in under-akingthe subjugation of those Zotts of

Kaskar ; for which end Ojeif ibn-Anbasawas sent against them with the most un-imited

power. A series of post-stationsasestablished between Baghdad and his army,so that the khalif could receive tidingseveryday, and was thus enabled to send off what-ver

the general asked for. But it was noeasy matter to wage war against thosechildren of the fens. On one occasion onlywas Ojeif able to force them to give battle,when three hundred of the Zotts wereslain, while five hundred more were takenprisoner and afterwards beheaded. Be-ond

that, it was a series of skirmishes, in1 The Sassanidian throne, preserved in Armenia.


41/275

THE ZOTTS, OR J A UTS. 2 J

which the regular troops were usually thesufferers.

Although Ojeif made every effort to damup the many canals leading into and out ofthe fens, he progressed so slowly that notuntil after the lapse of nine months was heable to bring his enemies to subjection. Bar-Hebraeus tells us1 that,in order to accomplishthis, it was necessary to employ certainEgyptian prisoners,accustomed to operatein marshy districts. In the last days of theyear 834, the Zotts on condition that neithertheir lives nor their possessions were to beforfeited finallysurrendered. Great werethe rejoicingsat Baghdad By command ofthe khalif each soldier of Ojeif's army re-eived

a bounty of two denarii, and it wasordained that all the Zotts should be broughtto the capital and there exhibited to thewhole people. It was now seen that theirentire number amounted to 27,000, and ofthese 12,000 were men capable of bearing

1 At page 153 of the Syrian text.


42/275


arms.1 As the boat-loads of the Zotts,dressed in their national costume, and withtheir trumpets, passed up the river intoBaghdad, the whole populace was rangedalong the Tigris banks, and the khalif him-elf

participatedin the enjoyment of thespectacle,hich he witnessed from his yacht.For three successive days this pageant wasenacted. Thereafter, the Zotts were givenover to Bishr ibno-'l-Sameida,who conveyedthem first to Khanekin (thirtyparasangs[112J English miles]to the north-east ofBaghdad), and from there to Ainzarba(Anazarba),n the northern frontier of Syria.Thus runs the narrative of Tabari. Bela-dsori states 2 that fullythe greatest numberwere taken to Ainzarba, but that a part ofthem remained in Khanekin, and, moreover,that a few were placed in other parts of theSyrian frontier.3

1 See also Abu-'l-Mahasin, i. p. 653. [And see Ap-endix,Note H., The Zotts in the Valley of the Lower

Tigris. ] 2 Page 376.8 [See Appendix, Note H., The Zotts in the Valleyof the Lower Tigris. ]


43/275


We cannot settle with certaintythe precisestatus held by the Zotts when they reachedAinzarba, and their other destinations ; yetit is sufficientlylear that they were notreceived as free citizens. For Wakidi l andBeladsori 2 add this remark to their ac-ounts

of the deportation to Ainzarba : andthe inhabitants derived much benefit fromtheir services. 3 But this was not to last

long.In the year 855, so says Tabari, and after

him Ibno-'l-Athir,4the Rum (i.e.he Byzan-ines)made an attack on Ainzarba, when

they succeeded in making themselves themasters of all the Zott prisonersin that town.These they carried off with them to their

1 According to Yakut, iii.p. 761, 1. 21, et seq.Page 171.

3 Ibn-Shihna quotes, in his description of Aleppo(Manuscript Leid. 1444, f. 74 r), the passage fromBeladsori,adding these words : I say the Zotts are anIndian people.

4 Tabari, iii.p. 1426 ; Ibno-'l-Athir,ii. p. 52. Lebeau{Le bas empire, xv. p. 87) has erroneously Aincarjafor Ainzarba.


44/275

30 PROFESSOR DE GOEJE OX

own country, alongwith their women, children,buffaloes,and cows.

Here, then, we have the first band ofgypsies brought into the Greek Empire.1Whether these again were increased by laterarrivals from Syria,where there yet remainedmany Zotts from former deportations, Icannot tell ; although this is not at all im-robable,

as it appears from Jaubari'sbook,before referred to, that acrobats, jugglers,and others of that sort also visited AsiaMinor from Syria.

Neither can I ascertain whether any de-ortatio

of Zotts from India have takenplace after the year 710. But it is unlikely,because the chronicles make no mention ofsuch an event, and also because it is only inSyria that the name Zott has continued to bethe equivalentfor gypsies.

When the rebellion in Kaskar had beencrushed, Sind was attacked in great force,

1 [See Appendix, Note G., ''Earliest Settlement ofGypsies in Europe.'']


45/275

THE ZOTTS, OR JAU1 31

and speedilysubdued. The Zotts and Medshad to suffer severelyfor it. Those of theformer who did not succeed in escapingwereeach branded on the hand, and a poll-taxwas levied on them ; while it was furtherordained that every man must be providedwith a dog ,in consequence of which the priceof dogs rose to fiftydirhems.1 The Meds,after having suffered heavy losses in thestruggle,had retreated to the marshes of theIndus, where they were joined by the chiefsof the Zotts. The Arab commander thencaused a canal to be cut from the sea coastto this marsh, so that the water in it becamequite brackish. Thus, the Meds also wouldsoon have been conquered, had it not beenfor disagreements arising among the Arabrulers, who, as on several previous occasions,broke off the enterprisejust on the eve of itscompletion. The Zotts and the Meds soon

1 See also Elliot,History of India, i. p. 187; and anaccount of this strange decree, p. 449, et sea. CompareRitter,vii. p. 175.


46/275


again returned to their former way of living,and Mas'udi, who visited Sind in 915,characterizes them as a torment to the peopleof al-Mancura ; 1 and they are thus describedby Istakhri and Ibn-Haukal.

In theyear 1000, we

find bands of Zottsin the army of Abu-Nacr ibn-Bakhtiyar,inPersia and Kirman.2 In 1025, al-Mancurawas conquered by Mahmud al-Gaznawi,because the prince of this town had forsakenIslamism. From this statement (which ismade by Ibno-'l-Athir3),einaud infers4 and justly,it appears to me that the Zottsand Meds had here become the ruling race,and had abolished the hated religion ofIslam. They themselves had never em-raced

that religion,for which they wereliable,by the law of Islam, to Xhejizya thehead-money exigiblefrom every non-Moslem,in lieu of the death which he strictlyerits.

1 Ed. Barbier de Meynard, i. p. 378.2 Ibno-'l-Athir,x. p. 114.3 ix. p. 243. 4 Memoir e^ p. 272.


47/275


48/275


49/275


hidingthemselves in the swamps and jungles.Two hundred of these Jauts were slain by adetachment of Timur's army, and manyothers were taken prisoner,while a greatnumber of their cattle were at the same timecaptured. But Timur was further informedthat the whole country was disturbed bythese Jauts,who were as ants and locusts innumber, so he resolved to put a stop for goodto their outrages. Accordingly,putting him-elf

at the head of his troops, he led themtowards the hiding-placeof the Jauts. Twothousand of these devils, as Timur callsthem, fell in the struggle,and the victorreturned laden with booty consistingof theherds of the Jauts, and their women andchildren. And thus, he says, I freed theland from the plague of the Jauts. I havestated this at some length,because it mostdistinctlyppears that there is no mention ofa deportation of Jauts by Timur, still lessthat he had any of these people in his service.Immediately after this campaign, he marched


50/275


to Delhi, and, just before giving battle to theprince of Delhi, he caused 100,000 prisoners -whom he had captured since his arrival inIndia

to be slaughtered in one day.1 Inthe Appendix to the first part of Elliot's

History of India,2 we find additional detailsrelatingto the Jauts, from which I shallonly notice that at present they are verynumerous : in Sind they form the majorityof the population, and they constitute atleast two-fifths of the inhabitants of thePunjaub. The greater part of them areMoslems. In the same Appendix,3 we findproofs that the Meds also are not, asReinaud thought,extinct. They stillinhabitthe district in which the Arabian geographerplaced them ; but they are no longer sopowerful as they once were, and live ex-lusively

by fishing.Dr. Trumpp gives us some very important

statements with regard to those Jauts,in the1 Elliot,iii.pp. 436 and 497.2 Page 507, et seq. 3 Page 522.


51/275

THE ZOTTS, OR J A UTS. T 7

Zeitschriftder deutschen morgenldndischenGesellschaftf 1S61.1 It is his belief thatthe Jauts, who live along the whole courseof the Indus, from the delta up to and withinthe Peshawar Valley,are the originalryanpopulation of the country. They are farmersand camel-breeders, amongst whom certainfamilies of half-savage hunters and fisherswander about. These latter are known as

Bhangi (drunkards)?and Dr. Trumpp3

saysof them that they always appear to me tobe our gypsies. Nowadays they are mostlyMoslems, upon whom the Hindus look downwith contempt, and thus in the Punjaub thename Jaut has almost become a nickname.4Nevertheless, it is evident, from their ancientpoems and legends,that there was a timewhen they occupied a much higher rank.As has been seen, this is fullyconfirmed byhistory. Their language, now generally

1 xv. p. 690, et seq.2 [SeeAppendix, Note K., Bhangi. ]8 Page 695. 4 [SeeAppendix, Note A.]


52/275


known as Sindhi, still bears the name ofJat-ki-gali,r Jat-language,in East Belu-chistan and the Western Punjaub. Accord-ng

to Trumpp, it is purer and richer informs than any other of the newer Indianlanguages, and stands in a much closerrelationshipo the ancient Prakrit.1 The oldPrakrit grammarians treat itwith littlerespect ;but this is presumably the result of the con-empt

with which the people of the Indusregion were, at an early date, regarded bythe Hindus, a sufficient explanationof whichis given by Trumpp. This scholar has ex-ressed

as his opinion, although with somehesitation,that the Jauts are related to theancient Getae or Goths.2

That there was a connection between the

gypsies and these Indian Zotts or Jauts,had1 Our fellow-member, Mr. Kern, in a review of

Trumpp's Grammar of the Sindhi Language, has pro-ouncedthis assertion to be in the main correct. See

Bijdragen tot de taa/-,land- en volkenkunde van Ned. Indi'e\1873* P- 367, etseq.

2 [SeeAppendix, Note L., Jauts and Goths. ]


53/275


54/275


in which the words translated a la f agon desnatifsdu Sind must be read d la f agon desBohdmie7is. x See also the Vocabulista inArabico, Schiaparelli'sdition,in which sindtis rendered by mimus? while in the Latin-Arabic part sindt is one of the definitions ofmimus in instrumentis. Another name giventhem here is dozdoki, which is derived fromthe Persian dozd, and, like it,signifieshief-a characteristic name for gypsies. It is mostlikelytheir fault that their former compatriotscame into such bad odour that Vullers, underdozdi (theft),uotes the Persian by-word, A theft by a Hindu is nothing wonderful ; which saying is used when a low and meanman commits a disgracefulct. Worse still,we read under Hindu that this word is used

appellativelywith the significationf thief.In connection with all this,the passage in

1 My attention has been directed to this passage, asalso to that in the Vocabulista,by our fellow-member,Mr. Dozy.

2 [SeeAppendix, Note M., Mimus. ]


55/275


56/275


is,however, noteworthy that the gypsies ofEgypt are also called Luris in the workentitled Masdlik al-abgar^ written in 1337.Saladdin is said to have caused a greatnumber of them to be put to death. InTransoxania, during the sixteenth and seven-eenth

centuries, they are called Luli.2 Onaccount of their dark complexion they aresometimes regarded as Africans, and calledZendjis. For example, the Persian trans-ator

of Istakhri has sometimes writtenZengian in the text, instead of Zotts.3 InPersia, at the present day, they are also oftencalled Berbers, and thus confounded with theNorth Africans. They have often acquiescedin the appellationEgyptians,given to them

because it was originallypeopled by Luris, or gypsies,who would thus be best entitled to be styled nativesof Luristan ? Ed.]

1 Notices et Ex traits,xii. p. 330, et sea.2 Abu-'l-Ghazi,Histoire des Mongols, par Desmaisons

pp. 258, 259, 276, and 282.3 As on page 35 of my edition. Compare Reinaud,Memoire, p. 273, note 3, and Pott, i.p. 45, et seq.


57/275

THE ZOTTS, OR JAUTS. 43

in Europe : in the East, so far as I amaware, that name does not occur any morethan the name Rom'ni, which they apply tothemselves, and justly,since it signifies men.

As regards the destinies of the Zotts afterthey had been brought to Asia Minor fromAinzarba, in the year 855, I have beenunable

in the course of a hurried search

to discover anything. But, now that weknow the year in which they enteredByzantine territory,others may be moresuccessful. Whether the name Zott, orrather its Indian form Jat (orJaut),has alsobeen brought with them into Europe, I am,of course, as little able to say. In theAppendix to the first part of Elliot's Historyof India, I find the following remarkablepassage : 2 We have undoubted proofs thatIndian troops were raised and sent to takepart in the battles of the Arabs in distant

1 [SeeAppendix, Note N., Rom, Rom'ni, etc. ]Page 465.


58/275


states. I do not speak here of the manyJats in Irak, Syria,and Mesopotamia, who as I hope to show before long in anotherplace were soon changed into the Jatanoor Gitano, the gypsies of modern Europe.These had been too long settled by that timein their various colonies, to be spoken of as' Sindians ' by a contemporary writer, suchas Dionysius Telmarensis, who was morefamiliar with the terms ' Jat,'' Asawira,' and1 Sababija.' But this author, in his Syrianchronicle, definitely mentions ' Sindian 'cohorts as forming a part of the greatlymixed army that invaded the Byzantineterritoryin the year 767. From thesewords, of which I had no knowledge untilthis article was almost completed, it appearsthat the learned author had alreadyseen thatthe gypsies are descended from the Jauts.The promised treatise, wherein their trans-ormation

was to be demonstrated, does notseem to have been forthcoming. But fromthe combination Zott, Asawira, and Sababija


59/275

the zorrs. OR jauts. 45

(read Savahija), it follows that he onlythought of the Zotts, who had been carriedaway from their fatherland in the days of theSassanides. The Asawira were probably,like these, foreign troops in the Persianservice, though not Indians. Thus the greatdeportation of 820 was presumably unknownto him. But his supposition that the oldname yet survives in Gitano is very weak ;for it is only in Spain that the gypsies arethus called,and it is,I think, beyond a doubtthat here the name signifies Egyptian, thename by which they are known in manyother countries.1

The Indian name, out of which the Arabsmade Zott, is Jat with soft /, which by non-Indians is sometimes rendered by z, some-imes

by j. The t is hardened to teth bythe Arabs.2 Yakut mentions also the pro-unciatio

Zatt with a, which is given in1 [SeeAppendix, Note O., The Egyptians or Gitanos. ]2 \Tethyaccording to Dutch orthoepy; it in English.

Ed.]


60/275


the Kdmus as the regular pronunciation.But the usual sound is that of Zott with o,which Bar-Hebraeus even lengthens to tl,ashe writes Zutojo. In India the pronunciationJut also occurs.

On the other hand, the gypsies havebrought the name Sindi to Germany,1 therebypreserving the memory of their fatherland.I have also brought under your notice thefact that their word for ship is that whichtheir ancestors more than a thousand yearsago applied to the vessels in which theyundertook their piraticaloyages from theIndus mouths. There is yet another wordto which I must call attention. The gypsiescall a Christian Gandorry? a term whichseems to be derived from Gandara, the nameof a town of such great importance in thoseregions that its coins, as Ibn-Haukal states,3were commonly used in Sind.

1 Pott. i. p. 33,et

seq. [Seeante, p. 39, note 4.]2 Pott, ii.p. 125,3 Page 228, 1. 14. The Arabs call this town Kandohar


61/275


62/275


westward. The difference between sedentaryJauts, who engage in agricultureand par-icularly

in cattle-rearing,nd the wanderingZigeuners (or Zigani),who earn their live-ihood

as musicians, fortune-tellers (puaar-zeggers,

lit.soothsayers),ugglers(goochelaars),acrobats, and pedlars, is even now verynoticeable in Syria, and the first only thesedentary class still bears the ancient nameZott. In Turkey, also,according to Paspati,1the gypsies are even at the present daydivided into sedentary and nomadic families,the former of whom look down upon the

latter. We may assume that many nomadicfamilies were included in the Jaut deportation,since it is especiallyin this class that weagain find the gypsy type so familiar to us.Thus, the Jauts may have continued asformerly to apply the contemptuous name ofShikari to their nomadic class, this namebecoming eventuallyappliedto all Zigeuners{Zigani). I can, however, adduce nothing to

1 Revue Critique,1870, ii. pp. 280-283.


63/275


64/275


tcheng denotes a sort of harp or cither,muchused in the East,1 and tcliengiis still,sin earlier times, a common word in Persiaand Turkey for musician, and also fordancer. In this word tchengt,the i isproperlythe Arabic termination of the nomenrelativum, but it can also be regarded as thePersian termination of the nomen unitatis.According to this conception,the word tcheng,denoting the dancer, the musician, may beused as the specificname, and from it,byadding the Persian termination an, the pluraltchengdn would be formed, analogously tomerd (man or mankind) as the name of thespecies,merdi (a man, an individual),erdan(men). The sole question is whether tchengthas indeed been thus conceived, and conse-uently

whether tcheng occurs in the signifi-ationindicated. For the answer to this I

am indebted to my friend Mr. Dozy, who

1 Arabic cenj,which is also used for senj (cymbals ortambourine). [See Appendix, Note P., Gypsies asMusicians. ]


65/275

THE ZOTTS OR JAUTS. 51

has directed me to an example in the ArabianNights (vol.iv. p. 694, 1.9 from foot of page),and the explanation of the word by Lane,in his translation of this work (iii.. 730,n. 22). Thus, in the Byzantine Empire, thename tcheng n,originallydenoting the occu-ation

of these people, must have becomeeventuallyapplied to them as a proper name.For it follows the gypsies from there to thewest of Europe, being afterwards carriedeastward by the Turks into Asia. We findin the Turkish Empire, in Europe as well asin Asia and Egypt, Tcfiengdn,or Tchengdne?with a new plural formation (see Helot),given as a name of the Zigeuners alter-atively

with tchengi, which, as alreadystated, signifiesmusician or dancer. It issaid that in Turkey at the present daytckengdnesignifiesalso u organ-grinder, as

1 The Turks, according to a law of their language,pronounce it Tchingiane. See Paspati,as quoted in theRevue Critique of 1870 (ii.p. 287); Bocthor underBohhnien ; and Pott, ii.p. 45.

2 Pott, i. p. 45, note.


66/275


an appellativum; but perhaps this is anapplicationf the name of the people to theoccupation itself.

There is much in favour of this explana-ion,but it is difficult to say whether the n

in the first syllablef the name is originalornot. Bataillard is decidedlyof opinion thatit is not. In the second syllable,the nalternates with r, and it is likewise difficultto say which of these two letters is theoriginal. The sibilant with which thename commences is in nearly all the formshard, and on that ground Pott rightlyrejected1the explanation from the wordZendji (a negro).2

Let us now consider to what extent the

results of the linguisticesearch agree withthe historical data. I have already stated atstarting that there is as good as universalagreement upon two points,amongst scholars

1 i, p. 46.2 [SeeAppendix, Note Q., Zigeuners,Zigani, etc.]


67/275

THE ZOTTS, OR J A UTS.

who have made a serious study of thegypsies: these are, that their fatherland isto be sought in India, and that at least thebands scattered over Europe are all membersof one and the same family. The first ofthese statements has been more fullyelabo-ated,

by Pott and Ascoli in particular.According to the former, the gypsy languageis closelyakin to the dialects of the north-est

of India; while the latter takes thegypsies to be Sindis who have lived for along time in Afghanistan. Both results directus to the Valley of the Indus, that is,to thecountry which has for centuries been in-abited

by the Jauts. The second of thesetwo points has been made clear notablybyPaspati and Bataillard. Not only is there aSlavonic element common to all the gypsydialects of Western Europe, but they havealso (along with those of the Slavoniccountries and the Turkish Empire) manyGreek words. It follows from this,beyonddispute,that all the gypsies(ofEurope) lived


68/275


for a time upon Greek soil. But a veryimportant addition has to be made to this.That Arabic words should be found in thelanguage of the gypsies of Turkey is nowonder, since Turkish is so very muchimbued with Arabic elements. But if thesewords are also found among the gypsies ofWestern Europe, who had already inhabitedHungary and Transylvania long before theTurkish conquest of the Danube Provinces,there is no other conclusion possiblethanthat the gypsies have also lived collectivelyin an Arabian country. This must have

been before their residence in the ByzantineEmpire. Of itself,this is already probable,but it is confirmed by the fact that thenumber of Arabic words is much smaller

than that of Greek words. Though I haveonly superficiallyxamined the recurrence ofArabic words, I can point out some whichare above all question,as choro (deep),whichoccurs in all the gypsy dialects, and alsoas a noun (depth),see Pott, ii. p. 164, and


69/275

THE ZOTTS, ( A1 JAUTS. 55

Liebich's Glossar, and which must be theArabic gh$r ; kotor, goiter (a piece, or bit),Pott, p. 164, and Liebich, which is theArabic ko a ; handako (a furrow, a moat orditch) Liebich, Arab, chandak; mochtou (abox) Liebich, the Arabian jugglers' wordmoshidn1 ; tscJidro,szahro, szahn (dish),Pott,p. 198, ct sea., and Liebich, the Arabic pahn ;agar (end), Pott, p. 45, Arab, achir ; alicati

(time),Pott, p. 59, Arab, al-wakt, al-ikat ;caha (house), Pott, p. 91, Arab, kdha orperhaps ketch ; kesz (silk),ott, p. 119, Arab.kazz ; jar and car (heat),Pott, pp. 125 and171, Arab harr. These words all occur inEuropean gypsy dialects,and can undoubtedlybe increased by earnest investigation but,such as they are, they sufficientlystablishthe theory that all the gypsies (of Europe)have lived for a time among Arabic-speakingpeople. It is doubtful whether we can attain

1 See my article upon Jaubari in the Zeitschriftder deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft x. p. 506,et sec/.


70/275

56 PROFESSOR BE GOEJE ON

farther, at the present stage of gypsiology.Baudrimont, who has written a pamphlet onthe gypsies of the Basque country, says,1after Bataillard : I have been led,by variousindications,to suspect that the gypsies livedfor a long time in Mesopotamia, more par-icularly

in the neighbourhood of Babylon.He does not specifythose indications, but ashe adds, and that they became wanderersin consequence of the destruction of thistown, it is probable that he had in viewsomething resembling the discovery whichDe Saulcy believed he had made, which was,that only the gypsy language supplied theexplanation of a word in the so-called Medianor Scythian cuneiform inscriptions. If thatis the case, then Baudrimont's assumption hasno value, although it is nevertheless remark-bly

confirmed by history, as the gypsieshave dwelt in those regions for more than acentury.

After the historical explanationssupplied1 Revue Critique,1870, ii.p. 204.


71/275


72/275


been many voluntary emigrations of gypsiesfrom Syria. In the second place,it is almostcertain that in the countries where they havehalted for a time they have assimilated otherelements to them. Finally,I may point tothe Jews, so often compared with the gypsies,amongst whom there exists the same featureof great increase under oppression,and per-aps

even in a stronger measure.But the test must be a comparative study

of the different gypsy dialects,according tothe rules laid down by Bataillard, in orderthat, on the one hand, we may have broughttogether the originalvocabulary,divested offoreign elements ; and that, on the otherhand, we may deduce from the considerationof these elements in what regionsthe gypsieshave successively dwelt, an estimate whichhas hitherto been onlypartiallyade. There-fter,

a comparison of the language of thegypsies with the Sindhi, the speech of theJauts. And, lastly, comparison of the gypsysongs and stories with the poems and legends


73/275

THE ZOTTS, OR JAUTS. 59

oi their Indian kindred, which, as Trumpp

assures us,1 are very numerous so numerous

that he has himself collected twelve volumes

of them.

1 Zcitschrift, xv. p. 693.


74/275


75/275

APPENDIX TO

PROFESSOR DE GOEJE'S TREATISE.

Note A.

Zotti a Term of Contempt.Captain R. F. Burton, in his History of Sindh

(pp. 246,247: London, 1851), states that in theeastern parts of Central Asia, the name Jat [i.e.Zotti] is synonymous with thief and scoundrel.And, in the Notes relating to the chapter (chap,ix.) in which these words occur, he makes thefollowing additional remarks :

Jatu in the Sindhi dialect means, (1) a camel-driver or breeder of camels ; (2) the name of aBeloch clan.

Jatu, or, written as it is pronounced, ' Dyatu,'has three significations : 1. The name of a tribe(the Jats). 2. A Sindhi, as opposed to a Beloch in this sense an insulting expression. So theBelochis and Brahnis of the hills call the Sindhi

language 'Jathki.' 3. A word of insult, a 'bar-arian;

'as in the expression, Do-dasto Jat , ' An

utter savage.'


76/275

62 APPENDIX TO

Note B. A rabic a?id English Plurals.'The formation of the singular and plural of

words of the class to which Zotti (plur.Zotf)belongs, seems so perverse to those of us who arenot Orientalists, that we inevitably Europeanizetheir terminations. Thus this name becomes, inEnglish, Zott or J at in the singular (though thisis reallythe plural form), and the pluralis formedin the ordinary way by adding s. With the ex-eption

of a few instances at the beginning of Mr.De Goeje's treatise,I have ventured to render hisplural Zott, etc., into Zotts, etc.

Similarly,I have followed Elliot and others inspeaking of the tribe of the Meds, rather thanthe Meid; and also the Kerks, instead of the Kerk, or Kork.

Note C. Belddsort

Regarding this historian, so often quoted by theauthor, we learn from Elliot's History of India(vol.i. pp. 113 and 115) that he was

Ahmad bin Yahya, bin Jabir, surnamed alsoAbu Ja'far and Abu-1 Hasan, but more usuallyknown as Biladuri,who lived towards the middle ofthe ninth century of our era, at the court of theKhalif Al Mutawakkal, where he was engaged asinstructor to one of the princesof his family.


77/275

PROFESSOR DE GOEJ S TREATISE. 63

It is further stated that he was called Bikidurior Bilazuri [otherwise Bekidsorf and Baliidsori],from his addiction to the use of an intoxicatingelectuarymade from the Baki/ar, or Malacca bean.Thus the name by which he is best known is merelya surname, or sobriquet; as though De Quinceywere handed down to posterity as The Opium-Eater,and no more.

NOTE D. T/ie Meid, or Meds.The following remarks, relatingto the Meid, or

Meds, occur in Elliot's India1 (vol.i. pp. 50S, 519,522, and 525):

We find the Meds frequently mentioned by theArab authors on Sind, and, together with theirrivals the Jats [or Zotts],they may be consideredthe oldest occupants of that province, who, in theirnames as well as persons, have survived to our owntimes.

The first account we have of them is in theMujmalu-t TaivdrikJi. That work mentions that theJats and the Meds are reputed to be descendantsof Ham, the son of Noah, and that they occupiedthe banks of the Indus in the province of Sind.The Meds, who devoted themselves to a pastorallife,sed to invade the territories of the Jats,putting

1 The History ofIndia, edited from the posthumous papers of thelate Sir II. M. Elliot,K.C.B., by Professor John Dowson. London,1869.


78/275

64 APPENDIX TO

them to great distress,and compelling them to takeup their abode on the opposite side of the river ; but,subsequently,the Jats,being accustomed to the useof boats, crossed over and defeated the Meds, takingseveral prisonersand plundering their country.

Professor Dowson (vol. i. p. 508) informs usthat

When the Muhammadans first appeared inSindh, towards the end of the seventh century,the Zaths and Meds were the chief population ofthe country. But as I have already shown that theoriginalseat of the Med or Medi colony was in thePanjab proper, I conclude that the originalseat ofthe Iatiiyor Jat colony, must have been in Sindh.

Sir Henry Elliot also says (vol.i. p. 525) : We may even extend our views to a still more

remote period,and indulge in speculationswhetherthis tribe may not originallyhave been a colony ofMedes. There is nothing in the distance of themigration which would militate against this sup-osition,

for Herodotus mentions the Sigynnae, asa colony of the Medes settled beyond the Danube :' How they can have been a colony of the Medes,'he observes, ' I cannot comprehend ; but anythingmay happen in course of time.' The Medians arealso said to have accompanied the expedition ofHercules, when he crossed over from Spain intoAfrica.

This theory of Elliot's,that the Meds were


79/275


80/275

66 APPENDIX TO

Cambridge, 1778),where Fitz-Simeon, a Franciscanfriar of Dublin, describinghis stay in Crete in 1322,says : ' We there saw a people living outside thecity (of Candia), who worship according to theGreek rite, and declare themselves of the race ofHam' And these people are assumed, on variousgrounds, to be gypsies. Moreover, in Mr. Batail-lard's latest utterance {Les Gitanos d'Espagne et lesCiganos de Portugal: Lisbon, 1884), he talks of la race chamitiqne dont je suis convaincu que lesTsiganes font partie; and this is a belief which,for other reasons, he has held for many years. Jene puis douter en effet, he says {Les Origines,etc.,p. 27), que les Tsiganes ne soient des Chamites, etplus particulierement des Kouschites, qui auraientvecu sous les Aryas dans la region de lTndus assezlongtemps pour perdre leur langue kouschite etadopter une langue aryenne, mais dont les pre-ieres

et tres-probablement les plus importantesemigrations vers l'Occident remonteraient cepen-dant a une antiquitetres-reculee.

Note E. The Kork, or Kerks. Under the government of Muhammad ('son of

Hanin, son of Zara' al Namari '),he king of theIsle of Rubies 1 sent, as a present to Hajjaj,certainMuhammadan girls who had been born in his

1 Ceylon : so denominated because of the beauty of the women (Elliot,vol. i. pp. 118, 119).


81/275

professor de goej s treatise. 67

country, the orphan daughters of merchants whohad died there. The king hoped by this measureto ingratiate himself with Hajjaj ; but the ship inwhich he had embarked these girls was attackedand taken by some barks (bawdrif)belonging tothe Meds of Debal : elsewhere spoken of as pirates.

******

u The pirates,whose insolence [just referred to]led to the final subjugation of Sind, are stated, bya very good authority,to be of the tribe of Kerk,Kruk, Kurk, Karak, or some name of nearly similarpronunciation. . . . M. Reinaud . . . informs usthat, in the annals of the Arabs, the Kurk aremore than once spoken of as desperate pirates,carrying their expeditions even as far as Jidda, inthe Red Sea. After indicating the Indus deltaas their probable home at this period, the writergoes on to suggest as extremely likely,that thenorth-eastern shores of the Euxine sea were in-abited

by these people so early as the time ofHerodotus. He cites many topographical nameswhich appear to embody both Kerk, etc., and Sindiyetc., and then continues thus :

The old reading of the passage in Herodotus,where the Sindi are mentioned (iv.28),was originallyIndi, but commentators were so struck with theanomaly of finding Indians on the frontiers ofEurope, and they considered it so necessary to


82/275

68 APPENDIX TO

reconcile the historian with geographers, that theyhave now unanimously agreed to read Sindi, thoughthe reading is not authorized by any ancient manu-cripts.

It is impossible to say what is gained bythe substitution ; for Sindi must be themselvesIndians, and the difficultys in no way removed bythis arbitrary conversion. Hesychius, moreover no mean authority says that the Sindi of theEuxine were, in reality,ndians ; nay, more, thoughwriting two centuries before our Kerks are evennamed or alluded to, expressly calls the Kerketae[of the Black Sea] also ' an Indian nation.'

It has been remarked, that even if no suchdirect testimony had been given, the hints thatremain to us concerning the character and mannersof these Sindi, the peculiarobject of their worship,and their dissolute religious rites and sorceries,would leave no doubt as to the country from whichthey were derived.

It is from this region that the Indian merchantsmust have sailed who were shipwrecked in theBaltic, and presented by the king of the Suevi, orof the Batavi, to L. Metellus Celer, the pro-consulof Gaul ; for they could not have been carriedround from the continent of India to the north ofEurope by the ocean. Various solutions of thisdifficultyave been attempted. It has been sur-ised

that they might have been Greenlanders, ormariners from North America, or even painted


83/275

PROFESSOR DE GOEJE'S TREATISE. 69

Britons [who, it ought to be remembered, werestyled ' Moors ' by the poet Claudian, and whosecomplexion was 'as black as an Ethiopian's,'according to Pliny. Eix] ; but the fact cannot bedisputed, that they are called plainly ' Indians,'byall the authors who have recorded the fact,howeverimprobable their appearance in those regions mighthave been.

******u We may here make a passing allusion, Elliot

proceeds to say, on the next page, to anothermemorial of Indian connection with these parts.The southern neighbours of these Euxine Sindiwere the Kolchians. C. Ritter, in his Vorhalle, . . .asserts that they came originallyfrom the west ofIndia. Pindar and Herodotus both remark uponthe darkness of their complexion. The latter alsomentions that they were curly-headed. He statesthat he had satisfied himself, not only from theaccounts of others, but from personal examination,that they were Egyptians, descended from a portionof the invading army of Sesostris,which had eitherbeen detached by that conqueror, or, being weariedwith his wandering expedition, had remained, oftheir own accord, near the river Phasis. He alsomentions the practice of circumcision, the fabrica-ion

of fine linen, the mode of living,and resem-lanceof language, as confirmatory of his view of

an affinityetween these nations.


84/275

yo APPENDIX TO

The mode in which Elliot reconciles the ap-arentlydiverse origins assigned to these people

by the writers to whom he refers is,that the terms Ethiopia and India were very frequently usedby those early authors in a loose and almost inter-hangeable

fashion ; and that, consequently, theKolchians might have been Ethiopians (ifnot Egyptians ),and yet Indians.

After other remarks, chiefly topographical, re-atingto the above paragraphs, he finallysays

But even allowing that all these miscellaneousinstances of resemblance [in the names of places]. . .

are indeed purely fortuitous, . . . still it isimpossible to yield the Sindi, the Kerketae, or eventhe Maidi, to the cavils of an illiberal and hostilespiritof criticism, for, with respect to them, itmust be confessed by all but the most obstinatelysceptical,that they, at least, stand boldly andprominently forth, as undoubted evidences of actualIndian occupancy on the shores of the Euxine.[And this once admitted, then the topographicalevidence, or the bulk of it,ought also to be ac-epted,

as a result of the known presence, in thatneighbourhood, of tribes bearing such-and-suchnames.]

Note F. Barge, etc.

Sir Henry Elliot comments upon this word{History of India, vol. i. pp. 539, 540),as follows :


85/275

PROFESSOR DE GOEJES TREATISE. J I

The term used by Biladun to represent a vesselof war is Bdrija. He uses the same word, in theplural, in speaking of the vessels which werecaptured by the Meds, on their voyage from Ceylonto the Persian Gulf, an act of piracy which led tothe .Arab conquest of Sind.

Bi'runi says also, a century later,that the Bawdryare established at Kachh and Somnat, and are socalled because they devote themselves to the pursuitof piracy,in ships which are called Bera. . . . Thisis a native word still in use for a boat, but the originof the term Bazudrij must be sought, not in theIndian Bera, but rather in the Arabic Bdrija,whichGolius, on the authority of the Kdmus, tells us tomean a large vessel of war.

From the same source our English Barge seemsto be derived.

. ..

And so on. It is unnecessary, however, to followElliot in all his remarks upon the etymology ofthis word. Especially when he says, But we haveno occasion to look for any connection between ourwords Bark and Barge. The former is confessedlyan old word, the latter comparatively modern.There is practicallyno difference between Englishbark, or barque, and Dutch barge,(g hard), Low-Latin barga, Latin barca, etc. And the soft soundof the g in our modern barge is a transition whichhas many parallels in English. An additionalstatement by Mr. De Goeje, that the Arabic writer,


86/275

72 APPENDIX TO

Mokaddasi, pronounces the word as berga, indicatesalso a like approximation in the East.

The opinion held by various etymologists, thatall these forms are derived from the root ber, tocarry or bear, is surely incontrovertible. Thus theword originally meant something that bears, orcarries. And, when gypsies speak of a ship asbarOy they are merely employing in a nautical sensethe word which in modern English is restricted toa more humble kind of vessel, used only by navigators of the land, viz. barrow.

NOTE G. Earliest Settlement of Gypsies in Europe.When Mr. De Goeje speaks of the earliest settle-ent

of gypsies on the confines of the ByzantineEmpire, and (not long after) on the confines ofEurope, he of course signifiesthe earliest settlementrecognized as such by him. But it does not followthat such a settlement was actually the earliest.This is frequently pointed out by Mr. Bataillard{e.g.Uorigine des Tsiganes,p. 29, et sea.: Paris, 1877)'whose ideas, in this respect, are diametrically op-osed

to the opinions of Mr. De Goeje. Indeed,as far back in time as there was a recognizablegypsy type, so far back may there have beengypsy migrations to or from any part of theworld.


87/275


88/275

74 APPENDIX TO

1582). It appears that, in the year 865, ten bdrijasof these people (or of their kindred, the Kerks)ventured up the Tigris from Basra to Baghdad.Each of these barges had a complement of forty-five men, composed of the captain ; thirty-ninemen,of whom some were soldiers and some rowers ; three firemen (orgrenadiers,their duty being to attackthe enemy with naphtha, or Greek fire) and, lastly,a carpenter and a baker. Thus the total strengthof the expedition amounted to four hundred andfiftyen.

Whether these bargemen of 865 represented anunsubdued remnant of the Zotts of 834, or whetherthey were an independent body of Kerks, there isevery sign that this nation, or confederacy, pos-essed

a distinct organization and civilization ofits own. Even the specialmention of their trumpets,in the sentence describingthe entrance into Baghdadof the captive Zottic army, seems to indicate anothermark of individuality; for the trumpets are placedside by side with the national garb. In short, allthose traits and customs which the Arab writersthink worthy of mention must (inferentially)avebeen characteristic of the Zott nation, as distin-uished

from the Arabs.Some of the offices held by these people when in

captivity,may also be noticed here. The 12,000Zotts sent from India to Persia, in the fifth century,were musicians before anything else ; their skill in


89/275

PROFESSOR DE GOEJE'S TREATISE. 75

that art being, indeed, the cause given for theirdeportation. And we further learn that certaincaptive Kerks, five centuries later,were employedin the same way, a procession of state prisonersinthe streets of Baghdad, in the year 911, beingpreceded by the Kork and other musicians.Probably the trumpets borne by the Zott prisonersof 834 only represented one of many varieties ofmusical instrument in the captive army.

A less dignified office than that of musicianremains yet to be noticed. We are told that thesubject Zotts in Basra (and also the Sayabija, aneighbouring, if not a kindred, tribe)were u chieflyemployed as policemen and gensdarmes. Forthese duties, however, it can hardly be said thatany special or racial qualificationsre necessary.Nevertheless, the statement helps to throw somelight upon the uses made of these prisoners by theArabs ; and perhaps something of this kind ismeant when it is stated, with regard to the Zottsdeported to Ainzarba about the year 835, thatu the inhabitants derived much benefit from theirservices.

NOTE I. Mahmiid's Seventeenth Expedition.In Elliot's History of India (vol.ii.pp. 477, 478)

there is an account of this expedition, and thefollowing version is quoted from Nizdmu-d dinA hmad :


90/275

j6 APPENDIX TO

In the same year (417 H.),the Sultan, with aview to punish the Jats, who had molested hisarmy on his return from Somnat, led a large forcetowards Multan, and when he arrived there heordered fourteen hundred boats to be built, eachof which was armed with three firm iron spikes,projecting one from the prow and two from thesides,so that anything which came in contact withthem would infalliblye destroyed. In each boatwere twenty archers, with bows and arrows, grenades,and naphtha ; and in this way they proceeded toattack the Jats, who, having intelligence of thearmament, sent their families into the islands,andprepared themselves for the conflict. They launched,according to some, four, and according to others,eight thousand boats, manned and armed, ready toengage the Muhammadans. Both fleets met, anda desperate conflict ensued. Every boat of the Jatsthat approached the Moslem fleet,when it receivedthe shock of the projectingspikes,was broken andoverturned [while others, it is stated, were set onfire].Thus, most of the Jats were drowned, andthose who were not so destroyed were put to thesword. The Sultan's army proceeded to the placeswhere their families were concealed, and took themall prisoners. The Sultan then returned victoriousto Ghaznin.

We are told in Elliot's History that this is oneof the more problematical of Mahmud's expeditions,


91/275

PROFESSOR DE GOEJE'S TREATISE. J 7

being recorded only by the later authorities.But the attack upon the Jats is not in itself im-robable,

though some of its attendant circum-tancesare. It is probable that, on the dissolution

of the kingdom of Lahore, the Jats of the Jiid hillsacquired considerable power, and by predatoryincursions were able to harry their neighbours.Their advance so far from their own country toattack the Muhammadan army, and the strengthof the force with which they opposed it,show thatthey possessed no inconsiderable power. From apassage quoted by M. Reinaud ... it appears thatthey had invaded the principalityof Mansura, andhad forced the Musulman Amir to abjure his religion.It does not quite appear what particularportion ofthe hillycountry is here meant, but most probablythe Salt range, on the part nearest to Multan. TheJats have now moved further to the north and east,but some of their clans point to the Salt range astheir originalseats.

NOTE J. The Zotts, Djatts,or J ants.The number of ways in which the name of this

people is spelt,and the localities in which they areplaced, are very numerous. The name is variouslyspelt Zott, Zatt, Zath, Xcutthii,XutJii Zuthi, Zuth,Zutt, Dyat, Djatt,Jat,Jat (Jat and Jat),Jath,Juth,Jutt,Jit {Encyc. Brit), Iatii,and Jaut. Of these,


92/275

yS APPENDIX TO

the italicized forms are problematical,occurring inclassical writings,and quoted by General Cunning-am.

The form Jant (which I have only seen inLord Combermere's Memoirs) appears to offer thebest compromise ; and its spelling coincides withthe popular English form of a similar word ghat,viz. ghaut.

As regards the districts in which the Jauts areplaced by various writers, they include Asia Minor,Syria, Arabia, Persia, Afghanistan, Beluchistan,Northern India, and Central Asia. Dera-Jat, inthe Panjab, is still emphatically the country ofthe Jauts.

One account of the Jauts speaks of them as AnIndian people estimated to form two-fifths of theentire population of the Punjab, and half that ofthe Rajput states. They are also widely spread,continues this writer, through Sind, Baluchistan,and the North- Western Provinces. Their traditionsindicate an immigration from Ghazni, or Kandahar,1but writers of authority have identified them withthe ancient Getse, and there is strong reason tobelieve them a degraded tribe of Rajputs, whoseScythic origin has also been maintained.2 Dr.

1 Mr. De Goeje particularlyotes that the town of Ganddra,Kandohdr, or Kondohdr, must not be confounded with themodern Kandahar {ante, pp. 46, 47, note 3).

2 Colonel Tod, still the standard historian of Rajasthan,strongly-insisted on this point[theaffinityetween Rajputs and Jauts]. Somerelationshipetween the Jats and the Rajputs,although obscure, is


93/275

PROJ GOEJ S TREATISE. 79

Trumpp, however, regards them .is the first Aryansettlers in the valleyof the Indus, and their languagestrongly favours this view. . . . In recent times, thevalour of the race showed itself in the two siegesofBhartpur, the seat of a Jat dynasty, in 1805 and1S26, and has long been conspicuous in the militaryqualitiesof the Sikhs. They are a migratory stock.. . . They are in general a harmless, industriouspeople,preserving in songs and legends the memoryof better times. Under favourable conditions,however, old predatory habits revive, and their wan-ering

instinct leads them, in the guise of itineranttraders, far into Central Asia. Indeed, there isplausible though not conclusive evidence that theGipsies owned them as progenitors {Encyc. Brit.,9th edit, vol. xiii. p. 597). The same account,it may be added, describes them as extremelydark in complexion.

Professor Dowson (Elliot'sistory ofIndia, 1869,vol. i. p. 508), remarks : At the present day theJats are found in every part of the Panjab, wherethey form about two-fifths of the population. Theyare chiefly Musulmans, and are divided into notless than a hundred different tribes. ... To theeast of the Panjab, the Hindu Jats are found inconsiderable numbers in the frontier states of

acknowledged ; and, although the jus connubii no longer existsbetween them, an inscriptionshows that they intermarried in thefifth century, a.d. {Encyc. Brit., 9th edit. vol. xii. p. 789).


94/275

80 APPENDIX TO

Bikaner, Jesalmer, and Jodhpur, where, in ColonelTod's opinion, they are as numerous as all theRajput races put together.1 They are found alsoin great numbers along the upper course of theGanges and Jumna, as far eastward as Bareli,Farakhabad, and Gwalior, where they are dividedinto two distinct clans.

. . .To the south of the

Panjab, the Musulman Jats are said by Pottingerto form the entire population of the fruitful districtof Haraud-Dajel, on the right bank of the Indus,and the bulk of the population in the neighbouringdistrict of Kach-Gandava. In Sindh, where theyhave intermarried largelywith Buluchis and Musul-mans of Hindu descent, it is no longer possibletoestimate their numbers, although it is certain thata very large proportion of the population must beof Jat descent.

According to Captain Burton {History of Sindh,pp. 246, 247 : London, 185 1),the Jauts constituted, in the time of the Kalhoras, one of the rulingclasses in Sindh.

. . . They are supposed to haveentered Sindh, he further states, a little beforethe accession of the Kalhora princes,and shortlyafterwards to have risen to distinction by theirsuperiorcourage and personal strength. At presentthey have lost all that distinguished them, and oftheir multitude of Jagirdars,Zemindars, and Sardars,now not a single descendant possesses anything

1 See note (2),pp. 78, 79, ante.


95/275


96/275

82 APPENDIX TO

rejectionof this theory. In this respect, however,the fact must not be overlooked that laneuaee doesnot form an infallible test of pedigree. There areseveral gypsy populations by whom the languageof the Romane has been forgotten; and every-here

Accounts of the Gypsies of India by David Macritchie, 1886

Documents

Transcript of Accounts of the Gypsies of India by David Macritchie, 1886