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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
The last but not least interesting event of this day's sitting was a paper, by Mr. Leland himself, on the origin of the Gipsy Language. After relating some singular information he had received some years ago from a Hindu in London as to the existence of a vagabond tribe in Northern India who called themselves Rom and their language Romani, Mr. Leland stated, as the result of the studies which he and the late Prof. Palmer had since devoted to the subject, his full belief in the Hindu's story: vis. that there exists in India a tribe of wanderers, born Hindus, who from some peculiar incident have received, in addition to the name of Rom, that of Tirabalûs or Syrians, though they are really nothing of the kind. They speak a language very much in common with that of the Gipsies of Europe, whom they resemble in all other respects. The grave objection, that the most diligent independent inquiries in India have failed to reach these Tirâbalas or Roms, was met by Mr. Leland with a reference to a very singular language, known as Shelta and spoken extensively by English tramps and vagabonds, which had until a few years ago remained entirely unnoticed in England. Mr. Leland did not, however, pretend to say that the Roms of, India are the one stock from which all the European Gipsies came. He thought it very likely that the Jatts combined with many kinds of Indian, wanderers in the great Western migration and that after these came successive waves, one of which may have been of Doms, another of Banjârâs, and so forth; but that the Rôm as the master-vagabond and the most accomplished in the art of living on the roads should have eventually leavened the whole lump, was also very likely. Mr. Leland concluded his address with an urgent appeal to all interested in the Gipsy tongue for more extensive collections of words from its rapidly decaying dialects.
Mr. Leland's suggestive remarks provoked a lively discussion, especially on the part of members resident in India. Mr. M. Macauliffe, B.C.8., said that he thought there were grounds for believing that the Gipsies were the Indian Nats, who practise jugglery, and are, perhaps, the most migratory in their habits of all Indian tribes. He had met a gang of Nats at the Fair of Sakht Sarwar in the Pañjab. They said they had come from Southern India, and in reply to his enquiries where they would be on the occasion of the next yearly fair, they said that they travelled everywhere, regardless of religion and nationality. Though professing to have come from Southern India, there is very little doubt that they knew no home. Their speech appeared to be a mixture of Indian dialects, and their
[MAY, 1887.
habits forbade their dwelling long in any one locality. In their visits to Afghanistan and Persia, they would no doubt adopt Afghan and Persian words, and in their sojournings further to the West, they would adopt the vocables of the countries through which they passed, the basis of their speech remaining the same, viz. an Indian conglomerate. Mr. Leland's researches showed that a large number of Gipsy words were Indian; and several Persian. These would, of course, have been brought to Europe by Indian tribes which probably followed Musalmân troops, ever the liberal patrons of Oriental acrobats and jugglers, and might have accompanied the Turks into the South-East of Europe in their invasions. The Hârnis are another very adventurous tribe, and are quite capable of extending their migrations to Europe. They, too, were like to have been patronized by the Turkish armies, even to a far larger extent than the Nats, and could easily have found their way to the West. But whereas among the Nats the men are the jugglers and acrobats, among the Harnis physical feats of skill are performed by the women. Several parts of the performance resemble the Pyrrhic dance of the ancient Greeks. The women, like the Gipsies, are not remarkable for their chastity; but it is doubtful whether they ever pretended to tell fortunes; and theft is not generally associated with their names. Another probable origin of the Gipsies is the race of Indian Dôms. These, too, are a very migratory unsettled people, who in respect of fortune-telling, child-stealing, thieving and wandering, bear a great analogy to the Gipsies. It seems, however, so far doubtful whether their Hindu prejudices and a certain timidity of nature would have allowed of their migration to Europe, in sufficient numbers to establish such large ubiquitous gangs of Gipsies as are to be found at present in the West. On the whole, so far as his present information and experience of Indian tribes went, Mr. Macauliffe considered the Nats had a good claim to be considered the ancestors of the European Gipsies. The enquiry was interesting, and, as Mr. Leland said, some one acquainted with India, who possesses sufficient leisure, may be able to lead it to a certain and satisfactory result.
Captain R. C. Temple, joining in the discussion, remarked that it was very dangerous to attempt to prove the origin of a tribe simply on philological evidence, or on the strength of any name it might bear and give itself. He also deprecated the loose way in which European students mixed up the various races and castes in India, as in the case of the Jats, or Jatts, a term
