Banjara

Banjara
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The Banjara are a class of usually described as nomadic people from the Indian state of Rajasthan, North-West Gujarat, and Western Madhya Pradesh and Eastern Sindh province 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,dhadi, Gormati, Kora, Sugali, Sukali, Tanda, Vanjari, Vanzara, and Wanji. Together with the Domba, they are sometimes called the "gypsies of India".

They are divided in two tribes, Maturia, and Labana.

Origins[edit]

According to J.J Roy Burman, in his book titled, “Ethnography of a Denotified Tribe The Laman Banjara”, The name Laman is popular long before the name Banjara and the Laman Banjaras originally came from Afghanistan before settling in Rajasthan and other parts of India. He states that according to Motiraj Rethod, the Lamans were originally from Afghanistan and there is an independent province and village called Gor in that country.
Distribution[edit]

The most numerous Banjara or Lambadi community is in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh at 2.2 million where they speak their own dialect along with Telugu at home. In Uttar Pradesh, they are concentrated in Saharanpur, Bijnor, Pilibhit, Bareilly, Aligarh, Muzaffarnagar, Etawah, Moradabad, Tanda [Rampur], Mathura, Etah, Nainital and Agra districts. [1] In Madhya Pradesh, they are found in the districts of Jabalpur, Chhindwara and Mandla. While in Gujarat, they are found in the districts of Panchmahal, Kheda, Ahmedabad, and Sabarkantha. Many members of this community migrated to Pakistan in 1947 and have settled in Karachi and Hyderabad in