Siddi (people)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Siddi dancers in Gujarat (2009)

The Siddi (other spellings: Sidi , Siddhi , Siddih , Sheedi ; Hindi : सिदी, feminine form Sidiyani ) are an ethnic group of black African descent in India and Pakistan . They live mainly in the Indian state of Gujarat , also in Maharashtra and Karnataka and in Pakistan in the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh . Their population is estimated at 20,000 to 30,000 for India.

Origin and culture

The origins of the word Siddi are unclear. Some researchers, such as Siddi, are of the opinion that it is derived from the respectful West Arabic address Sidi . Another assumption is that Siddi who converted to Islam were called Sayyadi (descendants of Muhammad ), from which this name comes. The alternative designation Habshi or Habashi is derived from the Arabic word for "Ethiopians", cf. Habesha . In Pakistan, the term Makrani is also used , which is related to the Makran coast . More recently, the term Afro-Indian has emerged.

Most Siddi are descended from slaves brought to the Indian subcontinent by Arab traders since the Middle Ages. Some of their ancestors may also have come as free soldiers, seafarers or traders. Their influx is said to have been greatest in the 17th century, when Arabs and Portuguese sold numerous slaves to India. Raja Rameshwar Rao I of Wanaparthy set up a bodyguard and a cavalry unit of Siddi slaves imported from Somalia and Abyssinia in the first half of the 19th century . These regiments were later taken over as the Nizam's life guards.

Siddi were first described by Richard Francis Burton in 1850 . He distinguished them from the Ethiopian Habashi . He gave a number of African tribal names as their origin, almost all of which, like the port of Lamu in today's Tanzania , but none of which can be located in Ethiopia. The Siddi were considered good and loyal fighters and were therefore sought after as mercenaries, but were also used as house servants and farm laborers. Siddi who had fled formed independent communities in forest areas. Small Siddi kingdoms emerged in Janjira and Jafarabad .

The Siddis also included a slave to Sultan Ahmed Shah of Gujarat, Sidi Sayed, who had a mosque named after him built in Ahmedabad in the 16th century , which is famous today for its ornate jalis (stone window grilles).

The Siddis are now largely adapted to the local culture. Most are Muslims, there are also Hindus and Christians among them. They speak the respective local languages. Clear signs of their African origins are preserved in dance and music, their own musical style is called Goma . At ritual dance events, the Siddis carry the almost man- high musical bow malunga with them. They appear in skirts and with headdresses adorned with feathers and next to the musical bow they play the small drum dhamal , the big drum madido , the African ngoma- like drum mugarman , the coconut rattle Mai Mishra (the name of a female patron saint) and the natural trumpet nafir ( Arabic term for an instrument that functionally corresponds to the African kakaki ). The Siddis in Karnataka play the kettle drum ghumat , which is otherwise used by the Catholics in Goa .

In the caste system , their status is very low and their living conditions are poor. In India they are therefore listed under the Scheduled tribes .

See also

literature

  • Helene Basu: Habshi slaves, Sidi fakirs. Muslim worship of saints in western India. The Arabic Book, Berlin 1995
  • Helene Basu: Music and the Formation of Sidi Identity in Western India. In: History Workshop Journal, No. 65, Spring 2008, pp. 161–178
  • Shihan de S. Jayasuriya, Richard Pankhurst (Ed.): The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean . Africa World Press, Trenton (NJ) 2003, ISBN 978-0-86543-980-1
  • Ababu Minda: An African Indian Community in Hyderabad : Siddi Identity, its Maintenance and Change. Cuvillier, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 978-3865372062

Web links

Commons : Siddi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Zaffar Abbas: Pakistan's Sidi keep heritage alive. BBC News, March 13, 2002
  2. ↑ a b c d P. K. Mohanty: Siddis . In: Encyclopaedia Scheduled Tribes In India , 2006, pp. 81f, ISBN 81-8205-052-9
  3. ^ John B. Edlefsen, Khalida Shah, Mohsin Farooq: Makranis, the Negroes of West Pakistan. In: Phylon , Vol. 21/2, Clark Atlanta University 1960, pp. 124-130
  4. ↑ Shanti Sadiq Ali: The African Dispersal in the Deccan: From Medieval to Modern Times. Orient Blackswan, 1996, pp. 196-198, digitized
  5. ↑ CE Bosworth et al. a. (Ed.): The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition . Vol. IX, Brill, Leiden 1997, p. 535
  6. ^ The Sidi Malunga Project. Rejuvenating the African Musical Bow in India. apsara-media.com
  7. ↑ Carole Boyce Davies (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora. Origins, Experiences, and Culture. ABC Clio, Santa Barbara (CA) 2008, p. 560, ISBN 978-1851097005
  8. ^ Andrew Whitehead: The lost Africans of India. BBC News, October 27, 2000