{"id":9618,"date":"2021-09-24T16:39:55","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T16:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/?p=9618"},"modified":"2021-09-24T16:39:55","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T16:39:55","slug":"rajasthans-kalbeliya-gypsies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/rajasthans-kalbeliya-gypsies\/","title":{"rendered":"Rajasthan’s Kalbeliya Gypsies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo Courtesy: Nicole Herbert Dean<\/p><\/div>\n

Rajasthan’s Thar desert is known for its scorching \u091c\u0932\u093e\u0928\u0947\u0935\u093e\u0932\u093e sand and rugged \u092c\u0940\u0939\u0921\u093c terrain filled with snakes and other venomous creatures. This is where the Kalbeliya Gypsies \u0915\u0902\u091c\u0930 \u091c\u093e\u0924\u093f choose to live.<\/p>\n

Kalbeliya is from the word ‘kal’\u00a0 meaning death \u092e\u094c\u0924. The word Kalbeliya connotes victory \u0935\u093f\u091c\u092f over poisonous snakes and death.<\/p>\n

Snake charmers, Shepherds and Healers<\/h3>\n

The Kalbeliya are a tribe of nomadic \u0918\u0941\u092e\u0902\u0924\u0942 gypsies inhabiting the outskirts of Rajasthan’s cities, Pushkar, Ajmer, and Udaipur. They are snake charmers \u0938\u092a\u0947\u0930\u0947, snake catchers, and venom traders.\u00a0 Some, work as healers \u091a\u093f\u0915\u093f\u0924\u094d\u0938\u0915\u094b\u0902, drawing from Tantric philosophy.<\/p>\n

History and Mythology<\/h3>\n

A search for their history \u0907\u0924\u093f\u0939\u093e\u0938, reveals they follow Guru Kanipa, the 12th\u00a0 disciple \u0936\u093f\u0937\u094d\u092f of Guru Goraknath, the founder of the Nath traditions. According to legend \u0926\u0902\u0924\u0915\u0925\u093e, the Hindi god Shiva offered a bowl containing all the poison\u091c\u093c\u0939\u0930 in the universe to Kanipa. He drank it all at once and survived \u092c\u091a \u0917\u0908 . Upon seeing this, Shiva, promised Kanipa he would be taken care of by the universe.<\/p>\n

Dress<\/h3>\n

The Kalbeliya wear colorful skirts \u0930\u0902\u0917\u0940\u0928 \u0938\u094d\u0915\u0930\u094d\u091f and tunics heavily embroidered \u092d\u093e\u0930\u0940 \u0915\u0936\u0940\u0926\u093e\u0915\u093e\u0930\u0940 with mirror work along with heavy silver jewelry \u0906\u092d\u0942\u0937\u0923 . The men usually wear long shirts over the dhoti, which are loose-fitting ballooning pants. Others wear pants adopting westernization.<\/p>\n

Homes<\/h3>\n

Since they travel \u092f\u093e\u0924\u094d\u0930\u093e and are on the move constantly, the Kalbeliya live in tents \u0924\u092e\u094d\u092c\u0942 that protect them from the harsh \u0915\u0920\u094b\u0930 elements. The tents are rustic \u0926\u0947\u0939\u093e\u0924\u0940 and made of tarps and other fabric fastened with sticks from nearby desert \u0930\u0947\u0917\u093f\u0938\u094d\u0924\u093e\u0928 trees. These tents are set up in camps \u0936\u093f\u0935\u093f\u0930 called ‘deras’. Some live in regular concrete \u092c\u091c\u0930\u0940 or mud houses if they choose to be sedentary.<\/p>\n

Work for Food<\/h3>\n

Since they live off the land, the Kalbeliya chop \u0915\u093e\u091f\u0928\u093e and gather wood. They cover the piles of wood \u0932\u0915\u0921\u093c\u0940 \u0915\u0947 \u0922\u0947\u0930 with sand and cloth and burn and turn them into coal \u0915\u094b\u092f\u0932\u093e which they sell in markets.<\/p>\n

Former Kalbeliyas would hunt \u0936\u093f\u0915\u093e\u0930 deer and blue antelope but due to the government ban \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0924\u093f\u092c\u0902\u0927 since 1972 they are mostly vegetarian. They do gather and grow \u0907\u0915\u091f\u094d\u0920\u093e \u0915\u0930\u094b \u0914\u0930 \u092c\u0922\u093c\u094b as much as they can, given the desert conditions. They seem to be fearless \u0928\u093f\u0921\u0930 in their pursuits – smoking bees out of hives with eucalyptus cigarettes \u092c\u0940\u0921\u093c\u0940 in order to capture honey.<\/p>\n

Their work as snake charmers and catchers provides them with the skills they need. They are able to cure poisonous snake bites and other diseases, with herbs and plant \u091c\u0921\u093c\u0940 \u092c\u0942\u091f\u0940 \u0914\u0930 \u092a\u094c\u0927\u0947 remedies due to their knowledge of the flora and fauna that surrounds them. They trade venom which is used as an ayurvedic remedy \u0928\u093f\u0926\u093e\u0928 to cure sight issues.<\/p>\n

Increasingly over the years realizing the lucrative \u0932\u093e\u092d\u092a\u094d\u0930\u0926 nature of tourism, they are into performance art \u092a\u094d\u0930\u0926\u0930\u094d\u0936\u0928 \u0915\u0932\u093e and work as entertainers, playing instruments, and dancing at local tourist spots.<\/p>\n

Usual and Unusual Practice<\/h3>\n

What sets the Kalbeliya apart from other Hindu communities \u0938\u092e\u0941\u0926\u093e\u092f is that they bury their dead instead of cremating. Their funerals are celebrated with music and dancing.<\/p>\n

Also, they honor the dowry system, but with a twist -the bridegroom has to produce dowry and his father pays for the wedding.<\/p>\n

The Kalbeliyas also wish for daughters, unlike many communities. They realize that dancing is a lucrative \u0932\u093e\u092d\u092a\u094d\u0930\u0926 activity.<\/p>\n

Music and Dance<\/h3>\n

Currently, many Kalbeliya choose the performing arts<\/a> and perform at tourist spots, hotels and parties. They play instruments such as the ‘been’, ‘dulfi,’ and ‘dholak’, accompanying their colorfully clad dancers. Their dances imitate \u0928\u0915\u0932 \u0915\u0930\u0928\u093e nature and spontaneously tell stories through songs. . In 2010 the UNESCO recognized \u0938\u094d\u0935\u0940\u0915\u0943\u0924 the Kalbeliya songs are part of their Intangible Cultural Heritage List<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Rajasthan’s Thar desert is known for its scorching \u091c\u0932\u093e\u0928\u0947\u0935\u093e\u0932\u093e sand and rugged \u092c\u0940\u0939\u0921\u093c terrain filled with snakes and other venomous creatures. This is where the Kalbeliya Gypsies \u0915\u0902\u091c\u0930 \u091c\u093e\u0924\u093f choose to live. Kalbeliya is from the word ‘kal’\u00a0 meaning death \u092e\u094c\u0924. The word Kalbeliya connotes victory \u0935\u093f\u091c\u092f over poisonous snakes and death. Snake charmers, Shepherds…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":9620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,178,547385],"tags":[556377,556376,556375,309337,514517,556378],"class_list":["post-9618","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-history","category-travel-geography","tag-cobra-gypsies","tag-gypsy","tag-kalbeliya","tag-rajasthan","tag-rajasthani-folk-music","tag-snake-charmers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9618"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9623,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9618\/revisions\/9623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/hindi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}