Sansi people

Portrait of three unknown people of the Sansi tribe of Lahore with a water pipe, ca.1862–72

Sansi is a nomadic tribe, originally located in the Rajasthan area of northwestern India, but expelled in the 13th century by Muslim invaders and now spread to states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab as well as scattered throughout India. They are often confused with other ethnic groups called Sansi, as Sansi is a widespread name in South Asia. ^{[1] [ full citation needed ] [2] [ full citation needed ] [3] [4]}

Sansi people in pre independence India.

History and Origin

The Sansis were considered the most prominent criminal tribe in Punjab, with an estimated population of 25,800 in 1912. The British believed other tribes, such as the Baurias and Harnis, were offshoots of the Sansis, who claimed to have originated from Rajput ancestry. Despite acknowledging their ancestry, the British constantly emphasised the Sansis' "degraded" status through stereotypical descriptions. . Their religion, primarily a form of Hinduism, was considered primitive, mixed, and debased. After the criminal tribes act was imposed, the Sansi were labelled down to a very pitiful position.

Language

Their language is Sansiboli, or Bhilki too that is a highly endangered Indo-Aryan language of the Central group, total speakers in India 60,000 (2002) and Pakistan 20,000. ^{[5] [6] [7]} Their traditional occupations vary, from trading to farming.^{[ citation needed ]}

History

During British rule in India they were placed under the Criminal Tribes Act 1871, hence stigmatized for a long time, ^[4] after independence, however, they were denotified in 1952. ^[8] As the Sansiya, they were recorded in Uttar Pradesh in the 2011 Census of India. There they were a Scheduled Caste, with a population of 5689. ^[9]

Demographics

Sansi in Punjab by Districts (2011) ^[10]

Districts	2011 India census
	Sansi Caste Population	%
Amritsar	19,237	0.77%
Barnala	2,159	0.36%
Bathinda	2,232	0.16%
Faridkot	1,647	0.27%
Fatehgarh Sahib	2,015	0.34%
Firozpur	10,376	0.51%
Gurdaspur	18,248	0.79%
Hoshiarpur	2,731	0.17%
Jalandhar	9,904	0.45%
Kapurthala	2,056	0.25%
Ludhiana	11,180	0.32%
Mansa	1,131	0.15%
Moga	1,382	0.14%
Sri Muktsar Sahib	2,982	0.33%
Patiala	5,743	0.3%
Rupnagar	391	0.06%
Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar	1600	0.16%
Sangrur	7,701	0.64%
Nawanshahr	1,952	0.32%
Tarn Taran	17,534	1.57%

Further reading

• Brown, Mark (2003). "Ethnology and Colonial Administration in Nineteenth-Century British India: The Question of Native Crime and Criminality". The British Journal for the History of Science. 36 (2): 201–219. doi: 10.1017/s0007087403005004 . JSTOR   4028233.

References

1. Tribes of India By T. Baldizzone, Local Colour Ltd
2. Journal of Social Research By Council of Social and Cultural Research (Bihar, India), Ranchi University Dept. of Anthropology
3. Nalwa, V. (2022). Ranjit Singh—monarch mystique. Hari Singh Nalwa Foundation Trust. p. 10. ISBN   978-81-910526-1-9.
4. Punjab - Police and Jails The Imperial Gazetteer of India , 1908, v. 20, p. 363.
5. Parekh, Rauf (2 January 2018). "Some endangered Pakistani languages". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
6. Ethnologue.com: Ethnologue report for Sansi
7. Language in India: Endangered Language: A Case Study of Sansiboli
8. Bania Arrested for Spying by Dilip D'Souza. Rediff.com , 18 January 2003
9. "A-10 Individual Scheduled Caste Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix - Uttar Pradesh". Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
10. "A-10 Appendix: District wise scheduled caste population (Appendix)" . Retrieved 8 May 2024.