Dissertation on the Gipseys: Representing their manner of life, family economy, occupations & trades, marriages & education, sickness, death, & burial, religion, language, sciences & arts, &c. &c. &c.; with an historical enquiry concerning their origin & first appearance in EuropeGrellmann, Heinrich Moritz Gottlieb
History
Dissertation on the Gipseys: Representing their manner of life, family economy, occupations & trades, marriages & education, sickness, death, & burial, religion, language, sciences & arts, &c. &c. &c.; with an historical enquiry concerning their origin & first appearance in Europe
Grellmann, Heinrich Moritz Gottlieb
Romanies
The whole great nation of Indians is known to be divided into four ranks
or stocks, which are called by a Portuguese name, castes, each of which
has its own particular subdivisions. Of these castes, the _Bramin_ is
the first: the second contains the _Tschechteries_ or _Setreas_: the
third consists of the _Beis_ or _Wasziers_: the fourth is the caste of
the just-mentioned _Suders_; who upon the Peninsula of Malabar, where
their condition is the same as in Hindostan, are called _Parias_ or
_Parier_.
The relative situation of these four castes, and the grounds of their
difference, rest on the Indian fable of the Creation. This relates, that
the God who created Bruma, ordained that the Bramin should proceed out of
Bruma’s mouth; the Tschechterie out of his arms; the Beis out of his
legs; and the Suder from his feet. As Bruma afterwards allotted the
employments of each of these stocks, he appointed the first to seek after
knowledge, to give instruction, and to take care of religion; the second
was to serve in war; the third was, as well as the Bramin, to cultivate
science, but to attend particularly to the breeding of cattle and
agriculture: the caste of Suders was destined to be subservient to the
Bramins, the Tschechteries, and the Beis. These Suders are held in the
greatest contempt: they are considered infamous and unclean, from their
occupations; and they are abhorred because they eat flesh, the three
other castes living entirely on vegetables.
Of this very caste, as will appear by the following comparison, our
Gipseys are composed.
We have seen that the Gipseys are in the highest degree filthy, and
disgusting; and with regard to character, of the most depraved hearts:
that they are thievish, liars, and fraudulent to excess:—and these are
exactly the qualities of the Suders. Baldæus says, “The Pareas are a
filthy race, in a word, a contemptible stinking people; a wicked crew,
who in winter steal much cattle, kill them, and sell the hides.” It is
again related in the Danish Mission Intelligence, “Nobody can deny that
the Bareier are the dregs and refuse of all the Indians: they have wicked
dispositions, are thievish, arrant liars, are intractable with good
usage, require to be kept in order by fear and blows, and held under
continual restraint.” Moreover, Neuhof assures us, “The Parruas are full
of every kind of dishonesty; they do not consider lying and cheating to
be sinful, as they have no other maxim or custom among them.” The
Gipsey’s solicitude to conceal his language, is likewise a striking
Indian trait. “Custom,” says Pallas, of the Indians round Astrakan, “has
rendered them to the greatest degree suspicious about their language,
insomuch that I never was able to obtain a small vocabulary from them.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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