Peripatetics

ETHNONYMS: Gypsies, nonpastoral nomads

Orientation

Identification. The term "peripatetic" refers to spatially mobile groups who are largely nonprimary producers or extractors and whose principal economic resource is other people. They differ from pastoral nomads who mainly depend on biophysiotic resources. Peripatetics are referred to as nonpastoral nomads, other nomads, service nomads, commercial nomads, non-food-producing nomads, symbiotic nomads, wanderers, and travelers. Peripatetic groups have several common characteristics, the most important being flexible skills and knowledge of the residual resources and sensitivity to the social, cultural, linguistic, economic, and political environments of the larger social system from which they derive their subsistence. All complex societies have gaps in their service-delivery system, leaving some needs either unmet or only partially met. The peripatetic strategy is to identify such needs and adapt to them. Specific groups are identified with particular occupations. The number of peripatetic groups in India is quite large. A brief survey of two south Indian states in 1967 reported 88 different peripatetic groups as compared to 14 groups discovered over a six-month period in certain parts of Pakistan. Other studies have reported 172 groups in northern Karnataka, 40 groups in one north Indian village, and 23 in a south Indian village.

The existence of such a large number of peripatetic groups and the variety of roles they play can only be understood in the context of Indian society. In traditional India, goods and services were obtained via the jajmani relationship, weekly markets, periodical fairs, pilgrimages, and peripatetics. Thus, peripatetics were one part of the wider economic network.

Location. In India, peripatetics are found in almost all parts of the country.

Demography. According to a rough estimate made by the Nomadic Association of India, the number of peripatetics in India was 6 million in 1967, though the category of "nomad" was not specifically defined. This estimate as well as others may be wildly inaccurate, as no systematic count of peripatetics has ever been attempted. However, it can be safely assumed that the peripatetics constitute a large group in India.

Linguistic Affiliation. The native language of peripatetics is usually the language spoken in their "home village" or "camp," though most speak a number of languages and dialects. For instance, a peripatetic group with Andhra Pradesh as its "home village" will speak a dialect of Telugu as its native tongue but may also be conversant in Kannada, Marathi, and Hindi. The Gadulia Lohar, a peripatetic group of blacksmiths, in addition to speaking different dialects of Rajasthani and Hindi, speak a secret language of their own. This is typical of many peripatetics.

History and Cultural Relations

Peripatetic groups have been part of Indian civilization for hundreds of years. Evidence of peripatetic artisans and entertainers have been found for the early Vedic period. By the late Vedic period (circa 1000-700 b.c.) the Rig Veda refers to a number of specialized traders, artisans, entertainers, professional acrobats, fortune-tellers, flute players, dancers, jugglers, snake charmers, etc. Tamil literature from the first through sixth century a.d. has references to wandering musicians, dancers, fortune-tellers, and beggars. It also suggests that some of the peripatetics performed difficult tasks such as undertaking goodwill missions from one king to another or helping reconcile rival kings or brothers. In censuses, district gazetteers, and other dispatches written during the British period, the nomadic populations were often referred to as pastoralists, gypsies, or criminals. This situation has now changed somewhat, although the knowledge that the settled people of India have about peripatetics is still minimal. There are several reasons for this, including the settled people's typical suspicion of all those who are mobile, the nomads' effort to maintain an ambiguous posture with reference to the larger social system, and their attempt to cultivate a mystique about themselves.

The peripatetic groups are ethnically diverse and maintain their identities within the milieu of Indian society. Each peripatetic group has considerable autonomy to regulate its own affairs. Peripatetics adopt the style, dialect, and medium in performance of their services and supply of goods that best appeal to the imagination of the people of the region they serve. For themselves, peripatetics make conscious efforts to adopt appropriate regional customs and beliefs. They also claim a vague and ambiguous position in the varna/jati framework of the Hindu caste society. Within their own caste clusters they maintain a diffused hierarchy based on the concept of purity and pollution, and they also maintain some degree of exclusive rights to their occupations. For example, while one group of genealogists and bards serves only some middle-level castes, other groups serve only the lowest castes. Thereby, they reaffirm the hierarchical structure of the caste system but also enable even the lowest caste to have a place in the system. Myth, language, ritual, kinship, and specific occupations are used to legitimize a group's position in the caste hierarchy and to ensure its peripatetic niche. Caste endogamy and their caste panchayats (councils) play a pivotal role. People may wander far and wide yet they remain connected with their specific caste norms. In literature, peripatetics have been described as traveling specialists who provide cultural variety that is otherwise lacking in Indian villages, as popular religious instructors, as communicants of culture, and as those who carry the culture of the Great Tradition of Indian civilization to the local people.

Settlements

Some peripatetics travel during only part of the year and then return to their "home village," while others travel throughout the year. Between these two extremes a number of variations are possible. In "home villages" some live in houses typical of the region, while others continue to take shelter in their bullock carts, under cloth or reed tents, or out in the open under the sky as they do while on the move. Some take shelter on temple premises as well. Generally, peripatetics intensify their movements during the harvest season because they want to obtain grain as payment for their goods and services. They also believe that farmers are more generous at this time of year. During the rainy season, the lean season for peripatetics, they tend to remain in their "home villages." The time is used for settling disputes, negotiating marriage alliances, and planning for the next work season.

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. Peripatetics employ a variety of economic strategies. They generally have one or more occupations for which they are well known and may use a few additional skills to supplement their income. For example, hunting, trapping, and fishing peripatetic groups may also indulge in petty trade, craft making, and begging. The artisan category includes groups such as: makers of baskets, broomsticks, palm mats, iron tools, and needles; stone-workers; and repairers of household utensils and farm tools. The mendicant category includes a variety of groups, such as those who sing devotional songs, chant incantations, beg in the name of a specific deity, wear special makeup and stand at public places in the posture of penance or as sadhus, or display a deity. Several of these groups beg only from the members of specific castes. According to Hindu belief a sadhu does not have to work for his livelihood. He can live by biksha (religious begging). Seeing a mendicant at one's doorstep in the morning is considered auspicious. Giving alms is a charitable act but receiving alms is equally meritorious. Acrobats, magicians, musicians, snake charmers, displayers of tricks by animals like monkeys, bears, etc., puppeteers, storytellers, mimes, and those who wear different makeup all also have several other subsidiary occupations. Some of them may trade in animals, fix shoes on bullock and horse hoofs, or polish cattle horns. Some women may indulge in prostitution, serving members of specific castes. There are several other groups who have developed a variety of skills including tattooers, genealogists, fortune-tellers, buffalo-hair shavers, etc. Peddlers and traders also form a large group. However, if their exploitation of a particular resource niche becomes less profitable due to new technology or competition, they switch to a new activity or settle down. In short, for peripatetics, the human resource base is ubiquitous and exploitable with an infinite variety of strategies. Joseph C. Berland has called it "the most predictable and reliable of all the niches in the world today" (1983).

Peripatetics are able to avoid competition from the sedentary population or completely eliminate it through their choice of work, low overhead, variety of strategies, flexible work groups, family-based enterprises, potential for change of location, and ability to live on little income. The sedentary provider is further restricted by the caste-based restrictions. Although the peripatetic niche apparently is inexhaustible and reliable, peripatetics are generally poor. They are continuously under pressure as their occupations are taken over by modern industry and the number of places where they can camp diminishes. If fewer people were being forced out of villages, the number of peripatetics would be much less than it is.

Trade. Some peripatetic groups trade in cattle. Such groups intensify their activities at the beginning of the agricultural season, when the demand for cattle is high. They trade at weekly markets and fairs, where they can also socialize with relatives and friends. Some peripatetic groups have been able to find new avenues of trade. For instance, a group of Gadulia Lohar have started trading in scrap iron. Some other peripatetic groups have started producing decorative items such as chandeliers, papier-mâché, etc., and now peddle them in cities.

Division of Labor. Peripatetic enterprises are family-based. If females do not participate in the main occupation of the group they do some additional work to enhance the income of the household. However, domestic tasks such as cooking, fetching water, looking after infants, etc. are female jobs.

Land Tenure. Only a few peripatetic groups own land. Such people move out of their villages only when the land is fallow or they have been able to lease it. The government has made an attempt to settle some peripatetic groups by giving them houses and land.

Kinship, Marriage, and Family

Kinship. The most important kinship group after the household is the extended family, which may travel and camp together for a part of the year or for the entire year. Descent is traced patrilineally through a common ancestor. Members of the lineage have certain responsibilities and obligations that are expressed during life-cycle rituals and particularly in crisis situations. Some of the groups have bands, with membership determined by patrilineal, matrilineal, and affinal kin ties and by friendship.

Marriage. There are a wide variety of rules regarding marriage. While most of the groups based in central and southern India would allow or prefer cross-cousin and even uncle-niece marriage, groups in the north, west, and east prohibit such marriages. The age at marriage is generally low. Postmarital residence is always with the parents of the husband at first, but later the couple may establish their own home within the husband's father's band. Marriages are generally arranged by elders. In some groups, parents of a boy may have to pay to obtain a bride for their son.

Domestic Unit. The household is the smallest and most important domestic unit among the peripatetics. It is composed of husband, wife, and their unmarried children, and at times it may also include the husband's elderly parent(s). The composition of the household varies during different phases of its developmental cycle. Each household is economically independent and is responsible for meeting kinship obligations.

Inheritance. Inheritance is through the male line. In some of the groups it is the youngest son who inherits the household property. He also has responsibility for caring for the elderly parents.

Socialization. Children learn as they grow up and are given tasks according to their age and sex. In some groups, such as acrobats and animal displayers, children receive formal training starting in early childhood.

Sociopolitical Organization

Peripatetics are keenly aware of the need to maintain social and economic flexibility among themselves to maximize their economic returns. Each household is an independent unit and it must fend for itself. Its success depends upon the wisdom of its decisions regarding whether to break camp and move, which route to take, where to pitch a new camp, and how long to camp and with whom. While these are the crucial questions for each household's survival, the households must also maintain the ties among themselves for the survival of the group. Different peripatetic groups use different strategies to manage these critical tasks.

Social Organization. The factors that influence group cohesiveness are regional affiliation, agnatic ties in a ramifying descent system, matrilateral and affinal relations, ritual friendship, and resource potentials. Camps and bands are constituted on the basis of these factors.

Political Organization. Generally, peripatetics have been isolated from state and regional politics. Most of them do not know about or are unconcerned about political changes taking place in the country. They do not participate in any political activity and the majority of them probably do not vote. The only contact they have with governmental authority is with the subordinate police officers and sometimes with development officers.

Social Control. Social control is generally maintained by the council of elders. The council organization and its functions vary from group to group. The procedures it may adopt to resolve disputes are based on the traditions in each group. The objective is not merely to resolve a dispute per se but to arrive at a consensus in which the past behavior of the individuals and their families is also kept in view. In addition, the threat of excommunication and endogamy ensure conformity to the traditions of the group to a considerable degree. When disputing parties fail to reach a consensus, a camp band may dissolve, and different units involved in the case may travel on their own or seek to join other camps or bands.

Conflict. Conflicts and misunderstandings among peripatetics arise for a variety of reasons. Most common are those concerning marriage, sexual relations, travel routes, duration of a camp, and distribution of resources. Peripatetics generally avoid disputes with the settled populations on which they are dependent.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs and Practitioners. The majority of the peripatetics are Hindus. There are also some Sikh and Muslim peripatetics. Their religious beliefs and practices reflect the influence of the traditions of the "home village."

Arts. Peripatetics' art is expressed through their subsistence activities. Numerous variety of bhiksaks (beggars) compose their songs and also employ different types of instruments and makeup. For example, one mendicant observed in a Mysore village wore more than 100 items on his body, and it took him a couple of hours to dress and paint himself with religious marks. Peripatetics try to be exclusive and try to remain in demand. For example, Budbudki, peripatetic fortune-tellers of Karnataka, use drums so tiny they can be held between their forefingers and thumbs; they play them while they visit houses in a locality in the morning to forecast the day's events for each household. The name of this group is taken from the sound of the drum. Leather puppeteers, acrobats, and displayers of animals continually express their creative urges through their professions.

Medicine. The majority of the peripatetics has not taken to scientific medicine. They use their own knowledge or that of the settled people to treat disease. Women give birth in their camps or at their "home villages." There are some groups that specialize in herbal medicines.

Death and Afterlife. Peripatetics accept death as part of life. They dispose of the dead body as quickly as they can, usually in the camp where the death has taken place. When they get together in the off-season, they may organize ceremonies for the dead.

See also Kanjar; Qalandar; Sadhu

Bibliography

Berland, Joseph C. (1983). "Peripatetic Strategies in South Asia: Skill as Capital among Nomadic Artisans and Entertainers." Nomadic Peoples 13.

Berland, Joseph C, and Matt. T. Salo, eds. (1986). "Peripatetic Peoples: An Introduction." Nomadic Peoples (Toronto) 21-22 (special issue).

Misra, P. K. (1970). "Study of Nomads." In Research Programmes on Cultural Anthropology and Allied Disciplines, edited by Surajit Sinha. Anthropological Survey of India. Calcutta.

Misra, P. K., and Rajalakshmi Misra (1982). "Nomadism in the Land of Tamils between 1 a.d. and 600 a.d." In Nomads in India, edited by P. K. Misra and K. C. Malhotra. Anthropological Survey of India. Calcutta.

Rao, Aparna (1987). "The Concept of Peripatetics: An Introduction." In The Other Nomads, edited by Aparna Rao. Cologne and Vienna: Boheau Verlag.

P. K. MISRA