The Romani Hindu Faith/Dharma, Culture & History

  How the Ambedkarites don't understand religion/faith: The Ambedkarites are among the groups actively encouraging various segments of society to renounce  Sanātana Dharma   ( A Sanskrit term meaning "eternal law" or "eternal order." In modern contexts, it is often used as a term for  Hinduism , emphasizing its ancient and traditional roots and principles. ) . They engage in direct cooperation with Islamic Da'wah ( An Arabic term meaning "invitation" or "call," referring to the Islamic duty of inviting others to the faith, i.e.  proselytisation = Islamic missionary work) and Christian missionary organisations. This is despite the fact that Dr. B.R. Ambedkar himself was sharply critical of Islam, as he wrote: "The (Muslim) mission to break the idols thus became the mission to destroy Buddhism." and "Islam destroyed Buddhism, not only in India, but wherever it went." My primary concern is that the Ambedkarites are effec...

A certain faction within the Ambedkarite movement perpetuates a misunderstanding regarding the Romani people. They incorrectly assert that all Roma are Dalits.  This view stems from a fundamental lack of comprehension of our distinct history, social structures, and lived realities. We, the Roma, explicitly reject being labelled as the "Dalits of Europe", because s uch claims are not only historically inaccurate but also socially misleading. Within the Romani societies, there exists a group analogous to the Dalits, whom we term  Degeša  (plural of the singular form  Degeš ) used among the Servika Roma tribe of Slovakia (and the Czech Republic post-WW2). These are individuals and families associated with tasks considered ritually impure according to the Romipen's traditional Romani norms, such as working with leather, handling corpses, residing near or on the cemeteries, dealing with waste or excrement, or street sweeping, as well those who engage in taboo behaviours s...

Introduction The Roma people have a complex social hierarchy that traces its roots to the Indian subcontinent. This system is characterized by a nuanced division of tribes, clans, and castes, which mirrors the Indian Varna, Jāti and Gotra systems. These castes are divided into ritually clean ones and ritually unclean ones. Note: We don't have a word "caste", same as Indians don't have this word. Some Romani tribes alone are of one caste, some tribes have various castes and in some tribes are only clans. Concepts of Varna, Jati, and Gotra (I will explain the categories more in this article) Varna : The fourfold classification in the ancient Indian texts (Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra) that is idealized and represents broad occupational categories. However, Varna often does not align neatly with the realities of regional and caste-specific social systems. Jati : Refers to caste or sub-caste. Jatis are endogamous groups that typically have specific occupations,...