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Sidis
A historical perspective
The Sidis comprise of small and scattered communities of people of African descent, along the western coast of India, in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, as well as in Sindh (Pakistan), Sri Lanka and the Maldives Islands. Their ancestors may have arrived in India as slaves, mercenaries or may have been sailors who opted to remain and settle in India voluntarily. These descendants of Africans provide interesting and valuable materials for scholarly investigation and study on the largely unexplored field of the African presence in India.1 The culture of the Sidis in Western India also sheds light on the interplay between the forces of continuity and change in the cultures of immigrants and displaced people.
In Gujarat, the descendants of African slaves or sailors are referred to in popular usage as Habshi or Sidis. The term Habshi is used in Arabic and Persian dictionary for those belonging to Abyssinia or Ethiopia, while Sidi comes from the word saidi and refers to the learned.2 In Pakistan, they are referred to as shiddi, while in Sri Lanka they are called kafirs. African slaves were referred to as habashi-kaffirs. It was a derogatory term, and over time was replaced by the term Sidi, a more dignified appellation, derived from the word shyed, saidi or shyd, which became a title. Over time, this too underwent change, and in Saurashtra, the term used was Sidi badshah which denotes their past association with the royal kingdoms and their rulers. The adoption of the term badshah by the Sidis may also represent an effort on their part to counter the negative connotations of the word Habshi used often to refer to the descendants of Africans. The Arab writings refer to the descendants of Africans as Zanjis meaning from Zanzibar, while the Chinese transcribed the word as Xinji or Jinzhi. During the medieval period of Indian history some of them occupied high positions at courts and wielded considerable power. They also accumulated wealth, thereby, gaining prestige and influence in society.
It should be stressed that not all of the descendants of Africans can be traced back to slave origins. They came to India over many centuries and in different historical contexts. While many of them may have come as slaves, others came as sailors, soldiers, mercenaries, merchants, eunuchs, concubines and pearl divers and some served in the courts of the princely rulers. In Gujarat, the Sidis settled in Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat in Diu, Jafrabad, Mangrol, Jamnagar, Veraval, Porbandar, Khambhat, Surat, Broach and in Janjira in Maharashtra. Sidi communities can be found in Jambur and Talala near Junagadh3 and Murud, the capital of Janjira (from the Arabic word jazirah meaning island).
Even as slaves, their dignity as human beings was often maintained by the princely states. This was particularly the case in Saurashtra and the Deccan. Some of the descendants of the so-called Habshis rose from slavery to positions of power and achieved considerable fame and wealth. Some commanded vast armies and amassed great wealth. The names of many of these are found in the annals of Indian history.
There is no clear consensus among scholars regarding the number of Sidis in India. These estimates vary from 250,000 according to Lodhi (1992:83) to as low as 5,000 (Patel 1986:238). Based on government statistics, Micklem estimated that in the year 2000, the Sidi population of Gujarat was 10,000 (Micklem 2001:25). Sidis comprise 0.01per cent of the 60 million inhabitants of Gujarat (Shodhan 2015:3). These estimates, however, vary. Camara (1997) for example estimates the Sidi population at 35,000. In addition to Western India, Sidis are also settled in Karnataka, mostly in the districts of Yellapur, Mundgod and Hubli. Obeng estimates that there are about 14,000 African Indians in Karnataka, the majority of whom are agriculture labourers and gatherers of areca nuts (Obeng 2003:99). Sidi populations are also found in Sindh (Pakistan), Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and in Sri Lanka, where they are mainly concentrated in the coastal regions of Batticaloa, Negombo and Trincomalee.
Physical appearances
The physical appearance or the physiognomy of the Sidis resembles that of diverse African ethnic groups residing on the continent of Africa. They tend generally to have dark skin colour ranging from brown to black with woolly hair, thick full lips, broad flat noses and robust build. They have a reputation for being courageous, energetic, hard-working, strong and loyal. The Sidis in India are said to belong to a mixed racial stock comprising Negroid, Australoid and Caucasoid stocks. It is obvious that their racial origins can only be fully understood by studying their physical characteristics and genetic make-up.
The Sidis like the Bantus of the African continent are less prone to contracting malaria, because of the genetic inheritance from Africa. A recent study carried out by The Centre for Cellular Biology in Hyderabad suggests a link between the Bantu populations in Central and East Africa and the Sidis of Gujarat and Karnataka (Times of India, Ahmedabad, 19 July 2011). Scientists who compared the Sidi population of South India with seven indigenous tribal groups of Southern India found that the Sidis are genetically closer to the Africans than to the populations of South India (Gauniyal et al. 2008:251). Another research study on the genetic make-up of the Sidi population and a genome-wide survey carried out by scientists, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics (2011:154–161) indicates that the Sidis share genetic traits with African, Indian and Portuguese populations. Recent genome-wide studies carried out to better understand their genetic inheritance suggest that Sidis have on average 67 per cent African ancestry (Shah et al. 2011:3). Future DNA studies could provide further substantiation and possibly yield important genetic information.
Language
The continent of Africa is characterised by an astonishing variety of languages estimated to be over 1,300, and since the Sidis came from different regions of the continent, the dialects spoken by them reflect this variety. These languages and dialects result from the assimilation and interactions of various ethnic groups and include the Semitic (Arabic and Ethiopian), Hamito-Semitic (Egyptian, Cushitic, Somali, Swahili) and the Bantu languages. However, Swahili which incorporates Bantu, Arabic, Persian and Indian words became the common language of the coastal populations of East Africa.4
The original language of the Sidis of Gujarat was derived from Swahili, Somali, and the Sudanese family of languages; however, their dialects reflect regional influences. Sidis residing in the coastal areas of Kutch and Northern Saurashtra mostly speak Kutchi languages whereas Sidis in Saurashtra speak Kathiawadi (Saurashtrian) dialects of Gujarat. The Sidis residing in the vicinity of Jambur are referred to as Shimali (possibly from the term Somalia) and speak Gujarati; those from other parts of Saurashtra are known as Tais and their dialect tends to incorporate Gujarati and Hindi words, while the descendants of Africans in Diu known as Swahilis use many words from the Swahili language of the East African Coast (Patel 1986:239). As noted earlier, the Sidis came to India from various parts of Africa and consequently, the languages they speak contain words from numerous African languages. Burton was the first to identify the language of the Sidis of Sindh (Burton 1851:253–257). According to him, most of the Africans in Sindh were unfamiliar with their native languages and the few words that they used were borrowed from their parents (Ibid. 4). Burton had prepared a list of languages in 1851 according to which the dialect spoken in the coastal areas of Sindh and Kutch contained a total of 122 words from Shambaa, Jigua, Gindo and Yarvo, all Bantu languages. Commenting on the different types of African slaves in Sindh, Burton makes a distinction between those who were born slaves and others who were brought from Muscat and the Arabian coast. According to Freeman-Grenville (1988:18), the Sidi language spoken in Sindh and Kutch in the mid-nineteenth century contained words from their tribal homelands, especially in Tanzania (Shambaa, Yao and Zigua) and linguistic borrowings from Mozambique (from Makua, Nyanja and Yao). He identified numerous words such as nyumba (house), mukoki (spear) and Khundoro (sheep). In Sindh, the word for shield is gao, which is derived from the Swahili word ngao, while the Afro-Sindhi term for the moon is moesi, which is similar to the Swahili word mwesi. Elders in Sindh used terms such as makoti (bread), magena (money) and others often without knowing their source. Other Swahili words found in the language spoken by the Sidis include sokoni (kitchen), pasi (iron), funiko (lid), fagiyo (broom), mashamba (farm), mzee (elder), hodi (greeting), karibu (welcome) and jambo sana (very well) (Mamdani, ‘Sidi: An Introduction’ in Sheth, A Certain Grace, The Sidi: Indians of African Descent, 2013). However, fieldwork by Lodhi among the Sidi populations in Gujarat yielded only a dozen Bantu/Swahili single word items, a dozen or so phrases and a small number of complete Swahili sentences (Lodhi 2006).
Thus, it is obvious from the above discussion that the languages and dialects spoken by the Sidis in South Asia represent great diversity and considerable borrowing from the local languages.
Notes
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Links between Africa and India in antiquity
It is now generally accepted that the continent of Africa is the birthplace and cradle land of all human beings – the mother of humankind. It is on this continent that hominids – the direct ancestors of present-day Homo sapiens first emerged. From this continent the Homo sapiens gradually dispersed to different parts of the world. In historic times, the early inhabitants of the land of India were fully aware of the existence of the African continent, which was referred to as Kala Khand or the Dark Continent. In Gujarat, Africa was known as Andheri Khand, the term andheri also suggestive of darkness or that which is not known. While the origins of coastal trade between East Africa and the west coast of India go back to antiquity, little was known about the interior of Africa until the sixteenth century. The lack of knowledge about the hinterland was due primarily to the presence of malaria, yellow fever and other diseases that served as deterrents to the penetration and exploration of the interior.
On the basis of the archaeological findings at various sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation (ca. 2500–1500 BCE), one can surmise that there existed an active and flourishing maritime trade between India and the African continent. The discovery of extensive dockyards at Lothal in Gujarat and other newly excavated sites such as Dholavira attest to this contact between the west coast of India, the east coast of Africa and the ancient Near East. Figure 2.1 provides a broad view of this geographic area surrounding the Indian Ocean. The evidence suggests that merchants from Gujarat must have undertaken sea voyages on the Indian Ocean in antiquity. The clay seals excavated at Ur in ancient Mesopotamia provide further evidence of the organisation of this trade.
By the second half of the third millennium BCE, ‘there is concrete evidence of a network of trade linking up the Tigris to the Indus and the Oxus and its extension west of the Euphrates as far as the Nile’ (Saxena 1965:201). This Indian Ocean trade involved movement of goods as well as people. Terracotta models of ships found in excavations at Indus sites lead archaeologists to believe that the residents of Lothal, in Western India, possessed the technical skills and knowledge to construct ships, which were seaworthy. Seals bearing motifs and script commonly found in the Indus Civilisation have been found at Kish, Ur, Ras-al-Qala and other Sumerian cities (Mehta 2009:8). Recent archaeological excavations carried out since 1982 at Rojdi in central Gujarat have revealed the remains of domesticated grains like finger millet and sorghum (ca. 2500–2000 BCE) that originated in Africa (Weber 1991:109–111). These findings are significant in pointing out the integration and adoption of African millet into the Indian agricultural system (Possehl and Raval 1990:108–113). Other excavations at the site of Nagawada on the banks of the Rupen River in North Gujarat in Kuntasi village suggest that Gujarat was an integral part of the Indian Ocean trade long before the Christian era.
Figure 2.1 Map of the Indian Ocean World
The Sidis came from Africa and their original homelands were Ethiopia (Abyssinia), Somalia, Sudan, Zanzibar, and to a lesser extent Egypt, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia and Mozambique. Since many of the Sidis who settled in India came from Africa...
