Sansi people
Sansi (Devnagari: सैंसी) (Gurmukhi: ਸੈਂਸੀ) are a formerly nomadic people from India that were classified as a criminal tribe in the 19th century by the British during the Raj period. They were stealing food supply from British Government. That's why the British government declared them thief.[1][2]
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History and Origin[edit]
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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. For instance, Sansi men were described as having a dark complexion, foxy expressions, and a distinctive smell of musk-rat and rancid grease due to their habit of eating vermin. 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[edit]
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.[3][4][5] Their traditional occupations vary, from trading to farming.[citation needed]
History[edit]
During British rule in India they were placed under the Criminal Tribes Act 1871, hence stigmatized for a long time,[2] after independence, however, they were denotified in 1952.[6] 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.[7]
Demographics[edit]
| 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[edit]
- 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[edit]
- ^ Nalwa, V. (2022). Ranjit Singh—monarch mystique. Hari Singh Nalwa Foundation Trust. p. 10. ISBN 978-81-910526-1-9.
- ^ a b Punjab - Police and Jails The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1908, v. 20, p. 363.
- ^ Parekh, Rauf (2 January 2018). "Some endangered Pakistani languages". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
- ^ Ethnologue.com: Ethnologue report for Sansi
- ^ Language in India: Endangered Language: A Case Study of Sansiboli
- ^ Bania Arrested for Spying by Dilip D'Souza. Rediff.com, 18 January 2003
- ^ "A-10 Individual Scheduled Caste Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix - Uttar Pradesh". Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
- ^ "A-10 Appendix: District wise scheduled caste population (Appendix)". Retrieved 8 May 2024.
