I recently completed my Msc in International Studies from ISCTE-IUL in Lisbon, with a Masters thesis titled "Ambiguous Citizenship: The Siddis of Uttara Kannada, India". I wasn't expecting the Portuguese youth and academics to know anything about this community in focus, however, I was rather surprised that on coming back to India, that most people I spoke to were completely unaware of the existence of this community in India. On mentioning the topic of my dissertation I often was met with the response "Siddis? Who are they?" "You wrote a thesis on who?" I proceeded to explain who the Siddis were and what I was actually talking about.
The Siddis are a people of African descent settled in India for nearly five centuries. The Siddis or African-Indians as they are also referred to, that live in Uttara Kannada, were brought as slaves by the Portuguese in the 16th century. Most were brought from Moçambique and Sofala in Eastern Africa.
During the course of my research, I traveled to Uttara Kannada and visited three talukas with a substantial Siddi population: Haliyal, Mundgod and Yellapur. While I was able to get a reasonable perception of the three talukas, I could focus much of my fieldwork in Haliyal, where I could interact with Siddis in various villages scattered in remote parts of this region. On my first visit to Uttara Kannada in December 2016, I was able to briefly visit the villages of Wada, Ghardoli, Gadgera, Hosur, Bopin Kopp, Dodkop, Mavinkop, Dandeli, Kerwad, Nagashetikop and Tatigeri in the Haliyal district, Mainalli, Kegdal, Bilki and Gunjavatti among others in the Mundgod and Yellapur districts. Most of the villages, with the exception of a few, were located in isolated forested areas. These villages were accessible only by mud paths that cut off from the main road and were often a fair distance into the jungle. The villages were scattered all over and only a few were in close proximity to each other.
The African slaves brought to India go by various names. the most common of them is Siddi, taken to to be a corruption of Syed (Prasad 1984, supra note 15). They are also called Habshis. The term habshis is derived from the Arabic El-Habish, suggesting that the Siddis or the Habshis were brought from Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia). However, one is led to believe that the Habshis from this part of Africa were not the same Africans that are found in Uttara Kannada. In fact, the Siddis with whom I have carried out my research are believed to have been brought to Goa, Daman and Diu by the Portuguese. In Goa, they were also called mulattos or Kaphris, a Portuguese term denoting the descendants of Negroes and non-Negroes (Prasad 1984, supra note 30).
The slave trade carried on by the European natives in coastal India was a fraction compared to the slave trade they carried on between the West Coast of Africa and their colonies in the West Indies and the Americas. The reason was that in India, the slaves were mainly required for domestic work whereas in the American and West Indian colonies, they were required to supply labour for the plantations (Prasad 1984:76).
A number of the Siddis that I met in Haliyal, had names of Portuguese origin like Caitan (Caetano), Santan (Santana), Juje (José), Agnel (Agnelo), Rosa, Minguel (Miguel). It was common practice for the Portuguese slave traders to baptise the slaves before they boarded the ships to be carried to India. These names are common in Goa, although spelled a bit differently, suggesting the Goan connection to the Siddis of Uttara Kannada.
Slavery was eventually abolished throughout the Portuguese Empire on 25th February 1869 (Prasad, 1984, supra note 72, p 83). The slaves that were freed after the abolition of slavery must have either continued in Goa or sought shelter in the forested regions of Uttara Kannada where they now form a fairly large community. There is a community of Siddis that live in Goa till today, some of whom I have met personally. Many Siddis from Uttara Kannada still seek work in Goa, where they work as domestic labour or in construction. On the bus back to Goa from Haliyal, I noticed a number of Siddi youth also travelling to Goa.
The original language of the Siddis is said to be Swahili or another language spoken on the eastern coast of Africa. But nowadays, they speak exclusively local languages.
The Siddis of Haliyal speak a mixture of Konkani and Marathi, with a few Kannada and Urdu words thrown in. However, they refer to this language as Konkani. All Siddi settlements, irrespective of taluka, use the same language to communicate and understand each other perfectly.
The Christian and the Hindu Siddis speak the same version or dialect of Konkani. Most of the Muslim Siddis speak Urdu (Prasad 1984:15). The Konkani spoken by the Siddis, as pointed out by Kiran Kamal Prasad is different from the Konkani of other local Christians of Mundgod, Haliyal and Yellapur. The main language spoken by the mainstream society in Uttara Kannada is Kannada. Why then do the Siddis speak Konkani and this variant of the language?
Konkani is the language of Goa and therefore this points firmly in the direction that the Siddis of Karnataka were original inhabitants of Goa under Portuguese rule, as slaves. Their eventual migration to Uttara Kannada brought with it, several local influences into the Konkani spoken in Goa, leading to the contemporary variant spoken in Uttara Kannada.
The Hindu and Christian Siddis speak the same variant of Konkani, which suggests that both groups were together in the past or must have had a common past (Prasad, 1984:16). The Hindu Siddis may have been Christian at one point in time and later converted to Hinduism under the Havyak Brahmins for whom they worked. the Muslim Siddis are assumed to have picked up the Urdu language from their co-religionists (idem:17). Besides Konkani, all Siddis, especially the men folk, are very familiar with Kannada, the regional language (idem 1984:18)
During the time I was in Uttara Kannada, I was able to visit several Siddi settlements in the three talukas of Haliyal, Mundgod and Yellapur..
The Siddis settlements were all similar in nature. The settlements were often deep in the jungle and were made up of houses on either side of a newly constructed concrete road, in an isolated area.The houses were of concrete, with tiled roofs and faced the road. There were about 10-15 houses in each settlement. Most of the settlements that I visited were Siddi Christian. Each house had a crucifix constructed into the front wall, and hence it was clear to the visitor that this was a Christian household. Inside there were often other holy pictures of the sacred heart and the virgin Mary. Some of the houses were recently renovated inside and were very modern looking, even though they were rather small. Other houses were of a simpler nature.
The Siddis of Uttara Kannada are an endogamous community. This is largely how the community has survived the centuries and maintained their physical features. In fact, a Siddi is clearly discernible from a non-Siddi by his physical features- although I am not taking all phenotypical criteria to distinguish them from other social groups. However, it is interesting to observe that their dress code follows the Indian one at large. They speak the local languages and follow the local religions. Therefore, we may note a nexus of identities with regard to the Siddis of Uttara Kannada.
The Siddis of Uttara Kannada have been living in obscurity and poverty and much needs to be done for their upliftment. Education is a powerful tool, one that needs to be made available to the Siddis so that they can emerge from their difficult predicament. Thankfully, in recent years, this has been recognized by local authorities and NGOs, many who have come forward to assist the Siddis.
The existence of the Siddi community in India is testament to the rich historical, ethnic and cultural diversity of India. Hopefully, more Indians realize this and take pride in this rich diversity and shun unwanted attitudes like racism and stereotyping, which the Siddis have had to face for a couple of centuries at least.
