Siddi : The forgotten African Community of India

An excerpt from the BeTales Magazine Article / 15/08/2024

78 years of Independence, but have you ever heard about them?

Siddi, Sheedi or Habishi, is a marginalized community of our brothers and sisters who look like Africans but very much Indian like all of us and live inside the dense forests of Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and also extends to Pakistan.

With their kinky hair, snub nose, dark-black skin, strong physique, and endearing smile they can confuse anybody for a second, but the strange part is though they make up more than 200,000 of our total population, and flow our religions and speak our language. This community is often marginalized, stereotyped, discriminated and are never seen in the fore-front of our society.

But, how did this all began? During 7 th century forefathers of Siddi community where brought into the shores of India as traders, merchants, and Arab laborers and slaves from the Bantu region of South Africa. Slowly with years passing, Arabs and Portuguese brought in more slaves, however these brought in Africans did not just stay as slaves doing hard labor. Over time they became part of mercenaries and landlords and even became advisories in the court of Indian rulers. However unfortunately some of the community continued to be slaves and when Slavery was abolished, these people fled to forest and they became the lesser known facts of Indian History.

But things began to change as the Indian Government in the 1980s decided to train and coach Siddi children in sports and made them represent India in international sports forums. The program was green-flagged, and many children from the Siddi community were chosen and trained.

This program came as a ray of hope for the Siddi community, as this could help Siddi from experiencing discrimination on every level. But soon, not more than three years later, the program was flagged off, and the community went to its previous state again.

Though, in these years, many things have changed. Kudos to their strenuous struggles, they could get the status of Scheduled Tribe and avail government help now. Even today, many children drop out of school and take domestic or labor work mainly due to discrimination in school or lack of finance to support their education and lack of educational institutions. But those who complete their education have managed to get jobs in the outskirts of cities. Even then, Siddi believes their ray of hope in a place without discrimination and respect is through sports. Hence, they support their kids who are interested in sports.

And, it is time we support them. If you want to know more about Siddi’s and their cultural assimilation with us and their intriguing culinary details, read the full article in our magazine, BeTales : April 2023 Issue.

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