MUSLIM BANJARAS : PEDDLERS OF UTTAR PRADESH - A SOCIO-HISTORICAL STUDY

Banjaras, contrary to their popular images such as wanderers, Bards, road-side singers and dancers, beggars and petty criminals and, in-short, people of low social origin, were an important mercantile community of pre-colonial India. They pursued different occupations but mainly associated with food-grain trade and transportation/supply of eatable goods from one place to another during the days when facilities of modern transportation did not exist. Being composed of hundreds of tribes with varying origin, customs, religion and caste status, they were heterogeneous community or a class of people. Two of the five major categories of Banjaras of North Western Provinces of Awadh and Agra (present day Uttar Pradesh) were Muslims and known as Mukeri and Turkia Banjaras. Although found every where in the region, their main concentration was in terai belt, stretching out from the district of Saharanpur in the west through the districts of Moradabad, Rampur, Bareily and Pilibhit to the eastern district of Gorakhpur, and Bharaich. As reported by European travellers and District Gazetteers, they controlled grain trade of these districts and many of them are still associated with their traditional occupation. This important mercantile community has hitherto remained unexplored. This the foresent study aims to present a socio-historical sketch of Muslim Banjaras which hopefully may be useful for the future researches.