Siddi (of Karnataka)

Siddi is how most Indians of African descent are named and call themselves today in India. The term
has various spellings: Sidi, Siddhi, Sidhi, and Sheedi. Another designation, Habshi, is used less fre-
quently nowadays. According to H. Basu, Sidi was a name given indiscriminately to African slaves and
sailors working on ships and in the Indian Ocean. It became a generic term for all people of African
origin in South Asia (Basu, 2008, 161). There are also people of African descent in Pakistan, where they
are known as Sheedis (Nizamani, 2006), and in Sri Lanka, where they are called Kaffirs (de Silva Jaya-
suriya, 2003, 251). Today, the largest communities of African descent in India are found in the states
of Karnataka, Gujarat, in the union territories of Diu and Damam, in Hyderabad, and in Mumbai. A
very small minority also lives in Goa and north Kerala. Not all Indians of African descent are Siddi.
Some Christians and Hindus of African origin in Diu do not identify themselves as Siddis. Similarly,
in Hyderabad, some people of African descent whose ancestors belonged to the African cavalry guard
of the niẓāms (rulers) until Indian independence may reject the term (Basu, von Schwerin & Minda,
2008, 288) or see it as an old denomination given to their African forebears. Erstwhile Janjira state
(Maharashtra) and Sachin state (Gujarat) were ruled by Siddis until the 20th century (Jasdanwalla,
2006, 177) but their descendants today do not identify with other Siddis in India. Siddis from Gujarat,
Karnataka, and Mumbai proudly use the appellation Siddi to refer to themselves and to other people
of African descent. Siddi communities “should not be grouped together as a single community without
careful qualification” (Kenoyer & Bhan, 2004, 44), as Africans arrived at different times, from different
areas, and have occupied different social positions in India. Nowadays, Siddi people represent a small
minority, and many Indians are unaware of their presence. The Siddi population is estimated at 40,000
to 70,000, although no exact figure can be given since no survey of Indian Siddis has ever been made.
They are of different religions, including Islam (in Gujarat, Diu, Mumbai, and Karnataka), Christianity,
and Hinduism (in Karnataka). In Karnataka, the number of Siddis is estimated at between 25,000 and
35,000. The majority of Siddis in Karnataka live in the district of Uttara Kannada, scattered in villages
and hamlets in the remote forest areas of Haliyal, Yellapur, Ankola, Mundgod, Sirsi, Karwar, and Joida
(or Supa) tāluks (subdistrics). A few families also live in Dharwad and Belgaum districts. Siddis tend to
do manual labor (agriculture, construction work, forest department work, factory work, or housework
for women) and many are forced to migrate to neighboring states to find work. Only a few Siddi ath-
letes, who have ended their sports careers, have accessed government jobs. Siddis obtained Scheduled
Tribe status in Uttara Kannada in 2003, but in other districts of Karnataka this status is still being
fought for. Endogamy is predominant among Siddis and within each religious group, but religious
boundaries among Siddis are not fixed.

Religion and Unification Processes among Siddis

In Karnataka, Siddis are Christian (Catholic or
Protestant), Muslim (Sufi or Tabligh, see below), or
Hindu. They have different mother tongues: Muslim
Siddis speak Urdu-Hindi, Hindu Siddis speak
Konkani with elements of Kannada, and Christian
Siddis speak a mixture of Marathi and Konkani.
Hindu Siddis live mostly around Yellapur, Ankola,
and Sirsi tāluks, in hamlets where their houses are
grouped together by family; they often live close to
Brahmans. The larger groups of Christian and Mus-
lim Siddis live in Haliyal, Yellapur and Mundgod
tāluks (Prasad, 2005, 3). Both Muslim and Christian

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2021 BERIPSA

Also available online – www.brill
 Siddi (OF Karnataka)
Belgaum
Goa Tatwangi Hosur
Dharwad
Kamathikoppa
Supa Haliyal
Laxmeshwar
Tottalgundi Mainalli
Karwar Yellapur Mundgod
Satunbail
Ankola Sirsi
Uttara
Kannada
Map: Siddi area of habitation.
Siddis live in villages where they sometimes live
alongside non-Siddis.
Christian Siddis may trace their origin to Goa,
where they were brought from Africa as slaves by
the Portuguese. Muslim Siddis may be descended
from soldiers or guards sold by Omani Arabs in the
Bijapur Kingdom during the 16th century, whereas
Hindu Siddis may have been sold by Arab mer-
chants to Havik Brahmans (Palakshappa, 1976, 11).
Indeed, Havik Brahmans have long specialized in
areca nut plantations, and used bonded labor until
quite recently. Hindu Siddis say that, until the early
21st century, many Siddis depended on Brahmans
for a living, paid in food for work in the planta-
tions. Brahmans were thus their sole interlocutors
in the wider society. Today, Siddis who still work for
Havik Brahmans are paid, but are still exploited and
dependent on them, though some own a little plot
of land, which they farm. Havik Brahmans also have
a significant political and ritual influence on the
Siddis around them.
Hindu Siddis, however, could not have learned
Konkani from Havik Brahmans, whose mother
tongue is Kannada; thus, it is likely that Christian
and Hindu Siddis had a common past in Goa, where
they picked up the same Konkani, which differs from
that of the Catholic non-Siddis who live in Uttara
Kannada nowadays (Prasad, 2005, 16). K.K. Prasad
holds that Hindu Siddis came to consider them-
selves Hindus under the influence of the locally
dominant Hindu groups (Prasad, 2005, 43–44).
Although Christian Siddis use a lot of Marathi and
Hindu Siddis a lot of Kannada, they are mutually
intelligible. Understanding the history of these
463
people would require a deeper exploration of their
linguistic and oral traditions.
Most Karnataka Siddis know little of their own
history. A few families of Christian Siddis have been
told by their elders that Siddis were brought to Goa
by the Portuguese and had to flee from wars, or that
the British or Portuguese left Siddi slaves behind
when they left India. Before settling down around
the 1960s, Siddis led nomadic lives in the forest.
They were completely set apart from the larger soci-
ety, but often exploited by landlords. Most Hindu
and Christian Siddis think they have been converted
and question the identity of their original god(s),
while Muslim Siddis feel they have always been
Muslims.
Completely marginalized, and long shunned
by the clergy of either of these religions, the Siddi
communities were isolated in the forests, form-
ing groups mostly of a same religion. In the early
1980s, the community leaders began to contact each
other in order to be recognized as one Siddi com-
munity and to join forces in the fight for their rights.
Although many ties between Christian, Muslim, and
Hindu Siddis have developed, religious boundaries
tend to be seen as an obstacle to Siddi unity. Reli-
gious boundaries among Siddis are therefore not
fixed, and religious affiliations have shifted over
time (Obeng, 2007, 79). This is increasingly the case
today.
New empowerment strategies have been devel-
oping since the 1980s, using the physical traits that
set Siddis apart in order to create a Karnataka Siddi
community.
An Ongoing Process of Unification
In the 1980s, Siddi leaders (Christian, Hindu, and
Muslim) began to develop contacts between Siddis
of different religions in order to gain a regional rec-
ognition of Indians of African descent as a single
community and to defend their rights. In 1985, they
established the first Karnataka Siddi organization,
the All Karnataka Siddi Development Association
(AKSDA). Cajetan Siddi, one of its founders, told
me that his community “did not exist” for the gov-
ernment before AKSDA was created. The founders
of the association visited a large number of Siddi
settlements, explaining to the population that they
must cooperate because their common features
made them “the same” (interview with Cajetan
Siddi, May 24, 2017).
The organization worked hard for Siddi unifi-
cation, development projects, education, and the
464
requested status of Scheduled Tribe. Later, there
was some conflict, and from the 1990s onward,
some younger leaders founded several other orga-
nizations, many of them sponsored by different
Indian or foreign nongovernmental organizations.
In 2003, after considerable struggle, the status of
Scheduled Tribe was finally obtained by the Siddis
of Uttara Kannada (Prasad, 2005, 105), although it is
still being fought for in other districts of Karnataka.
Some Siddi leaders, as well as the director of the
Social Welfare Department of the district of Uttara
Kannada in Karwar, told me that when officers
enquired in these districts, Siddis responded that
they were Christian or Muslim. Thus, they were not
classified as Siddis and therefore not included in
the Scheduled Tribe classification. This shows the
importance of the unification process: to obtain
new rights as a specific community in India, Siddis
must put their Siddi identity before their religious
affiliation. Indeed, K.K. Prasad (1991) argued that
the problem of separate religious identities kept
Siddis from being recognized as a Scheduled Tribe.
Thus, in Uttara Kannada, Siddis struggled before this
status was finally granted, because their religious
Siddi (OF Karnataka)
affiliations prevented them from being recognized
as a cohesive, specific tribe.
Identity is a concept that requires close scrutiny,
since “identities are multiple, processual, internal
and external” (Drewal, 2004, 142). Understand-
ing how others perceive Siddis helps us grasp their
perception of themselves and of their identity.
Most Siddis in Uttara Kannada were discriminated
against because of their fragile economic status and
their physical traits, which caused them to be asso-
ciated with lower castes. Many Siddis told me that
until the early 21st century they were not invited to
the houses of non-Siddi Hindus and were treated
as untouchables, regardless of their religious affili-
ation. This preconceived impurity (Dumont, 1966,
168–193; Herrenschmidt, 1996, 4–5) is increased, for
the Siddis, by possessing physical features that are
associated with low social status, as opposed to the
popular image of the Brahman with fair skin color
and sharp nose (Béteille, 1969, 276–277).
In the ongoing process of unification, Siddis have
used those discriminating physical features to be
recognized within the Indian system. The classifica-
tion as Scheduled Tribe has “boosted their common

Fig. 1: protest for forest rights, jointly led by Muslim, Hindu, and Christian Siddis. Noteworthy are Mandela’s banner (back right),
a Siddi man carrying a dammām drum (front right) and a Siddi woman carrying the portrait of B.R. Ambedkar (front middle),
symbols that combine the claims of Siddis as Scheduled Tribe, Dalits, and Africans (photo by author).
 Siddi (OF Karnataka)
Fig. 2: a Christian Siddi who converted to Hinduism when he married makes puja in honor of his deceased father (photo by
author).
identity” (Camara, 2004, 113), and the number of
intermarriages between Siddis of different reli-
gions has increased spectacularly since the early
21st century.
Siddi Unity, Interfaith Marriages, and
Religious Conversion
The process of unification and the Scheduled Tribe
affiliation since 2003 have brought benefits like
basic food rations, housing, or agricultural subsi-
dies to Siddis, but, primarily, it has forged a sense
of unity. Being Siddi, which had negative implica-
tions in the past, has become a positive factor due
to government-sponsored welfare. Indeed, some
Indians of African descent who did not formerly call
themselves Siddi have changed the way they refer to
themselves since Siddis have become a Scheduled
Tribe.
Another consequence of this unification process
is the significant increase in interfaith marriages
among Siddis that has been witnessed since the
early 21st century. Furthermore, just as women are
converting to their husband’s religion, a few men
have converted to that of their wives. Some couples
maintain multifaith practices. Siddi leaders encour-
age Siddis to see themselves as one, beyond religion:
465
some of the young leaders married women of other
religions, and one converted from Hinduism to
Christianity in 2017 in order to marry his wife, thus
transcending the gender hierarchy that rules Indian
society.
Nevertheless, many parents still prefer their chil-
dren to marry Siddis of the same religion (as most
Siddi marriages are arranged by the family). Inter-
faith marriages occur mainly between Christians
and Hindus, who generally attach less importance
to religion than Muslims do. In most cases, Hindus
have converted to Christianity. In the few cases of
marriages between Hindus and Muslims, the women
have converted to Islam. Most marriages between
Muslims and Christians have been love marriages,
not always approved by the couples’ families. There
seem to be very few cases of a Muslim Siddi woman
converting to Christianity. Mostly, Christian men or
women have converted to Islam in order to marry.
A Christian Siddi once told me: “Islam is very
powerful. Wherever we go, religion is disturbing us.”
And a Hindu leader whose sister married his Chris-
tian friend complained that “Muslim and Christian
Siddis are taking all our girls and converting them.”
There should be exchanges, he felt, and being Siddi
should not be a matter of religion.
I spoke about this with a young Hindu Siddi
leader and an elder Muslim Siddi. The younger
466 Siddi (OF Karnataka)
asked the elder: “Why don’t Muslim Siddis marry
other Siddis?” The elder answered that it was a mat-
ter of religion and food, because other Siddis did not
eat halāl meat and Muslims cannot change religion.
These examples highlight the question of reciproc-
ity and the fact that religion remains a barrier to
unification.
In 2015, a Catholic priest told me that he tried to
dissuade Christian Siddis from entering into inter-
faith marriages. The Catholic Church has a strong
influence on Christian Siddis. Since the early 21st
century, many Christian Siddis converted to the
Seventh-day Adventist Church. The missionaries of
this church used “strategies such as schools, medical
facilities, and mass media techniques to attract con-
verts” (Obeng, 2007, 83). They have been conduct-
ing missionary work among Catholic Siddis since
1993. In 2005, the mostly Afro-American National
Association for the Prevention of Starvation began
missionary work and converted hundreds of Siddis.
Along with other evangelical groups, they sent many
young Siddis to Adventist schools. Today, the major-
ity of the new leaders of the three religions speak
English and have received part of their education
at these schools.
However, many converted families later returned
to the Catholic Church, one reason being that they
received no additional benefits from Adventists. At
the same time, Catholic priests often threatened to
cancel their marriages, did not agree to marry mem-
bers of their families, or even refused to perform last
rites if they remained Adventists.
Although the Scheduled Tribe status facilitates
education for children in government schools,
most Catholic parents continue to send their chil-
dren to Catholic schools, paying expensive fees to
do so. Some choose these schools of their own free
will, while others say that priests have warned them
that children without Catholic education would
be refused communion or church marriage. The
Church disapproves of the non-Catholic practices of
Christian Siddis, as in the case of the pūjā performed
by elders for births, deaths, and wedding ceremo-
nies. Indeed, religious syncretism is very common
among Siddis.
Syncretism and Religious Authority
Some examples of syncretic religious practices
among the Siddis of Uttara Kannada may illustrate
the negotiations between religious authority and
Siddi identity and unity.
In the village of Tottalgundi (near Kirwatti, in the
tāluk of Yellapur), a Christian Siddi family has built
a čilla (memorial shrine), which replicates the origi-
nal tomb (mazār/dargah) of the Muslim Sufi saint
Sayyid Sulaymān Bādšāh Qādirī, commonly known
as Dūdh Nāna (“Milk Grandfather”), whose dargah is
located in Laxmeshwar (Gadag district, Karnataka).
A woman of this family has been possessed by Dūdh
Nāna since her childhood. Every Monday and Thurs-
day, Siddis and non-Siddis of all three religions come
to share their problems with Dūdh Nāna, embodied
in the Christian Siddi woman. They receive advice
or treatment and express wishes. Exorcism rites for
people possessed by a bhūt or jinn (evil spirit) also
take place in the čilla. This Christian family has
also built a church and rebuilt an old Hindu temple
of the local deity Karevā in their village. Thus, in
Tottalgundi, decades of dispute with the Catholic
Church finally resulted in the acceptance of syn-
cretic practices promoted by this Siddi family.
In another village, Tatwangi Hosur (in the tāluk of
Haliyal), where Muslim and Christian Siddis as well
as non-Siddi Hindus live side by side, a čilla of the
Sufi saint Maḥbūb-i Subḥānī (“Beloved of the Glori-
ous One”) has been built near a Hindu temple of the
goddess Lakṣmī. In this region, Maḥbūb-i Subḥānī
is the best-known name to refer to ʿAbd al-Qādir
al-Jīlānī (Assayag, 1992a, 267), who was born in
1077/1078 and died in 1166, in Baghdad. He was one
of the most famous Sufi šayḫs (master), and his
name was given to the Qādirī order, one of the most
widespread Sufi brotherhoods in the Muslim world
and in Europe (Zarcone, 2009, 46–47).
One young Siddi woman of Tatwangi Hosur
told me that Maḥbūb-i Subḥānī and Lakṣmī were
brother and sister, symbolizing the local proximity
between Muslims and Hindus. Some Muslim Siddis
in this village worship Hindu deities like the goddess
Yellammā (“Mother of All”), or Reṇukā, an untouch-
able goddess married to a Brahman ascetic, who
was decapitated when she transgressed her hus-
band’s orders (Assayag, 1992b). Her central temple is
located in Saundatti (Belgaum district).
Yellammā’s image is often found in the houses of
Tatwangi Hosur Muslim Siddis, resting on a small
altar beside the čilla of a Sufi saint. This Hindu god-
dess is also worshipped by some Christian and Mus-
lim Siddis from other villages, like Mainalli (Obeng,
2007). Other Hindu deities are worshipped by Chris-
tian and Muslim Siddis, just as some Muslim saints
are worshipped by Hindu and Christian Siddis.
In Uttara Kannada, Siddis who still practice Sufi
Islam often have a small čilla of a Sufi saint in their
 Siddi (OF Karnataka)
Fig. 3: Muslim and Christian Siddis and non-Siddi Hindus making pūjā at the shrine of the goddess Lakṣmī, in front of Maḥbūb-i
Subḥānī’s čilla (photo by author).
house. Bava Gor, the African Sufi saint and kulpīr
(lineage saint) of the Siddis in Gujarat, is also vener-
ated by Muslim Siddis in Uttara Kannada, and his
čillas can be found in Muslim Siddi houses of some
villages. However, nobody remembers his story as
people do in Gujarat. Bava Gor is always related to
dammām, the name of both a drum and of dances
and songs performed by Siddi men and women alike,
but different from the Gujarati Siddi goma/dhamāl.
“When we play dammām, we are blessing Bava
Gor,” one elder Muslim Siddi told me. Dammām is
practiced by Siddis from all religions and has kept
African elements. The African Sufi Saint is also wor-
shipped by some Christian Siddis. In the Siddi Chris-
tian village of Kamathikoppa, an elderly woman
explained that Siddis there had worshipped Bava
Gor for about 200 years. In the early 21st century,
however, this practice was ended because of the
strong opposition from the local Catholic priest.
Since then, many people have died in the village,
and Siddis explained this by their loss of the saint’s
protection. In 2016, the villagers decided to worship
Bava Gor again. According to another Siddi woman
of this village, Bava Gor was the first Siddi to play the
dammām. She said that Siddis feel the presence of
467
Bava Gor when they play the dammām very fast and
enter a state of ecstasy.
However, the worship of Bava Gor is becoming
less common among Muslim Siddis. In the past, all
these Siddis were Sunnis and Sufis.
Around the turn of the 21st century, the Islamic
group Tablighi Jamat, founded in the early 20th
century in India, started to convert Siddis after
attracting them by means of educational opportu-
nities and socioeconomic support. When the group
arrived, Siddi members were generally limited to the
lower-ranking Muslims who faced economic and
social difficulties. The aim of the Tablighi Jamat is to
reform Islamic practices: they reject saint worship,
visits to shrines, and other Sufi practices (van der
Veer, 1992, 546, 552). Thus, they are opposed to the
veneration of Bava Gor, and also to dammām.
“Before,” said a young Muslim Siddi from a Tabligh
family, “our fathers were Sunni and prayed to all
gods…But Tabligh people don’t believe in dammām.
They would say ‘don’t do that, Allah will punish
you.’” But, he argued, Siddis have always enjoyed
dammām, so “how will they stop it?” An elderly man,
opposed to the Tablighi Jamat, said that all Siddis
were formerly called Abubakar Siddak, and that all
468 Siddi (OF Karnataka)
Fig. 4: all-night dammām performed by Christian Siddis to honor their recently deceased relatives (photo by author).
Abubakar Siddak should venerate Bava Gor and play
dammām, since Bava Gor needs it.
Although some Siddi Muslims try to resist Tablighi
rules that condemn the practices linked to their
African origins, other Siddis are strongly involved
in missionary work for Tablighi Jamat. The social
and economic lever within the Islam that Tablighi
Jamat represents is attractive to Muslim Siddis, who
have always been outcasts within their own religion.
Tablighi opposition to the Sufi veneration of saints is
beginning to divide Muslim Siddis into two Islamic
groups, members of which now rarely intermarry.
Similarly, certain Christian families who have con-
verted to Protestantism have not been able to marry
their children to Catholic Siddis. Thus, marriages
have been arranged with Hindu Siddis, and internal
religious divisions have in fact created interreligious
alliances.
Siddi Nash: The New Siddi God?
In Satunbail, a jungle area in the tāluk of Ankola, an
annual Siddi festival is celebrated in honor of the
deity Nash (or Nyasa/Nysa; see color insert, fig. 7).
Most Siddis are farmers and depend on the forest
and natural resources (Obeng, 2007, 118), and they
invoke various deities that control agriculture. Nash
is a male god linked to the fertility of the soil and
safety of the crops (Palakshappa, 1976, 83–85). He
is always accompanied by his servant, Kil, whose
sacred site is next to Nash’s. T.C. Palakshappa notes
that both Siddis and Havik Brahmans claim to have
been the first to worship Nash, a question difficult
to resolve (Palakshappa, 1976, 83–86). Siddis know
Nash as a Siddi deity worshipped by their ancestors,
and Brahmans are never invited to his ceremony.
During the course of the day, various pujas are per-
formed in the shrine, where two stones represent
Nash.
Siddis offer coconuts, flowers, incense, fruits,
food, and animals, mainly roosters and sometimes
lambs. People suffering from diseases and misfor-
tunes make vows to sacrifice to Nash, if their con-
ditions improve. But if a devotee fails to keep the
promise, illness or death will strike the person or the
animals of the household (Obeng, 2007, 119).
If Nash is satisfied, he speaks through the body
of the pujari (the one performing the puja), who
enters into trance. He then rolls over and falls into
the river beside the shrine. On the shore is another
sacred site, belonging to the goddess Achakane (or
Achajakya Yaru), who resides in this river. The pujari
remains in the river until the spirit releases him.
 Siddi (OF Karnataka)
Fig. 5: Siddis making puja to Siddi Nash at his sacred place (photo by author).
The cooling off with water and the involvement of
the female deity Achakane show how the roles of
the male and female protectors complement each
other. Siddi devotees of Nash also use their worship
to recall and reenact aspects of their past (Obeng,
2007, 118). Later, Siddis share a meal prepared from
the sacrificed animals and attend a stage perfor-
mance at night, which features Siddi music and
dancing (mainly dammām) performed by groups
from different religions.
When I attended the Siddi Nash festival in 2014
and 2016, hundreds of Siddis from all religions came,
especially during the night. The elder Siddi leaders
and the (non-Siddi) president of a nongovernmen-
tal organization conducted the festival and talked of
Siddi unity on the stage.
One thirty-year-old Hindu Siddi told me that the
festival in honor of Nash had previously only been
celebrated once every three years, and only by a few
Hindu Siddi families, since Nash was a family god
like those which all Hindu Siddis worship in their
houses. He felt that the renewed worship of Nash
was linked to the recognition of the Siddis as a tribe.
“When they asked: ‘Where is your god?’…then we
decided that Nash has to be our god.” This, he said,
was how Nash became Siddi Nash.
469
One pujari told me that only in the 1990s, Nash
became the god of all Muslim, Christian, and
Hindu Siddis. Before that, he had been his fam-
ily god. He also said that a Muslim saint was stay-
ing in Satunbail. P. Obeng relates that in 2005, the
pujari possessed by Nash also became possessed by
a Muslim spirit. He links this to possession by mul-
tiple spirits in African countries and to a reverence
for the religious history of the Siddis (Obeng, 2007,
125). Furthermore, P. Obeng reports that in 2005 pos-
sessed pujaris began telling their communities that
the worship of Siddi Nash would ensure their unity
(Obeng, 2007, 123). During the same festival, one of
the main Siddi leaders said:
Maharaj Siddi Nash…Since we have now qualified
as Scheduled Tribe…it is by coming together like
this that we will be able to inform ourselves about
our rights as citizens of India…We came from
Africa. We are one people. (Obeng, 2007, 127)
P. Obeng stresses the revival of Africanness as a way
in which African Indians reject their centuries-long
marginalization by other Indians (Obeng, 2007, 127).
Far more Siddis nowadays use the name Siddi
Niyasa instead of Siddi Nash. Although some say
this is a matter of pronunciation, others explained
470 Siddi (OF Karnataka)
that Siddi Nyasa’s name came from the Nyasa River
in Africa (probably related to the huge Lake Nyasa,
or Lake Malawi). It is important to note that most
Siddis did not know about their African origins.
Indeed, many discovered that their ancestors came
from Africa when they started to see other people of
African descent on television.
Thus, the Siddi Nash festival may have been pro-
moted by leaders as a special event to establish closer
ties between Siddis, but it is also a way of creating a
common ritual as a new tribe, whose practices are
scrutinized by the Indian government: if they wish
to retain the benefits provided by the Scheduled
Tribe status, Siddis may have to continue meeting
some of the conditions that define them as a tribe,
for instance the veneration of their own deity.
In spite of all this, the festival underwent dra-
matic changes in 2017: apart from the leaders of dif-
ferent religions, only about 60 Hindu Siddis came,
and there were no stage performances. Some said
that this was due to a lack of organization and
funds, whereas others claimed that the families of
the pujaris had encountered many problems since
the Nash festival had become so big, because their
divinity was not properly worshipped. This issue will
require deeper research in the coming years. Never-
theless, it might suggest that Christians and Mus-
lims, in past years, may have been more attracted by
the musical performances of the Siddi festival than
by the veneration of Siddi Nash.
The example of the Siddi Nash festival shows how
religious elements can be used and transformed
by Indians of African descent, in order to create a
new Siddi identity and negotiate their place within
Indian society and policies.
Conclusion
Siddi is not a fixed category, but rather mirrors the
identification with a group constructed from vari-
ous sociohistorical, political, and economic con-
texts. It has developed over time as a response to the
black condition (Ndiaye, 2008), shared by a margin-
alized minority in a caste society where individuals
are assigned to a category from birth, and where hair
texture, complexion, and facial features are associ-
ated with a class. In Karnataka, as in Gujarat, Siddis
have used their common African origins to forge
their community, and as an adaptive strategy to
strengthen their position in society. But the means
used in the two states were different, due to local
and national contexts and policies.
In Karnataka, the political unification process,
which began around the 1980s, has enabled them
to obtain rights as a Scheduled Tribe and has made
them stronger, though religious divergences still
represent an obstacle to unity, particularly regarding
interfaith marriages. Yet it has also become evident
that Siddis are continually reworking, transforming,
and challenging their religious practices, using them
as avenues to create stronger ties between Siddis.
Sufi Islam, the veneration of common African
saints, and the practice of Siddi goma have become
a linking factor between all Gujarati Siddis. Today,
however, Gujarati Siddis often stress that a Siddi fed-
eration at the political and economic level is needed
to empower themselves in Indian society.
Siddis from Karnataka and Gujarat have started to
be aware of each other’s existence since the 2000s.
In the last decade, some of their leaders and social
workers have met to talk about a federation of all
Indian Siddis. Indeed, the first pan-Siddi organiza-
tion, Siddi India Foundation, was established in 2015
by Siddis from Karnataka and Mumbai, who met on
the social media. Social networks have played an
important role in the creation and maintenance of
contacts between Indian Siddis. Indians of African
descent from Karnataka, Mumbai, Gujarat, and even
Pakistan are creating more and more online groups.
Since 2016, a few marriages have even taken place
between Christian Siddi women from Karnataka
and Muslim Siddi men from Gujarat, who also met
on social media (all the women converted to Islam).
Numerous other connections have developed in
the last few years between Siddis and other people
of African descent around the world. For Siddis, in
addition to meeting people from the same roots,
these emerging networks also generate new hope
of solidarity and awareness about African History,
transnational blackness (Marable & Agard-Jones,
2008), négritude, or pan-Africanism.
P. Obeng notes that some educated Karnataka
Siddis “have begun to address their Siddiness,
which underscores their difference in India. This
focus has made some of them examine issues about
their African roots” (Obeng, 2011, 15). Indeed, P.
Obeng put three young Karnataka Siddi leaders in
touch with the organizers of the 8th pan-African
Congress in Johannesburg, organized around the
theme Mobilizing Global Africans, for Renaissance
of Unity, which they attended in 2014. One of them
was then invited to a conference themed Repara-
tions for the Wrongs of Slavery and Colonization in
London and organized by the Global African Con-
gress UK; through this contact, the Salifu Dagarti
 Siddi (OF Karnataka)
Foundation, a pan-Africanist organization based in
London, started working with Siddis in Karnataka
and Gujarat in 2017.
The same year, a member of the black Hebrew
Israelite group Masharah Yasharahla visited Siddis
in Karnataka and Gujarat to convert them to his reli-
gion. In Karnataka, Siddis may be more interested in
the assistance they receive from missionaries than
in their religious ideology. What is more, this mis-
sionary’s discourse puts black people at the center
of biblical history, which was unheard of until then
and sparked a lot of interest, particularly among
Christian Siddis. One of the Siddis, an interpreter
for the missionary, pointed out that the Catholic
Church’s power over families and the strict rules of
the black Hebrew Israelites will render conversion of
Siddis difficult. The missionary did not have success
in Gujarat, where Islam is of great importance to
Siddis’ identity. Clearly, the identification of Siddis
with African descendants is not a one-way process.
Even though Siddis attach great importance to
meeting with people of African descent from dif-
ferent parts of the world and gaining their support,
local religious questions remain central to them.
Bibliography
Assayag, J., “Invulnérables au fer et au feu: Soufisme et fakir-
isme dans le sud de l’Inde,” RHR 209/3, 1992a, 259–294.
Assayag, J., La colère de la déesse décapitée: Traditions, cultes
et pouvoir dans le sud de l’Inde, Paris, 1992b.
Basu, H., “Music and the Formation of Sidi Identity in West-
ern India,” HWJ 65, 2008, 161–178.
Basu, H., G. von Schwerin & A. Minda, “Daff Music of
Yemeni-Habshi in Hyderabad,” in: H. Basu, ed., Journeys
and Dwellings: Indian Ocean Themes in South Asia, Hyder-
abad, 2008, 288–303.
Béteille, A., “Caste in a South Indian Village,” in: A. Béteille,
ed., Social Inequality, Bungay, 1965, repr. 1969, 273–294.
Camara, C., “The Siddis of Uttara Kannada: History, Identity,
and Change among African Descendants in Contempo-
471
rary Karnataka,” in: A. Catlin-Jairazbhoy & E.A. Alpers,
eds., Sidis and Scholars: Essays on African Indians, New
Delhi, 2004, 100–114.
Drewal, H.J., “Aliens and Homelands: Identity, Agency and
the Arts among the Siddis of Uttara Kannada,” in: A.
Catlin-Jairazbhoy & E.A. Alpers, eds., Sidis and Scholars:
Essays on African Indians, New Delhi, 2004, 140–158.
Dumont, L., Homo hierarchicus: Le système des castes et ses
implications, Paris, 1966.
Herrenschmidt, O., “’L’inégalité graduée’ ou la pire des iné-
galités: L’analyse de la société hindoue par Ambedkar,”
AES 37/1, 1996, 3–22.
Jasdanwalla, F., “The Sidi Kingdom of Janjira,” in: K.X.
Robbins & J. McLeod, eds., African Elites in India: Habshi
Amarat, Ahmedabad, 2006, 176–188.
Kenoyer, J.M., & K.K. Bhan, “Sidis and the Agate Bead Indus-
try of Western India,” in: A. Catlin-Jairazbhoy & E.A.
Alpers, eds., Sidis and Scholars: Essays on African Indians,
New Delhi, 2004, 42–61.
Marable, M., & V. Agard-Jones, eds., Transnational Blackness:
Navigating the Global Color Line, New York, 2008.
Ndiaye, P., La condition noire: Essai sur une minorité française,
Paris, 2008.
Nizamani, S.A., “Sheedi Community of Sindh, Pakistan,” diss.,
Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, 2006.
Obeng, P., “Siddi Street Theatre and Dance in North
Karnataka, South India,” AD 4, 2011, 1–26.
Obeng, P., Shaping Membership, Defining Nation: The Cultural
Politics of African Indians in South Asia, Lanham, 2007.
Palakshappa, T.C., The Siddhis of North Kanara, New Delhi,
1976.
Prasad, K.K., In Search of an Identity: An Ethnographic Study
of the Siddis in Karnataka, Bangalore, 2005.
Prasad, K.K., “The Identity of Siddis in Karnataka,” in: B.G.
Halbar & C.G. Hussain Khan, eds., Relevance of Anthropol-
ogy: The Indian Scenario, Jaipur, 1991, 215–238.
Silva Jayasuriya, S. de, “The African Diaspora in Sri Lanka,”
in: S. de Silva Jayasuriya & R. Pankhurst, eds., The African
Diaspora in the Indian Ocean, Trenton, 2003, 251–288.
Veer, P. van der, “Playing or Praying: A Sufi Saint’s Day in
Surat,” JAS 51/3, 1992, 545–564.
Zarcone, T., Le soufisme: Voie mystique de l’Islam, Paris,
2009.
Sofia Péquignot
 Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Religions
of the Indigenous People of South Asia