8. Sānsias at the present time
At present, Mr. Kennedy states,[15] the Sānsias travel about in gangs of varying strength with their families, bullocks, sheep, goats and dogs. The last mentioned of these animals are usually small mongrels with a terrier strain, mostly stolen or bred from types dishonestly obtained during their peregrinations. Dacoity is still the crime which they most affect, and they also break into houses and steal cattle. Men usually have a necklace of red coral and gold beads round the neck, from which is suspended a square piece of silver or gold bearing an effigy of a man on horseback. This represents either the deity Rāmdeo Pīr or one of the wearer’s ancestors, and is venerated as a charm. They are very quarrelsome, and their drinking-bouts in camp usually end in a free fight, in which they also beat their women, and the affray not infrequently results in the death of one of the combatants. When this happens the slayer makes restitution to the relatives by defraying the expenses of a fresh drinking-bout.[16] During the daytime men are seldom to be found in the encampment, as they are in the habit of hiding in the ditches and jungle, where the women take them their food; at night they return to their tents, but are off again at dawn.
[1] This article is based almost entirely on a description of the Sānsias contained in Colonel Sleeman’s Report on the Badhak or Bāgri Dacoits (1849). Most of the material belongs to a report drawn up at Nāgpur by Mr. C. Ramsay, Assistant Resident, in 1845.
[2] Sleeman’s Report on the Badhaks, p. 253.
[3] Ibidem, p. 254.
[4] Sir D. Ibbetson, Punjab Census Report (1881), para. 577.
[5] P. 259.
[6] The description of a dacoity is combined from two accounts given at pp. 257, 273 of Colonel Sleeman’s Report.
[7] Sorghum vulgare.
[8] Made of the bark of the date-palm tied with strips of cloth round some inflammable wood.
[9] Sleeman, p. 263.
[10] But it is unlucky for a snake to cross one’s path in front.
[11] Sleeman, pp. 261, 262.
[12] Committee of five persons.
[13] Ficus religiosa.
[14] The seer = 2 lbs.
[15] Criminal Classes in the Bombay Presidency; Sānsias and Berias.
[16] Mr. Gayer, Central Provinces Police Lectures; p. 68.