Message #18261

[Zainab_M]

No sister Heba, I don't think there was an specific exodus at a specific time.  It was more a gradual diaspora that started in ancient times.  You could be right that it started before the 6th century, these people escaping the social apartheid of the caste system in India.  Back in those days migration was easy, no stringent rules, no costly paperworks, no border vigilence.  So it was easy for them to flee persecution and find refuge in other lands.   

From what I know, presently there are not many Dom people in the Middle East.  Some have gradually blended with the Roma in Europe.  They are in countries like Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia,  Poland and Ukraine.  They are also found in Britain and France.  They were in largest numbers in Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, from where they spread almost everywhere in Europe.  The Roma people are scattered around at least 30 European countries as well as USA.  Italy in particular sees them as quite a nuisance.  Everywhere they are a minority. 

Roma, also called Romani, are nowadays also referred to as Europe's ancient south Asians.  At present, if you research their ancestry, you will find several of Dom origin among them too.  I think about 3 or 4 years ago there was some sort of international Roma conference which was attended by India's external affairs minister.  He admitted that roma people were descendants of Indians and they were symbolic of "Indian diaspora."   This includes Roma and Dom, but it's the ethnic title Roma that still remains.