SOURCE: http://confluente.org/marian_nutu_ca...504676964.html

Mircea Lăcătuş, it is mistakenly believed that the Hungarian, Vali Istvan, discovered that the Roma were Indian after meeting some students from Malabar who used Indian words just like his Roma friends. It is an inaccurate assumption. The Roma knew that they were Indians, it was common knowledge, and in 1590 they stated this fact to Cesare Vecellio, who wrote that fact into his work “Degli habiti antichi et moderni di diverse parti del mondo” [On the ancient and modern costumes of various parts of the world], in which he illustrated a collection of traditional costumes including the costume of Eastern Gypsies, and on the back of the engraving is the caption “Cingara orientale, overo donna errante” [Eastern Gypsy, or nomadic woman]. In the text of the engraving he gives information about these Indians. Below is presented the fragmentary text in Italian as it occurs in the article “On the Former Costume of Gypsies”, written by Henry Thomas Crofton.

Here is the text in medieval Italian on page 466 of the 1590 edition; the text has been corrupted in other editions, throwing its meaning into doubt:

Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society n.s.v.2 , 1908-1909, pag. 223

"Qvesta e vna sorte di gente, la quale va errando tre giorni in vn luogo, et tre in vn altro, et non hanna mai luogo permanente, sono Christiane, ma hanno qualche diuersita dalla Fede nostra Cattolica. Il lor Signore, et altri fra loro Nobili s'infarinano la faccia, e tutto il resto del corpo con farina di sandali macinati, et altri odori preciosissimi. Hanno vn Signore, quale dimandano il Re di Colucut, il quale come Gentile fa adorare il Demonio in vera forma scolpito, et dipinto, dicendo, che sia stato mandato da Dio par far giustitia, se ben credono in Dion anchora. Questo tal Re ha alcuni Bramini, ouero Sacerdoti, i quali stima assai, et quando esso Re vuole pigliar moglie, fa che vno di questi Sacrdoti piu honorato dorma prima con la sua Sposa, et gli leui la verginita, et poi la paga di quatttrocento, o cinquecento ducati, dandogli liberta per sempre di poter vsar carnalmente con essa Regina, sotto al cui Regno sono cueste sorti di gente. L`Habito della sopra-posta Cingara e, che porta in capo vna diadema accomodata di legno ligiero, coperta di fasce di tela di molte braccia lunghe. Vsa camice lauorate di seta, et d`oro diuersi colori con molta bell` opera, et lunghe quais fino a? piedi, le quali hanno le maniche large, et lauorate con belissimi ricami, et lauori. Si lega vn manto di panno sopra vna spalla, et se lo fa passare sotto l?altro braccio, et e tanto lungo, che arriua quasi fino ao i piedi. I capelli suoi cadono dalla testa sopra le spalle, et con qualche figliuolino sostenuto da qualche fascia legata al coll di essa vanno cosi vagando."

[There is a certain group of people, who stop for three days in one place, and three in another, and have no permanent home, they are Christians, but they have some differences from our Catholic Faith. Their Lord and other Nobles smear their faces, and all the rest of the body with ground sandalwood, and other precious scents. They have a Lord, whom they call the King of Colucut, who like a Gentile worships the Devil as an accurately carved and painted likeness, saying that his God-given task was to do justice, if indeed they believe in God now. This King has some Brahmins, or priests, who are much respected, and when the King wants to take a wife, one the most respected of these priests has to sleep first with his bride, and take her virginity, and then a payment of four or five hundred ducats, gives him the freedom forever to use her carnally, as his Queen, under whose rule these people live. The clothing of the Gypsy shown above has her wearing on her head a coronet made from light wood, covered with canvas bands many feet long. They wear shirts worked in silk, of many colours and fine decoration, with long tails reaching down to their feet, which have large and finely embroidered and worked sleeves. She ties a cloth mantle over one shoulder, so that it goes under her other arm, and it is so long that it reaches almost to her feet. Her hair falls from her head over her shoulders, and perhaps with a baby held in a kind of band tied round her neck, they go wandering.]

The above text is scandalous from the viewpoint of Romani purity practices.

On page 472 of the 1589 edition, the title is Libro XI degli habiti dell'Asia, Indo Orientale di Conditione [Book XI on the costumes of Asia, East India, (high) status]. On the next page we find the drawing of a Gypsy woman, with specifically Indian clothing and Indian appearance, with the caption Cingara orientale [Eastern Gypsy] – shown in the picture at the head of the article. On page 472 we read the title Mulier orientalis, que vulgo Cingara dicitur -- [Eastern woman, commonly called Gypsy]. Page 474 shows another Indian, labelled Donna Indiana Orientale di conditione [Eastern Indian woman of (high) status], or Nobilis Mulier Indica Orientalis [Noble Eastern Indian woman]. On page 475, we see the costume of a woman described as Indiana Orientale di mediocre conditione [Eastern Indian (woman) of average status].

As for the name “Egyptian” being given to the Roma, it appears to have been “borrowed” from the Athinganoi, who called themselves the Little Egyptians, because they came from Little Egypt, which was located in Greece, near the Fortress of Modon.

It is clear that Cingari were Indians, since they mentioned the name of Calcutta, and they had Brahmins, priests. Moreover, the chapter in Veccelio's work is dedicated to Indian costumes.

There also exists a medieval document, reproduced in Rerum Italicarum Scriptores XIX (Milan, 1731) which states that the monk Hieronymus writing in the Forli Chronicle (1422), mentions that some Gypsies said that they came from India.

Read and educate yourself, Mr. Mircea Lăcătuş.