NEW DELHI, February 15, 2016 (Daily Pioneer by K.G. Suresh): Inaugurating the three-day International Roma Conference and Cultural Festival 2016 in New Delhi on Friday, Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj described the people of the Roma community spread across various parts of the world as children of India, who migrated and lived in challenging circumstances in foreign lands for centuries while retaining their Indian identity.
Asserting that there was credible evidence which indicated the migration of the Roma community from India towards the West in the fifth century, she said, “We Indians are proud of the progress and name that the Roma community has made for itself at the local and international level. More significantly so, because the process of adaptation, diffusion and progress was based on Indian value systems of peaceful co-existence, respecting other cultures and contributing towards growth. Roma maintained Indian traditions in the countries that were unaware of India, and its culture and traditions.”
There is an estimated population of at least 20 million Romas worldwide. Romas are believed to be descendants of nomadic groups from north-west India. Both linguistic evidence and genetic information have confirmed the Indian origin of the Romas. In 1782, Johann Christian Christoph Rudiger published his research that pointed out the relationship between the Romani language and Hindustani. Subsequent studies have supported the hypothesis that Romani shared a common origin with the Indo-Aryan languages of Northern India.
More of the Roma history at “source”.