ABSTRACT
Bangala is a nomadic tribe, mostly snake charmers, whose main occupation is playing been, or gourd pipe, i.e, begging and selling herbal medicines. K. Suresh Singh, in his People of India, refers to them as Bangali, Sapera, Sapela, Spado or Jogi (2003: 66). He also quotes Ibbetson:
In the Punjab… none of these people have been returned in our census tables as Bangali by caste, … that in the Delhi division Bangalis have been included with Sansi… The Bangalis have very probably been included with Jogis in the return. These are a vagrant tribe of immigrants from Bengal. They keep dogs and donkeys and exhibit snakes, and have a dialect of their own… The name is also applied generally to Muslim jugglers. (Ibid.: 66)
