The Bangali may refer to a Scheduled Caste found in northern India. They are distinct from the Bengali ethnic group of West Bengal. The Bangali are one of the many nomadic groupings found in India, and have customs similar to other nomadic communities such as the Kanjar. Origin The Bangali are semi-nomadic tribal grouping, who are said to by origin Sansiya. They are said to have separated from the Sansi parent group when they took up snake charming. The majority of the Bangali are now settled, occupying their settlements of reed huts at the edge of established villages. They are found mainly in the Doab region, with two clusters, one in Muzaffarnagar District in the villages of Bhokaredhi, Kamhera, and Kithora and the other in Bijnor District, in the villages of Raoli and Seemla Fatehpur. The Bangali speak their own dialect, which contains substantial Punjabi loanwords. In Haryana, traditions point to the fact that they originally belonged to the Deha community, who took begging and snake charming, and as such were ostracised from the parent community. The Bangali speak Haryanvi, and live in multi-caste villages. In Punjab, the Bangali are also known as Sapela, Sipado or Jogi, and are traditionally associated with snake charming. Like many other nomadic peripatetic castes, the Bangali claim a Rajput origin. In this new environment, the community took to living by hunting and trapping. Denzil Ibbetson considered the Bangali simply to be a sub-group of the Kanjar community. In Punjab, they are found mainly in the districts of Jalandhar and Gurdaspur, and they speak Punjabi. Present circumstances The Bangali are strictly endogamous community, but have no system of gotras. They are generally divided into the Hindu and Muslim groupings, with no intermarriage between the two groupings. The Hindu Bangali trace their ancestry to a Shivai Ram Rajput, who is said to have immigrated from Bengal, while the Muslim Bangali claim to be Lodhi Pathans, who are said to have come from Bengal. Most Hindu Bangalis were followers of Sakhi Sarwar, however most are now orthodox Hindu. The Muslim branch are Sunni Muslims. The Bangali are a landless community, and are involved mainly in the rearing of donkeys, ox, fox, buffalos and goats, as well as collecting roots and other minor forest products. A great number are now employed as agricultural labourers. Each of their settlement contains an informal caste council, known as a biradari panchayat.