[Restorer]

there's a theory that the original Gypsy population fled India ahead of Moslem invaders.

Not terribly likely, I suspect, as they would have had to traverse thousands of miles of solidly Muslim territory to reach Europe.

It is most likely that they are descended from one of the many "criminal castes" of India, which you can still read about in the old pre-PC Indian literature.

[muawiyah]

As the Moslems invaded the Indus Valley, they were still invading the area we now call Afghanistan. Not sure where all those Moslems in the North were located at the time ~ since most of those folks were still Buddhist.

If we are talking of a relatively small population of about 1,000 people, there would not have been a serious problem in avoiding the Islamic conquest of the area.

[Cronos]

It is most likely that they are descended from one of the many "criminal castes" of India, which you can still read about in the old pre-PC Indian literature.

That is interesting -- I was reading some Indian newspapers and they still refer to criminal tribes. Mayhaps the gypsies were descended from these who were pushed out of India?