Kalbeliya are a community living in the Thar desert, in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Considered as untouchables, these independent people try to do their own things their own way, they try to preserve their values and customs despite the pressure of change. Like other nomads of the region, they were once part of the mobile market that took its wares to the remote villages located far away from the main commercial centres.
Among all the itinerant “castes”, each one was specialized : each community distributed specific commodities that ranged from cattle, herbal medicines, salt, bamboo poles and drums to thread and needles, buttons and beads. For example, the Gaduliya Lohar ( I have already written a post about this community) set up smithy and repair workshops for a few days in the villages. While domestic looms existed, the Kalbeliya made and marketed the spindle for the loom. But with…