Romani people in Iran

Firdusi, in his poem Shahnamah, documented that around the year 420, the Persian monarch Bahram V (reigning from 420 to 438) requested the Indian ruler to send twelve thousand Dom musicians to divert his subjects from the monotony of their everyday existence. These Doms—one of the various names by which this group was known at the time—were compensated for their musical performances with grain and land, enabling them to thrive. However, in this tale, the Doms were perceived as indolent; they consumed the grain but avoided cultivating the land. Consequently, the king had no choice but to banish them, condemning them to a life of perpetual wandering, relying on smuggling and begging for their sustenance. Romani people were later expelled from Persia after the death of Caliph al-Ma'mūn.^[2][3][4]