The profession of smith is one of the oldest among Rroma. It used to be the main profession of the Carpathian and Balkan Rroma. In those regions, Rroma were actually well known and established blacksmiths, settled in villages, but were also renowned weapon makers. In fact, both the cannons used by the Turks to conquer Europe and the ones that were used in defense were often produced by Rroma smith.
Such was their renown, that several Hungarian kings actually forbade the nobility to employ Rroma smiths without his explicit authorisation! In the Ottoman empire, many were employed as sabljari, saber-makers, directly under the Ottoman army jurisdiction. This gave rise to the so-called Cengene Sancak, an Ottoman army entity which employed many Rroma.
Interestingly enough, the smith terminology in Rromanes is not of Indian origin. Most terms are actually derived from the Greek (with some words of other language too). However, metal names are of Indian origins: sastro [iron], somnakaj or suvnakaj [gold], rup [silver]. Only two dialects have kept the old Indian pirdo [copper], while all others are using more recent acquisitions (xarkuma).