Baloch people
The Baloch or Baluch are an Iranian nomadic pastoral ethnic group which speaks the Western Iranic Balochi language and are native to the Balochistan region of South and West Asia, occupying parts of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There are also Baloch diaspora communities in neighbouring regions, including in Central Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula.
The majority of the Baloch reside within Pakistan. About 50% of the total Baloch population live in the Pakistani province of Balochistan, while 40% are settled in Sindh and a significant albeit smaller number resides in the Pakistani Punjab. They make up 3.6% of Pakistan's total population, and around 2% of the populations of both Iran and Afghanistan and the largest non-Arab community in Oman.
Etymology
The exact origin of the word "Baloch" is unclear. According to the Baloch historian Naseer Dashti, the name of the ethnic group derives from 'Balaschik' living in Balasagan, between the Caspian Sea and Lake Van in present-day Turkey and Azerbaijan, who are believed to have migrated to Balochistan during the Sasanian times. The remnants of the original name such as "Balochuk" and "Balochiki" are said to be still used as ethnic names in Balochistan.Some other writers suggest a derivation from Sanskrit words bal, meaning strength, and och meaning high or magnificent.
Regardless of its possible roots in ancient era, the ethnonym Baloch might be derived from a term cockscomb or crest used in Middle Persian that refer to the Baloch in Median kingdom and Kayanian dynasty who were part of the army of Astyages or Kay Khosrow troops. In ancient time, the Baloch wore distinctive helmets decorated with a cock's comb. It is presumably indicated to Turban that known as the "Paag" in Balochi language. The Baloch traditionally wear various styles of the turban, wrapped around the head.
Ernst Emil Herzfeld believes that the word Baloch is derived from the Median term "*brza -vačiya" meaning "loud shouting".
An earliest Sanskrit reference to the Baloch might be the Gwalior inscription of the Gurjara-Pratihara ruler Mihira Bhoja, which says that the dynasty's founder Nagabhata I repelled a powerful army of Valacha Mlecchas, translated as "Baluch foreigners" by D. R. Bhandarkar. The army in question is that of the Umayyad Caliphate after the conquest of Sindh.
Language
Balochi is an Indo-European language, spoken by the Baloch and belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the family. As an Iranian language, it is classified in the Northwestern group, spoken primarily in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. In addition, there are speakers in Oman, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Turkmenistan, East Africa and in diaspora communities in other parts of the world.Uppsala University offers a course titled Balochi A, which provides basic knowledge of the phonetics and syntax of the Balochi language. Carina Jahani is a prominent Swedish Iranologist and professor of Iranian languages at Uppsala University, deeply researching in the study and preservation of the Balochi language.
There are a number of characteristic features that Balochi shares to Parthian and Median and close affinity with them.
The Balochi dialects are classified as:
- Eastern group
- Southern group or Makrani dialect
- Western group
Many Baloch are either bilingual or multilingual, speaking the language of their respective nation of origin, such as Urdu, Persian, and Arabic as a second language alongside their native Balochi, while those in diaspora communities often speak three or more languages.
History
Antiquity
During the rule of Achaemenid, the Baloch were among rebellious Medes and Parthians who supported Bardiya against Darius I and later allied with Darius III in the Battle of Gaugamela with Alexander.Agha Mir Nasir Khan Ahmadzai the author of seven-volume book on the history of Baloch and Balochistan, connects Balochs with Medes and considers them descendants of the Medes, the people of ancient Iran. He makes mention of all Baloch tribes are descendants of the Medes, who came to Balochistan and settled in ancient time.
Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr is a surviving Middle Persian text on Sasanian administrative geography and history, based on the source, Padishkhwārgar was a Sasanian province in Late Antiquity and people who contributed to building 21 cities in Padishkhwargar were the Kōfyār "mountain dweller" people called Baločān "Balochs".
Mansel Longworth Dames in 1902 stated that "a theory of the origin of the Baloch people, the largest ethnic group in the region, is that they are of Median descent."
The Baloch were among Kay Khosrow allies and formed part of his army headed by General Ashkash. This is depicted in the mythological part of the Shahnamah a prose work written in Middle Persian.
Also in another piece of this pose which is depicted in the same work:
During the Sassanid era, Anoshervan and Ardashir fought against the Balochs and After initially sustaining a defeat, succeeded in subjugating the Baloch. The Baloch scattered in the Makran and Kerman regions, areas that formed the southeastern frontier of the Sassanid Empire. Periodic uprisings or refusals to pay tribute might have been part of their interactions with the Sassanid kings.
Medieval period
According to Baloch lore, their ancestors hail from Aleppo in what is now Syria. After the fight against abbasid Caliph Harun under Ameer Hamza the Kharijites leader migrated to east or southeast of the central Caspian region, specially toward to east or southeast of the central Caspian region, specially toward Sistan, Iran.Based on an analysis of the linguistic connections of the Balochi language, which is one of the Western Iranian languages, the original homeland of the Baloch tribes was likely to the east or southeast of the central Caspian region. The Baloch began migrating towards the east in the late Sasanian period. The cause of the migration is unknown but may have been as a result of the generally unstable conditions in the Caspian area. The migrations occurred over several centuries.
By the 9th century, Arab writers Istakhri, Yaqut al-Hamawi and Al-Muqaddasī refer to the Baloch as a distinct ethnical group living in the area between Kerman, Khorasan, Sistan, and Makran. Ibn Khordadbeh, in Kitab al-Masalik wal-Mamalik, describes the geography of Makran, and mentions the Baloch as They are powerful, numerous, and engaged in animal husbandry, their houses are made of wood. Al-Muqaddasī documented that Panjgur was the capital of Makran and that it was populated by people called Baloch.
The 12th century Seljuk invasion of Kerman seemed to have stimulated the further eastwards emigration of the Baloch, towards what is now the Balochistan province of Pakistan, although some remained behind and there are still Baloch in the eastern parts of the Iranian Sistan-Baluchestan and Kerman provinces. By the 13th–14th centuries, waves of Baloch were moving into Sindh, and by the 15th century into the Punjab.
Dayaram Gidumal writes that a Baloch legend is backed up by the medieval Qarmatians. The fact that the Kalmatis were ethnic Baluchis is also confirmed by the Persian historian in the 16th century Muhammad Qasim Ferishta.
Traditionally, Jalal Khan was the ruler and founder of the first Baloch confederacy in the 12th century. Jalal Khan left four sons – Rind Khan, Lashar Khan, Hoth Khan, Korai Khan and a daughter, Bibi Jato, who married his nephew Murad. Since 12th century Baloch chieftains ruled over most of Balochistan. Mir Jalal khan and Mir Chakar after the establishment of the Baloch Confederation, They extended their dominance on outside the borders of Balochistan, Mir Chakar seized control over Punjab and captured Multan. The great Baloch kingdom was based on tribal confederation, Punjab and Balochistan remained under his rule for a period of time.
According to Akhtar Baloch, professor at University of Karachi, the Baloch migrated from Balochistan during the Little Ice Age and settled in Sindh and Punjab. The Little Ice Age is conventionally defined as a period extending from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, or alternatively, from about 1300 to about 1850.
The area where the Baloch tribes settled was disputed between the Persian Safavids and the Mughal emperors. Although the Mughals managed to establish some control over the eastern parts of the area, by the 17th century, a tribal Brahui leader named Mir Hasan established himself as the first "Khan of the Baloch". In 1666, he was succeeded by Mir Aḥmad Khan Qambarani who established the Khanate of Kalat under the Ahmadzai dynasty. Originally in alliance with the Mughals, the Khanate lost its autonomy in 1839 with the signing of a treaty with the British colonial government and the region effectively became part of the British Raj.
Safavid period
The Baluch tribes revolted against the Safavid government. Engelbert Kaempfer writes about this: Despite their small numbers, they attacked Suleiman Shah with their fortifications.During the Safavid dynasty sought to incorporate the Baloch regions into its administrative structure, the Baloch tribes maintained their autonomy through resistance, strategic alliances. In the reign of Soltan Hoseyn, a number of Baloch chiefs, ruling Balochistan and neighbouring areas.