Baloch people

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Baloch
بلوچ
Balōč
Sardar Ibrahim Sanjrani, Iranian Baloch chiefs in Qajar era, c. 1884
Total population
56 Million
Regions with significant populations
 Pakistan48,142,977[1]
 Iran4,800,000[2]
 India1,000,000[3]
 Oman1,000,000[4]
 Afghanistan780,000[5]
 United Arab Emirates709,000[6]
 Turkmenistan68,000[7]
 Bahrain40,000[8]
Languages
Balochi, Brahui, Sistani, Lasi,Jadgali, Saraiki
Religion
Sunni Islam and Zikri Islam[1]

The Baloch (بلوچ) are an Iranian ethnic group who live in the region of Balochistan which includes the regions of southeastern Iran, southern Afghanistan, and southwestern Pakistan.

The Baloch speak the Balochi language, an Iranian language. They mainly live in mountainous places of the Iranian plateau in Iran, Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan. Balochistan is an arid semi-desert mountainous region inhabited by the Baloch people.

Baloch Race[change | change source]

Mansel Longworth Dames describes the Baloch as similar to the Parthians and narrates: The Baloch, when we first hear their name, were horse archers like the Parthians, and they have similar clothing.

Yaqut writes that Baloch are a dark name like Kurds in a vast land between Fars and Kerman, which is known as Balochistan, and they are hardworking people who live on the slopes of Qafs mountains. Qafs are strong people who are not afraid of anyone except Baloch.

In his book Al-Masalek and Al-Mamalek, Ibn Khordadbeh describes Baloch as a vast tribe living between Kerman and Fars, near the Qafs mountains, their power is great and their numbers are many.

Ibn Hawqal writes: There are seven tribes in these mountains, and they are considered to be of the Kurd race and tribe.

The author of the history of Sistan, in the description of the killing and destruction of many people "Sajji, Baluch and Magi " around Zareh ( Sistan Lake), mentions the presence of Baloch in this area in 661 AH / 1263 AD.

In the 9th century / 15th century, the author of Rouzat al-Jannat also mentions the Baloch farmers and nomads in several places; For example, he writes somewhere: The Baloch attacked the Formakan Grand Mosque in Esfazar and broke its carved pulpit and burned it instead of firewood (Esfzari, 1/117); In another place, he writes: Mubarakshah with his army attacked the Baluchs living in Herat province in 719 AH and stole their cattle (478/1). In his book, Mansour Rastgar Fasai mentions Baloch as an Iranian tribe that rushed to fight with Afrasiab with Siyâvash.

Ansari Damaschi writes: Another of the lands of Kerman are the seven mountains of Qafs. Countless groups of Kurds have settled in prominent mountains, one of these 7 Mountains.

Based on the research results of linguists, George Curzon considered the Baloch language to be of the Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, which is related to Middle Persian and Parthian languages. Kinship with the Northwestern.

In rejecting the theory of some western researchers about the Baloch People[change | change source]

For a long time, due to the lack of authentic documents and accurate anthropological information about the history of the people of eastern Iran, western scientists made risky and wrong mental conclusions and inferences about the reconstruction of the racial nature of the Baloch people, relying on insignificant and abstract information.

Their ideas at this time were based on assumptions to some extent, which caused the creation of various theories of this chapter. But the birth, establishment, and spread of Orientalism, which was roughly associated with the development of colonialism and imperialism, made Orientalists turn their attention to discovering facts about the East, including identifying the races of different human races, especially in the East of Iran.

They used all available linguistic, archeological, historical and similar facilities to prove their opinion in the field of the idea of dual division of races, cultures and societies, which was caused by their racism and Eurocentricity. According to Western Orientalists, any identity was defined within a wider European or non-European framework.

But gradually, the way orientalists treated, moderated the degree of influence of politics and politicization in examining various issues, including ethnology, which also applies to some extent in the field of identifying the racial nature of Baloch peoples.

Due to the lack of reliable and accurate documents, western scientists succeeded in drawing the racial nature of Baloch people by scientifically examining various cultural issues, including language and other aspects. Over time, the absurdity of the ideas of those who wanted to introduce the Baloch people as Arabs, Turks, Dravidians and Indian Rajputs became more apparent.

Rejecting the theory of Baloch being Arabs[change | change source]

The available evidence and historical events reject the theory of this people being Arabs, they all agree that this people were present in this region before the Arabs attacked, whether it was during the conquest of Kerman, when the Tazians attacked Kerman under the command of Sohail Bin Tzafi, the people of Kerman from The residents of Qafs got help.

Some researchers, while not rejecting the possibility of a part of the Baloch migrating from Sham to Makran, believe that these were only a part of the Baloch who went from Iran to Iraq and then to Syria in recent years.

It is possible that these Baloch tribes are part of the brave parts of the Sasanian army and have rushed to the aid of the central government or have been engaged in war duties in the areas close to Syria's Sham.

But in a historical period they have returned to their original homeland of Makran. Some Baloch researchers are of the opinion that the settlement of Baloch in Syria was related to the conversion of Baloch to Islam and their entry into the army of Islamic caliphs. Various Baloch tribes get permission to settle in parts of Syria in order to the efforts they show in the subsequent Muslim conquests (they have Arab-Kurdish roots).

The areas that are still known as Wadi al-Balous or Baloch land. Baloch cannot be pronounced in Arabic and is usually called al-Balush or al-Balous. According to the writings of Sarpresi Sykes in 1915 AD. There were other epic and ethnic legends and narratives among the Baloch people, according to which some tribes in Balochistan belonged to the semi-historical Kayanian dynasty. Such narrations contradict the theory that they migrated from Aleppo in Syria or their Semitic origin.

One of the other reasons that researchers believe that this tribe was present before the Arab invasion of Iran is Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. In the Shahnameh, they are fighters who attacked Turan with Siyâvash army to fight against Afrasiab, and their name is seen along with other Iranian tribes such as the Dilam tribe of Gilan, Pars Pahlu and the fighters of Saruch plain, and their flag also has a tiger pattern.

Due to this connection with the name of Gilan, some researchers, including Longworth Dames and William Spooner, consider Baloch and Koch as Gilans, who came to Kerman and Makran from the Caspian coastal areas. Another reason that strengthens this theory is the similarity and family of the Baloch language, which is included in the classification of northern and western Iranian languages.

According to Abdullah Naseri of contemporary Iran, he writes: The Baloch language is very similar to the Kurdish dialect to some extent. Kurdish language is very understandable for Baloch people and many Kurdish and Balochi words are the same. The similarity of language and clothing of Baloch and Kurds, both of them wear Parthian clothes, especially the pants of Kurds and Baloch, which is exactly Parthian clothing, gives rise to the impression that Kurds and Baloch people were both a single people that were separate from each other.

The French Eugène Evin says that the inhabitants of the western and southern mountains, the Kurds, the Lurs and the Balochs, are examples of the pure Iranian race, which have remained completely intact. (Arbabi 61:1387)

Longworth Dames scientifically investigates and says that the Baloch skull is of the Iranian broad-headed type, while the Arab and Indian are of the long-headed type, and if we consider the brain and physical characteristics of the Baloch, we must call him an Iranian race and like other people of the Iranian Plateau.

A few centuries ago, African slaves came to Balochistan. The colonists brought these slaves to the south and east of Iran. At that time, the purchase of slaves of African descent by the rulers of Balochistan reached its peak. This matter progressed to the point that now African immigrants are considered an inseparable part of Baloch tribes and culture. Rather, most of them adjusted their customs according to the traditions and customs of the people of Balochistan and now they live in.

Origin of Baloch[change | change source]

The history of the peoples of the world, and their countries, in which they lived, should have been recorded,from the date of their coming into existance. But such historical matter is not available anywhere in the world. As in ancient times, the people were not acquainted with the art of writing, to record their day to day accounts. They made good this shortfall by committing to memory their important events.Due to adoption of this method, a class of such persons came into being in every national society, whose duty was to memorize, the noteworthy accounts of their people, and transmit them to their comming generations or in the time of need,recite them before the public, to raise their morale. During the course of time these memorized historical accounts, transmitted from generation to generation, became the background of the historical traditions of the nations. When later on the human beings, succeeded in finding out the methed, to give shape to their expressions, that is, the art of writing They begand to record, first of all those memorized accounts of the important events, Thus such racordings of the past historical events, became the foundations of traditions, on which the early history of every nation is based. Similarly the primary base of the Baloch history is their traditions. According to Baloch traditions, they were the dwellers of the central Asian Steppes, area around the Caspian Sea.

Their first migration took place nearly 3800 years before Christ, from north to south. After entering Iran from north, they moved southward, and settled in the north western mountainous region of Iran called at present Azarbijan and later on moved to present province of Kurdistan. The History of Mardookh corroborates this tradition of the Balochs, the details of which would be narrated at the proper place. According to Koord Gal Name and the History of Mardookh, the Baloch and the Kurds are of the same stock and having a common ancestor.

They further state that the resemblance of their language,customs, social life, is the proof of their being of a common race, When in 853 3000, Kaikobad Chief of the Mad Kurd tribe, welded into a nation, the following six tribes of the Kurd race, that is, Booz, Partasani, lstroshat, Arizant, Boodi and Mad.

He established the Median Empire in the north western part of Iran, during this period the Warlike t tribes of the Kurds were taken to frontier regions of the empire and eetteled in these areas for defending the frontiers of the empireo So after the decline of the Median empire in 550 B.C. the relationship of the main body of the Kurdish nation was cut off, with those Kurdish tribes of the far flung areas of the empire, during the course of time, they became to be known with different appellations.

From the above account this fact becomes clear, that the second migration of the Baloches was effected,during the beginning of the median empire, from west to east; not under the political pressure, but by the concurrence of the Median Emperor Kaikobad. So these Baloches for the first time, under their original name,Brakhui Kurd, came to Balochistan,as the sentinals of the eastern frontier of the Median empire and settled in the vast region between Kirman and Sindh,which was the farthest eastern extremity of the Median Empire Besides the Brakhui Kurds.

The following Kurd tribes namely, Adargani, Zangana, Sabahi, Sanjavi, Safari,Kirmani,Mamali, Khani, Karma and Khalli,were also transported to the other eastern regions of the Empire, that is, Zabulistan,Mekran and Kirman. When the Brakhui Kurdas occupied the country of Balochistan in 854 B.C. it was known by the names of its regions, that is, Turan and Makuran. The Brakhui Kurds occupied the Turanic part of the country, which was adjacent to the country of Sindh, the present Kalat plateau. The other above mentioned Kurdish tribes spread in Kerman, Sistan and Makran part of Balochistan, and settled there.The ancient historical documents reveal that these Kurdish tribes, later on, nearly three centuries back, during the reign of the Achaemenians dynasty, in 550 B.C. designated with the Baloch appelation. Since then these tribes are being introduced by the authors of the renowned historical works, as Baloch tribes, changing their Kurdish nationality into Baloch nationality, reasons better known to them which they have not clarified. But this fact is worth mentioning that a famous ’Persian Dictionary compiled by Mohammad Hussain bin Khalaf al Tabrezi in 1651 A.D at Hyderababd Deccan in India, and dedicated to Sultan Abdullah Kutab Shah, ruler of Golconda which was later on translated into Turkish and presented to Sultan Saleem III of Turkey in 1790, a revised and annotated edition of whhch was published in Tehran in 4 volumes, defined "Baloch" as "a cook's comb or crest". As the military Badge of the Kurdish tribes living in Turan, Makran and Zabul was cook's comb. So it is just possible that due to this reason they were named Baloch. These Kurdish tribes, obeying the divine decree, accepted the new national name and assumed it for ever.

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  1. "Demography of Religion in the Gulf". Mehrdad Izady. 2013.