the baluch and the brahui and their rebellions - Tribal Analysis Center

The Baluch and the Brahui - and their RebellionsThe Baluch and the Brahui – and their Rebellions“…Such a system might work well so long as there was a strong ruler in Kalat, butonce his power diminished, the natural result was civil war…”R. Hughes-Buller, 1901The gate of Kalat ca. 1910The tribes inhabiting Baluchistan came under the identical pressures influencing the tribes of Afghanistan during their violent histories. Livingat the crossroads of Central Asia had one great disadvantage, and this involved the repeated and serial invasions by migrating tribes pressed from theiroriginal homelands and armies bent upon conquest. Generally, these invasions came from the west – along the same route of the tribal migrations. Insouthern Afghanistan, individual tribes began to organize themselves into larger aggregations in hopes of defending themselves against the repeatedthreats emerging from the west of their tribal areas. Only the armies of Alexander the Great entered the region using the “northern route,” and evenhe chose the more obvious southern route as his men struggled to depart from Central Asia. The terrain of the south, less the large desert areas, wasan ideal invasion route and army after army used it.The Baluch tribes also migrated into the region from the west. Their traditions say they originated from the vicinity of Aleppo, Syria, whilescholars studying comparative linguistics suggest their origin in an area of the Caspian Sea, possibly a waypoint with extended residence before beingpressed further east by the arrival of more aggressive migrants. Regardless, the Baluch tribes were present in Baluchistan in 1000 A.D. and werementioned in Firdausi’s book, Shahnamah (the Book of Kings), and like all invading armies they were described as being aggressive, “like battlingrams all determined on war.” 1As the last of the migrating tribes to arrive, the Baluch had to displace or assimilate the tribes that were already present and occupying the land.Opposed by the powerful Brahui 2 tribes, the Baluch were able to overcome them until an extended civil war broke out between the Rind and LashariBaluch tribes which weakened them substantially.After defeating the Brahui under their chief, Mir Chakar of the Rind tribe in approximately 1487, the Baluch kingdom was destroyed in the 30-year civil war between the Rind tribe and its rival, the Lasharis. The Baluch had expanded eastward as they spread into modern Pakistan’s Sind and1. www.geocities.com/pak_history/baluchistan.html accessed on 15 August 2009.2. The Brahui tribes were probably in the region long before the arrival of the migrating series of invaders from the east and may have been the original inhabitants of the region.Alone among the region’s inhabitants, the Brahui speak Dravidian, a language found deep within India.Tribal Analysis Center, 6610-M Mooretown Road, Box 159. Williamsburg, VA, 23188