balochracehistor00damerich

34 THE BALOCH RACE
the Seljuq invasion and the overthrow of the DailamI
and Ghaznawl power in Persia ; the second move was to
Eastern Mekran and the Sindh border, corresponding with
the invasions of Changiz Khan and the wanderings of
Jalalu'ddm Mangbarni in Makran.
This second movement introduced the Baloches first
into the Indus Valley, and prepared the way for the third
and last migration, by which a great portion of the Baloch
race was precipitated into the plains of India. The last
movement corresponds in its commencement with the
conquests of Taimur, and in its later developments with the
invasions of India by Babar and the Arghims.
Although historical data are wanting, their place is to
some extent supplied by tradition, which among the
Baloches, especially the tribes of the Sulaiman Mountains,
is full and circumstantial, and contained in numerous
heroic ballads of ancient date. 1 The traditional narrative,
as far as it possesses any value, may be said to commence
with the sojourn in Sistan. Before that the legend simply
asserts that the Baloches were descended from Mir Hamza,
the Prophet's uncle, and from a Pari, and that they took
part in the wars of 'All's sons against Yazld and fought
at Kerbela. This is merely the introduction, the descent
from some Muhammadan notable or from someone men-
tioned in the Qur-an, which is considered necessary to
every respectable Musalman race, just as the Kalhoras of
Sindh and the Daudpotras of Bahawalpur claim descent
from ' Abbas, and the sons of Hindus converted to Muhammadanism
are called Sheikh, and blossom into Qureshis of
the purest blood. Between Kerbela and Sistan there is a
gap, and the settlement in the latter is really the starting-
point of the legend. The Baloches are represented in the
old ballads, as I have always heard the tale related, as
arriving in Sistan and being hospitably received by a King
named Shamsu'd-dln. After a time another King arose
1 As far as I am aware, all the ballads of this nature have been
collected among the Northern Baloshes, and none in Mekran.