The Baluchis
The Baluchis are said to come of Arab stock. Their legends and traditions attribute their origin to Hamzah, an Arab of the Koreish tribe, which claimed the honour of including the prophet Mahomet as one of its number. Mahomet is said to have been Hamzah’s nephew. Notwithstanding the fact that some Mahomedan peoples are in the habit of employing elaborate fiction in their claims to close connection with their prophet, it still remains that there is much evidence in favour of the general tradition existing among the Baluchis as to their Arab origin.
The traditional Hamzah, progenitor of the Baluchi race, is regarded as one of the most important of the early Mahomedan chiefs. He is pictured as a mighty warrior, a man of Herculean strength and high courage; hence his romantic and classical sobriquet, “Lion of God.” The tradition runs that Hamzah was killed at the battle of Ohod in 625 a.d. His descendants and adherents settled about Aleppo, whence they were driven by Yezid, son and successor of Muavia, and first Omeyeid Kalif. It seems that the reason for this expulsion was that Hamzah and his tribe had given assistance to Hössein, grandson of the prophet, in his attempt to oust Yezid from the position which he had occupied.
Being driven forth into the desert, the tribe migrated eastward as far as Persia, where, as pastoral nomads, they wandered and lived and multiplied to such an extent as to cause considerable alarm to the Persian monarch. It is to this sojourn that the Baluchis attribute their obvious admixture of Persian blood and characteristics. As their rapid increase in numbers promised trouble to the Persian kingdom, steps were taken to expel them, and they ultimately descended into an uninhabited tract south-east of Mekran—a country to which no one laid any definite claim. From this point they gradually spread over the whole of the country now known as Baluchistan, driving before them all the peoples who had so far emigrated to that region. It will be seen from this that the probabilities are decidedly in favour of the Arab origin of the Baluchis. Yet it has been contended by some that they are a race of Turkish stock, since certain of their rites and customs seem to be drawn from that source; nevertheless it is more probable, from all the available facts, that the Turcoman and Persian characteristics and survivals are merely the result of a temporary admixture.
Very little is known of the early history of the warlike Baluchis beyond what can be drawn from tradition, unsupported by any written historical records. One of their chief traditions is that Jalal Khan, who led them out of Persia, had four sons, named Rind, Hot, Lashari, and Korai; and a daughter named Jato. At the present day there are five distinct tribes which still bear the names of these five children of Jalal Khan; but of these tribes the Rind and Lashari soon acquired, by reason of their superior force of character, a predominant influence, so that, as the people multiplied and split up into an ever-increasing number of tribes, all these fell under the domination of the Rind or the Lashari. Gradually in this way all the Baluchi race came to be divided under two great heads, the Rind and the Lashari—a division which has been determined, not by descent, but by political sympathy.
The Rind division possess a great traditional hero, Mir Chakar, who is supposed to have lived in the sixteenth century, and to have been a powerful dependent of the Moghul Emperor Humayun, giving him great assistance in his re-conquest of the Delhi throne. In return for this Humayun bestowed upon Mir Chakar a large tract of land on the frontier, and it is more than probable that the Baluchis’ settlements on the southern frontier were founded in this way.
The Lashari faction also had their traditional hero, Mir Gwahram Khan, of whom many stories of heroism are recorded. His name has still a sound of glory for the Lasharis.
The Baluchis follow the Mahomedan religion, but, like the Gurkhas, they are not religious by nature, preferring practical pursuits and tangible material ideals, chief among which is war. It is not that they are less bigoted than many of the other races, but rather that they are more practical. Their language is a rude and far-off dialect of the early Persians, and they have no form of written literature.
Although the Baluchi differs greatly from the Pathan in the matter of religion, there are many points in common in regard to social character. The Baluchi has the manly, frank, brave, strong nature of the Pathan, with a fund of patience rendering him capable of enduring endless hardship, and a fine dignified carriage and physique combined with a spirit of quick daring and sudden ferocity; to these qualities he adds the virtues of truth, fidelity, and simple generosity. His condemnation of servility, insolence, deceit, and treachery in many tribes is indicative of his character. His wild, free, open-air life, combined with the artificial restraints of civilisation, has given him a bold and resolute air of vigour and self-reliance. It redounds to his fundamental integrity to find still existing in Baluchistan a kind of altar or sacred stone—“a stone or cairn of cursing—erected as a perpetual memorial to the treachery of one who betrayed his fellow.” His chivalry is superior to that of some more cultured races, for, wild as he is, he will not harm the women and children even of his bitterest foe. Yet his moral code allows him to plunder and to loot on a wholesale scale. But set against this is his strong adherence to discipline, a quality which has developed more and more during his closer touch with the British.
If a Baluchi were allowed his own choice of weapons in any fight whatever, his immediate selection would be a long knife, a sword, and a shield. He has never found any material use for the matchlock, which has always been so dear to the heart of the Pathan. He is a born knifer, and loves to kill at close quarters—a fact based upon the primitive blood-thirstiness of his nature, “blood for blood” being his motto. The tales of the Baluchi’s prodigal hospitality to a stranger within his gates, and then waylaying and murdering him on his departure, must be discredited in these days, when these fierce instincts have been turned into worthier channels. Nor should any credence be accorded to such stories of degradation as picture him the habitué of the opium, hemp, and gambling dens; for, though he may have been prone to wild excesses, recent years have seen nobler ambitions placed before him, and certainly those Baluchis now showing their loyalty and love for Britain and the right on the battlefields of Europe are not of the class of whom these stories have been told. A word of praise must be given to the Baluchi’s horse, which he rides as if it were a part of him. Baluchistan produces some of the finest horses in the world.
The Baluchi Regiments, With Their Battle Honours
Cavalry
37th Lancers. (Baluch Horse.) Raised 1885.
Class Squadron Regiment. 2 squadrons Derajat Mussalmans (including Baluchis), 1 squadron Pathans, 1 squadron Sikhs.
Uniform.—Khaki serge, facings buff. (No service.)
WITH THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, 1914.
Infantry
126th Baluchistan Infantry. Raised 1825.
Class Company Regiment. 2 companies Hazaras, 1 company Khattacks, 1 company Waziris, 2 companies Baluchis and Brahmans, 2 companies Sikhs and other Jat Sikhs.
Battle Honours.—“Persia,” “Khooshab,” “China 1900.”
Uniform.—Drab (red serge trousers), facings scarlet.
127th Queen Mary’s Own Baluch Light Infantry. Raised 1844.
Class Company Regiment. 4 companies Pathans, 2 companies Hill Baluchis, 2 companies Punjabi Mussalmans.
Badge.—In each of the four corners the Cypher of Queen Mary.
Battle Honours.—“Delhi,” “Abyssinia,” “Afghanistan 1878/80,” “Burma 1885,” “British East Africa 1897/99.”
Uniform.-Green (red serge trousers), facings scarlet.
129th Duke of Connaught’s Own Baluchis. Raised 1846.
Class Company Regiment. 4 companies North-west Frontier Pathans, 2 companies Hill Baluchis, 2 companies Punjabi Mussalmans.
Battle Honours.—“Persia,” “Reshire,” “Bushire,” “Khooshab,” “Kandahar 1880,” “Afghanistan 1878/80,” “Egypt 1882,” “Tel-el-Kebir.”
Uniform.—Green (red serge trousers), facings scarlet.
130th King George’s Own Baluchis. (Jacob’s Rifles.) Raised 1858.
Class Company Regiment. 3 companies Pathans, 2 companies Mahsuds, 3 companies Punjabi Mussalmans.
Badges.—The Plume of the Prince of Wales and the Royal and Imperial Cypher.
Battle Honours.—“Afghanistan 1878/80,” “China 1900.”
Uniform.—Green (red serge trousers), facings scarlet.