Koch and Baloch

Kuch and Baloch or QOFṢ, the arabised form of Kufiči, “mountain dweller,” the name of the people of southeastern Iran, the medieval country of not conquered nomadic tribes in the 9th and 10th centuries, in other sources one can meet as Balustan, which means Country Balochs or Balochistan.

Etymology

In ancient time the country east of Kerman, was named Kusan, throughout the Sasanian period ; the Brahui a division of the Belus rejoined their Kushite brethren in Makran, by crossing from Arabia, and still speak a Scythiс dialect ; while the names of Koch and Baloch, for Kus and Belus , remain to the present day.

History

In 10th century a. d. but Ferdowsi refers to a still earlier period, and in his Shahnameh ("Book of Kings"), the Baloches are described as forming part of the armies of Kai Kaus and Kai Khusrao. The poem says that the army of Ashkash was from the wanderers of the Koch and Baloch, intent on war, with exatled cockscomb crests, whose back none in the world ever saw. Under Nausherwan, the Chosroes who fought against Justinian, the Baloch are again mentioned as mountaineers who raided his kingdom and had to be exterminated, though later on find them serving in Nausherwan's own army. In these passages their association with the men of Gil and Dailam would appear to locate the Baloch in a province north of Kerman towards the Caspian sea.

"Hudud al-Alem" reports on the Koch and Baloch countries there were seven main authoritative tribes, each of which was ruled by a separate leader, although it indicates the commonality of their occupations and way of life.In the desert Kerman and Makran were ruled by the wandering gangs of Balochs (tribes of Balochi), whose endurance was in the Kufs mountains of the Kerman border, a people with savage faces, evil hearts, and neither morals nor manners.

Military History

The story of Sultan Mahmud's organization of a campaign against the heap and Baluchis and the use of military cunning by the troops of Mahmud (poisoning of apples) is given in a version close to the "Siyasatnama" variant in "Tarih-i-Goside". A somewhat excellent variant of the story is at Aufi.

As noted by Muhammad Nizam ad-Din, there are two plots put together in the Siaset Nama: a) the relations of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni with Abu-Ali-i-Ilyas about the capture of the first Ray , b) the campaign on Kochs and Baloches in Aufi at the head of the Ghaznavids troops are not "some emir", and the son of Sultan Mahmud - Emir Masud.

The events described in the letter to the name of Muhammad b. Ilyas and related to the capture of Sultan Mahmoud Ray, are confirmed in other sources. Majd al-Dawlal (997-1029), was the last representative of the Buyid dynasty in Iran. Having inherited his father at the age of four, he was actually and formally under the tutelage of a mother who bore the title of "patron of the kingdom." The capture of Sultan Mahmud Ray at 420 (= 1029), as a result of his general policy aimed at seizing the western regions of Iran, meant the end of the reign of this weak and highly devoted sovereign. The reproaches in unbelief contained in the "Siaset-nime" letter are confirmed in the events that followed the capture of Ray, many of the associates of Majd al-Dawla were executed on charges of mutazilism, executions were accompanied by burning books, etc. Despite the historical reliability of the facts cited in this letter, the appeal of the letter to Abu-Ali-i-Ilyas is incredible. Abu Ali Muhammad b. Ilyas, as mentioned above, died ca. ( 968), ie, 60-61 years before the capture of Sultan Mahmud Ray. It is also very controversial to mention the name of Abu-Ali-i-Ilyas in the second half of the story, representing Abu-Ali-i-Ilyas, as an ally of Sultan Mahmud in a campaign against Kochs and Balochis. Ibn Miskawayh reports that the decisive struggle against Kochs and Baluchis was undertaken not by Mahmud, but by the Buwehid Azud al-Dawla. In battle 1 Rabi II 361 (= 8/1 972), the Kochs and the Balochs suffered a catastrophic defeat, their leader Ibn Abi-r-Rajal Balusi was captured and executed; the defeated were withdrawn from their territory; in their place the agricultural population was settled. The reconciliation of this hard-to-reach area, however, could hardly be complete and definitive, and Nasir-i-Khosrov noted in (1052) the attack of Kochs and Balochs on Nain district. Abu-Ali-i-Ilyas, as a historical person, is known as a faithful ally of Kochs and Balochis who participated in their war against Ahmed b. Boveih. Ibn Miskavayh also reports on the participation of Abu-Ali-i-Ilyas in the joint robbery with the Kochs and Balochs. The loot was kept in the fortress of Bardasir. In the "Siaset-nime" narrative about the cunning used by the Gaznevid armies during the campaign on Kochs and Baluchis, one can not but note a clearly expressed fantastic character. Of the statements that about the issue under consideration, the comment of the publisher Tarih-i-Sistan, in which the publisher claims that the strengthening of Sultan Mahmud turned out to be fatal for Kochs and Balochs, unfortunately attracts no attention, without giving any reference to the source. Meanwhile, the story of the cunning used by Mahmoud can not help but recall a number of similar stories, other than those mentioned in the Siaset-Namay, and Tarih-i-Sistan, such as: the story of Abu Shuja about the cunning used in the war with Kochs and Balochs bouweihid Azud al-dawde, a story about cunning in relation to the Kochs and Balochs of the Seljuqid Qawurd-Beg , and so on. All this allows us to conclude that the theme of military cunning in relation to the Kochs was very common in the Arab-Persian literature of that time, and, as usual in such cases, the names of the actors arbitrarily changed.

Population

In the 10th century, The Balochs are then described as holding the desrt plains of the south of the mountains and the Makran and the sea, but they appear in reality to have infested the desert now known as the Lut, which lies north and east of Kerman and separates it from Khorasan and Sistan. Thence they crossed the desert, the two intents, the two cities of Sistan were in Istakhris time known as Baloch country.

See also

Banu Ilyas

Bibliography

• Encyclopaedia of Untouchables Ancient, Medieval and Modern
• The Baloch and Balochistan
• The Baloch race: A historical and ethnological sketch Mansel Longworth DamesRoyal Asiatic society, 1904
• The Baloch cultural heritage JānmahmadRoyal Book Co., 1982
• Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era
• The Baloch and their neighbours:ethnic and linguistic contact in Balochistan in historical and modern timesCarina Jahani, Agnes Korn-Reichert, 2003
• Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, The Institute, 1976
• Journal of the Asiatic Society of Pakistan. 1967
• The Book of Government, Or, Rules for Kings:The Siyar Al-Muluk, Or, Siyasatnama
• Origins and History of Jats and Other Allied Nomadic Tribes of India
• Baluchistan District Gazetteer Series: Sarawan
• The Problem of "Greater Baluchistan
• Census of India, 1901: India I. Report

External links

• Koch o Baloch by Gul Khan Nasir^ Brahvi Time