The Balochi Doura (Era) (1400-1948 A.D.)

The Balochi Doura or Zamana (era) is a historical concept used by the Baloch to refer to the state of affairs in Baluchistan prior to the political division of the country by the British in the first half of nineteenth century. The era appears to have begun with the subsequent rise of the Baluchis in western Baluchistan in the early years of the eleventh century. As has already been described, by the end of the fourteenth century most of the territories of present-day Baluchistan gradually had been consolidated and brought under Baluch control. Again, it is during this period that feudal and tribal relations as the predominant forms of social and political organization took the shape that has survived in some parts of the country to this day. Consequently, the pre-division era is known by the Baluch as the Baluchi Doura or Baluchi Zamana, which are synonymous terms for the Baluchi political and military institutions as well as Baluchi culture and language were paramount throughout the country. Here the existing division took place; the British colonial rule (1854-1947) is also included in this period because it did not replace Balochi political rule and institutions, but simply created its own parallel system of administration, as will be described latter.

The Balochis doura is distinguished by three main characteristics. In the first place, for the most part of this period, Baluchistan maintained its independence from the surrounding empires. This was the case not only when it was united under the first Balochi tribal confederacy established by Rinds in the early fifteenth century and under the Khanate of Kalat (1666-1948), but also when it was divided among several independent feudal states (Khanates or hokomates). Only the most powerful Iranian Kings such as Shah Abbas safavid and Nader Shah were able to extend their sway over some parts of the country for very short periods in the beginning of the seventeenth century and the second’s quarter of the eighteenth century, respectively. As soon as their military expeditions or tax collectors left the country, the Baloch reasserted their independence once again. As will be elaborated in the next chapter, there was no permanent Iranian administrative rule over the whole country during this period. Describing the state of affairs in the western-mpost parts of Balochistan in the first half of the nineteenth century, lord curzon states that “there was no sign of Persian authority at the sea ports, and the chiefs of Geh, Bahu, and serbaz were all independent.” (33)  so was the condition of the rest of the country during the entire Baluchi Doura. Therefore, the term signifies Balochi political independence and the absence of foreign political and administrative rule.

Second, the period is characterized by the predominance of Balochi socio-political and ruled institutions in Balochistan. The Baloch were ruled by a set of laws, traditions, and socio-political     institutions in traditions, and socio-political institutions of their own; and the Baluchi language and culture were spoken and practiced exclusively. Of course, there prevailed a feudal- tribal order throughout this period. The feudal order was, and still is rooted in Makuran where the settled population was mostly engaged in agriculture in scattered towns and villages. Each fiefdom or  principality called  Hokomat consisted of a cluster of villages ruled by a feudal lord known as hokom or khan. He was seated in the central fort called kalate miri-located usually in the larger town or village. The most important hokomats were those of kej, Dizak, Bampor, panjgour. Kaserkand, sarbaz, magas,, geh, and Bahu, which were major feudal centers each surrounded by several agricultural towns and villages with as many forts. Each village with its fort was headed by a lesser hakom who collected a tithe (dah yak) of the crops as taxes for maintaining the irrigation system and law and other. Part of the tax was send to the chief hakom as well.

The tribal system  prevailed in the scattered pasturelands of northern Balochistan. Each tribe was, and still is, headed by a chieftain known s sardars, selected more often from the male lineage of the ruling clan in each tribe. It is divided into many clans and subclans with each having its own lesser chieftain. The tribal pasturelands were owned collectively but each tribesman was to pay one-tenth of his animals to the sardars in order to enable him to discharge both intra and inter-tribal relations of the tribe. The Balochi tribes and fiefdoms were linked economically through trade and exchange agricultural crops and animal products. They interacted socially, cooperated politically, and united militarily whenever faced with a common external threat. Although both were depended on a subsistence economy, they were from time to time able to pool their limited resources together and produce the kind of surpluses which were necessary for the formation of large tribal confederacies discussed bellow. Because of these features, Baluchi Doura is sometimes connected with the Hakomi or sardari era, meaning the era of hakoms or Sardars.

Third and most important, it was during this period that united balochi tribes and incorporated all the balochi territories under their central rule. The first tribal confederacy was established by Rinds in the late fiftenth century, while the second one constituted the khanate of Kalat established in 1666 A.D. this was the last independent balochi state that survived British colonial rule under the name of kalat state until 1948. therefore, they are the focus of nationalist claims for reunification of Balochistan.

The Balochi Doura is best identified with the Rind hegemony and particularly with the reign of Mir chakar Rind (approximately 1487 – 1511 A.D) who established one of the largest Balochi tribal confederacies streching from Kiramn in west to Indus river valley in east, thus for the first time uniting eastern and western Balochistan in the late fifteenth century. This confederacy was centered mainly around the two most powerful tribes of Rind and Lasharis, each in turn constituting a loosely organized federation of several lesser tribes. In the nationalists’ accounts, Mir Chakar is credited with organising the feuding balochi tribes into a formidable fighting force that swet eastern Makuran, kalat highlands, sibi, and the fertile plains of kachi in southern Balochistan. It was approximately after 1487 A.D. that Chaker tranfered his capital to Sibi in eastern Balochistan leaving behind the traditional canters of Balochi power in Bumpor and Kej in western Baluchistan. Thereafter, Balochi power shifted from west to east and it has remained there ever since. Having consolidated the eastern territory of Balochistan, he advanced into panjab, taking Multan and the southern parts of panjab in the early sixteenth century. This success resulted in a large-scale balochi migration into Sind and Punjab that has profoundly  affected the demographic features and the political scense of the region ever sincve. There is still as large a Balochi population in Sind and Punjab as there is in Balochistan proper. (34)

Today, the Baloch nationalists hail Amir Chakar as the first Balochi nation Builder to be credited with the political and territorial unification of Balochistan. Sardar khan in the great Baloch equates the chakarian rule with the “golden Age” of Baloch and Baluchistan, thus entitling him “the great Baloch.” In the popular historical perception of the Baluch he remains to this day personification of the Balochi code of hono and the symbol of Balochi martial virtues. As Dames noted “he is still looked upon as the ideal Balochi chief and his exploits are magnified by modern legends into something miraculous but in the ballads [of his own time] there is no mixture of the supernatural. (35)

Furthermore, the times of Mir Chakar are characterized as the classical era of Balochi epic or heroic ballads and romantic poetry in Balochi literary history. Apparently most of the Balochi ballads are rooted in this period, describing the events, exploitations, personalities, and the names of tribes and localities which collaborate with the Baluchi history of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. (36) Parallel to the expansion of the Rind hegemony in the country, Balochi language and oral literature also blossomed thus strengthening and spreading a relatively homogeneous Balochi culture and value system throughout the country. In this respect, Chakar’s contributions and achievements proved to be more enduring than his political and military gains.

However, Chakar’s tribl confederacy was disrupted by a prolonged civil war, known as the thirty years war, which took place between the Rinds and lasharis in the early years of the sixteenth century. It happened shortly after the Baloch had firmly consolidated their power in the eastern territories and had begun to spread into Punjab and Sind, the war engulfed the entire territory of Sibi, Daddar, and kachi; polarized the whole society into two warring camps of Rinds and Lasharis, each camp seeking help from neighboring powers in khorasan and Sind, respectively; and eventually destroyed Chakar’s monarchy, forcing him to abdicate from his capital in Sibi to Punjab, where he died around 1551 A.D. He is buried there at Satgarah.

Most of the nationalist accounts attribute the civil war to Chakar’s failure to establish an administrative structure capable of superseding the divisive tribal-feudal institutions on which he had based his power. Sardar khan has described the rule of chakar as the rule of “sword and saddle” and contends that under him the Rinds had alienated other Balochi tribes by monopolizing political power in their hands, thus causing the civil war which “brought the edifice of Baluch sovereignty crashing down in ruin before the foundation was laid down.”37)  Mir Gulkhan Nasir and Marri have expressed more or less the same view, even though most Balochi historians view the Balochi tribes of the sixteenth century as democratic institutions which required sardars to consult the Jirga (tribal council). (38) However, this first confederacy constituted a military alliance of Balochi tribes for securing the eastern territories of Balochistan. As soon as this objective was accomplished, then the questions of the spoils of new conquests become a divisive issue that fueled the traditional inter-tribal feuds once again, thus together leading to the civil war.     --click here for next page--->