balochi culture

Shahi Darbar When the British Government took over
the area completely they exploited the
occasion for their political motives. They
gave it a proper shapes, in order to
attract greater attention of the people of
different areas. The first British agent of the Governor General and Chief
Commissioner in Balochistan, Captain Sir
Robert Sandeman introduced the Shahi
Darbar during the year 1882 held on the
occasion of the Horse and Cattle Show.
They used to grant Sanads, Khil'ats and other awards in the Shahi Darbar.
Contented with the settled life, most of
Sardars used to express their loyalties on
this occasion.
The significance of the occasion can not
be denied. Now it is at times small assembly of people to come together, sit
together and discuss together their
problems and find out ways and means to
solve them. The system was reformed
with the advent of independence and the
people started, hinking in different terms The name of the Shahi Darbar was,
therefore, changed to the Shahi Jirga,
ultimately the word of "shah" was done
away with and it was named as Divisional
Jirga. Its importance could be well
realised from the fact that since inception of Pakistan. The Heads of the State, the
Prime Minister and other dignitaries have
graced the occasion by attending this
function. They included Father of the
Nation, Ouaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali
Jinnah, who visited Sibi in his capacity as the first governor-general.
Now councillors' convention is arranged
on the occasion, which is attended by the
government officials notables and
people's representatives. The tribal
Sardars attend the Jirga in their traditional robes consisting mostly of very
loose shirts. Showers and 'Patches' all in
white, and locally made chapels.The Chief
Executive of the Province gives a resume
of the Governmental activities in different
fields. The Annual Sibi Week has now taken
shape of more or less of a national
festival. It begins with the Horse and
Cattle show in which almost all domestic
animals of the area. Specially horses and
cattle take part. The Show plays an important part in improving economy of
the people of the area; they make
transactions to the tune of lakhs of
rupees on this occasion. Besides Horse
and Cattle Show, a number of items have
been added in order to make the week more attractive. Cultural Anthropology of Baluchis in Iran
Summary: The Baluchis are the ancient
genuine Iranians who have their exclusive
and special celebrations and feats. Pir Mohammad Mulla Zehi who is an
expert in the Baluchi culture has studied
selected examples of such ceremonies
and has classified them into two
categories of cooperation and feats. Beggari, Hashar, Bagi, Divan, Mayar,
Karch-va-Kapon, Patardeyag, Mangir and
Sepat are among the said ceremonies
that are discussed in the following article. Text: For a curious visitor who arrives in
Baluchistan, the first interesting issue
that attracts the attention most is the
way Baluchis are dressed up. Baluchi
people have preserved their way of
clothing with a slight change. Men wear long shirts, loose pants and a
turban around their heads while women
put on loose dress and pants with needle
works that are special of the people of
the area and is not common in other parts
of the country. The upper part of the dress and sleeves are decorated with needle
works, an artistic work that is specific of
the clothing of the women Baluchis. They
cover their hair with a scarf that is called
`Sarig' in the local dialect and wear
`chador' over it. Baluchi women usually put on gold
ornaments such as necklace and bracelet
but their special jewelry is `Dorr' or heavy
earrings that are fastened to the head
with gold chains so that their heavy
weight will not cause the tearing of the ear. They usually wear a gold brooch
called `Tasni' that are made by local
jewelers in various shapes and are used
to fasten the two parts of the dress over
the chest. Apart from the dressing style of the
Baluchis, there are interesting points in
the way they live and in their traditions
and customs that this article tries to
illustrate in parts. Indigenous and local
traditions and customs were of greater importance to the Baluchis in the past as
apparently up to about half a century ago
when the central government established
its control over Baluchistan, local
governments of the chieftains were
imposed as the individual dictatorships. Therefore, it can be concluded that there
were no formulated laws and regulations
in order to regulate social behaviors. Only
the rules of the religion were valid and
practicable. Under such circumstances,
traditions and customs in fact filled the vacuum caused by the absence of laws
which were used in the regulation of
many social relations and therefore
enjoyed special credit among the Baluchi
tribal people. Abdolghaffar Nadim in his book `Gashin'
that is written in Baluchi language says:
"The Baluchi folklore is being inspired by
the Baluchi way of life and, therefore,
could have addressed many needs of the
tribal people who were forced to settle their disputes on the basis of their
traditions and customs in the absence of
a powerful central government." Here, it is only enough to review the
Baluchi traditions within the two
categories of cooperation and feasts: A. COOPERATION 1. Beggari or Bejaari: This is a custom specific of the time when the Baluchi
youth reaches the age of marriage but
apparently his family cannot afford the
marriage expenses due to their economic
condition. Under such circumstances, the
youth would go to his relatives and friends and would discuss with them his
decision about marriage and would ask
for their `Beggari', or in other words,
their contribution. Such a tradition is so strongly respected
that even the poorest member of the
family cannot remain indifferent towards
such a demand and feels obliged to pay a
certain amount of money in cash or offer
material aid. Lack of participation in such a benevolent affair will cause humiliation
and disgrace for the Baluch who would be
rejected in the Baluchi community.
Therefore, although Beggari is a voluntary
contribution, however, a social
compulsion can be traced in it somehow. Even in the case of those who have no
children and cannot benefit from the
advantages of Beggari in future,
participation in this benevolent act
guarantees further social credit. As a
result of this, marriage is being made more easily among Baluchis as the
community is meeting the cost. 2. Hashar: This is a custom that is applied when an individual cannot perform a task
alone and needs help of the others. As
working for money is not customary
among Baluchis, those who need help
would go to their relatives and friends
and would inform them of their decision to do a special job on a specific day and
for that purpose they need a certain
number of work force. Under such
circumstances, as many volunteers may
join the collective work without being
paid. If the work is accomplished within a day,
the only thing that the employer has to do
is to prepare lunch and dinner for the
workers by usually slaughtering a sheep
for making the required food. If the work
takes longer, more preparations will be made and new volunteers will substitute
the previous ones. However, there would
be enough volunteers to complete the
work through collective cooperation, as it
is not customary to give a negative
response to the call for contribution. Such a habit is mostly customary in rural
areas where people are mainly engaged
in agriculture where Hashar is being
practiced in various stages of the work
from cultivation to harvest. It is also
widely practiced in building rural houses and bridges and in collecting dates. Such
a habit is still practiced given its positive
social effects despite the fact that
working for money is gradually
established among the Baluchis. 3. Bagi: This habit was widely practiced in the past while these days it is losing
importance in areas going through the
trend of urbanization. In the practice of
such a habit, people are used to cook
extra food and would distribute it among
needy people in their neighborhood. Those who were well off and could have
better nutrition would carefully observe
this. The positive social impact of such a
tradition has removed the negative
feeling of humiliation as receiving Bagi is
not tantamount to receiving donations but rather is some sort of contribution
among neighbors and is not limited to a
specific person or a specific family. Bagi is
not merely confined to foodstuffs but is
performed in a wider dimension that
forges greater convergence among neighbors and minimizes probable
disputes. At the meantime, it helps fair
distribution of limited facilities. 4. Divan : Among Baluchi people, settlement of disputes in their everyday
life is of great importance. In order to
solve problems, people would gather in a
place and while studying various aspects
of disputes, they try to find the best
possible solution in an effort to secure satisfaction of the parties involved. The
place in the local dialect is called `Divan'
and is normally a house that belongs to
the eldest member of the community. Of course Divan is not merely exclusive for
the settlement of disputes but is also
used for exchange of information and
consultations for the coordination of
affairs. However, the significance of
Divan at the time of the settlement of disputes lies in the fact that although
decision-making at Divan is not legally
valid, however, it is applicable and is
rarely ignored by the parties to the
dispute. The reason is that presence of
the gathering at the place is to some extent the executive and moral guarantee
for the parties to the dispute and if one
party for any reason ignores the
agreement reached at Divan, in fact it
would damage its own social credibility.
If Divan fails to settle the dispute, the case will be solved on the basis of the
rules of the religion. The two parties to the dispute will be
brought to the clergy in the area who will
judge between the two. The religious
ruling will be usually issued at the
mosque in order to secure a stronger
guarantee for its application. But, this is not necessarily essential as the ruling can
be also issue in Divan or at any other
places. The habit of Divan is being gradually
forgotten in both rural and urban areas
but it is still being enforced among tribal
Baluchis. Laws in fact have substituted
Divan and the elderly people are still
settling regulations in rural and urban areas but not completely as in primary
stages attempts are made to resolve the
disputes through local traditions and at
the Divans of the elderly. 5. Mayar: The habit is inspired by a social reality and need for the support of the
oppressed against the oppressor. When a
powerful individual is oppressing a
powerless person for any reason, the
former can seek help from a stronger
person who has enough power to defend his right. Given the undertakings that the
host feels towards the person who seeks
help as `Mayar', he is free either to accept
the demand or deny it. But, as soon as he accepts, the social
tradition puts the responsibility of the
Mayar's defense on the shoulder of the
host. Of course, the importance of the
habit becomes further evident when the
person who seeks help is not guilty and whose rights have been trampled upon.
However, when the person seeks help
according to the tradition of Mayar, he
becomes a member of the family and
tribe of the host and can enjoy his support
until his problem is solved. Sometimes the situation will remain
unchanged forever and the person who
seeks help will remain in the new
condition. Therefore, it will become part
of the responsibility of the host to find a
job for the person who seeks help and puts enough capital at his disposal. This
will help enable the powerless people to
defend themselves against the
oppressors. 6. Karch-va-Kapon : This tradition is practiced when a person for any reason
kills someone else, either intentionally or
unintentionally. Under such circumstances
an unreasonable feeling of revenge will
afflict the Baluchi tribes to the extent
that no matter to what tribe the murderer belonged, if he is out of reach, a
member of his family or one of his
relatives can be killed in his place or, in
other words, take revenge. Under these circumstances many innocent
people will become victim of such a
revenge merely for belonging to a certain
family or tribe. At this moment, in an
effort to prevent further bloodshed, the
elderly members of the family resort to the custom of `shroud and knife.' They
send the murderer together with a knife
and a piece of white cloth to the family of
the person who has been killed and they
are free either to punish him or forgive
him. However, punishment of the murderer is not a proven act from social
and scientific points of view while
forgiveness is the manifestation of
generosity. For this reason, the murderer will be
forgiven and returned to his family.
Sometimes it may happen that in order to
remove all the hostilities and
misunderstandings, the two families
prepare marriages as a means to put aside differences. Of course, sometimes
ransom would be demanded. In that case
the family of the murderer or the tribe to
which he belongs will pay the money.
Although prosecution of the murderer
falls within the authority of the law, however, there are still evidences
indicating that tribal people are willing to
safeguard the tradition of `shroud and
knife'. 7. Patardeyag: This habit is practiced when there is a quarrel between two or
more members of a tribe. The side that is
guilty of fomenting the quarrel accepts to
apologize but not verbally rather through
a mediator who is usually an elderly of
the tribe. No matter how deep the difference, the other party usually accepts
the apology, as its rejection will cause
criticism of others. Following the acceptance of the apology,
the side that had fomented the quarrel
will invite the other party to a dinner
party through the mediator and a sheep is
slaughtered on the occasion. There is no
need for verbal apology and normally no word would be said about issues causing
the dispute. Holding the Patardeyag
ceremony implies acceptance of the
apology and removal of all differences. B. FEATS 1. Mangir: The important Baluchi traditions are mainly in connection with
their ceremonies and feats. The marriage
ceremony stands prominently among such
festivities as it goes through different
stages starting from engagement to the
wedding ceremony. Public participation in the wedding ceremony is normal as in
other parts of the country but with slight
differences. But there is one exclusive
difference in the Baluchi wedding
ceremony and that is the Mangir
ceremony. It seems that the ceremony is a habit acquired by the Baluchi tribes
from other people such as African slaves
who have been probably brought from
Africa to Baluchistan. Mangir is the
ceremony for the simultaneous mass
marriage of several couples for various reasons, notably economic considerations.
What further supports the idea is the
holding of mass wedding ceremony
among lower class people of the society.
This would not only reduce the costs but
would also economize in time as in the past wedding ceremonies used to last for
seven days. 2. Sepat: Festivities that are held in Baluchistan at the time of the birth of
new babies are called Sepat. Some parts
of the ceremonies are influenced by
superstitious presumptions believing that
both the baby and the mother are
threatened by a genie called Aal as it awaits the opportunity to seize and
swallow the liver of the baby and the
mother. Therefore, in order to prevent
such a happening the relatives of the
mother and the baby stay awake for
several nights and pray to God and seek His help in order to protect the mother
and the baby against the genie. However,
there are good and bad habits among the
Baluchi tribes that demand more research
works and studies. The Baluchis are
known for their cultural specifications such as hospitality, faithfulness, and
moral commitment as well as deep-
rooted religious beliefs and attachment
to their homeland. CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS In Baloch society an offence against the
individual such as theft or robbery was a
corporate against the entire tribe. Any
contravention was punished according to
the nature of the crime committed. But if
the offence was committed outside the tribe, it was considered an offence
against that tribe. The individual acts
consequently would become the
responsibility of the tribes concerned. His
family and the entire people suffered. The
opposing tribesmen could revenge the guilt in an appropriate manner, not
necessarily against that particular
individual but against any person
belonging to the tribe of the offender. Sentence for misdemeanor was the
payment of appropriate fine or
compensating the loss of property in case
of theft or robbery. Sometimes robbery
was also punished with death.
Punishment of corporate crime was outlawry of person, that is, disowning the
individual and declaring him isolated
from the tribe. This was one of the major
punishments and rarely awarded. In that
case he was also banished from the area. There is least evidence of awarding
punishment of dore kassag, tearing to
pieces by horses; pahao, hanging, which
was awarded to traitors and the enemy
agents. These forms of punishment
nevertheless were clearly a later addition and not the original Baloch practices.
Beheading was the common mode of
inflicting the sentence. There is, however,
no evidence of any permanent hangman
or jallad among the Baloch for the
purposes of executing criminals. In Kalat State, there was no permanent post of a
hangman. Death sentence, however, was
always awarded in public. There is no evidence of punishment of
death by drowning, throwing from rock,
burning or burying alive, pouring molten
lead on the criminal, starvation in the
dungeons, tearing to death by red hot
pincers, cutting asunder and stoning to death, or the Persian and Mughal
practices of blinding and maiming. Most
of these forms of punishment were
prevalent in Semitic societies and
sanctioned by Mosaic Law , (Jews used
these forms of punishments against the conquered peoples in Palestine in the
Biblical times), and later on crept into
many cultures through Islam. In case of murder the relatives of the
deceased had the inalienable right to
claim blood for blood; and this claim had
the tribal code of conduct, the deceased
family and the entire tribal strength
behind it. The murderer could be forgiven only by the nearest kin. Among a few
tribes blood compensation was given by
the offender or his family. Relatives of the
offender had to accept the punishment
and were obliged to agree to the award if
no settlement was reached. Extreme torture or dishonouring was against the
tribal norms. Torture to low-castes
involving serious crimes was sometimes
perpetrated. The Baloch thought it more
honourable to be beheaded than hanged.
Other modes of capital punishment were insulating. The only crime which could invoke death
penalty or banishment besides treason
was adultery. Sometimes mere suspicion
of unfaithfulness by wife was sufficient
to put her to death. The man would also
get the same punishment. But among some tribes who were alleged to be
inferior in caste, the adulterous woman
was divorced and the adulterer was
obliged to marry her. In case of adultery
there was no need for the aggrieved
husband to resort to any tribal council to get a decision. He himself inflicted the
sentence. The unmarried women or
widows get punishment from their near
relatives. A very peculiar cultural trait was that
even the criminal or offender, if
apprehended, would never tell a lie even
in the face of instant punishment. This
was against his sense of honour and
pride. he was always truthful. This made torture to extract information or
confession of guilt quite unnecessary. Among the ancient Baloch, like other
Aryan groups, trial by ordeal was perhaps
in vogue. The culprit had to prove his
innocence by walking through the fire or
putting his hands on a hot rod. In Balochi
folk stories there are numerous instances when the innocence of the offender had
to be proved by putting his hands on the
hot stones, tapag. This practice was
perhaps discarded early in the Christian
era. In most cultures any child of less than ten
years was usually considered incapable or
guilt on the ground that he or she was too
young to differentiate between right and
wrong. The practice was completely
reversed among the Baloch. The Baloch child had a penetrating sense regarding
his enemies and friends. Old blood
accounts sometimes were settled by
persons of less than ten years. A Baloch
child took part in battles. Therefore, the
case of guilt or criminal responsibility for the minor was always judged according to
circumstances and merit of the case. The
members of the family of the minor
would have to bear the responsibility of
his guilt if the crime was provoked by
them. The home of any Baloch elder was a safe refuge and place of protection for all
the offenders of law till the decision of
the dispute through the Jirga or med.