Biloch: Organised Tribes of The Derajat
This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on Lahore : Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. |
Organised Tribes of The Derajat
It is only in Derah Ghazi Khtin and on its frontier that we have to do with Biloch tribes having a distinct tribal and political organisation. Elsewhere in the Panjab the tribal tie is merely that of common descent, and the tribe possesses no corporate coberence. The Derah Ghazi tribes are in the main of Rind origin. They are, beginning from the south, Mazari, Bugti, Marri, Drishak, Gurchani, Tibbi Lund, Laghari, Khetran, Khosa, Sori Lund, Bozdar, Qasrani, and Nutkani ; and of these the Marri, Bugti and Khetran are wholly, and the Gurchani and the Leghari partly independent, while the Nutkani has recently lost its in uvidu.ality as a tribe. The figures for Both the Lunds are certainly, and those for the Gurchani possibly wrong, as is noted under the respective tribes.
The Mazari (No. 11) are practically found only in Derah Ghazi Khan, of which they occupy the southernmost portion, their western boundary being the hills and their eastern the river. Their country extends over the Sindh fronter into Jacohabad, and stretches northwards as far as umarkot and the Pitok pass. Rojhan is their headquarters. They say that about the middle of the 17th century they quarrelled with the Chaudia of Sindh, and moved into the Siahaf valley and Marao plain, and the hill country to the west now occupied by the Bugti; but obtaining grants of land in the lowlands gradually shitted eastwards towards the river. Mr. Fryer puts their fighting strength at 4,000, but our returns show only 9,000 souls in the Province and there are very few beyond our border, the Shambani territory lying just behind it. The tribe traces its descent from Hot, son of jalal, and is divided into four clans, Rustamani, Masidani, Balachani, and Sargani • of which the first two are the more numerou-:, though the chief is a Balachani.
The Marri, and the Bugti or Zarkanni (No. 38) hold the country beyond our southern border; and are wholly independent, 01' ra' her nominally subject to the Khan or Kelat, not being found within the Panjab. They are both of Rind origin. The Marri, who hold a large area bounded by the Khetran on the east, the Bugti on the south, Kachhi of Kelat on the west, and Afghanistan on the north, are the most powerful and consequently the most troublesome of all the Biloch tribes. They have four clans, the Ghazaui, Loharani, Mazarani and Bijarani, of which the Mazarani live beyond Sibi and the Bolan and are almost independent of the tribe. The tribe is wholly nomad and prffidatory. The Bugti, who occupy the angle between the frontiers of the Panjab and Upper Sindh, are also called Zarkannr and their clans are the Ralicja, Nuthani, Musuri, kalpur, Phono-, and Shambani or Kiazai. The last, which is an almost independent section, separates the main tribe from our border; while the Marri he still further west. Both these tribes are pure Rind,
' A sept of their Baheja clan is also called Zarkanni,
The Drlshak (No. 18) are the most acattercd of nil the Dcrah Gliazi tribes, many of their Village lying among .Jat population on the hank of the Indus; and this fact renders the tribe less powerful than it sh mid he from its numbers. They hold no portion of the hills, and are prai^'tically confined to the Ghazi district, lying -catterel about between the Pitok pasi on the north and the Sori pass on the sout'i. The tribe belongs to the Rind section; but claims decent from Hot, son of Ja'al Khan. It sections are the Kirmani, Mingwani, Gulfaz, Sargani, Arbani and Jiskani, the chief belonging to the first of these. Their headquarters are at Asnl close to Rajanpur. They are said to have descended into the plains after the Mazdri, or towards the end of the 17th century.
The Gurchanl (No. 4) own the Mari and Dragal hills, and their boundary extends further into the mount;uns than that of any othe.- of the tribes subject to us ; while their territory does not extend much to the east of the Sukmaas. They are divide into eleven clans, of which the chief are the Durkani, Shekhani, Lashari, Petafi, Jiskani, and Sabzuni. The last four are true Bilochcs and the last throe Rinds ; the remainder of the tribe being said to have descen led from Gorish, a grandson of Raja Bhimsen of Haidarabad, who was adopted by the Blloches and married among them. He is said to have accompanied Humayuu to Dehli, and on his return to have collected a Biloch following and ejected the Pathan hollers from the present Gurchani holdings. It is not impossible that a considerable number of the Lashari clan, -who are not too proud of their affili ation to the Gurcbani, may have returned themselves as Lashari simply, and so have been included in the Lashari tribe. The whole of the Durkani and about lialf of the Lashari live beyond our border, and are not subject to us save through their connection with the trib. The latter is the most turbulent of all the clans, and they and the Petafi used to rival the Khosa tribe in lawlessness of conduct. They have lately been given fresh lands and are graluiUy setthng down. The Gurchanl tribe is said to possess 2,600 fighting men. They are not found in any other part of the Panjab than Derah Ghazi.
The Tibbi Lund (No. 8) are also wholly confined to the Ghazi district, where they occupy a small area in the midst of the Gurchani country. They are composed of Lunds, Rinds and Khosas, all of true Rind origin, the Lund clan comprising some two-thirds of their whole numbers. These three sections were only quite recently united under the authority of the Tibbi Lund tumandar. Unfortunately, the figures given for this tribe evidently include those of the Sori Lund mentioned below.
The Laghari (No. 22) occupy the country from. the Kura pass, which is the Gurcbani northern border, to the Sakhi Sirwar past a little to the north of Derah, which divides them from the Khosa. They are of pure Rind origin and are divided into four sections, the Haddiani, Aliani, Bughlani, and Haibatani, of which the first inhabit the hills beyond our border anl are not subject to our rule, and are, or were in 1860, nomadic and inveterate thieves. The chief belongs to the Aliani clan. Their head-quarters are at Chhotl Zerin, where they are said to have settled alter their return from accompanying Humayun, expelling the Ahmadanis who then held the present Laghari country. The tr.be numbers some 5,000 fighting men. They are also found in considerable numbers in Derah Ismail and Muzaffargarh ; but these outlying settlements own no allegiance to the tribe. The Talpur dynasty of Sindh belonged to this tribe, and there is still a considerable Laghari colony in that Province. It appears probable that the representatives of several of the Northern Biloch tribes which are now found in Sindh, are descended from people who went there during the Talpur rule.
The Khetran (No. 37) are an independent tribe living beyond our border at the back of the Laghari, Khosa, and Lund country. Their original settlement was at Vahoa in the country of the Qasraui of Derah Ismail Khan, where many of them still live and hold land between the Qasraui and the river. But the Emperor Akbar drove out the main body of the tribe, and they took refuge in the Bairkhan valley of the Lagliari hills, and still hold the surrounding tract and look to the Laghari chief as their protector. They are certainly not pure Biloch, and are held by many to he Pathans, decended from Miana (No. 87 in the Pathan table of tribes, page 205 \ brother of Tarin, the ancestor of the Abdali ; and they do not in some cases intermarry with Pathans But they confessedly resemble Biloches in features, habits, and general appearance, the names of their tepts end in the Biloch patronymic termination dni, and they are now for all practical pur poses a Biloch tribe. It is probable thai, they are in reality a remnant of the original Jat popula tion ; they speak a dialect of their own called Khetranki which is an Indian dialect closely alhed with Sindhi, and m fact probably a form of the Jatki speech of the lower Indus. They are the least warlike of all the Biloch tribes, capital cultivators, and in consequence exceedingly wealthy. In this Census they returned themselves as follows within British Territory -. —
Pjithdns. Biloches. Total,
Derah Ismail Khan ... ... ... 1,324 340 1,664
Derah Ghazi Khan ... ... ... 32 246 273
Total Province ... ... ... 1,553 605 2,163
See Macgregor's Gazetteer of the North- West Frontier, Vol. U, page 259, for an acco^ont cf its origin.
The tribe as it now stands is composed of four clans, of which the Gaujurat represents the original Khetran nucleus, while to them are affiliated the Dhariwal or Chacha who say that they are Dodai Biloches, the Hasanni, once an important Biloch tribe which was crushed by Nasir Khan, the great Khan of Kelat, and took roruge with the Khttnui of whom they are now almost inde pendent, and the Nahar or pabar, who are by origin Lodi Pathans.
The KhOSa (No. 6) occupy the country between the Lnghari and the Qasrani, their territory being divided into a northern and a southern portion by the territory of the Lunds, and stretching from the foot of the hills nearly across to the river, 'they are -aid to have settled (rigiunlly in Kech ; but with the exception of a certain number in Bahawalpur, they are, so far as the Panjab is concerned, only found in Derail Ghazi. They hold, however extensive lands in Sindh, which were granted them by Humayun in return for military service. They are one of the most power ful tribes on the border, and very independent at their Chef and are admitted to be among the bravet of the bloches.They are true rinds and are divided into six clans, of which the babe lani and lsani are the most impor tant, the latter being an offshoot of the Khetran aiffllated to the Khosa. The other four are Jaggel, Jiuidani, Jarwa:, and Mahrwani. The Chief belongs to the batel clan. The Khosa is the most industrious of the organised tribes ; and at the same time the one which next to the Gurchani bears the worst cuaracter for lawlessness. In 1859 Major Pollock wrote : It is rare to Unci a Khosa who has not been in prison for cattle-stialuig, or deserved to be J and a Khosa who has not committed a murder or debauched his neighbour's wife or destroyed his neighbour's landmark is a decidedly creditable specimen.And even now the description is not very much exaggerated.
The Lund (No. 49) or Sori Lund, as they are called to distinguish them from the Tibbi Lund,
are a small tribe which has only lately risen to importance. Their territory divules that of the Khosa into two parts, and extends to the bank of the Indus. They are not pure Eiloclics, and are divided into six clans, the Haidarani, Bakrani, Zarlani, Garzwani, Nuhani, and Gurchani, none of which are important. The figures given for this tribe are obviously absurd, and they have appa rently been included with the Tibbi Lund (No. 8).
The Bozdar (No. 22) are an independent tribe situated beyond our frontier at the back of the Qasrani Territory. They hold from the Saughar Pass on the north to the Khosa and Khetran country on the south ; and they have the Luni and Musa Khel Pathans on their western border. Abstract No, 67 shows over 2,000 men as having been within the Panjab at the time of the Census, almost all of them in the Ghazi district. These live in scattered villages about Bajanpur and among the Laghari tribe, and have no connection with the parent tribe. The Bozdar are of Rind extraction, and are divided into the Dulani, Ladwani, Ghulatnaui, Chaknini, Sihani, Shahwani, Jalalani, Jafirani, and Rustamani clans. They are more civilized than most of the transfrontier tribes and are of all the Biloches the strictest Musalmans. Unlike all other Biloches they light with the matchlock rather than with the sword. They are great graziers, and their name is said to be derived from the Persian buz, a goat.
The Qasrani (No. 16) are the northernmost of the tribes which retain their political organi sation, their territory lying on either side of the boundary between the two Derahs, and being confined to the hills both within and beyond our frontier and the sub-montane strip. Their name is written Qaizarani or Imperial. The tribe is a poor one, and is divided into seven clans, the Lashkarani, Khubdin, Budani, Vaswani, Laghari, Jarwar, and Rustamani, none of which are important. They are of Rind origin, and are not found in the Panjab in any number beyond the Derah district.
The Nutkani (No. 13) are a tribe peculiar to Derah Ghazi Khan, which holds a compact territory stretching eastward to the Indus and between the Northern Khosa and the Qasrani. The tribe once enjoyed considerable influence and importance, holding rights of superior ownership over the whole of the Sanghar country. But it no longer possesses a political organization, having been crushed out of tribal existence in the early days of Ranjit Singh's rule. But the event is so recent that it still retains much of its tribal coherence and of the characteristics of its race.
