CHAP IX.

] THE ARAB CONQUEST 99

Lion of the S.\Qnian dynasty, marched to India, whence, according

to the popular belief, he brought back the gypsies to amuse his

subjects, but although he must have travelled across Baluchistan,

there is no mention made of the fact, In consequence of their

raids, Noshirw.in massacred the Baluchis wholesale, which no

doubt kept them quiet for at least a generation, after which they

probably resumed their predatory habits, their independence being

never permanently threatened.

About the commencement of the Mohamedan era, Chach, the

last Hindu king of Sind but one, is related to have marched

through Makd,n to a river which formed the limit between Makr.!.n

and Kerman. On its banks he planted date-trees and set up a

monument which ran:-" This was the boundary of Hind in the time

of Chach, the son of Sil.iij."

The province of Kerman was conquered in the early years of

the Hijra, and Baluchistan soon shared the same fate. In Muir's
1
Calipltate we read that Mohamed bin Kasim was Governor of

Makran in A.II. 89 (707), and during the following years conquered

Sind, but the news of Welfd's death arrested his triumphal progress

and he was recalled. Mohamedan supremacy was, however, estab­

lished in the Indus Valley-a. fact of great importance. \Vhether

Baluchistan was really permanently governed by the Mohamedans

is doubtful, and so far as I can learn, it was first subdued by

Y.ikub--bin-Llis of the Saff.ir dynasty. He ruled an empire which

reached from the Indus to the Shat-el-Arab, but this brilliant

position was short-lived, his brother Amr being captured by Ism.ill

of the Saman family, and put to death at Baghdad.

In spite of this the Saff.ir held Baluchistan for many centuries,

but after the death of T.ihir, grandson of Amr, who ruled Fars,

Kerman, and Sistan until A.H. 295 (907), the dynasty grew weaker,
1
Khalaf being captured by Mahmud of Ghazni. In Baluchist.in

the Saff.ir apparently became, in the course of centuries, a con­

federacy of chiefs. I have seen many of their tombs, and all I

could learn from the Baluchis was that they were Keidni ltfalik.

Malik signifies a chief and Keidni is probably a reminiscence or

' Page 366 (3rd edi11on�

• The son of Mahmud of Ghazn, was despatched t

o chastise the Baluchis

who h:o.d anackcd an ambassador of his. He mfhcted a oevere defeat on the

robbers near Khabis,

,oo BALUCHISTAN [CIIAP.

the ancient royal family of Persia, whose descendants still inhabit

Sistan.

An interesting account of Makrlin can be gleaned from the

pages of the tenth - century Arab travellers, of whom Masudi,!

Istakhri and Ibn Haukal are the most famous, while in the middle

of the twelfth century there are the records of ldrlsi and of Benjamin

of Tudela.

From the pages of these worthies we learn that Makr.in was

vast but barren, and that the largest town was Kir'-Idrlsi terms

it Kirusi-which was of about the same size as Multan. As Kir

is described by Jstakhri as a port, it is evident that Kir, now

a squalid fishing hamlet west of ChahMr, was the important city

referred to. Idrfsi mentions the large output of sugar, and

although his estimates of distance are too untrustworthy for detailed

identification, Makri.n was evidently a great highway, and much

more prosperous in•the tenth than it is in the twentieth century.

The Dei!ami dynasty seem to have held Baluchistan under

partial control, as in A.H. 403 (1012� it is mentioned that Abu!

Fav.l..ris collected troops from Kermin and Baluchistan, and

attacked his brother Sultdn-u-D1Jla. Again in A.H. 419 (1028)

he led a force from Kerman and Makr.in to operate against Shir.iz,

but died on the way.

In his History IJ
/ the Seijuks, Mohamed lbrihim, who partly

derives his information from Afzal Kermini, relates how, in the

eleventh century of our era, the chiefs of the Makrinat or

Makrins were assembled at a wedding of the Kufij and Kufs in

Jlruft, where Malik K.award annihilated the latter tribes. Makr.l.n,

however, evidently submitted, as the historian Ahmad Ali Khan

I
mentions that in the reign of Toghru! Shah the duty on silk in

Makr.in was 30,CXX'.l dmdrs or 15,oco napoleons, while the harbour

clues of Tfa. were farmed for half that amount. Baluchistin must

therefore at that period have been ruled from Kerman. A f

ew

years later, when the province was divided between two of his

' Masudi wrote about A..D. 913, while htakhri, whose work was included in

that of lbn H,.uk.aJ, flourished a Little later. ldrl11'1 date is A.D. 1150, and

Benjamin of Tudda travelled from A..D. 11(:o to 1173. To complete the list

Abnlfoda flourished about A..D. IZ7J.

' Sir T. Holdich considers that Kit or Kcch is refeind to. The difference

in wnting Kir or Ki, is small, but Kech ,a not a sea-port.

I
Ht reigned from A.H. SS I (l I 56) to A.H. 563 ( 1167).
 '
Ill.] THE GAP OF TIZ ,o,

sons, Arslan Shah received Bardslr, Sirjan, Jfruft and Khabis, as

being equivalent to four shares, while Barn and Makrin, or two

shares, felt to Bahr.i.m Shah.

Afzal Kermdni, who wrote at the close of the twelfth century,

during the reign of Afalik Dinar, docs not say much of the position

of Baluchistan, but the following extract from his work is of con­

siderable interest; "Another important city in Kerman is Tlz, and

the inhabitants of Hind, Sind, Abyssinia, Zanzibar, Egypt, and the

country of the Arabs from Oman and Bahrein trade there. Every

kind of musk, ambergris, indigo, and logwood, and aromatic roots

of Hind, and slaves of Hind and Abyssinia and Zanzibar, and also

fine vdvets, shawls, sashes, and the like rare products have their

market at this port. Near Tiz is Makr.i.n, the mine of candy and

sugar, which they export to all countries of the unbelievers and of

Islam." ldrfsi, on the other hand, discounts this description by

writing of Tfa as being a small port. In the history of Mollamed

Ibr.i.him it is recorded that caravans from Ir.i.k used to reach the

sea at Tlz whenever the Hormuz route was unsafe, and, general!y

speaking, it may be said that Makran has retrograded in civilisa­

tion, there being no silk or sugar grown there to-day.

At the beginning of the thirteenth century the Kuj and Baluch

are mentioned as the tribes inllabiting the Garm.rir, who made

peace with Taj-u-Din, Shiih-in-shiih, Amir of Hormuz. lstakhri

writes; "The Balujis live in the desert of Mount Kufs, and Kufs in

the Zoroastrian tongue is Ku;: and they call them Kuj and Balu;'."

Just before Chengiz Khan swept across Central Asia, Malik

Shuja-u-Din, of Zuzan, a nominee of the last Shih of Khiva,

captured Bampur; in the following year he proceeded to Kech and

Tlz, gaining possession of both towns. It is particularly stated that

from the time ofToghrul Shih, son of Mohamed Shah, a period of

forty-five years, Baluchistan did not obey Kermin, but each district

had its own chief.

It has already been mentioned in chap. v. that Jalli!-u-Din of

Khiva marched from India via Makrin to contest the possession of

Asia with the Mongol hordes, and we read that, in A.H. 6:20 (1223),

after the destruction of Herdt, Chagatai was despatched by Chengiz

Khan to lay waste Makr.i.n in order to cut jaldl-u-Din's lines of

communication .

.\t the end of the thirteenth century Marco Polo, on his return
roa BALUCHISTAN [CHAI'.

journey from China, sailed past Makcin, and although it 1

s im­

probable that the great Venetian touched anywhere on the coast,

he gives the following account or it: "Kesmaooran is a kingdom

having a king of its own, and a peculiar language. Some of the

people are Idolaters, but the most part are Saracens. They live

by merchandise and industry, for they are professed traders, and

carry on much traffic by sea and land in all directions. Their f

ood
1
is rice and corn, flesh and milk, of which they have a great store"

It is to be noted that Kesmacoran is a combination of Kech or

Kej and Makcin, and the term is even to-day occasionally used.

J',farco Polo further says that it is "the last kingdom in India as

you go towards the west and north-west," herein corroborating

Pliny, who wrote: "Many indeed do not reckon the Indus to be

the western boundary of India, but include in that term also four

satrapies on this side of the river, the Gcdrosi, the Arachoti, the
1
Arii, and the Paropamisadae."

During this period we hear little for some years about Baluchi­

stin, but Sult.In Hajj.lj, a pretender to the throne of Kerm;ln, under

the Kara Khitel dynasty, is known to have fled to and returned

from India through the country.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century, when T!mll.r had

exterminated the Muzaffar family and bestowed Kenn.In on Amir

Adugui, the latter sent jalal-u-Din Jamshid to Baluchistan, which

he plundered as far as Kech, but made no permanent impression on

the province. Abdur Razclk, ambassador from Shah Rukh to the

Samuri, who passed through Kerman in 1442, mentions that he

met the Amir Hd;i· Mohamed on his return from an expedition

into the province of BenbouL This is probably a corruption of

Bampur or Bunpoor, as Pottinger terms it.

Towards the end of the fifteenth century Baluchis began to

arrive at Multan, and early in the sixteenth century there is a great

migration eastwards from Makr.in under Afir Ch:ikar, Rind. It was

about this period that they were found in the Panj:ib. Mr Long­

worth Dames considers that this migration was caused by Mongol

pressure. Afir Chakar's tomb is at Satghar, in the Montgomery

district, and apparently Baluchi ballads mostly date from this

period.

When Shah Abbas came to the throne, Ganj Ali Kh:in, the

1
Cf. Yule'• Afarco Polo', vol. ii. p. 334. ' H. N., vi. 78.
IX.] RISE OF THE BRAHUI ,03

second great ruler of Kerman, marched in A.H. 1022 (1613) to attack

Baluchistan by J iruft, there being no desert in those days, to judge by

the considerable ruins I saw when travelling in those parts. Afalik

I
Shams-u-Din collected forces from all Makran, but was defeated

and taken prisoner at Kuchgardan, one stage from Bampur, and

Ganj Ali Khan appointed Malik Mina of the same Saff.ir family

to succeed him. Later on, Malik Mlraa made the Sh.ih a large

present, and Baluchistan became once again independent

Commodore Roggewein,I who sailed round the world between

1721 and 1723, mentions that in 1701 Bandar Abbas was attacked

by the Baluchis with four thousand men, but that they were beaten

off.

When the Sefavi dynasty waned, and Persia was invaded by

the Afgh.in Mahmud, several Baluchis joined him, but upon the

defeat and flight of his successor Ashraf, it was again Baluchis

who murdered and plundered the refugees.

About the middle of the seventeenth century, Kam bar, leader of

the Brihui shepherds, was summoned to aid a Hindu rd;a against

Afgh.in encroachments. Apparently he usurped the throne, but

everything remains obscure until the reign of Alxiulla Khan, his

great-grandson, who was ruling when N.idir Shah invaded India.

N.i.dir Sh.ih confirmed Alxlu\la Khan in his position, but a few

years later he was killed in battle.

His second son NasCr Kh.in finally seized the throne, and upon

the assassination of N.i.dir Sh.ih, fought for his independence with

Ahmad Khan, Durini. However, upon being defeated, he acknow­

ledged Afghan suzerainty, and devoted himself to extending his

sway in Baluchist.in with much success,

In A.H. 1 1 5 0 {1737), or by another account three years later, and

more than a century after the last Persian invasion, Pir Mohamed,

formerly B,gltrl,tgi of Herdt, accompanied by Amir Mahabbat+ of

Kasarkand, marched by way of Jlruft towards Bampur. ldalik

Shir Khan, of the same Saff.ir dynasty, collected troops from Kech

and more distant Kharan, and the two armies met at what is now

known as Chil-i-Nadir. The Baluchis made a desperate onset,

but probably N.idir's artillery was too much for them, and Afalik

I
I ,;aw his tomb at Kuhalc.. V,de chap. xx.

1
Vi'
d e Ken's V")'age, and Trawlt, vol �l. p. I S9-

t His descendant, Abdulla KMn, wu recently Go�mor o{ Geb

IX.) THE SARDAR ,05

Bampur, he had gradually established his rule over the surrounding

districts. He boasted to Pottinger that he was outlawed by the

Governments of Persia and of Afghanist.1.n, and that some years

previously he had raided and kept possession of Llristan for a

period of three months.

In 1839, Hd.1i· Abdul Nabi, an intelligent traveller, found

Mohamed Ali Kh.1.n, Nahrui, in possession of the Bampur fort, and

reported that Mohamed Sh.l.h of Sib was the most powerful chief

in Baluchistan; but that he occupied no paramount position, and

was, in fact, generally at war with some of the other independent

chiefs, who, whenever inaction became oppressive, united to raid

Narm.1.shir or Rudbar, and laughed at the threats of the Governor·

General of Kerm.1.n. This state of affairs might have continued

indefinitely, as raids on distant provinces of the Persian Empire

would not have been likely to affect a Government that tolerated

the Turkoman terror, but a new factor appeared, which changed

the whole situation.

Reference has been made in chap. v. to the final flight of Agh.l.

Khan across Baluchistan to India, where he rendered good service

to the British Government In 1844, his brother, Abu] Hasan,

known as the Sarddr, marched through Makran to Chahbar, and

was everywhere warmly welcomed. By dint of diplomacy, he soon

gained possession of Bampur, where, in 1845, he was besieged by

a strong Persian force. He made a daring sortie, and killed

and wounded almost al! the gunners, but when he returned

to the fort, their cries were so loud, that he thought that they

came from his own stronghold, which, he concluded, must have

been captured. He thereupon rode off south with a single servant,

who deserted him, and was finally captured by Baluchi levies, and

sent to Tehr.l.n, where he was kindly treated. He lived to a green

old age, and is still remembered as a heroic soldier, whom no

climate or fatigue could affect.

This irruption of the Agh.l. Khan party brought about the

downfall of Baluchi independence. Mohamed Ali Kh.l.n, the

Nahrui chief, was seized by the treachery of a relation, and irn­

prisoned for five years at Tehran. He was then released, and upon

returning to his home captured Bampur, surprising its Persian

garrison. However, this was his last success, as, being unable to

stand a siege, he fled to Mindb and died in the desert His sons,
,o6 BALUCHISTAN (CHAP.

Ch.t.kar Khiin and Husein Khin, were imprisoned at Tehr.ln for

two years, and then released.

Two members of the Kijir tribe were appointed to rule the

turbulent district, but were a failure as Governors, and it remained

for Ibrahim Khan, the son ofa baker at Barn, to achieve the per­

manent subjugation of what is now known as Persian Baluchistan.

His methods were said to be cruel and he had a propensity for

slave-dealing, but, no doubt, there was a constant ca!l on him for

revenue and presents, which he had to meet the best way he could.

Sir Oliver St John, in 1872, describes him in the following terms:

"The redoubtable ruler of Barn, Narmishir and Baluchistan is a

short punchy man of any age from forty-five to sixty, with a full

and well-dyed beard, and small sharp eyes. . . . There seemed

nothing in his face to indicate the really superior man he must be,

not only as having risen to his present position by sheer merit, un·

aided by money or interest, but as having reduced one of the most

1
turbulent countries in A�ia to a state of order and tranquillity,"

As might be expected, the Commission that was appointed to

delimitate the Perso-Kalat frontier in its Southern section, in con­

nection with the Makr.in telegraph line, was not welcomed by

Ibrahim Khan, and when the Kalar envoy arrived unexpectedly at

Bampur, General Goldsmid was placed in a rather awkward

position. The Persian representative proving impracticable, the

Commission broke up, and the award was made mainly from Sir

F. Goidsmid's observations during a former journey. The Saad­

u-Dola, to give him his title, was quite incapable of understanding

the objects of the mission, and as soon as it had quitted Baluchi­

stan he seized Kuhak, which had not been awarded to Persia. He

further rounded off Persian territory by attacking and defeatmg

Seiid Khan, Kurd, who was known as the Sardtir of Sarhad, and

lived at Kwish.

In 1881, the Br.ihuis of the Afghan Gannsil,' which is situated

along the lower reaches of the Helmand, raided across the Lut to

the gates of Tehran, carrying off a quantity of camels and other

property from Ver.imin, and then disappearing in the desert. The

Saad-u-D"la tried to cut them off near Shurgaz, but was himself

defeated and his camp taken; however, he finally avenged himself

1
Easkrn Pu-sia, i. pp. 77-8.

• G11rfflnl is the same as Gannsir. Cf. He!mand and Hfrmand.

IX.] A \VARDEN OF THE MARCHES ,07

on the Br.ihuis by massacring the members of one of their caravans

on its way to J.ilk to buy dates. \Vhen the enormous distance,

exceeding 700 miles, is considered, this ,kapm, explains how the

Turkoman were so successful in raiding into the heart of Persia.

Ibr.ihim Kh.ln died in 1884, after having been \Varden of the

Marches for thirty years, as, although occasionally dismissed, he was

speedily re-instated. His son died a few months later, and Zein-u\.

Abidin Khan, his son-in-law, became Governor of Baluchistan, but

in 1887 was succeeded by Abu! Fath Kh.in, a Turk. This worthy

1
in 1888 conducted a successful campaign against the Yarahmadzai

of Sarhad, during the course of which the Kurds observed a strict

neutrality. In the spring of the following year they sent to the

Ndsir-u-Dola to the effect that they were loyal, but fear had im·

pelled them to stand aloof from Abu! Fath Kh.in. The Govemor­

General apparently accepted these excuses, and proposed to give

them some lands at Fahraj in exchange for their Sarhad property.

This was agreed to, and the same spring the whole tribe moved to

Fahraj.

The Ndsir-u-Dola having quitted Baluchistan, Abu\ Fath Kh.in

treated his intended victims with distinction, until their suspicions

were lulled, when he seized them, their women and property. This

roused the Baluchis under Sarddr Husein Khan, and Fahraj was

besieged, but a sortie put to flight the cowardly assailants, and the

Kurds were a!l subsequently executed. Abu! Fath Kh.ln was, how­

ever, dismissed, and Zein-ul-Abidin Khan was re-appointed to

BaluchisUln. In 18g1, after an absence of two years, the Governor·

General again visited the district, making solemn promises that he

would imprison nobody; but these were broken, and the Baluchi

chiefs were seized, many of them being in prison when I first

visited the province. Baluchistan, its chiefs in bondage, relapsed

into quiet under Zein-ul-Abidin Kh.in, and this was the position

of affairs in 1893, but to complete the chapter, I propose to bring

it up to date.

In 1896, the Perso-Ba\uch Commission on which I served

effected the delimitation of the frontier, and scarcely were its

labours completed when the dastardly assassination of the Shah

threw the province into a state bordering on anarchy. Zein-ul-

' The Yarahrnadz.ai wa, originally a section of the D;imini trtbc, hut ,s now

disiinct. Vufe chap. xi.

,o8 BALUCHISTAN [CHAP. Ill.

Abidin Khan, who had received the title of Asad-u-Dr,UI, was

attacked near Sib, but beat off the Baluchis, and until 1897 there

was no general rising. In that year, however, Sarddr Husein Khan

headed yet another confederacy, and Fahraj was blockaded in a

desultory fashion, the monotony of which was relieved by an

attempt at mining.

At the end of 1897 Mr Graves of the Inda-European Telegraphs

was murdered on the Rapsh river, and it was in connection with

bis case that the Karw.in expedition was organised In the spring

of 1898 the Governor-General visited and pacified the province,

although Sarddr Husein Khan declined to come in. It is in part

due to the action of the British Government in preventing the sale

of rifles that Persian Baluchistan is to-day more under subjection

than it has ever been ; but the outlook is not very bright. The

laziness and unprogressive nature of the people is such that I

venture to anticipate that a hundred years hence a style of life not

far removed from that of the patriarch Job will still characterise

Baluchistan.