Dr. Bellow

The Rajput origin advocated by the late Dr. Bellow

1 deserves some consideration,

but his attempt to prove that all Baloches, jointly with a very large section of
Pathans, were of Indian descent was doomed to failure. If he had confined
himself to stating that there are some Rajput and Jatt elements in the present
Baloch nation, and that the Pathan tribes of the Sulaman range are, to a
considerable extent, of Indian origin, he would have obtained general assent; but
he attempted to show, on philological grounds mainly, that every tribe or clan
whose name he could ascertain was descended from some Indian caste or got,
and he displayed a good deal of ingenuity in comparing these names with those
of their supposed Indian pro genitors.
He commences with the name Baloch, which he considers identical with the
Balaecha (Balaicha) clan of the Chauhan Rajputs, and at the same time he finds a
clan of the Afghan Durrani named Bahrech, which he identifies with another
Chauhan clan, the Bharaecha (properly, Bhuraicha). Leaving the Afghan
identification, with which I cannot deal here, that of the words ‘Baloch’ and
‘Balaicha’ rests on no evidence except the similarity of the sounds. Even on
philological grounds it is improbable, for although original o and i are frequently
converted in Balochi into ‘e’ and ‘i‘ the reverse process never takes place. This
objection applies also to the derivation from Mlechha. The Chauhans were at no
time one of the Rajput tribes occupying the Indus Valley, either in Sindh or the
Panjab. The great mass of Chauhans is still found on the site of their ancient
kingdom, in Karnal and Ambala, in the United Provinces and Eastern Rajputana.
The Varaich, who probably represent the Balaicha clan, are at present a strong

Musalman Jatt community in the Gujrat and Sialkot districts of the Panjab.