HISTORY AND LEGEND

The first mention of the Baloches in history is found in the Arabic Chronicles of

the tenth century, the fourth of the Hijri era; but Firdausi, whose great poem, the
‘Shahnama,’ was finished in A.H. 400, refers to an earlier period than any of
these. The latter part of this poem, relating to the Sassanians, must be regarded
as mainly historical—at least, as much so as the narratives of the prose chronicles,
such as those of Mas’udi and Tabari and the Rauzatu’s-safa, which embody quite
as much legendary matter as the ‘Shahnama.’ The earlier part of the ‘Shahnama’
is, of course, mainly mythical. The Baloches are introduced as forming part of the
armies of Kai Kaus and Kai Khusrau; and this means no more than that their
name occurred among others in the ballads or legends which Firdausi drew
upon. Kai Kaus is shown as employing ‘the warriors of Pars and of the Koch and
Baloch, the troops of Gilan and of the plain of Saroch.’

1 The passage describing

the assembly of the warriors by Kai Khusrau for his expedition against Afrasyab
is also note worthy:
‘After Gustaham came Ashkash . . . . His army was from the wanderers of the
Koch and Baloch, intent on war and with exalted cockscomb crests, whose back
none in the world ever saw. Nor was one of their fingers bareof armour ... His
banner bore the figure of a tiger….. This passage is interesting as showing the
crest borne by the Baloches, alluded to above as possibly explaining the meaning
of their name.