The migration of the Baloches

The cause of the migration of the Baloches to Karman may have been their

conquest by Naushirvan, or more probably the invasion of the Ephthalites or
White Huns, which took place at that period, and who are also alluded to in the
‘Shahnama’ under the name of Hayital. The Arab conquest of Karman took place
in A.H. 23, or only sixty-five years after the death of Naushirvan. The conquest
was carried nut by ‘Abdu’llãh, under the orders of the Khalif Umar; and all the
accounts agree that the Arabs found the mountains of Karman occupied by a
race known as Koch (in Arabic Qufj or Qufs), and some add the Baloch. None of
the authorities are contemporary or nearly so. The earliest writers who deal with
the subject are: Al-Bilazuri, who died in A.H. 279 (A.D. 892); Tabari,

1 who wrote

about A.H. 820 (A.D. 932); Masudi whose work is dated A.H. 332 (A.D. 943); and
Istakhri,

circa A.H. 340 (A.D. 951). The first two of these, in describing the

conquest, only mention the Koch or Qufs; while Masudi and Istakhri whose
works are geographical and deal with their own times, speak both of Koch and
Baloch. Weil (‘Geschichte der Chalifen,’ i. 95), following Tabari, only mentions
the Kufedj or Kufess. Elliott and Dowson (i. 417) state that when ‘Abdullah
conquered the capital of Karman, the aid of the men of Kuj and Buluj (i.e., Koch
and Baloch) was in vain solicited by the Karmanis. The authority for this
statement appears to be the Tarikh-i Guzida, which was not written till A.H. 730
(A.D. 1329), and has not much weight. The best geographical authorities are
Istakhri and Mas’udi, the valuable work of Idrisi (A.H. 543—A.D. 1151), and the
gazetteer of Yakut, who wrote in A.H. 615, but relies on earlier authorities.
It may be considered as established that the Baloches were settled in Karman at
the commencement of the fourth century of the Hijra; and it is possible, but not
proved, that they were already settled there when the Arab conquest took place
three hundred years before. The Baloch occupied a territory adjacent to that of
the Koch, but were quite distinct from them. Masudi

2 only says that he is not able

to give any account of the Qufs the Baloch, and the Jatt (Zutt), who dwell in the
regions of Karman. He is the only writer who mentions Jatts in Karman, all other
accounts showing them as occupying Mekran at that period. Istakhri gives fuller
details.

3 He describes the Koch as living in the mountains, while the Baloch

inhabited the desert. Both races spoke languages of their own distinct from

Persian, which was the ordinary language of Karman. The version translated by

Ouseley puts the desert inhabited by the Baloch to the south of the mountains,
and towards Mekran and the sea; and one passage in the Arabic version bears
this out—viz.: ‘Karman is bordered on the east by Mukaran, and the desert.