Rinds and Lasharis

Other poems, forming the bulk of the legendary ballads, deal with the war which

took place between the Rinds and Lasharis and also between both of them and
the Turks, and assert that it was the loss of Sibi and Kachhi which forced Mir
Chakur and his Rinds to migrate to the Panjab. To understand the true meaning
of these legends it is necessary to go back to the invasion of Sindh by the
Arghuns—the Turks of the Baloch story. The Arghuns were a Mughal family
who claimed descent from Changiz Khan. Zu’n-nun Beg Arghun rose to power

as Minister under Sultan Husain Baikara of Herat, one of the descendants of

Taimur. He obtained the Government of Qandahar, where he made himself
practically independent. The first invasion of Kachhi, by way of the Bolan Pass,
took place in .u. 890 (A.D. 1485). Shah-Beg commanded on behalf of his father,
and penetrated as far as the Indus; Jam Nanda, the Summa Chief, opposed him
and defeated and drove him back at Jalugir in A.D. 1486.

1 After Zu’n-nun Beg’s

death in war against the Uzbegs, Shah Beg, who succeeded him, was driven out
of Qandahar by Babar in A.D. 1507, and took refuge in Shal and Mustang at the
head of the Bolan Pass, where he must have come into contact with the Baloches.
Shah Beg ultimately lost Qandahar, and determined to build up a new throne for
himself in India. He invaded Sindh in A.H. 917 (A.D. 1511) and A.H. 927 (A.D.
1520), overthrew the Sammas, and established his power.

2 He enlisted the

services of some of the hill-tribes, probably Baloches, and we also read of a force
of 3,000 Baloches serving under Jam Feroz; so that it is probable that rival Baloch
tribes fought on opposite sides. This is borne out by Baloch legend as to the
rivalry between the Rinds and Lasharis, in which the Turks under Zunu (Zu’nnun
Beg) and the King of Sibi, Jam Ninda, play an important part.

3 The Rinds

were under Mir Chakur and the Lasharis under Gwaharam, who were rivals for
the hand of the fair Gohar, the owner of large herds of camels. Gohar preferred
Mir Chakur, and this led to a quarrel. A horse-race, in which the Rinds are stated
to have won by trickery, precipitated the outbreak. Some Lasharis killed some of
Gohar’s young camels, and Chakur thereupon swore revenge. A desperate war
began, which lasted for thirty years. At first the Rinds were defeated, and they
seem to have called on the Turks for aid, but after various fluctuations Chakur
with most of his Rinds left Sibi, and made for the Panjab. The LasharIs remained
at Gandava, and some Rinds maintained their position at Shoran, both places not
far from Sibi in the plain of Kachhi. These events constitute the Iliad of the
Baloch race, and form the subject of numerous picturesque ballads which have
been handed down verbally to the present day.