ALTERNATE NAMES: Brohi
Zone: Pakistan (Baluchistan Province); a modest number live in southern Afghanistan and Iran
Populace : 861,000 to over 1.5 million
LANGUAGE: Brahui; Sindhi
RELIGION: Islam (Sunni Muslim)
1 • INTRODUCTION
The clans known as the Brahui (in like manner Brohi) live in the harsh inclines of Pakistan's western borderland. Various explanations of the name Brahui have been suggested. The likely one is that it is an assortment of Barohi, meaning "mountain occupant" or "highlander."
During the seventeenth century, the Brahui rose to obviousness in Kalat, in Baluchistan, a region of present day Pakistan. For the accompanying 300 years there was an entire line of Brahui rulers. The British at last picked up power over the intentionally discovered Kalat, regardless of the way that the state remained self-governing until it was melded into Pakistan in 1948.
2 • LOCATION
Evaluations of the Brahui masses vacillate from 861,000 to over 1.5 million. Most of this number is assembled in Pakistan's Baluchistan Province around the town of Kalat. Brahui-speakers are moreover found in southern Afghanistan and Iran.
The Brahui country lies on the Kalat Plateau, where statures change between 7,000–8,000 feet (2,100–2,400 meters). The zone is (dry), with yearly precipitation averaging under eight inches (twenty centimeters). Strong northwesterly breezes win through the area, bringing dust from the Iranian deserts and consuming temperatures in summer, and serious infection in winter. The level includes wide zones of forlorn shake, or slants with a thin front of drought safe vegetation.
3 • LANGUAGE
The Brahui language is related to the lingos communicated in South India. This language similarilty to people living pretty much 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away has since quite a while back confused South Asian etymologists (people who study language). There is no Brahui content. Various Brahui-speakers are bilingual, speaking Baluchi or other close-by lingos.
4 • FOLKLORE
A Brahui story relates Mulla Mansur, a vagrant who found another profession in the spot of a qadi (a Muslim religious pioneer). The qadi was an unforgiving man. In spite of the way that Mansur had served him dependably for seven long years, he beat him over a unimportant mistake. Mansur left the qadi and took to daring to the most distant corners of the planet. He met an old shepherd, experienced enthusiastic feelings for his young lady, and married her. At whatever point Mansur and his significant other returned to his home, the radiance of his life partner made such a hubbub, that everyone from the qadi to the master needed to have her. In any case, Mansur's life partner was passionate in her steadiness to her significant other. Exactly when the qadi continued making advances and endeavored to entice her, she revealed him freely. All of the all inclusive community took an interest in censuring the qadi, and the ruler expelled him from the Brahui lands.
This story displays the Brahui point of view on the attributes and nature of character alluring in a companion, too a segment of suspicion toward religious pioneers who talk flawlessness to the world anyway practice for the most part.
5 • RELIGION
The Brahui are Muslim, having a spot generally with the Sunni group of Islam. They seek after Islamic religious feelings and practices as set out in the Qu'ran (Koran), anyway a noteworthy number of their social conventions are Indian in starting. Normal love revolves around the mosque, and mullahs (Muslim priests) see to the supernatural and formal needs of the all inclusive community. Regard for heavenly individuals (pirs) is similarly significantly dove in Brahui culture. Every family has its particular sacred individual, and women much of the time keep in their homes some earth (khwarda) from the heavenly individual's blessed spot to be used in frantic hour. The Brahui trust in enchantment and possession by jinn or monstrosity spirits. A mullah or sayyed (sacrosanct man) is consistently gotten to examine from the Qu'ran or give charms and adornments to exorcize these spirits. Should this miss the mark, a sheik, who is known for his authority over jinn may cast them out by moving.
6 • MAJOR HOLIDAYS
The Brahui watch the standard hallowed days of the Muslim calendar. The holiest of all is the eve of the tenth day of the extended length of Muharram, which is known as Imamak . Women plan unprecedented dishes of meat and rice during the day. The family collects close sunset inside seeing a mullah (Muslim minister), who examines from the Qu'ran and talks about petitions for the dead over the sustenance. Dishes of sustenance are then sent to relatives and neighbors, who react with their very own commitments. The following morning is an occasion for the pioneer of the house to visit the graveyard to entreat at the graves of his dead relatives.
7 • RITES OF PASSAGE
The introduction of a tyke is of most outrageous centrality for a Brahui. A young lady is seen as small more than a gift to one's neighbor. Right when a tyke is imagined, the father proclaims it to the system by shooting releases recognizable all around. Various traditions are sought after to shield the mother and tyke from the thought of witches and jinn (deceptive spirits). Sheep are executed (two for a tyke and one for a young lady) and a meal held for relatives, friends, and neighbors. The child is then named, now and again after a praiseworthy begetter. The head-shaving custom (sar-kuti) is performed when the adolescent is two years old, consistently at the spot of love of a favored heavenly individual. A male youth may encounter circumcision (sunnat) inside a half year, anyway the cost related with the celebrations cause various to concede it until as late as the age of ten or twelve.
No particular capacities go with the male accomplishing pre-adulthood. A strange custom is represented to be sought after when a youngster begins to bleed in light of the fact that. At dusk, the mother geniuses three stones in a triangular model on the ground and has her daughter hop over them on numerous occasions. It is felt that this will guarantee that the youngster's time periods during an astonishing leftover portion will last near three days. If a youngster were not hitched as a child, she would be not long after pubescence.
At death, word is sent to relatives and allies, who gather for the internment administration. A spread is sent for from outside the house, and when the mullah (Muslim clergyman) arrives, the body is passed on to a place of washing. It is washed by the mullah and close family (or the mullah's better half and female relatives, because of a woman), by then encased by the spread. The body is taken in motorcade to the cemetery, with the mourners introducing the kalima, the calling of certainty. At the graveside, the mullah offers the supplication for the dead, and the body is given its internment. Various traditions consolidate the singing of regrets (moda), and a passing occasion (varagh). Another feasting background is held tight the essential recognition of the destruction.
8 • RELATIONSHIPS
On social affair, the Brahui stop, shake hands, and handle each other. The experience proceeds with solicitation after each other's prosperity and after that profits to an exchange of news (hal) concerning family, allies, steers, and various issues of interest. Brahui are known for their sincerity to their guests.
9 • LIVING CONDITIONS
Brahui settlements essentially reflect the money related activities of their inhabitants. Serene nomadism was the standard control of various Brahui: voyaging herders lived in tents and brief camps, migrating with their gatherings searching for field. Pastoralism has declined in hugeness of late. Various Brahui have gotten a lifestyle reliant on an incidental relocation to differentiating rises. Towns in the great nations sensible for improvement are included for nine-month creating season. All through the winter months, these Brahui drive their groups to the bogs where they live in tent camps.
10 • FAMILY LIFE
The Brahui are dealt with into clans, all of which has a hereditary supervisor (sadar). The clans are roughly composed units subject to patrilineal drop (finishing dive the father) and political dedication. This group system believes Baluchi and Pathan get-togethers to be combined into the Brahui natural units. Without a doubt the greatest Brahui clans are the Mengals, Zahris, and Muhammad Hosanis.
The favored marriage among the Brahui is with the father's kin's daughter. Social associations are organized, despite the way that the wants of the couple are considered. Already, kid marriage was typical, anyway this preparation is directly restricted under Pakistani law. The pre-wedding affirmation and wedding administrations are noteworthy events in the life of both family and group. Inquiries inside clans are ordinarily settled at the period of social associations. A woman of great importance esteem (lab) is paid by the genuine article family. Though Muslim law licenses polygyny (different mates), monetary substances mean most Brahui social associations are monogamous. Family structure will all in all reflect money related systems. The family unit wins among vagrant Brahui, while increasingly far off families are ordinary among town tenants. Detachment, anyway clear, is unprecedented. Previously, betrayal was meriting passing, yet such practices are illicit by Pakistani law. Widow remarriage is recognized.
11 • CLOTHING
A youngster is given his first jeans at around three years of age, and starting there wears articles of clothing like those of adult folks—the kurti (long shirt), worn over the salwar, the free, free jeans discovered all through the region. For men, a turban (pag) completes the outfit.
Women wear a long move over jeans, despite the way that among Brahui vagrants women wear skirts rather than jeans. Among the Brahui of the Jhalawan area, women's works day are usually dim in concealing. Women's articles of clothing are weaved with various models and plans in concealed string. Women's designs fuse finger rings (challav), nose rings (tank), and loops (panara). Brahui settled in the Sind region will by and large dress like the Sindhi people.
12 • FOOD
The settled Brahui create wheat and millet, which are ground into flour and warmed into unleavened breads. Rice is in like manner eaten, yet regularly just on interesting occasions. Sheep and goat are noteworthy in the eating routine of the Brahui. The more-prosperous farmers in bog locales may raise dairy animals. As is typical all through South Asia, sustenance is eaten with one's hands, and normally from an aggregate platter. Milk is failed and besides made into curds, ghi (clarified spread), buttermilk, and margarine. Dates, wild natural items, and vegetables are furthermore part of the Brahui diet. Tea is flushed at dinners and is similarly taken as a part of various social administrations.
13 • EDUCATION
Levels of education (the ability to examine and form) among the Brahui are incredibly low. The 1972 assessment for the Kalat Division of Baluchistan Province recorded a general capability pace of only 6 percent in the masses over ten years of age. The Brahui live in zones of Pakistan where there is no passage to formal mentoring, and even where schools do exist, interest is low. In settled locales, for instance, the Sind region where Brahui children will undoubtedly go to class, they are told in the adjacent language rather than in Brahui.
14 • CULTURAL HERITAGE
The Brahuis have an oral show of individuals songs and courageous verses. These are sung by a class of master minstrels and craftsmen called Dombs, who are joined to every Brahui social order. Melodic instruments consolidate the rabab (an Afghan stringed instrument separated with a touch of wood), the siroz (a stringed instrument played with a bow), and the punzik (a reed instrument). These have displaced the dambura (a three-stringed instrument played with the fingers) which is found in the more isolated zones. Moving is a noteworthy segment at events, for instance, weddings and dedication administrations.
15 • EMPLOYMENT
Genuinely, the Brahui were quiet wanderers, moving with their gatherings of sheep, goats, and dairy cows from the upland levels to the low-lying fields. Today, notwithstanding, various Brahui have abandoned their tranquil activities for transhumant (standard movement among lower and higher ascents) or settled cultivation. In the Kacchi swamps, conduit and channel water framework reinforce improvement, anyway settlements in various zones of the Brahui zone depend upon qanat water framework, a game plan of sections tunneled between shafts to pass on water.
16 • SPORTS
Horse hustling and game shooting were standard games surely understood among the more royal zones of the Brahui social order.
17 • RECREATION
Already, the Brahui expected to depend upon their own benefits for energy and redirection. They found this in their family celebrations, their traditions of individuals song and move, and in the good times going with religious observances. This is as yet substantial for meandering Brahui today. Those settled in Karachi or towns on the fields approach progressively current kinds of diversion.
18 • CRAFTS AND HOBBIES
Brahui women weave their bits of clothing with splendid structures. Tents and floor covers are created utilizing sheep's downy or goats' hair.
19 • SOCIAL PROBLEMS
The Brahui clans involve presumably the harshest, most-isolated, and least-productive circumstances in Pakistan. This is reflected in the general inefficiency of standard money related systems and the all around low desires for regular day to day existence of the system. Late government tries to convey improvement to the region have done little for the welfare of the Brahui, who are fundamentally transient and provincial in character. The Brahui are one of the various genealogical minorities in a country overpowered by ethnic elites, for instance, the Punjabis and Sindhis. The nonappearance of a made composition (what there is dates just from the 1960s) has demolished the improvement of an inalienable discernment, and matters are exacerbated by the declining amounts of people speaking Brahui. The Brahui appear, apparently, to be rapidly retaining with the incorporating Baluchi masses.
20 • BIBLIOGRAPHY
Holler, Denys. The Life-History of a Brahui. Karachi, Pakistan: Royal Book Company, 1977 [1913].
Rooman, Anwar. The Brahuis of Quetta-Kalat Region. Journal No. 3. Karachi, Pakistan: Pakistan Historical Society, 1960.
Swidler, Nina. "Brahui." In Muslim Peoples: A World Ethnographic Survey, changed by Richard Weekes. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984.
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