Balochi Poetry

BALUCHISTAN: Balochi Poetry

The clearest way to describe Baluchi poetry is by dividing it into 4 periods: (1) classical, from ca. 1550-1700; (2) post-classical, from 1700-1800; (3) 19th century to early 20th century; (4) modern, after ca. 1930.

BALUCHISTAN

iiia. BALUCHI POETRY

The clearest way to describe Baluchi poetry is by dividing it into 4 periods: (1) classical, from ca. 1550-1700; (2) post-classical, from 1700-1800; (3) 19th century to early 20th century; (4) modern, after ca. 1930.

Historical development and genres. Up to the modern period, all Baluchi literature was oral and mostly poetical, saved only in the memories of professional reciters (ḍōmbs, lōṛīs, or lāngaws), but from the 1850s on, it was sometimes preserved in writing by collectors (mainly British) in India. By far the most important of these was Mansell Longworth Dames (1850-1922), an Indian Civil Servant, whose work in the 1890s superseded that of all his predecessors. Others followed, including in the 20th century some Baluchi collectors. Serious literary production in prose was not attempted before the 20th century. (The main written sources are given in the Bibliography.)

The preserved poetry of the classical period appears to consist entirely of ballads, whilst from the post-classical times onward some lyrical poems, mainly ghazals (lyric poems; see ḠAZAL) or similar types, make their appearance. The oldest classical ballads, called daptar šā’irī “register ballads” due to their lists of personal, tribal, and place names, may date back to the 16th century. The few that have been preserved are often badly corrupted. Their content does not vary a great deal: the first migrations of the Baluch tribes from their supposed original home in Aleppo, Syria, after the Battle of Karbalāʾ (680 CE) eastwards towards Persia, thence through present-day Iranian Baluchistan (q.v.) to Kech (Kēč, in the Makrān division of Baluchistan province, Pakistan). The Kech valley was a central meeting-point for the tribes, who then branched out on their further migrations. Only these parts of the ballads, providing details (place-names, etc.) after the Baluch arrival in Iranian Baluchistan, can have any historical value. Their origins in Aleppo are quite mythical; some of these daptars have been published.

The body of Baluchi classical poetry is more extensive than previously thought, and only a part of it has been collected and published. The main body may be conveniently classified in various cycles of heroic balladry, and the constant theme is that of tribal conflict. The structure of Baluch society in the 16th-18th centuries is clearly mirrored in them. It is a picture of a semi-nomadic tribal society, strongly hierarchical and male-dominated, in which concepts of duty and honor play the chief roles, superseding all individual inclinations, so that the outcomes of conflicts are almost always tragic. The chief code of conduct was riwāǰ “tribal law,” infringement of which usually meant death or banishment.

The most important, as well as extensive, cycle is the Čākur Cycle of ballads, a number of which have been collected and published. Its main subject is the events of the long, thirty years’ war between the Rind and Lāšārī tribes, leading to the virtual extermination of the latter. The events described probably belong to the period 1475-1525. It is difficult to vouch for the contemporary nature of many of the extant ballads, for they have been elaborated and reworked over the centuries by reciters; but certainly the core of them must be authentic. Little can be deduced from their language, for the extreme conservatism of Baluchi has kept it from important linguistic change: the Baluchi of a thousand years ago cannot have been very different from the Baluchi of today.

Another important classical cycle is the Dōdā-Bālāč Cycle (dateable perhaps to the 18th century), which begins with the description of a raid by the Buledi tribal chief Mīr Bībarg on Dōdā’s cattle, leading to a long and bloody series of retaliations on both sides until most of the principal actors are killed. Only Bālāč, Dōdā’s brother, and his friend, the slave Nakīb, survive; he and a few followers proceed to wreak their revenge on their foes.

Also noteworthy are the many ballads in the Hammal ǰīhand Cycle, describing the struggles of the Baluch of the Makrān coast with the Portuguese in the 16th century. At base certainly historical, the details have not as yet been studied or compared with possible material in Portuguese archives (for a more detailed description of these cycles, see BALUCHISTAN III. BALUCHI LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE ii. Baluchi Literature).

Besides these historical ballads, there exist a number of long compositions which could date from the 18th century, mainly based on well-known Persian romances, such as Leyli o Majnun and Љirin o Farhād; their authors are unknown. Of greater interest is the purely Baluchi epic Dōstēn o Šīrēn, of which several versions are known, including a first-rate modern version (1964) by the poet Gol Khān Naṣir.

In the post-classical period of the 18th century, we come to the poetry of named poets, of whom the earliest as well as the most important is ǰām Durrak, the chief poet at the court of Naṣir Khan I of Kalāt (1749-95). Whilst there are no extant manuscripts from his own time, much of what has come down to us seems genuine. His best work is characterized by a most individual style, of short lyric verses with irregular rhyme and a clipped meter; it has been much imitated. Several other poets of the 18th century are known by name, and brief examples of their work have been collected and published.

From the 19th century onwards, a much larger corpus of poetry is extant, and at least a half-dozen poets are well known, including two from Iranian Baluchistan and two from the eastern regions of Pakistani Baluchistan, and all of their poetry has been preserved in its original dialect form.

In the modern period after ca. 1930, several magazines were started in Karachi and Quetta for the purpose of publishing Baluchi writing in general, and these always included examples of poetry in each issue; the script used was a modified Urdu type. Poetry competitions were held. After the partition of India in 1947, several “Baluchi Academies” were founded in Pakistan, the main purpose of which was literary publication. The earliest of these was the Balōčī Zubānē Dīwān (“Baluchi language group”) in Quetta in 1951, but it lasted only two years. Its most important publication was probably Gulbāng, a collection of poetry by the poet Gol Khān Naṣīr of Nushki (1914-84), the leading poet of his time.

The centers of Baluchi publication have always been Quetta and Karachi, and to a lesser degree, after 1978, also Kabul. Unfortunately, what promised to be an impressive program of literary publication in Kabul came to an end after the end of communist rule in 1992; and at the time of writing (2008) there is little prospect of a revival. But in Quetta and Karachi periodicals of note have been published (see Bibliography; Elfenbein, forthcoming). In Quetta, the most important literary magazine formerly was Māhtāk Balōčī, which appeared from 1956 at irregular intervals for over 30 years. Much material from the first collections of classical balladry first saw publication there. Nothing of note has been published in Iran, despite the large numbers of Baluchis living there.

Verse construction and metrics. Classical Balochi balladry employs meters and rhyme schemes which have little or nothing in common with the traditions of Persian or Arabic poetry, and whilst some poets since the 19th century have written, for instance, ghazals in the Persian manner, most leading modern poets tend to avoid them, particularly since the literary revival of the 1930s.

Baluchi poetry depends above all on syllable count and stress; long and short syllables form its basis in various stress patterns. Stress is in principle restricted to long syllables, with one stress per foot, though exceptions are not infrequent. A long syllable is of the type VC or CVC; all other syllables are short. A short syllable may not follow a short syllable; various devices are used to scan a sequence of short syllables, one of the most common being to scan CV CV as CVC V. Sequences of vowels, such as the causative infix -āēn-, may be scanned as two syllables, or as a monosyllable, as required.

Rhyme is used as a punctuation device or for dramatic effect. Ultramodern poetry, influenced as it is by European models—principally English—is often composed in free verse, or in any other form which suits the poet’s fancy. When rhyme is employed, lines may rhyme in bands of 2, 3, or 4 lines, seldom more. But the poet Gol Khan, in a parade of poetical virtuosity, has composed poems consisting entirely of one rhyme (see example 9, below). A change of rhyme marks the end of a thought sequence; particularly dramatic is a single unrhymed line (sometimes with a caesura or a change of rhythm) standing in the midst of several rhymed lines.

As a standardized written Baluchi has not yet developed, each poet tends to write in his own dialect. But classical balladry has always been recited in the Coastal dialect, and more or less accurately imitated by speakers of other dialects. Eastern Hill Baluchi is also used for classical ballads. (Two examples below, nos. 2 and 11, have been quoted in this dialect.) Most non-Coastal-speaking poets have composed their work in a mixture of dialects in what is quite an artificial language; in particular the poet Gol Khān Naṣir has often used real (and imagined) Coastal dialect forms in his native Raxšānī. The poems below are cited in the form written or recited. The translations have been kept as literal as possible to facilitate understanding; no attempt has been made to do justice to the originals. Examples 2-11 are taken from Elfenbein, 1990. For the scansion pattern of each example, see TABLE 1.

Example 1. The following exhibits the meter and rhyme scheme of one of the earliest ballads, a daptar šā’ir dating from perhaps the 16th century. Accidents of its (oral) transmission have produced many corrupt versions (e.g., Grierson, 1921, pp. 370-75). Below are the first 4 lines of what could be its original form (see Elfenbein, forthcoming).

Rājā ač Ḥalab zahr bītant

Ā rōč ki Yazīd sar zītant

Sulṭān Šāh Ḥusayn kušta

Rāǰān purr hasad bad burta

The tribes from Aleppo became angry

On the day that their heads were attacked by Yazid

Sultan Shah Ḥosayn was killed

The tribes, full of jealousy, bore it badly.

The lines are of 8 syllables, in a triple rhythm of three feet with a truncated last foot. In line 3 one can scan Ḥosayn as three syllables: otherwise the line lacks a syllable. It will be noticed that many long syllables are scanned short, as needed. The lines rhyme in bands of two. This pattern is still in use today for some ballads.

Example 2. The following specimen from the Čākur Cycle is in the Eastern Hill Dialect, and probably dates from the late 17th century (Elfenbein, 1990, p.332, no. 55 [1]).

Sēwī ghōṛawī gaṛdān bāθ

Durrēn Gōharē margān bāθ

Gwahrām ža dō-ǰāh bē-ǰāh bāθ

May the Sihi troop of horse be as dust

May it be the death of pearly Gohar

May Gwahram be without either of his two places.

It is to be scanned in eight syllables, stressed as marked in Table 1. Line 3 has, irregularly, a short syllable on the first beat of the second foot.

Example 3. The following is from the Dōda-Bālāč Cycle, but perhaps dates from the post-classical period (Elfenbein, 1990, p.342, no. 57):

Dōdā manī kunḍī kaptā

Ērmānag o dast-ī mušta

Munḍ manā parmōš na-bīt

Dard-ant mān Bālāčē dilā

Dōdā is fallen at my knees

Depressed, and he wrung his hands

Never shall I forget

There are sorrows in Balač’s heart.

This poem also shows an eight-syllable line, in triple rhythm with a truncated last foot. There are many interchanges of long and short vowels for scansion; rhyme is irregular: there are bands of two or more rhymed lines, with an unrhymed line preceding the refrain, which itself does not rhyme.

Example 4. The following extract is from a typical lyric poem of ǰām Durrak, a court poet at Kalāt in the 18th century (Elfenbein, 1990, p.308, no. 53):

Gōšit kungurān

Bēl o kēnagān

Šāhī hambalān

Listen, O braves

Friends and enemies

Royal companions.

Durrak’s lyric poetry is characterized by short lines, usually with random rhyming schemes. This poem has a five-syllable line, with some longs scanned short.

The following examples, all of them modern, have been chosen to show a typical range of structures. I have restricted quotations to the first few lines; for further details the reader is referred to Elfenbein, 1990. Much used is a ten-syllable line of three feet in triple rhythm, with fixed stress on the first syllable of each foot. The last syllable of the line is also stressed.

Example 5.

Raptagē taw hamā ča payrīyā

Čamm manī kōr-ant ač zahīrīyā

Thou art only gone since yesterday

My eyes are blinded with yearning.

This poem, by Moḥammad ʿOnqā (ʿUnqā, Elfenbein, 1990, p.132, no. 19(1)) is to be scanned as shown in Table 1; long syllables are often taken as short.

Example 6. In “Bahār Gāh” (“Springtime”; Elfenbein, 1990, p.138, no. 21) a famous long lyric poem by Āzāt ǰamāldīnī, we have a five-syllable line which is to be scanned iambically; its refrain runs:

O dil ma-kan yāt

ranǰān ma-kan zyāt

ā māh o sālān

ā gapp o gālān!

O heart, do not remember

Do not grieve me so much

Those months and years

Those chats!

The main poem consists mainly of eight lines preceding each occurrence of the refrain, which itself rhymes in bands of two.

Example 7. Another example of the three-syllable foot is to be seen in Moḥammad Ašāq Šāmīm’s “Balōčī Zubān” (“The Balochi Language;” Elfenbein, 1990, p.150, no. 24), which uses a four-foot, ten- or eleven-syllable line with irregular caesuras:

Sarōkī nēst, nē rāhē nišān-int

guḍā ham kārawān sarsar ǰanān-int

agar manzil manā ča badgumān-int

hamē āwāz ča kōhān rasān-int

Balōčī mē watī sahdēn zubān-int

No leader, no road-marker is there

Even so the caravan makes its way ahead

If a stage is depressing for me

The same cry arrives from the mountains

Baluchi is our own honeyed tongue.

Note how watī in the refrain must be scanned wat-i and not wa-ti; each verse consists of four lines, each of one rhyme, followed by the refrain line which may or may not rhyme with what precedes it.

Example 8. In “Balōčistān, Balōčistān!” (Elfenbein, 1990, pp.162-65, no. 28) Gol Khan has written what has become almost a national anthem. Written in an iambic, eight-syllable line, the first syllable of each foot must be scanned short even if it is long. The first verse runs:

may nām o nang o burzēn šān

may haḍḍ o gōšt o hōn o sāh

dar āhtag ač tay hākā

taw ē may māt o sērēn lāp

bibē sarsabz o ham šādāp

taw ammē sāh o ammē ǰān

Balōčistān, Balōčistān!

Our name and honor and high fame

Our flesh and blood and bone and soul

Emerged from thy dust

Thou art our mother and full belly

Be thou evergreen and a greensward

Thou art our soul and our life

Baluchistan, Baluchistan!

Line 3 is deliberately irregular with only seven syllables (Table 1.8b), all of them long; a sudden caesura in its third foot adds to the tension.

Example 9. In “Tīr Gāl Kant” (“The Bullet Speaks;” Elfenbein, 1990, p.170, no. 30), Gul Khan exhibits a certain technical virtuosity, rhyming all lines in one rhyme, -ārīā:

byāit o bēlān may kačāhrīā

buškunit gālān pa dil-karārīā

kissagē kārān pa dawr-o-bārīā

Come O friends to our meeting

Hear verses with a contented heart

A story I bring for the times

The poem is mainly in eleven-syllable lines (cf. ten in Table 1.9a) with constant rhythm; note the displaced stress in line 3 (Table 1.9c).

Example 10. As an example of a modern treatment of a classical theme, Gul Khan in his modern epic Dōštēn o Šīrēn (Elfenbein, 1990, pp.203 ff.) has chosen an iambic, eight-syllable meter of four feet, in rhyming bands of two, three, or four bands; it begins:

byāit manī bēl o yalān

kōhnēn hikāyatē kanān

čō gwašta pēšī mardumān

Come, my friends and comrades

I shall sing an old tale

As people of yore told it.

Example 11. Finally, as an example of a modern epic of an entirely different type, I cite the opening of Raḥm-ʿAlī Marī’s Gumbaδa ǰanga Šā’ir “The Battle of Gumbad,” composed in the early 20th century (Elfenbein, 1990, pp.308 ff.). The dialect is Eastern Hill Baluchi:

ilāhī yāt-ēn o sattār

karīm o kādar o ḍātār

samad o sādīk o sačyār

khayā diθā thaī diδar

makā~ o dāīmī darbār.

I recall God the Veiler

The generous and powerful creator

The most high, honest, lover of truth;

Who has seen thy sight

Thy dwelling, thy eternal court?

The line is an eight-syllable, mostly three-beat foot. The fourth line is to be scanned in seven syllables (Table 1.11c).

Bibliography:

Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker and Aqil Khan Mengal, A Course in Baluchi, 2 vols., Montreal, 1969 (especially II, units 29 and 30, “Introduction to Baluchi poetry”).

Mansell Longworth Dames, ed. and tr., Popular Poetry of the Baloches, 2 vols. in one, London, 1907.

Idem, A Textbook of the Balochi Language, 2nd ed., Lahore, 1909 (see especially Pt. II, “Legendary History of the Baloches” and Pt. III, “Poems”).

Josef Elfenbein, A Baluchi Miscellany of Erotica and Poetry. Codex Or. Add. 24,048 of the British Library, Naples, 1983.

Idem, An Anthology of Classical and Modern Balochi Literature, 2 vols., Wiesbaden, 1990.

Idem, “Balochi Literature,” in P. G. Kreyenbroek and U. Marzolph, eds., History of Persian Literature II, chap. 8, forthcoming.

G. A. Grierson, ed., Linguistic Survey of India X. Specimens of Languages of the Eranian Family, Calcutta, 1921; repr., Delhi,1968.

Mohammad Sardar Khan Baluch, A Literary History of the Baluchis, Baluchi Academy, Quetta, 1977.

Sher Muhammed Marri, Balōčī Kahnēn Šāhirī, Baluchi Academy, Quetta, 1970.

I. I. Zarubin, “K izucheniyu beludzhskogo yazyka i folʾklora” (On the study of the Baluchi language and folklore), in Zapiski Kollegii Vostokovedov 5, Leningrad, 1930, pp. 664-68.

Periodicals.

Quetta:

Māhtāk Balōčī, 1956-58; 1978-81; 1986-.

Nōkēn Daur, 1961-71.

Ulus, 1961-.

Karachi:

Zamāna Balōčī, 1968-75.

Sawgāt, 1978-.

Bahārgān, 1989-.

July 28, 2008

(Joseph Elfenbein)

Originally Published: July 28, 2008

Last Updated: July 28, 2008

Nako Faiz Muhammad Baloch

Nāku Faiz Muhammad Baloch:The Biggest Name

In the Balochi Musical World

By: Hamid Ali Baloch[1]

If, therefore, we take a glance over the kinds of the Balochi Music, we see that in this field a lot of best and famous names, such as, Mir Ashraf Durra Gichki, Rais Darbish, Begum Jan, Mullah Ibrahim, Mulla Ramzan Rami and others[2]. But we want to discuss here about the sweet-voiced Late Nāku Faiz Muhammad Baloch “Paizuk”. About the above-mentioned and Balochi Music my new book “Zeimer Darya” (the sea of Music) is due to come soon, this is first book on music with pictures. Inshallah, the time is very near that this treasure of music will be in your hands.

Nāku Faiz Muhammad Baloch; yes, the leader of the Baloch artists Nāku Faiz Muhammad Baloch was born at Kasar Kand[3] in 1900. His respected father name was Bashir Ahmad Baloch, who was the residence of Iran. Nāku Faiz Muhammad was interested to learn Damburag[4] and Balochi dance at the age of fifteen. Nāku Faiz was a singer who visited different countries of the world, such as, Africa, east and west Europe and the biggest and famed countries of the Asian continent. And enlightened the Balochi art and music, and he let the Englishmen danced with his music and sweet tone. Beside, Naku Faiz got his first marriage at the age of eighteen at Turbat and got a child named Master Muhammad Shafi. Nāku Faiz Muhammad came to Karachi to earn his livelihood and settled in Lyari Karachi, and started business and laboring. Naku Faiz got his second marriage in Karachi.

In the second marriage, he got four sons and four daughters. The musical Ustād (teacher) of Naku Faiz Muhammad was a famed singer Faiz Muhammad Ramzan Rami a resident of Pasni and Gwadar. And he learnt music from him and learnt other light music from Ustād Khair Muhammad.

He worked in the Radio Pakistan Karachi in 1948. At that time, he had visited Russia, America, Germany, China, Canada, South Korea, Spain, Afghanistan, Aljazair and Britain and enlightened the name of the Balochi language. Naku had also learnt Hindi and Sindhi music. It is said that the Damburag was his hands finger play. Nāku had managed his first musical show at Singolane Sarbazi village(Karachi) in the marriage of late Abdul Ghafoor Sarbazi. He maintained the musical show till seven days and people came to participate in it from every part of Liyārī. Nāku had endured a lot of hardness. He hard labored at the daytime in Kimāŕī and served the language at night time. His struggle and distresses has a long story. From morning to evening, heat-stroke of summer and harsh cold of winter, he worked hard for legal earnings for their children and at the night time he facilitated the unease life of the people with his sweet music and voice and sung songs for the people. This was the reason of finger segment disease of Nāku. But it was his greatness that he never complained to others. He passed his unfavorable circumstances with joy and happiness. The greatness and goodness was that, he demanded nothing from the Government. The Radio and TV of Šalkōt (Quetta) were in the hands of unfair persons, and still the pasture of ills. They had only some unskilled musicians, lazy and dull. The policy of unknown persons of Islamabad became changed and the doors of Radio and TV were opened in Šalkot. This was the happiest time of Naku’s life. This was another matter, that the rights of Nāku Faiz Muhammad were embezzled by the luxurious officers. The disloyal life of Nāku crinkled its face and darkened itself untimely, and the nation till today suffering this.

From Nāku Faiz Muhammad till today, the artists have done more, but he was the unique person, but if you see the next side of the mirror, that is bad and unclean. Without Nāku Faiz the artists (Baloch artists) are backless. No one had the sense to let someone coming behind them. If someone has two sons, one is a banjo master and other is a drumbeater, they are not called real artists. This is a sorry state, that someone could took the path of Nāku in the field of singing and music, but it was not so. Nāku took his art with himself and went away. Only Manzūr Bulaidī, son of Murīd Bulaidī is well prepared in this field. It is expected that he will enlighten the name of Murīd Bulaidī. It’s a state of sorry, that the sweet-voiced singer Jāduk took his art to the grave. The Balochi (language) is therefore, not developed, but the sky of it was broadened but voiceless.  The artists have adorned the sky of expectations like a bride, such as, Ustād Muhammad Shafi, Ustād Imam Bakhsh Mastana, Ustād Imam Bakhsh Majnoon, Ustād Rasheed and other who say themselves Ustād, if there were not said Ustād they will do their faces..

Our artists are said to be as Ustād. If they were not said Ustād, they mind it. According to Qayyum Sarbazi, I and other folk musicians don’t know who the Ustāds are.  It is the custom of the world that, Ustad is he, who is a learned and trained man, and teaches others.  In the schools they are called master and in the colleges and Universities, who teach the students are called lecturers and Professors. They are called Ustād.

Basically, advisor of every work is called Ustād. He provides knowledge and education. But it is a sorry state that our some artists have still hidden their arts, and they do not touch them. Knowledge and art are not the things to be hidden; these bring changes when they are used. These (artists) are behind the popularity and money. There are some young singers in them who are very famous today, but they have famed themselves by money. They also call them as Ustad. If they had worked whole-heartedly, they would have created fifty or sixty disciples approximately. The disciples would have become Ustad. But oh the unknowingness! The artists are very worried that if the youngsters were encouraged then they will lose their hegemony and no one asks them i.e. they will lose their earnings. Among the old artists, Ustad Abdul Sattar, Ustad Noor Muhammad Nooral, Ustād Ghulam Rasool Dinarzai, Ustād Wali Muhammad Baloch and somehow Ustad Abdul Aziz are the personalities who have worked a lot in the Balochi art. Their works are admirable. Credits also go to Ustad Jumma Khan, who is leading the new generation in Pasni. This news spread everywhere that the artists are poor and deprived class and every one knows about its distresses. People would be happy, if they (artists) were prosperous, but what is the sin of this distressed nation? The deprived and distressed artists have kept stones on their chests, endured the nights and lullaby their sons for forthcoming expectations. The biggest disease among the artists is un-unification. These “fortunate” artists do not tolerate each other. They waste most part of their time criticizing each other and consider backbiting their sweetness of their mouth. Some objective less people come to the clubs of the artists and work as message-conveyer.  The work of these types of fraud people makes disputes among the artists. According to Qayyum Sarbazi, this job has been made a habit. Allegating, conspiracy and revenge are pouring like rain and the experts are doing their job. The knowledge of revenge of the artists is as gushed out that “Sar” (head) has lost; “Rech” (to pour) is darkened and terrible because of their deeds. The clean-hearted and sympathizing nation is closing its eyes over the artists, feeling sorrows upon them. This news is like the strong rock, losing, and intoxicatingly uprooting itself. What will be the destination of this un-ended and unadvised destination? Every body knows it.

It seems that the national artists are senseless, and why they do not open the eyes of truth? To what destination they ride the horse of self-makings? How many things would be there in the pack saddle of lie and allegations? Is anyone become famous of cutting down their hands? The famed artist come to the sense; do not burn your homes that ashes are not costly. That is it, before the Nehing (river) and Bolan will take you away, be careful of it. Today’s time is in your hands but tomorrow’s? No one knows about tomorrow, behind the power of unification and amity, the sky trembles and the wind takes way the mat of an individual. We were discussing about Naku Faiz Muhammad, but we went onward, these things were necessary to be discussed. Take this news with yourself. If there were not Naku Faiz Muhammad Baloch, neither there would be Mureed Bulaidi, nor Muhammad Jaduk and Muhammad Shaif, neither abdul Aziz and nor Akhtar Channal and Sabzal Samagi and other singers. That’s why, Nāku Faiz Muhammad has made a structure and colors on the Balochi music and it is still alive today. And God may alive it till doomsday. This fragrance garland if for the neck of Nāku Faiz Muhammad, that is spread today in every aspect of the Balochi Music. At last, Nāku was a part and parcel of Radio Pakistan Quetta where he suffered in ill. And he left us and passed away on 6^th may 1980, but, when the artist dies, his art alive. It’s said that the artist, death and today………….

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[1] Lecturer, Department of Balochi, University of Balochistan, Quetta

[2]  The above-mentioned names

[3] Name of a town in Iranian Balochistan in which the total population is Balochi speaking. Kasar kand is the ancient name of this town but the Iranian government has changed the name into Qasr e Qand…

[4] One of the primary Balochi musical instruments, which has been a part and parcel of the Balochi classical music from centuries.

Sanskrit and Balochi

A comparative analysis of Sanskrit and Balochi

Hamid Ali Baloch

Lecturer

Department of Balochi Literature,

University of Balochistan, Quetta

E-mail: Balochi_department@yahoo.com

Historians and linguists have penned down a lot about the lingual history of the Sanskrit and Balochi through ages, but it has been an unjust of the history to the Balochi language than that of the Sanskrit. The Sanskrit throughout of its history has been the language of elite class, the language of religion and the language of pre- Indian rulers, who came from the Aryan region and ruled the northern part of India since a long time. The Hindu sacred books like   Vedas, Bhagavatam (Srīmad Bhagavada), Upanishads and Puranas were written before centuries in the Vedic Sanskrit language.

The linguists kept both, the Sanskrit and Balochi in the main group of Indo-European and further divided them into two sub-branches such as Indo-Aryan and Iranian. Basically the speakers of both, Rig-veda Samhita (present Sanskrit) and the Balochi speakers are the original dwellers of the Aryan region. This concept concerning to the Balochi and Sanskrit speakers cannot be ruled out from the fact that their linguistic similarity is connected with that region.

            This idea empowers us that the similarity between the Balochi and Sanskrit languages is not new but it has been pre-historic relation between them. Balochi language is basically a north western language which shares a much similarities with Kurdish, Avesta, Old Persian, Parthian and Pahlavi. But Sanskrit is one of these languages which shares most common linguistic characters with Balochi. Some writers have discussed the relationships between the Old Persian and Sanskrit and considered these languages as the sister languages, but it is a sorry state that they were unfamiliar of the Balochi language which also has a great affinity with Old Persian and Sanskrit.

It's crystal clear, that the Balochi language is one of the ancient Iranian languages, which is proved by the Iranian as well as western linguists. Josef Elfenbein writes that the Balochi language belongs to the eastern group of the Iranian languages like Parthian and Arsacid Pahlavi. Ancestor of the Balochi language was neither Parthian nor middle Persian ( Sasanid Pahlavi), but a lost language which thus, while sharing a number of characteristic feature with either, some with both, had a pronounced individuality of his own. This language may have been a variety of Median speech since the Kurdish dialects, which have a noteworthy affinity with Balochi are to be traced to the ancient Median (Josef. Ency: Vol-I, 1960 London).

Agnes Korn mentions that, "with regard to phonological matters, Balochi stands out from all other modern Iranian languages, through the systematic preservation of Old Iranian consonants such as āp "water" (Av. Āp-/ap) vs. NP āb, Kurd. av; pād "foot" (Av. Pād-/pad )vs.NP pāy, Krud.pě; rōč ''day"(Av. Raočah-)vs. NP rōz, Kurd. r'oj Korn further mentions that if someone wants to study the origin of the Iranian languages, he must has to study the Balochi language first because Balochi is the only ancient remnant Iranian languages  in the modern times which has been kept its ancient sounds and structure.

I will try to find out the roots that how the Sanskrit and Balochi language are similar to each other. Whether, they have encountered each other in the Aryan region or in the region of indo- subcontinent.

 The historical period of the Sanskrit language begins round about the period of 1200-100 BC with the composition and compilation of the Rig-Veda.

It is practical to distinguish three periods, Old, Middle and Modern Indo-Aryan. The classical form of indo- Aryan eventually came to be designated by the term "Samskrta" means cultivated, polished and correct, in contradistinction to "Prākrit" the speech of the uneducated masses, which was the same Indo-Aryan in origin, but was subject to a process of steady change and evolution.

The change occurred when the Aryan people with its Samskrta language came too penetrated into the people of Indian origin. It’s a universal fact that the languages pass through in a process of change and every language changes itself by the passage of time simultaneously. The old language namely, the Rig-Veda Samhita is the language of Rig-Veda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda.

 The 5^th century BC, is the golden age for the revival of the Sanskrit language, in which the grammarian like Panīnī ( ) started a movement to purify to Sanskrit language from Prākrit languages. Panīnī's movement a little bit successful but could not save the Sanskrit language from the jaws of death. Panīnī is renowned grammarian who recollected the texts from the ancient Indian religious books and wrote down the grammar of the Sanskrit in eight chapters or books  which is called" Ashtadhyayi".

In the relevant grammatical book Panīnī discussed the differences between the language of holy texts and the language used for communicating in the daily life. In the book a basic position of rules and grammar was given to explain Sanskrit grammar. He went on gradually and explained the use of nouns, vowels, verbs and divided them into different classes. He then further explained the structure of the sentences and the use of compound nouns and tenses. It was very similar to the principles of Mathematics as the construction of this grammatical pattern function mathematically.

Panīnī's rules were acceptable throughout the world because the rules what had been mentioned in the Ashtadhyayi were true and accurate, but another Sanskrit grammarian who objected the rules of Panīnī was the noted Sanskrit grammarian Katyayana. He was the author of Vārtika Sūtras. It may be safely presumed that a number of grammarians appeared during this inter-regnum period. Katyayana is the renowned author of the Vārtikas on the Sūtras of Panīnī.

Come what may, Panīnī is the most renowned grammarian who left no stone unturned to save the Sanskrit language from the mouth of death but he became vain. He could not put aside it and even from the loan words of the local languages, which were considered as Prakrit.

It’s a clear fact that both the Sanskrit and Balochi belong to the same family and it's obvious that the sound system is more similar to Balochi than that of other Iranian languages even in the new indo-Aryan languages.

The preliminary consonants of the Sanskrit and Balochi are quite same such as "a, p, t, ţ, j, č, d, đ, ż, r, ŗ, z, ž, s, š, k, g, l, m, n, o and h. the independent vowel sounds are same except "Ị". The sound "ŕ" mainly found in the eastern dialect of the Balochi language.

In case of aspirations, Balochi shares approximately all aspirations with Sanskrit. Palatal aspirate sounds like, čʰ, jʰ, cerebral aspirations like, ţʰ and đʰ, dental aspirations such as, tʰ, and dʰ, and labial aspirations like, pʰ and bʰ are the aspirate characters of Sanskrit and Balochi (especially the eastern dialect of the Balochi language).

 The allophones are pronounced in the same way in Sanskrit and Balochi. The allophones such as, ث, ح, خ, ذ, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع, غ, ف.

These sounds are basically Arabic sounds which cannot be pronounced by the speakers of both languages and they may pronounce as, س ھ ك زس ز ت زا گ پ ك.

If we study the word clusters of the Sanskrit and Balochi, we will come to know that structure of clusters has great commonality. The sound of clusters such as kra, pra, sra, gra,draj in Balochi such as"drad, drang, srahm, gramm , prah or prāh, and drušk etc.

Syntax and grammar:

Sans: Gri'naami, Bal: green ey :( I hold) Ur. And Hindi ( Pakarta hon)

Sans: grihNaati, Bal: girant ey :( catch something, or will catch something), Ur.and Hindi  pakartey hein.

Sans: tavam dadattya, Bal: tau daat(ay),( you gave) Urd. And H. tum ne de deyā

Sans: tay dadan, bal: āyān dāt(they gave/have given)Ur. H.unhon ne de deyā

Sans: yašmān adattya, Bal: Šumārā dāt ē( you have given), Ur. H. āp ko dedeya (plu.)

Sans: tavam adaddeya Bal:tao dāta (you have given), Ur. And H. ap ne dedeya.

Sans: mām adattya, Bal:mana dāt ey (have given to me)

In fact, Balochi is not an indo-Aryan language, but it shares a huge number of words which are morphologically, phonologically and etymologically same. I have found out approximately fifteen hundred words from different Sanskrit books which are same by all means. May be the number of words exceed after a thorough research and it is quite possible.

          Studying the Sanskrit and Balochi entirely, this idea enables us to understand the linguistic inter-connection and harmony of both languages. The lingual structure shows that Balochi is nearer to the Sanskrit than that of the new Indo Aryan languages, which are considered to be the derived languages of Sanskrit. Here, I want to affirm this statement that the lingual similarity between the Sanskrit and Balochi is not new, but it has a thousand years old history.  As I mentioned before that even the Urdu and Hindi both are said to be the daughters of Sanskrit but differ a lot grammatically to the Sanskrit language than that of Balochi. I am quite sure that after a complete research of Sanskrit and Balochi, we will be able to prove that Balochi may be the contemporary or may be oldest language of the Iranian region as it has already been mentioned by the western and Iranian linguists.