Brahui people
Encyclopedia
The Brahui or Brohi are ethnic Baloch group of about 2.2 million people with the majority found in Kalat
Kalat District
Kalat or Qalat is a district in Balochistan, Pakistan. It is one of 26 in that province, and encompasses an area of 6,621 km². The population of the district is estimated to be over 400,000 in 2005. The district is governed from the city of Kalat....

, Baluchistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...

, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

, but they are also found in smaller numbers in neighboring Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 and Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. The Brahuis are almost entirely Sunni Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

s.

Origins

The ethnonym "Brahui" is a very old term and a purely Dravidian one. The fact that other Dravidian languages only exist further south in India has led to several speculations about the orgins of the Brahui. There are three hypotheses regarding the Brahui that have been proposed by academics. One theory is that the Brahui as a relic population of Dravidians, surrounded by speakers of Indo-Iranian
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Iranian can refer to:* Indo-Iranian languages* Prehistoric Indo-Iranians * Indo-European languages* Proto-Indo-Iranian religion* Proto-Indo-Iranian language...

 languages, remaining from a time when Dravidian was more widespread. Another theory is that they migrated to Baluchistan from inner India
Mainland India
Mainland India are the territories of India located on the Asian continental mainland. This includes the twenty-eight states and five out of seven union territories...

 during the early Muslim period of the 13th or 14th centuries. More established theory says the Brahui migrated to Balochistan from central India after 1000 CE. The absence of any older Iranian (Avestan) influence in Brahui supports this hypothesis. The main Iranian contributor to Brahui vocabulary is a western Iranian language like Kurdish.
Over the centuries, due to their location, the Brahui have mixed with Iranian peoples
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples...

 as well as the Sindhis
Sindhi people
Sindhis are a Sindhi speaking socio-ethnic group of people originating from Sindh, a province Formerly of British India, now in Pakistan. Today Sindhis that live in Pakistan belong to various religious denominations including Islam, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity...

, among other Indo-Aryan peoples. They culturally resemble their Baloch and Sindhi neighbors, although they still continue to speak their Brahui language.

Tribes

Brahui-speaking Baloch tribes include the Mirwani, Bangulzai, Banulzai, Bizenjo
Bizenjo
Bizenjo is a Baloch tribe in Balochistan. This tribe is mainly located in Awaran Districtkolwa and grashag and district khuzdar,naal,ornach mountains till jhaoo and lasbella,and in district makran,gwadar,pasni,turbat the bizenjo tribe has four clans hamalani,tumrani,omrani,sehpaad sardar aslam...

, Khurasani
Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...

, Kheazai
Kheazai
Kheazai are a Baloch tribe in Balochistan and Sindh province and Iran. It is a sub-tribe of the Muhammad Hasni tribe. The Kheazai are divided into many clans, the major ones include Jangizai, Yousafzai, Kandozai, Bijarzai, Muhammad zai, Phwalwnzai, Jangohoi, Umerzai, Lashkarzai, Khandozai, and...

, Langov, Lehri, Sarparah, Mengal
Mengal
Mengal is a Brahui / Baloch tribe in Balochistan, Pakistan- Demographics :The Mengal tribe is one of the largest Baloch tribe. Mengal people speak Brahui, a Dravidian language that has been heavily influenced by other Iranian languages spoken in the area, especially Balochi...

, Muhammed Hasni, Muhammad Shahi
Muhammad Shahi
Muhammad Shahi is a Brahui tribe in Balochistan. They reside in the area of Mastung] and [Kalat.Tribe leader is Sardar Muhammad Zaman Muhammad shahi. Its main branches are Ahmed Khan Zai, Shadainzai, HajjiZai, Haibatzai, Samakzai, SoroZai, BambakaZai, Khidrani, Jiko, Dodai, Anjeerzai, Gowarani,...

, Raisani
Raisani
Raisani is a Brahui-speaking Baloch tribe in Balochistan. The leader of each tribe is called Sardar. The Raisani tribal chief is called the Chief of `Sarawan`.The present Chief of Sarawan and Nawab of Raisani Tribe is Nawab Aslam Raisani.The leader of each tribe is called Sardar...

, Shahwani
Shahwani
Shahwani is a Baloch tribe.*, Chief of Shahwani Tribe*Malik Zahur Shahwani, vice chairman of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan*Mohammed Abdullah al-Shahwani, former head of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service...

, Zagar Mengal
Zagar Mengal
Zagar is one of the two main branches of the Mengal tribe. Zagar Mengals inhabit the northwest and central parts of Balochistan, Pakistan—mainly Nushki, Chagai, and Kalat,Helmand and Kandahar provinces of Afghanistan...

, Sumulani, Yusufzai (Dehwar
Dehwar
Dehwar is a name of Baloch tribe in Balochistan. The tribe is settled primarily in Kalat, Khuzdar, Kharan, Noshkey, Sarlath, Dalbandin, and Mastung. The principal clans into which the tribe is divided are the Yusufzai dodaki Sanjarzai and Khwajakhail...

) Zarakzai (Zehri
Zehri
Zehri is a Brahui speaking Baloch tribe in Balochistan, Pakistan.-Distribution:The tribe is spread throughout Sindh and Balochistan and speak Brahui and Balochi as native languages. The Zehri tribe is a Brahui speaking Baloch tribe mainly living in the Jhalawan region of the province of...

).

Sasooli
Sasooli
Sasooli is a Brahui tribe in Balochistan and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. They are ethnically Brahui. Baloch living in Balochistan and Sindh Speak Brahui and Balochi....

, Sataksai, Musiani, Qambarani, Rodeni, Jattak
Jattak
Jattak is a Baloch tribe in Balochistan, Pakistan....

, Badini
Badini
Badini is a Baloch tribe in the Balochistan region of Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Russia , and Pakistan. Jeeandzai tribe is the Sardar Khail of Badini Rakhshani tribe. The Badini tribe is settled in the Nushki Sindh Muzafargarh and Ali Pur in Punjab. Another group of Rakshani Badini is...

.

Language


The Brahui language is a language within the Dravidian subgroup of languages
Dravidian languages
The Dravidian language family includes approximately 85 genetically related languages, spoken by about 217 million people. They are mainly spoken in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and...

. While it does contain many similar words as the Iranic Baloch language, it also has many loan words from Indo-Aryan languages as well as the Dravidian words of its own. It is mainly spoken in the Kalat areas of Balochistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...

, Pakistan, although there are a considerable number of speakers in Southern Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 and Iranian Balochistan. It includes three dialects including Sarawani (spoken in the north), Jhalawani (spoken in the southeast), and Chaghi (spoken in the northwest and west). According to a survey it has about 2,000,000 speakers in Pakistan (1998), 200,000 speakers in Afghanistan and 20,000 speakers in Iran, which would amount to 2,220,000 in the world. Due to its isolation, Brahui's vocabulary is only 15% Dravidian, while the remainder is dominated by Perso-Arabic, Balochi
Balochi language
Balochi is a Northwestern Iranian language. It is the principal language of the Baloch of Balochistan, Pakistan, eastern Iran and southern Afghanistan. It is also spoken as a second language by some Brahui. It is designated as one of nine official languages of Pakistan.-Vowels:The Balochi vowel...

, and Indo-Aryan
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages constitutes a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, itself a branch of the Indo-European language family...

, while the grammar and overall morphology still resemble other Dravidian tongues. Brahui is generally written in the Perso-Arabic script
Perso-Arabic script
The Persian or Perso-Arabic alphabet is a writing system based on the Arabic script. Originally used exclusively for the Arabic language, the Arabic alphabet was adapted to the Persian language, adding four letters: , , , and . Many languages which use the Perso-Arabic script add other letters...

 and there is even a Roman alphabet that has been developed for use with Brahui.

Dialects

Kalat, Jhalawan, and Sarawan, with Kalat as the standard dialect.
Presently Brahui is spoken in Sistan va Baluchestan, Pakistani Balochistan, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...

, Sindh
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...

 and the Persian Gulf Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

states.

External links

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