A Glance at Balochi Oral Poetry: Problems and Prospects*

by Sabir Badalkhan

Balochistan, or the land of the Baloch, is generally understood to comprise an area of ca. 647,000 square kilometres1. It covers 347,190 square kilometres in Western Pakistan (Awan 1985:5), some 200,000 square kilometres in south-eastern Iran and some 100,000 square kilometres in western Afghanistan (Spooner 1983:93-94). Its exact boundaries are undetermined. Overall it occupies the southeastern part of the Iranian plateau from the Kirman desert east of Bam and the Bashagird mountains to the western borders of Sind and the Punjab (Frye 1960:1005). Geographically it is part of the Iranian plateau, and culturally and physically it is a compact entity. Politically, however, it is divided up today among Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. The land of Balochistan is, for the most part, harsh, mostly uncultivable desert and mountainous terrain. It is a land of sharp contrast, of intense heat and cold, and of sudden and abnormal changes of temperature. It lies outside the monsoon area and its rainfall is irregular and scanty. Average annual rainfall does not exceed four inches per year and there is no perennial river to support cultivation or permanent settlement. Balochi, the language of the Baloch, is a member of the Western Iranian group of languages, and has affinities with both 3

representatives of Western Middle Iranian: Middle Persian and Parthian. It has, however, a marked individuality of its own, and differs from both of these languages in important respects (Elfenbein 1989:633). Among the modern Iranian languages it is closely related to Kurdish (ibid. 635). No ethnolinguistic data are available about the exact number of Balochi speakers2. There is a vast discrepancy between various estimates of the Baloch population, which stands at between 5 to 18 million worldwide3. No accurate figures are available for any of the regions inhabited by the Baloch. A comparison of various facts and figures points to a moderate number of Balochi speakers in the world, between 8 to 10 million: 7 million in Pakistan (4 million in Balochistan, 2 million in Sind, and one million in the Punjab); 1.5 million in Iran; 500,000 in Afghanistan; 500,000 in the Gulf States and East Africa4, and 38,000 to 40,000 in Turkmenistan. The literacy ratio among the Baloch is low even today. 10.32 per cent was recorded in 1981 against the 26.2 per cent for Pakistan (Akhtar 1990:9-10). The official data, released later on, show that the literacy ratio in Pakistan has increased from 26.2 per cent in 1981 to 30.1 per cent5 in 1988, while in Balochistan it has remained unchanged at 10.32 per cent (Akhtar 1990:377; see also the English daily The Nation, Karachi, January 1st, 1989). This figure most probably includes those who can read and write their names only (cf. Akhtar 1990:443). The result of my own inquiries and studies show that the literacy ratio among Baloch males in Balochistan is no greater than 3 per cent and among the female population is between 1 to 2 per thousand6 (for further details on the argument see Badalkhan 1992). The geographical position and climatic conditions of Balochistan on the one hand, and constant invasions and interventions by foreign powers7 on the other hand influenced the Baloch way of life to a great extent. The history of the Baloch remained a history of conflicts, wars and migrations. War became the affair of every day life and when not fighting with outsiders they fought bloody feuds with each other for decades, which mostly ended only with the dispersion or mass migration of one of the parties involved. The inter-tribal hostilities generally arose over disputes concerning herds of sheep, pasture lands, possession of springs, marriages, injury caused to ones bahot 8, on the violation 4

of tribal borders and by raiding and counter-raiding, and in due course, quarrels among individuals would become the business of the entire tribe, and thus vendetta became one of the basic sociopolitical institutions in Baloch life (M. S. K. Baluch 1977:48). Everyday conflicts and migrations forced the people to adopt a turbulent but simple life. From a poem composed by Balach Gorgej, an 18th century hero and himself a far famed poet, we see the basic picture of the heroic age of Balochistan and its needs: kohnt bloani klat, hmrahI berah grnt, bUrz hi-I gwatgIr nt, apI bhok mmg nt, kodI pii kondl nt, nIt jahI krkawg nt, bopI dgari thtg nt, borI sIped bbw nt, bI gIen gondl nt, zamatI Ill hnjr nt, bratI tlar Ispr nt, arip mzn tpp lUd nt "The mountains are the Baloch forts Their companions the trackless cliffs The lofty heights are (their) gwatgIr Their water are the flowing springs Their cups are made of dwarf-palm leaves9 their sitting places are thorny bushes Their mattresses are bedsteads on the ground. Their mounts are white leather sandals Their sons are chosen arrows their sons-in-law are pointed daggers Their brothers are solid-rock spears Their venerable (fathers) great-wounding scimitars" (Elfenbein 1990:345; see also M. S. K. Baluch 1977:404-410; Dames 1907:45). "In societies -- writes Lord -- where writing is unknown, or 5

where it is limited to a professional scribe whose duty is that of writing letters and keeping accounts, or where it is the possession of a small minority, such as clerics or a wealthy class (though often this latter group prefers to have its writing done by a servant), the art of narration flourishes, provided that the culture is in other respects of a sort to foster the singing of tales. If the way of life of a people furnishes subjects for story and affords occasion for the telling, this art will be fostered" (Lord 1960:20; see also Goody 1968:12-20). The isolation of their country and nature did not provide the Baloch with the possibilities of developing a written literary tradition, which needs both a peaceful life and a settled mind. Here only oral literature and its allied art of music could develop. "Perhaps the most remarkable cultural characteristic of the Baloch is their rich literary heritage and continuing strong literary traditions", writes Elfenbein. "In every village there can be found someone -- often several people -- who can recite classical folk ballads at great length. Stories and fables are also legion, and nearly everyone knows a few" (Elfenbein 1966:1-2). There are poems to mark any occasion of Baloch life: genealogical poems (dptr r) to warm the gatherings of elders and keep the history of the ethnic group well-versed and preserve it intact; heroic songs (jngi or rindi r) to celebrate a victory or raise the morale after a defeat or prepare the mind of the people for a future conflict; romantic poems (Iki r) to eulogise the beauty of a beloved one or venture of an earlier Baloch hero who had risked his life and that of his people/tribe to wrest a beloved one from a distant country; religious poems (pgUmbri r) to venerate the holy prophet and his companions; didactic poems (pnti r) to educate the young people according to the traditions of the community; satirical poems (Igani r) to check or expose one's doings; etc. There are sIpt (praise songs in couplets) to celebrate the birth of a child; lli (lullaby) to swing a cradle and praise a child; nazenk, praise songs in couplets sung by a mother or a sister, a sincere prayer for the health, long life and prosperity of a child; lado and halo10, marriage songs, sung by women in chorus, to express the bravery, horsemanship, chivalry and swordsmanship of the bridegroom and the beauty and chastity of the bride; st (short improvised poems having a content ranging from love matters to the praise of bride and bridegroom) mostly sung by professional singers 6

(sti) with or without the accompaniment of a chorus; zhirok (songs of homesickness, separation from lovers, parents and family) to express the innermost feelings of nostalgia and deep sorrow; hi and liko11 (camel drivers' songs identical to zhirok); mba (fishermen's songs) to labour collectively and minimise the burden of work; dastang (short love poems prevalent among the MariBugti tribes) to sing the vicissitudes of love affairs; and finally, motk (dirge) to mourn for a departed soul12. Apart from these few genres mentioned above there are several other types of songs: work songs of shepherds; songs for grinding grain, collecting dates, milking animals, washing clothes at a spring/pond; songs and music (gwati, malId, prja, eki, dmmal etc.) for casting off evil spirits; owgan, sIptt, bt, zIgr to offer prayers, etc. which make part and parcel of everyday Baloch life. It would not be an exaggeration to claim that the Baloch are a nation with high esteem for poets, and poetry is certainly one of their principal cultural achievements. It occupies a large and important place in Baloch culture, interest in it is universal, and skill in it is something everyone covets and many possess. The Baloch poetic heritage is a living force intimately connected with the vicissitudes of everyday life. It is the chief vehicle of their selfexpression and self-preservation (Rooman 1967:1). Poetry has always been part of the Baloch life. We see the Baloch nomads singing their way on long journeys, and weaving poems which celebrate their racial/tribal superiority, tribal feuds, record of racial and tribal genealogy, landscape of the country, longing for rains, thundering clouds and roaring torrents, greenery after rainfall, the image of the best beloved, the remnants of a forsaken camp or the struggles of some bloody feud, etc. We must not forget, however, that the population of Balochistan did not consist exclusively of nomads, as is often portrayed by many non-Baloch authors. There were denselypopulated centres like Kech, Sami, Shahrak, Tump, Mand, Pahra, Parod, Kasarkand, Panjgur, Mashkey, Khuzdar, Kalat, Mastung, Dadar, Sibi, Gandawa and many others, where the people were settled and were engaged in agriculture. Sedentary and nomadic people were dependent on each other and there was some degree of commodity exchange between them, although mostly on voluntary basis. All these centres had their cultural activities and people still 7

recount that there had been much singing and merry making in these places all around the year. We find the sedentary Baloch singing the glory of past days of the Baloch rule, peace and prosperity in their homeland, the vicissitudes of their daily life, and so on. In fact, it was the sedentary Baloch who created and patronised the best poetry and helped the poetic tradition to prosper. We notice this during the Rind-Lashar period when the Baloch had settled in Sibi, Kachi and Gandawa areas and from there they started their fratricidal wars, which resulted with the end of the Baloch rule in that land, but which also produced an extremely rich and a fine finished oral literature, in which every genre is represented (G. F. Baloch n.d.:21). This period is known as the "classical age" (M. S. K. Baluch 1977:70) of Balochi literature. Similar literary activities existed in other parts of Balochistan. Agricultural centres like Kech (modern Turbat), Panjgur, Kalat, Mastung, Pahra and many other parts of Balochistan developed a rich literary tradition, helped it to flourish, provided patronage to minstrels in the courts of rulers and town chiefs and so on. Local traditions confirm that at Turbat klat (fort) and under the Inal (poplar) tree of Turbat, a meeting place for men, there were gatherings round the year, and musicians, minstrels and artists from all over Balochistan came to perform there13. Poetry was also patronised and minstrels supported during the Khanate of Balochistan (1666-1948). Many Khan rulers had their court poets and rezwar aIr14, who in addition to the preservation of poetry, also acted as the keepers of the historical annals and genealogical records of the tribe (A. Y. K. Baloch 1975:63;66; cf. Al-Kadri 1976:281). Furthermore, many Khans were themselves poets and some of them also played musical instruments (M. S. K. Baluch 1958:199;181). It is almost impossible to fix with any certainty the beginning of Balochi poetry. "Human remembrance', writes Haurt, 'unless set down on a brick, or stone, or paper, is a very short-lived thing, and the memory of bygone days soon fades away" (1966:7). We do not have any written material left by the Baloch in ancient times since writing was not known to them. However, there are very few references regarding their cultural life here and there. We hear from the source of a-nma that when the king Chach of Sind passed through Makran en route to Kirman in the year 635-636 AD to settle its boundaries he built a fort at Kannazbur, somewhere 8

in the neighbourhood of Panjgur, and caused a naubat15 of instruments to be played in the fort morning and evening (Holdich 1894:8). We are also informed by oral tradition that during the rule of Mir Chakar the fort at Sibi had a naubat, and dmama or big drums were played in the fort twice a day16: wi dmamae jt, ykk beghe ykk banghe, i.e. dmama (the largest drum of a nwbat; cf. Day 1891:96) of happiness were played, once in the evening and once in the morning. Poets and songsters from Makran, Sind and other regions visited the court frequently (M. S. K. Baluch 1958:171). Similar activities existed in other parts of Balochistan as well. But since oral poetry is mostly impersonal and does not bear any stamp of its composer, it is not easy to give it any date. There exist hundreds of marriage songs, work songs, romantic songs, songs of separation, lamentations, game-songs, which make up the bulk of Balochi oral poetry but do not convey any information about the composer or the date of composition. The samples of epic narrative poetry as a fine finished art are available only from the Rind-Lashar period (15th century). We know for sure that by the 15th century poetry was developed as the choicest art and means of expression among the Baloch. Considering the language and technique of the 15th century poetry and the important role it played in the everyday life of the Baloch, many Baloch writers are of the opinion that the art of poetry was practised much earlier than that date17. We learn through oral tradition that from the 15th century onwards there were poets and minstrels who composed and sang poems for the purpose of entertainment and in order to preserve the record of the ethnic group. The poet was the oracle, orator, and historian of the people, for the poet was expected and agreed to be well versed in the art of genealogy and traditions (M. S. K. Baluch 1977:68). Poetry was said to be the "public register" (dptr) of Baloch community (A. Y. K. Baluch 1975:64). Every tribe and zone had its poets (Rooman 1967:12) and a tribe or town without a poet and a minstrel was considered as being without a voice. Every poet had one or more minstrels (M. S. K. Baluch 1977:68) and an entourage of admirers who learnt his poems by heart and sang or recited them in the tribal assembly. Poem reciting was one of the choicest arts and the source of self-preservation. Poets were Baloch of upper social class who composed poems about the doings of the 9

tribes, wars fought against rival tribes, migrations made from different regions and kept the genealogy of the tribe in general and that of the chief in particular. The poet was the voice of the people, and the minstrel was his means of publicity. Poets and minstrels were important both in war and peace. In time of peace they sang the glory of past days and during the time of war they heartened their side by singing the songs of their great past and composed new songs on new encounters. They were necessary to keep the record of the people on all times but their necessity was felt more during times of war. The poet's job was to observe the fighting men and then to compose poems about the doings of the day. Being an upper class Baloch himself he was also obliged to fight on the side of his tribe and people. While his sword played its best part on the field, his tongue too performed its glorious part off the field on the literary stage. Hard on the field, his poems also unfolded hard facts (M. S. K. Baluch 1977:68). A Baloch poet was the recorder of daily happenings and so he was not expected to exaggerate18 or deviate from the facts. The poems were intended to be sung in the assembly of the poet's group and that of the rival group who were witnesses of the facts, so it was considered important that the poet recounted the truth19 (Rooman 1967:12), as lying or exaggerating was not deemed fit for a true Baloch. A minstrel, in the past days, was from a low caste20, and it is worth noting that according the traditional code of life a Baloch should not raise his hand against a member of inferior castes. So he could easily go to the enemy camps and sing sarcastic or taunting poems to them. The same thing was done by the rival camp's minstrels. After every encounter or important event, poets from any tribal area composed poems and gave them to their minstrels who would go and sing them in the assemblies (cf. Barker and Mengal 1969/i:264). If a person showed bravery, he was praised, but if a person behaved cowardly, he would have no place to escape21. A Baloch poet was always conscious about the historical importance of his role and he tried to be as close as possible to the facts. His poetry was regarded as a repository of facts and treated seriously by the Baloch of the time and the later generations. It is an important link among the people who are kept intact and united through a common tradition. It expresses the common interest of the whole people. 10

The blossoming of Balochi poetry and musical culture was linked to the rise of the Rind-Lashar power at Sibi22 and Gandawa. Sibi became the capital of the second Baloch confederacy23 and Mir Chakar the sole ruler of the land24. The 15th and 16th centuries were also the heroic age of Balochistan. This age produced the finest extant poetry in the Balochi language. Sardar Khan Baluch writes the following about the Rinds of the time: "Every Rind noble of name [...] was a swordsman, horse-rider, an excellent poet, and furnished with all qualities of generosity and manly grace and gravity. True to the tradition of their blood, the Rinds loved poetry and music [...] Every tribe had its poets, and the voice of the poet was the voice of the people. Poetry was the medium of expression and not a mental luxury for the classes and masses. The Baluchis measured intelligence by poetry, and the poet was deemed the historian and demi-saint of the tribe. Just as the sword and the spear decided the fate of the battle, so the satirical verses of the rival poets gave life and currency to the ideal and integrity of their tribes, both in peace and war" (M. S. K. Baluch 1977:77-78). Balochi literature did not gain any attention from the outside world until the European (mainly British) interest was focused on it in the 19th century. Probably the first European mention of any Balochi poetry and singing was made by Henry Pottinger, who, while travelling between Bela and Khuzdar on 30 January 1810, met some wandering musicians who played for him during the night. He states: "We halted on a high spot in the bed of the river, and the Belooches having quickly collected an immense pile of wood, we sat round a blazing fire the greater part of the night, while three or four Sookrees, or wandering musicians, who had come with the Bezunjas, entertained us by singing the exploits of their different chiefs, accompanying their songs with the most frantic and unmeaning gestures; some of the songs and music were, however, soft and harmonious enough, except when the audience chimed in with the performers, which was, for my taste, too often the case. A clear picture of the savage life of the Bezunjas, and many other Balooche tribes, cannot well be portrayed than by this scene: all outward distinction and respect for chiefs were at that moment thrown aside; at intervals they, as well as their people, in the height of their enthusiasm, snatched the setars25 (a three stringed 11

instrument, from seh, three, and tar, wire) or musical instruments from the hands of the Sookrees, and sang, in "descant wild," their favourite airs, gradually working themselves, by ridiculous and violent action, into a state of absolute frenzy: the din then became universal and quite stunning, and the auditory continued to applaud and join in chorus with the singers until they were so completely exhausted that they could exert themselves no longer; the instruments were then laid hold of by others, and thus they were regularly passed round the circle" (Pottinger 1816:28-29). Systematic work on Balochi oral poetry did not, however, start until the second half of the 19th century. In 1840 R. Leech included some specimens of Balochi poetry in his 'Sketch of the Balochi Language' published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. "Unfortunately', writes Dames, 'owing to misprints and misspellings, these poems have been found very hard to decipher, and contributed little to our knowledge of the subject" (Dames 1907/i:xiii). In 1877 Sir R. Burton gave the translations (but not the original texts) of three poems, of which "one was borrowed word for word from Leech without acknowledgement, and another was an extended version of Isa and Bari, also given by Leech" (Dames 1907/i:xiii). In 1881, R. B. Hetu Ram published some poems in his book entitled Baloi-nma (in Urdu). He gave information about the existence of a vast body of oral songs among the Baloch. He states: "Songs constitute the literature of the Biloches. The Biloches possess old songs which their poets composed long ago. From these songs the ancestry and the fighting, the country and the bravery, giving and taking, sheltering of refugees and seeking of fame, and all other Biloch customs, are illustrated. Such of the Biloch as are clever and men of mark themselves compose songs. Biloches who are men of influence learn songs, and from them they become acquainted with their ancestry and their customs [...] Biloches derive great pleasure from hearing these songs and give large gratuities to the minstrels (domb) [...]. Heroes of former times, who acquired reputation in war, have their names still recalled in songs [...]" (Hetu Ram-Douie 1898:71-72). In the British Library (formerly the British Museum Library) in London there are three mss. written on request of British officials. Two of them, Oriental 2439 (dated 1873), and Oriental 2921 (dated 1885) contain little Balochi. The main text in both cases is in 12

Persian, the usual written language of the literate Baloch of that time. The third ms., Oriental 2404826, believed to be the oldest of the three -- perhaps written ca. 1820 at the request of H. H. Wilson (see Elfenbein 1989:643) -- came to the British Library in 1861, from the widow of H. H. Wilson (1786-1869), former Professor of Sanskrit at the University of London27. Furthermore, it is also believed that many of the leading and literate Baloch kept 'public registers'28 called dptr, in which they wrote down poems according to their own taste on important events and genealogies. The Baluchistan District Gazetteer volume on Makran (published in 1906-1907) states: "A considerable body of literature exists in Western Baluchi and many of the leading men keep books, known as daftar, in which their favourite ballads are recorded in the Persian character. Among the more famous of those poems may be mentioned that recounting the Rind migration; two poems giving details of the various rulers of Kech-Makran, one of them being composed by Allu son of Zarin Kosag; a ballad by Ghulam Ali describing Malik Dinar Gichki's fight with Taki Khan, Nadir Shah's general; another by Hothman Kalmati describing the fight between Hamal-e-Jihand and the Portuguese; and lastly a poem describing a fight at Lashkaran Kaur in Panjgur between Mir Mohim Khan Nausherwani and Mir Goharam Gichki of Panjgur on one side, and the brothers Lal Khan and Zangi, Brahuis of Nushki, on the other" (Gazetteer/Makran 1986:81-82). On Kharan, the Gazetteer runs as follows: "As in Makran, Baluchi ballads are common and popular (also in Kharan). Among the best known being the ballad relating the fight of the Rakhshanis with border raiders at Har-e-Nawar, that of Malik Dinar Mirwadi with the Nausherwanis, that of Malik Dosten Nausherwani with Mir Zarrak Brahui at Badukushta near Anjira, and the battle of the Nausherwanis with Nadir Shah's troops at Kallag" (Gazetteer/Kharan 1986:63). It is believed that these mss. were not preserved and most of them have been lost in the course of time (N. Gichki 1986:20). In any case it is quite certain that no systematic attempts were made to collect and reduce to writing any sizeable part of Balochi literature until Longworth Dames started collecting it in an 13

systematic way in 1875. He continued doing so until his retirement in 189629. He published A Sketch of the Northern Balochi Language in 1881 (Calcutta) and A Text book of the Balochi Language in 1891 (Lahore). Both books contained specimens of Balochi poems. After Dames' retirement, T. J. L. Mayer started collecting Balochi poems and he published a fair collection of them in India in the years 19001903. It is clear from the statement of Dames that he used the material of Mayer with his permission. He writes: Mr. Mayer has kindly permitted me to make use of these materials, and I have given them in full where I had no other versions of the same poems. Where I had versions taken down by myself (or in two cases derived from Leech) I have collated them, and have often been able to frame in this way a more satisfactory text than could be derived from any one version (Dames 1907/i:xiv). The result of his researches were published in a two volume set (I: English translations; II: Balochi texts) entitled Popular Poetry of the Baloches, issued in London simultaneously by the Folklore Society and the Royal Asiatic Society in 1907. With its 180 pages of Balochi text in Roman characters the collection was at the time the largest ever assembled quantity of Balochi oral poetry. Dames reprinted (with acknowledgements) many of the poems collected by L. Leech, Mayer and Het Rm in his Baloi-nma30; he also reprinted all the poems of his Text-book of the Balochi Language (Dames 1891), sometimes with revised versions. The first volume contains 26 pages of introductory notes dealing with the sources, origin and character of Balochi poetry, classification, forms of verse, methods of singing, antiquity of heroic poems, etc.; the second contains an account of the language of Balochi poetry (Dames 1907/ii:180191)31. Among others, an interesting account also comes from S. Matheson who spent five years among the Bugti tribe during late 1950s. She writes in connection with the musical tradition of the Baloch that "the Baluchis have always been noted musicians and poets, drawing their inspiration from nature to describe everything from epic battles to tender love-affairs. There are songs for every occasion, to celebrate a good harvest, a battle victory, a wedding, birth and death, and generally the songs are sung by professionals called Doms or Loris, paid minstrels who were - and often still are attached to the retinue of a chieftain or wealthy headmen. These 14

Doms use the dhambiro and the sarinda and train young boys as professional dancers and singers"(Matheson 1967:167). She further says: "I could have sat on all day, listening spellbound to these old warriors' tales recounted with tremendous dramatic impact, wild gestures and flashing eyes and accompanied by appreciative cries from the audience [...] I felt as though I was back in medieval times, when history was kept alive by the bards and court-minstrels handed down by word of mouth. Bugtis remember every detail of past battles for the same reason, and these stories are recounted over and over again, so that they become an integral and vividly depicted part of every tribesman's life"' (ibid. 110-111). The second half of the twentieth century is marked by the awakening of the Baloch. Several political and literary organizations were set up by the Baloch inside and outside Balochistan. Some of the literary organizations were Bloi hlky db, founded in 1949, Bloi bzmy db, 1950-51, Bloi zUban srmmg, 1951 and the Balochi Academy, Karachi. The Academy was founded in 1958 and its founding members were Jumma Khan, Sher Mahmad Mari, Akbar Barakzai, Murad Sahir, Mahmad Beg Begul, and others32. The Academy, in a few years time, published MIstag, an anthology of poems, in 1958, Zhgbld, a nursery book in Balochi, Baloi adab ki trix (in Urdu), and pgIrok (S. Hashmi 1986:285). In February 1951 the first Balochi literary magazine, Oman, started its publications from Karachi under the joint editorship of Mawlwi Mahmad Husain and Hakim Ahmad (Janmahmad 1989:135). The magazine was brought out by the Baloch Educational Society formed in Karachi in 1948 to promote the Balochi language and culture and also voice Baloch political and social grievances (ibid.). The Balochi Academy, Quetta was founded in 1962 (M. S. K. Baluch 1982-83:5) by M. S. K. Baluch, Bashir Ahmad Baloch, Malik Mahmad Ramzan and a number of other Baloch enthusiasts. In 1969, the Balochi Academy, Quetta, published the first volume of RUptg lal, an anthology of collected poems from the stock of old poetry (21 poems were included), prepared by Ghaus Bakhsh Sabir; Volume II (107 pp.) and IV (126 pp.) were prepared by Pir Mahmad Zubairani and published by the Academy in 1970 and 1971, respectively; RUptg lal 3 was prepared by M. Y. Gichki and was published in 1971; RUptg lal 4 was prepared by M. M. Buzdar and 15

M. I. Buzdar and was published in 1973 (with poems of eight Buzdar poets of the 19th and 20th centuries). Among the poets included, the majority were mosque-read literates and mystic poets whose language is very much affected by Siraiki and Punjabi vocabularies. Sher Mahmad Mari published Baloi khnen aIri (Balochi Academy, Quetta) in 1970; it contains 27 old historical poems of 18 well-known poets with an extensive commentary; but alas being printed in Sindhi script, it has too many errors and misprints (Elfenbein 1985:162, n. 2) and is illegible in many cases. Of the poems included in S. M. Mari's work six are found in Dames (1907) and two in Hayat Mari (1987). B. A. Baloch published p Irag, the collection of Mulla Fazil's (19th century poet) poetry, in 1968 by the Academy. The same author succeeded in obtaining some poems about the cycle of Lalla-Granaz from a folk singer named Abdul Rahman Abbas, and the book Lalla Granaz, containing 7 poems and an introduction, was published by the Academy in 1970. Some poems by the 19th century poet, Jam Durrak, the poet laureate at the court of Mir Nasir Khan Nuri, the Khan-i Azam (r. 1749-1795), were also published by the same author in a book entitled DUrren. Mitha Khan Mari collected some poems by the Mari mystic poet, Tokali Mast (1831-1896), and his book, Tokli Mst, was published by the Academy in 1969. It contains a detailed discussion on the life and poetry of Tokali Mast. The same author collected a few poems by Rahm Ali Mari, the tribal poet of the Mari tribe, in a book entitled Rhmli Mri (published by the Academy in 1978). G. B. Sabir collected 17 poems on Islamic wars and the Academy published them under the title of Zhm ZemIr (no date of publication is given). In 1970 Q. N. M. Dehqani and Ata Shad published Jwansal, the collected poems of Jwansal Bugti (a 19th-20th century poet). In 1979 the Academy published another anthology of the poetry of Jwansal, also entitled Jwansal, prepared by Gulzar Khan Mari. This anthology included 40 poems by Jwansal33 and 26 poems by his brother Mawlawi Mahmad. In 1970 M. M. Buzdar collected some poems of the mystic poet Chigha Buzdar in a book entitled gga gUftar. In 1976 M. Y. Gichki published Gonap, an anthology of Zargir Hasan Kichi's poems (also an Academy publication). The book contains an interesting introduction on the life of the poet. In 1987 B. A. Baloch published a small collection of Mulla Qasim's poems, entitled Phk rfi. 16

The book contains a 19 page commentary on Qasim's poetry and 13 poems are included in this collection. G. B. Sabir also compiled some folk songs and the Academy published them in 1971 under the title of Dhi o dastang. The book comprises 101 pages and contains an introductory note on this genre of folk-songs. Besides the poetry, the Academy has also published about nine collections of folktales. In 1987 the Balochi Academy published the collected poems of M. Hayat Mari under the title of Gar gohr. The book contains poems of 17 poets and detailed introductory notes about the poets and the backgrounds to the episodes. After the books of Dames (1907) and Sher Mahmad Mari (1970), this is the best collection published so far. Some poems published in this anthology have already been published in Dames, Sher Mahmad Mari and others, but since the oral poetry is never recited exactly in the same way, this collection enriches our stock with different versions. If, in future, someone tries to make a comparative study, this material will prove very useful. Apart from these publications, very noteworthy and probably the best work is the commented anthology by M. S. K. Baluch. His A Literary History of the Baluchis, in two volumes so far (a third was announced years ago), was published by the Balochi Academy (1977 and 1984). The first volume gives 43 poems with English translation and useful information about the events, as well as the life and the time of the poets. The author divides Balochi poetry into three different literary periods and the first volume covers the period he calls 'the classical period - 1450-1650 A.D.' The second volume covers the Khanate Period - 1650-1880. In this volume the author discusses the life and poetry of famous Baloch poets who had composed poems in Balochi and/or in Persian. In the last chapter, miscellaneous folk songs, ballads, satires and other poems of love, by unnamed poets, are given. This volume, too, gives Balochi texts with their English translations. The author promises that the third volume is under pen and will soon be printed (1984: preface). In both volumes (1977, 1984) the author has given a good English translation and avoided the mistakes and errors that can be found in the translations of non-Baloch scholars (e.g. Leech, Mayer, Dames, Elfenbein), but his texts are not free from misprints34 (the text of second volume is comparatively better than that of the first). The Balochi Academy has also published the first volume of 17

the anthology of Malik Dinar Mirwadi's (ca. 1850-1923), entitled Zri nod, and compiled by Yusuf Gichki. Gichki claims to have received the ms. from the poet. He promises to publish the rest of Mirwadi's poems in a second volume. In the present volume Gichki discusses in detail the life and poetry of the poet and gives only 46 poems (the book has 437 pages in total). Gichki claims to have obtained also the anthology of Dinar's father, Mir Abdul Karim Mirwadi, and he promises that it will also be published at a later date. All these collections concern oral literature from Pakistani Balochistan, and no similar production does exist, as far as I know, for the Iranian (but cf. ebax 1994:155-203 [= Chapter 9]) and the Afghani areas. However, the poems collected by I. I. Zarubin among the Baloch living in Turkmenistan and published in the Thirties (Zarubin 1930:664-674 texts and Russian translations) are also of great literary value and interest. [Work on that material has been resumed recently by A. L. Grnberg and his school, cf. Rzehak 1998 ed.]. Josef Elfenbein has recently published a valuable collection of poems coming from different Balochi dialects; the book is entitled An Anthology of Classical and Modern Balochi Literature (it was published by Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden in 1990). Chapter three is dedicated to "classical poetry by known poets (18th-19th centuries)", and in chapter four "traditional ballads from the classical heritage" are given. The texts are given in Roman characters with English translations; but, unfortunately, neither the text nor the translation are free from errors and misprints. Most of the poems have already been published ("most of the texts come from written sources [...] published in the years 1956-1986 by groups of enthusiasts", see Introduction). A Course in Baluchi (two volumes, Montreal 1969), prepared by A. K. Mengal and M. A. R. Barker, is one of the best works ever written on Balochi (and Balochi literature). Unit twentynine of the book is devoted to a 'brief sampling of classical Balochi poetry' (Barker-Mengal 1969/ii:263-349), and seven old poems and three samples of folk songs are given and commented there. Apart from this published material on Balochi oral poetry and prose, there are further hitherto unpublished collections which are also worthy of mention. Among them one interesting collection 18

was made by Sayyad Hashmi (at one stage he worked jointly with A. S. Amiri). They have prepared a valuable collection but its final version was not published and is thus not available to scholars35. Similarly, from the publications of Gulkhan Nasir on Balochi poetry (e.g. 1976, 1979a, 1979b) it seems that he had also collected a good number of poems36. Sylvia Matheson also writes that she had recorded a number of poems "at weddings or the numerous sajji picnics which were always accompanied by singing and dancing" (Matheson 1967:166) during her lengthy stay among the Bugtis. However, no further information is available to me about the whereabouts of her collected poems. Hayat Mari in his book Gar gohr also says that he had other poems taken from the poetry of Eastern and Western Baloch (1987:10), and that he would publish them at a later date. As for my personal research, I have made several study tours in the late 1980s to collect oral poems and information about the tradition of minstrelsy and its allied art. During these tours I have been able to collect a good number of poems - my material is available on notebooks and tapes. I have also been able to meet and interview the majority of the living minstrels37 except for those in Iran. In 1990 I made an unsuccessful trip to Iranian Balochistan to interview the minstrels there. I was able to meet only Mulla Kamalan, one of the most famous minstrels. But he was very afraid about the reaction of the Iranian authorities who had warned him to not sing any more and declined to give me any useful information in spite of all the recommendations which he had received from the influential Baloch elites to help me before I went there. From a very brief discussion with him I learnt that his repertoire remains very rich and he is one among the greatest living authorities on the Baloch minstrelsy tradition. He has a son who is keenly interested in old Balochi poetry from whom I obtained a considerable amount of useful information about the involvement of his family in the activities of singing. But none of them were ready to recite any poem to me or give any interview, in fear that the Iranian authorities learned about that. Balochi oral literature is still a living art and in many parts of Balochistan it is still composed, recited and sung. Among nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes and isolated villages where the money from the Gulf countries has not reached yet and VCRs and Indian 19

movies are not widespread, oral literature is the only source of entertainment38. It is quite usual to find people gathered in front of a tent or around a fire to listen to the songs and stories narrating the exploits of early Baloch in general or that of their tribes in particular. The children of a village will still very often gather together every night in the house of an aged person -- mostly a woman -- and listen to stories until late at night. Oral tradition is more practised in certain areas than others. For examples, in the Mari area there are still oral poetry singing and reciting gatherings and competitions. Misri Khan Mari (b. 1950), the headmaster of Kohlu High School told me during a meeting in 1990 that there are very often oral poetry reciting competitions where everyone among the participants is supposed to recite a poem. For this reason, every single Mari tries to memorise at least one poem. Misri Khan, on his part, had a very rich repertoire and he told me that he knows some thirty to forty long poems. I recorded for two hours from his recitation and he said he had not reached even the introductory part of his repertoire (it is to be mentioned that he himself does not compose poems and all of his repertoire is memorised from the recitation of others). He and other Mari informants told me that oral poetry in the Mari area is still so popular that not even the slightest event goes past without a poem being composed on that. If the oral poetry of the Mari region alone were collected, it would extend to several thousand poems, I was told by Misri Khan, and all other Mari informants agreed with him. Not even one hundredth of this valuable material has been collected so far, I was told. When I asked Misri Khan why he did not write down the poems he knew, he told me: "For whom shall I write them, Maris do not read and as for others, we think but a little". Surat Khan Mari, himself a writer, told me that Mari women know more poems than men. He said that if he is faced with any difficulty about the meaning of a word or a line of a poem, or a missing part of a poem, he asks his wife and she helps him out. Another of my Mari informants, Dr. Shah Mahmad Mari, an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Bolan Medical College, Quetta, who is also interested in oral tradition, told me that the eldest person in every Mari family is duty-bound to memorise some classical Balochi poems and stories by heart in order to recite them to the children of his family. Being the eldest in his family, he told me, he 20

was bound to recite poems and tell stories about the early Baloch exploits, their migrations, the wars fought by them and the like to the children of his family (oral communication, Quetta, Summer 1989) 39. Attending a jirga (tribal assembly), called by the Bugti and Mari tribal chiefs to settle a dispute between them in May 1983, David Dodwell, a British journalist of the Financial Times (London), wrote on the 26th of May 1983: "The warrior traditions of these semi-nomadic tribes, inhabiting some of the most inhospitable desert terrains in the world, have barely changed over 2000 years. As they sat each evening around brushwood fires, listening to minstrels and poets recounting tales of heroism and romance, they could have been part of the Arabian Nights -- except for the Kalashnikovs cradled in their laps" (quoted in Awan 1985:315). Brigadier (rtd.) M. Usman Hasan, who had commanded the army operation against the Baloch insurgents in the Mari area during the Z. A. Bhutto regime (1971-77), tells about the persistent importance of poetry among the Maris: "The status of poets is very high; the text of a poem is believed to be revealed to him in a dream and he expounds it in the morning; it is believed to be a gift of God [...] The tradition is that when the men go to fight against the army of Pakistan their sisters and wives tie the turbans on their heads, their weapons on their shoulders and leave them with songs. They sing the songs of earlier Baloch heroes and braves who had fought against foreign powers. In their songs the women-folk say that if their men return victorious they celebrate and are proud of them, but, if they die in the battle, they will give birth to other children similar to them to die for the country [...] If a man runs away from the fight then he is greeted with the worst satires" (Hasan 1976:9092; the English translation from the Urdu text is mine). Fondness for poetry and its role in society is not less among the Bugtis, the neighbours of the Maris. When I visited the DeraBugti region in 1990 I was not surprised to find that poetry was liked, practised, composed and recited in the assembly of men. However, when I expressed my desire to record oral poems the only person who came forward was Karim Bakhsh, aged ca. 90, the possessor of a surprisingly rich repertoire, and Karamhan, aged ca. 54, the best performer of oral poems I met in that part of Balochistan during my visits, but when someone advanced and 21

started reciting a poem, all the men present there took part in the recitation and helped each other in remembering lines or suggesting certain poems to recite, and so on. I did not find a single man who did not know some poems or fragments of some poems. Very often there were heated discussions and arguments and counter-arguments about the authenticity of a poem, the position of a line in a poem or a name of a place or a person. When one person started reciting a poem all the others joined in and it continued for hours and hours. Every newcomer contributed his part or complicated the already existing complication. Teenage boys also took part in arguments and it seemed that every one was eager to be heard or show that he was not behind the others in the field of oral poems. I stayed there four days and almost all the people I met knew some poems, mostly from the old poetry of the 15th to 19th centuries, and most of them could play some musical instruments -- mostly the flute (nl/nd) or jew'sharp (ng). The repertoires of Karim Bakhsh and Karamhan were surprisingly rich. Karim Bakhsh told me that he had accompanied Nawab Mehrab Khan, the late chief of the Bugti tribe, on his journeys and after every dinner, he told me, there had been poetry singing/reciting until late at night or sometimes until the next morning. He told me that his repertoire was enough to recite poems for twelve nights without repeating any poem twice, but I could not verify it as he was very aged and sick when I met and interviewed him in Dera Bugti in 1990. Karamhan was by himself a living record of Baloch literary history. The oral tradition in Dasht Makran is also a living art, and in this part of Balochistan it is still practised and appreciated. I visited Dasht in the autumn of 1989 and again in 1990. In both visits I met phlwans and other aged persons who recited poems to me. Many of them were able to recite poems of considerably great length. In a village called Tolagi, I spent a whole night recording poems from different persons and the next day, when I was preparing for departure to Turbat, I was followed on motorcycles by amateur phlwans, music players of phlwans, and common persons who all wanted me to record poems from their repertoires. None of them was a poet himself. However, lack of time prevented me from extending my stay. I experienced the same thing everywhere I went in Dasht. During my tour of Autumn 1991 in the Chagai district I 22

noticed the same fondness for, and diffusion of, oral poetry everywhere I went, but there I noticed a vast gap between the younger and the older generation. While young people in the MariBugti areas and in Dasht are still interested in their tradition, the youth of the Chagai District are almost indifferent to their tradition. There I did not meet any young person who could recite a poem to me or was even interested in doing so. The process of acculturation is very fast in this region. In restaurants, cafeterias, buses and cassette shops one can listen to only Pashto and Urdu songs and music. Nevertheless, the older generation has retained their tradition. I noticed that bloit (the sense of being a Baloch) was very strong. Here also I met several persons who knew a great number of poems. This area has produced very well-known poets and phlwans. In every small village there are several persons who can recite poems from the famous cycles of the Rind-Lashar period, Balach Gorgej's exploits, Hammal's fights against the Portuguese, and about the latest events, such as the Baloch struggle against the Pakistani forces, about the local tribal feuds, poems about genealogies and the like. One day in Nushki where I was the guest of a friend of mine, he had invited a famous reciter of the area, Fakir Shahdost. Fakir was reciting poems in a melodic voice and the room was packed with persons. At about midnight an aged person entered the house and after a short while he told us that a number of persons were sitting behind the house listening to Fakir. He said it was very cold outside so he had decided to come inside. He and several other elderly persons told me that a few years back there had always been poetry reciting and singing contests, but now radios and VCRs had almost completely destroyed the local culture. Besides the places mentioned above, it must be added that oral poetry is still a living art in most areas of Balochistan, although it is dying fast40. There is no hope of protecting it from extinction. There are no institutions to protect or preserve the cultural values of the Baloch in any of the countries where they live41. There is no funding for any cultural show. For example, in Pakistan, Baloch singers have always protested that they are not given any space in Pakistani mass media. There are three radio stations in Balochistan42 but they do not devote as much as three hours per day to Baloch culture. Radio Pakistan, Quetta, broadcasts 30 hours a day, but Balochi gets only 6:30 hours (B. A. Baloch 1989:63) including the 23

time devoted to religious and political subjects. Radio Pakistan, Khuzdar, broadcasts six hours a day but Balochi gets only half an hour, and this 30 minute broadcast is dedicated to religious, political and similar subjects. Radio Pakistan also broadcasts 5.10 hours of programmes from its Turbat station and Balochi gets only two hours. During these two hour programmes the musical programme gets only half an hour or a little more43. Baloch singers complain that they are never called for performance recording by the radio and television authorities of Balochistan. Abdul Rashid, a Baloch singer, in an interview to the monthly Labzank complains that Radio Pakistan, Quetta, pays them only twelve Rupees per minute for recording Balochi songs (1991:59). Another complaint by Baloch singers is that when the radio and TV authorities call them they are not allowed to bring their Baloch music players (Baloi, Editorial, May 1988, p. 5) and since the musicians of the radio and TV are non-Baloch the piece they record often does not reach acceptable standards. The situation with modern singers is somewhat better, but phlwans are abandoned mercilessly. Phlwan Saleh Mahmad Gorgej requested to me to ask the station director of Radio Pakistan, Quetta, to give him a chance to record some classical epics. I asked the then station director, but he was compelled to decline my request for lack of funds44. Saleh Mahmad died on September 1991 and I still feel upset when I remember his appeal and my helplessness. Phlwan Mazar told me that Radio Pakistan, Quetta, asked him to go and record some songs from the old stock of the Balochi poetry but they did not want to pay his fare and he could not afford a ticket to Quetta, so, for many years, he was prevented from recording a single programme. Abdulaziz, a famous folk-singer from Karachi, said during an interview that the radio and television are the main sources of popularity for artists. He said he had once sung a Balochi song in the television and on another occasion he had gone to Khuzdar for a performance. "Everyone came to me and told me that my performance in TV was perfect", he added. This is indicative of the large audience such programmes can command. On the one hand there is this discrimination against the Baloch artists and performers, and on the other hand there is the invasion of video films and audio cassettes. Tape recorders and VCRs are now available everywhere and Indian films and songs provide the people of Balochistan with wonderful cheap 24

entertainment45. Indian films are famous because they are performed in the Hindustani language, which differs only slightly from Urdu, the official language and the lingua franca of Pakistan. During my tours of Balochistan I tried to find out how far these films and songs have penetrated inside the Baloch society. For this purpose I took an area of about 200 kms from Hoshab to Mand and studied how many villages had public VCRs. I did not find a single village without one or more public VCR centres showing Indian movies. The entry ticket for a single show was three to five Rupees (a packet of cigarettes cost between 20 and 30 Rupees then). Towns like Ball Nigwar may be taken as examples: there the only High School in the area had only 281 students in 1990, with an area population of 30,000, and there were 28 primary schools with only one Middle and one High School. The town itself has a population of around 10,000 people, and there were only 11 students for the first class of primary school, 23 for the second class and 13 for the third class. There were only 9 students for the 10th class -- the outcome of 28 primary schools. Ball Nigwar is the headquarters of a Sub-Tehsil, but there is no bookshop, and no newspaper arrives that far. A shop owner told me that he had ordered ten copies of an Urdu daily, called Intixb - the most popular daily in the Baloch areas - but none of the copies was sold, so he stopped getting it. There were, however, four public VCR centres, each one showing two movies a day. Admission was five Rupees - twice the price of a newspaper46. Basham, the famous phlwan of the area, told me that Lata and Kishore, famous Indian singers, have taken away his traditional audience from him. As for recording and preserving the available oral literature for the coming generations, we must admit that the picture is a very gloomy one. There is neither an institute nor any individual, as far as I know, that is doing any proper work to record and save the valuable treasures of Balochi literature. There are tens of Baloch literary organisations everywhere in Balochistan47, but none of them is involved in collecting oral literature. These are organisations formed by so-called poets who meet once a week or every fortnight, and recite and listen to one another's poems. The Balochi Academy at Quetta is the only institution which has published a number of useful anthologies as mentioned earlier. But the problem for the Academy is that it does not receive enough 25

funds from the Government. All its office bearers are working on a voluntary basis, and the funding received from the Government is not enough even to rent a proper building48. It is known as the nomad Academy, since, for financial reasons, it is compelled to change its premises every now and then. It cannot afford to send researchers into the field to collect material and information. At the Pakistan level, there is an institute in Islamabad, the Pakistan Lok Virsa (the Institute of Pakistan Folk Heritage); but the activities of this Institute are limited to the Punjab only. I visited the Institute in late 1991, and I remarked that the atmosphere was rather unscholarly. The Institute had published only two Urdu translations of previously published Balochi books, and there were only two or three Balochi cassettes obtained from the Radio Pakistan's library. Moreover, the Institute had no plans for the near future regarding any field work in Balochistan, as I learnt from the Institute officials. After examining all the possibilities of saving the Balochi oral literature from complete extinction, there is no space left for optimism - the time is too un-heroic, radio transistors, video and audio cassette players are too widespread, and the Baloch seem to lack the political force as well as the cultural consciousness and sensibility to keep their culture intact.

Notes
* The present paper was prepared as a preliminary introduction to the study of Balochi oral poetry, when I was preparing my doctoral dissertation (PhD level) at the Dept. of Asian Studies, University LOrientale, Naples [then denominated Istituto Universitario Orientale], under the guidance of Prof. Adriano V. Rossi; the thesis was submitted and approved for the degree of PhD in 1994 by a committee of examiners nominated by the Italian Minister for University and Scientific Research [now MIUR]. Subsequent research on the same or related matter has been done with different grants allowed by MIUR for Projects directed by Prof. Rossi. The transcription for Balochi is the current scientific one, with an intended phonemic opposition between // and /e/, // and /o/; the (simplified) transcription of Urdu attempts to avoid diacritic marks. 1. Some Baloch writers claim that the total area of Baloch region in the three countries be approximately 340,000 square miles, or ca. 870,000 square

26

kilometres (see M. S. K. Baluch 1958: proem; K. B. B. M. Baluch 1974:2; I. Baloch 1987:19). 2. There are several other peoples who are Baloch by origin but do not speak Balochi as their first language; being part of the nationality, they are called anyway Baloch by their community and by their neighbours. In this article my aim is to discuss Balochi oral poetry so I limit myself only to Balochi speakers. 3. For instance Elfenbein (1989:350-351) puts the number ca. 3,740,000 (2,250,000 in Pakistan, 750,000 in Iran, 200,000 in Afghanistan, 500,000 in the Arabian Peninsula, and 40,000 in the Marv oasis in Turkmenistan); Orywal (1985:41) gives a total of 6.5 million (5 million in Pakistan, ca. 600,000 in Iran, 100,000 in Afghanistan, ca. 400,000 for migrant workers in the Gulf states and East Africa, and ca. 13,000 in Turkmenistan). In Neil and Valerie Carletons opinion, "Baluchi is the mothertongue of perhaps about 5 million ethnic Baluch [...] The city of Karachi contains an estimated one million Baluch, the largest such concentration of Baluch anywhere in the world" (Carleton and Carleton 1987:1). Contrary to these minimal figures, we have the figures of local writers, which range from 10 to 20 million. M. K. B. B. M. Baloch (1974:15-24) has discussed in detail the problems concerning the figures, suggesting in conclusion a number of 15 to 16 million as the total Baloch population. I. Baloch, a high authority of Balochistan studies, gives between 10 to 20 million (1983:188); and Quddus (1990:14) puts the number at 16 million. 4. Baloch are found living in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and the neighbouring countries of Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi. M. K. Khan from Mombasa writes that "wherever they settle in East Africa they tend to live closely together, preserving as far as possible their customs, traditions and language" (1991:6-7). 5. According to a survey conducted by the UNESCO, the literacy rate in Pakistan was said to be only 10 per cent in late 1980s (quoted in the English daily Dawn, Karachi, April 3rd, 1990). 6. The literacy rate among the women of Kharan district is only one per thousand, writes the magazine of the Organisation of Pakistan Census ( Ham log, JulyDecember 1989, p. 55). Not counting Quetta and the Pashtun belt of north-eastern Balochistan, one finds that this is true for the whole of Balochistan. Co-education is not allowed and there are no girl-schools anywhere in the Baloch areas except for district headquarters where the attendance is very low. Taking into account only those who have passed primary education, I am afraid that the literacy ratio of 1 per thousand for female is difficult to achieve. A difference between the literacy standards, in my opinion, should be made for the people living under different conditions - those who start schooling in their own languages and those in foreign languages. In the former case, one can be called a literate if he only learns to read and write, while, in the latter case, one

27

has to learn a foreign language as well as the basics of reading and writing. It is to be reminded that Urdu is the medium of instruction in the schools of Pakistan and one is bound to learn it before he is able to read and write. Under these circumstances I have taken only those who have passed primary schools as literate and such people, in my observations, are not more than 3 per cent among male and 2 per thousand among the female population. 7. Since ancient times Balochistan has commanded many of the high roads from Arab, Persian, Turkic and Central Asian lands to the Indian subcontinent. Achaemenian, Macedonian, Arab, Ghaznavid, Mongol, Mughal, Afsharid have sojourned in it and after a brief sojourn passed on, leaving hardly any traces behind (for detail see M. S. K. Baluch 1958:50-75). 8. bahot is a person who takes refuge to another person. In Baloch history a number of inter-tribal clashes were caused by bahot injury. Among them is the famous 30 year Rind-Lashar war in which the latter's men had caused injury to the camel herd of Gohar, the bahot of Mir Chakar, then the chief of the Baloch tribal confederacy. Another important war of refugees was that fought between the Bulaidi and Gorgej tribes which lasted for more than half a century. Dozens of person were killed during various encounters and it culminated with the mass migration of the Bulaidi tribe to the Punjab and Sind. Gorgej tribe is also dispersed from Iranian Makran to Sind and on the other hand to Afghanistan. There are many further episodes but perhaps the most naive one is the one between Bulfati and Kalmati Baloch tribes, the war known as baga jng (the War of Lizard). The tradition is that the Kalmati and Bulfati tribes were living in neighbourhood. One day some children of the Kalmati tribe chased a lizard in an open air to kill it. The lizard ran and crept into the tent of a neighbouring Bulfati noble, named Omar. The wife of Omar asked the children to not kill the lizard because it had taken refuge inside her tent. The children did not listen to her and entered the tent and killed the lizard. When Omar came in the evening he found his wife distressed and enraged. She narrated the story of the day and avowed: 'until you take the revenge of the lizard you are my brother and I am your sister'. The enraged Omar entered into a neighbouring Kalmati tent and killed a man there. This feud soon became the business of both the tribes, causing the death of several hundred persons from both sides. Several poems narrate the attacks and counter-attacks of the adverse tribes (M. S. K. Baluch 1977:474-479; Dames 1907/i:17-20; A. Kopchi 1990:26-28). 9. Elfenbein's translation is 'Their cauldrons pi-(filled) trenches' (1990:345). 10. It is to be mentioned that different stages of a wedding/circumcision ceremony have different songs. For instance the songs sung during the preparation of wedding attire or pUbUrri (fixing of clothes) are different from that when henna is being put on the palms of bridegroom and bride. The ceremony is divided into several stages and every single stage has a different hal and/or la .

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11. For further details on la see Coletti 1981. 12. It is not out of place here to mention that different songs have different types of singers. The differentiation is based on the musical accompaniment ( sUroz and dmbura versus dohl and surna or nl), the style of transmission (memorised versus improvised) and the content and structure of the poem ( r versus st or dastang or zhirok etc.). The most accepted term for the singer of a r is phlwan (lit. singer or performer of a heroic deed). He sings with the accompaniment of a sUroz (a fiddle with a horse-string bow), and one or two dmburgs (a two or three stringed lute type instrument with no frets). One dmburg is played by the phlwan himself, which has usually two strings, another three stringed dmburg is played by his aid, called pnjgi, and a third person plays the sUroz. There is no class restriction for a phlwan in modern times, but a sti (singer of a st) on the other hand is traditionally from a low caste, and very often a woman. Musical instruments accompanied to a sti include double-headed drums, sUrna (oboe), bnjo etc. A sti improvises while singing. A dastang singer is accompanied by a n (reed pipe) player. They are usually true blood Baloch. zhirok, lik and hi are solo songs. They are sung with the accompaniment of a sUroz player or with no musical accompaniment. There is yet another type of singers known as gwInda. They sing short songs on various topics. This has probably emerged from the tradition of stis. These can be from any social background. Their musical instruments include bnjo, harmonium, UkkUr (small drums), etc. In some cases they are also accompanied by a sUroz player, especially in modern times when the use of sUroz is re-emerging as a traditional Baloch musical instrument. 13. It is said that once a traveller passing from Turbat had spent some time under this tree. While leaving he had forgotten his sword there but had continued his journey. After a year or so, he had happened to revisit the place and had found his sword at the same place and same position which had proved that during all that period gathering under the tree had not been discontinued. Every person had thought that the sword belonged to a person setting before. The traveller, we are told, had composed a lengthy poem of several hundred verses mentioning all other places and at the end saying that none of them was equal to the Inal (poplar tree) of Kech. A few verses run as follows: hit o ksrknd o bUgan, srbaz g bag o niwg, parod g hatunn jn, rask g tih o tmbr, piIn g zrr thtg, baho g sUhr gUnbUd, mnd g pll o padg, Hit, Kasarkand, and Bugan, Sarbaz with its orchards and fruits, Parod with its beautiful ladies, Rask with its slaves, Pishshen with its bronze gates, Baho with its golden domes, Mand with its boundary walls,

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kppr g nod o slh, gwadr g kkk o mngU , ke Inal mtt n b,

Kappar with its morning clouds and famous scenes, Gwadar with its fleas and bugs, Are no equal to the poplar tree of Kech.

(Hit, Kasarkand, Bugan, Sarbaz, Parod, Rask, Pishshen and Baho are towns in Iranian Makran; Mand, Kappar, Gwadar are towns in Pakistan, while Kech was the former name of the present day town Turbat). 14. A court poet could be from any tribe or social background, e.g. Jam Durrak of the famous Domki tribe was the court poet of Khan Nasir Khan, the Great, who ruled Balochistan during 1748-1795. A rezwar aIr, on the other hand, was usually from a low caste family and was totally dependent on the tribe or the chief politically and economically. It is, however, to be mentioned that in certain cases there were rezwar aIr who were Baloch of high social class, e.g. Rahm Ali Mari of the Shaheja sub-tribe of the Mari tribe was the 18-19th centuries rezwar aIr of the Mari tribe (for details see M. K. Mari 1978). 15. Nwbat was also an institution of Indian music called so from the name of the largest drum associated with it. "In the time of the Moghul Empire [...] the Nahabet was held in great esteem, and the Emperor Akbar himself was even a performer. There were then in the palace Nakkera Khaneh some eighteen large Nahabets, twenty smaller kettledrums (Nakkeras), four Dohl, four Kurna or lagre trumpets, nine Surnais or pipes similar to the Nagasara, and their accompanying drones two S'ring or horns, and three pairs of cymbals of large size, besides several Nafirs (a small kind of trumpet, similar to the Tuturi); and in those days the performances of the Nahabet occupied a prominent place in the daily palace routine" (Day 1891:96). 16. During Mir Chakar's time the population of Sibi is believed to had exceeded 100,000 people (Harrison 1980:13; Matheson 1967:9; M. S. K. Baluch 1958:171) and to have had 10,000 rapis -- musicians, singers, story-tellers and cup-bearers to entertain the people (Matheson 1975:9; M. S. K. Baluch 1958:170-171). 17. M. S. K. Baluch (1977:67) writes that "judging from the elaborate form and technical perfection of old poetry it may be said of these splendid poems, that they are production of fine finished art, which could not have been produced until poetical art had been practised long before the hegemony of Rind dynasty, which is taken as the classical period" (see also G. K. Nasir 1979a:32-33; A. J. Jamaldini 1988:12). 18. A certain type of liberty was practised by the poet, though he was believed to present the true picture of the facts. In very few cases we find the late 19th century Mulla poets deviating from the old tradition. For example a poem was composed on the Gok Prosh war, fought between the Baloch and British forces which occurred in 1898. In this fight Sardar Mehrab Khan escaped from the battle

30

field and left Baloch Khan and his companions alone to fight the British army (Janmahmad 1989:166), but the poet has eulogised both with the same tone (cf. G. K. Nasir 1979a:299ff.). 19. A similar trend has been noted among the Greeks. Bowra writes: "The Greeks have shown a tendency to be truthful and accurate in their heroic poems about contemporary events, no doubt their tragoudia are often sung in camps by men who have themselves taken part in the events of which they sing. So far their account can be tested by external evidence, they do not stray far from historical facts" (1952:511-12). 20. Among eastern Baloch the singer of epic poems are Dombs (Dames 1907/i:xxxiv) and Lodis, the hereditary minstrels of Indian origin (cf. Basham 1954:514-515; Dames 1902:253); they are attached as bards to Baloch tribes, but are not, and do not pretend to be, of Baloch blood themselves (Dames 1904:17). The role of Domb/Lodi is very important in Baloch traditional society during the time of war and peace. During the time of war they function as the Red Cross of modern times. Because of their low caste state they are not attacked and injured so they enter in the battle field and take away wounded persons of their tribe; keep the contact of the family and the warring tribes by going to and fro; they take the news of war and warn their tribe and so on (cf. H. Mari 1987:47-48). In the time of peace, besides playing music, singing and dancing, they do all the works on the occasions of wedding/circumcision ceremonies, religious and other feasts; they entertain and serve guests of their masters, etc. They are thought to be the property of the tribe and they distribute the tribe among themselves. In other parts of Balochistan , the singers of epic poetry are called phlwan. They were in past times basically from low caste people, but now this difference is no more really observed and 90% of the living phlwans, as far as I know, are common Baloch. They are very respected and their status is very high (Field 1959:65). 21. Baloch literary history is replete with examples where a hero received wounds and a slave of him put him on a horse's back and whipped the horse out of the battle field. His wife learnt that her husband has returned alone from the battleground; so she composed piercing poems and sent them to her husband saying that he has escaped from the fight so she would not consider him her husband any more but only as her father and brother i.e. unilateral divorce. See e.g. Lalla o Granaz. Lalla's party is killed to a single person and he receives deep wounds and becomes unconscious. His servant mounts him on the horse and whips the horse which takes him to the house of his parents. When the news reaches to Granaz, she composes a poem, calls a minstrel, and sends it to Lalla, saying: "Till recently I extolled thine bravery amongst my close friends; (I thought) I would receive the news that thou had died fighting like a lion alongwith the undaunted youths; [...] Lalla, thy comrades told me, (that) Lalla deserted the battlefield; (that thou) toiled strenuously on the stirrups of the Mal (horse) untiringly flogged the horse, kept the horse running with strokes of the heels of

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shoes; [...] Thou, Lalla, will be (hereafter) like a father and a brother to my golden ornaments till the day of peace and the Day of doom (phr mn bstt pesri roa, g wti jani dzgwharkk, kt ti eri kutIn hwal, g sri wrnay Ilangen [...] llla ti hmrah mna gwtg, llla jng parwa jIstg, zore p mll dorw datg, ase abUkk sra rItkg, g kudi bore orentg, g kudi o mozgi pad [...] llla mni sUhrani pIt o brat, d slwat o mhr roa)". Lalla, in reply, composes a poem and sends it to Granaz. He says: "The pearl-like perfumed one, give patient hearing [...] I have not shown idleness in my actions, hereunto [...] It seemed as if the black steed and I were sailing amidst the thick of the enemy ranks, I employed my seven weapons of war against the foe; my nitid sword broke, I had only the hilt in my hand, the Khurasani shield was blown to bits by the stroke of swords; the Seistani helmet broke as under; fourteen piercing arrows peirced my body [...] My dark-skinned slave dismounted me and whipped my horse to run away. My brothers carried me on a stretcher from the field to my house [...] O Granaz, the logs of wood of tamarisk tree are better than thee; they are brought from distant places by the flooded streams, They are superb as being burnt during sweet assemblies [...] If I do not die this time and survive from mortal wounds, I shall not be like cold water to the bloody foes; if stones melt inside deep wells, then men might forget revenge; neither stones melt inside deep wells, nor can revenge vanish from the hearts of men ( go kn o dUrr nok zbadani, mn n kUrtg susti mUll tani, [...] jllIt o onagIt mn o syaha, hpt slaha kI sar mna bittg, gohr teg bUn mni dst, Ispr Un Un Int hUrasani, m sra nd Int hol sistani, ardh rrok tir mni jan, [...] gIptg mna syah-so gUlamua, gIpte mna dozwahi sr o bask, brat p btl bUrtg t loga, [...] z to granaz kUnt gIh nt gzzi, harI dur janIb karnt [...] g mn o drd sUnt pas [...] ga n mUrt o e kla Utt, mn p hunig ap n b sart, durbUn at sIng g rez nt, keng mrdani dIla kInznt, n sIng rez nt m dur bUn at, o n keng mrdani dIla kInznt, [...]"), cf. M. S. K. Baluch 1977:411-429; see also Bashir Ahmad 1970). 22. Something of Sibis past grandeur still comes to life once a year during the ten-day festival organised by the Government of Balochistan held every February; and sports, cattle show, horse and camel races and musical performances are arranged. During the Rind-Lashar period it attracted minstrels, musicians, dancers, sportsmen, athletes and cattle breeders from all over Balochistan, Sind and the Punjab. Now, alas, the traditional musicians and minstrels are replaced by Pakistan Televisions pop-singers from Lahore and Islamabad. 23. The first Baloch confederacy, according to I. Baloch (1986:3), was formed by Jalal Han during the 12th century and its capital was Bampur. The second and more important Baloch confederacy was formed in the 15 th century, and comprised the total land of the Baloch as occupied by them to this date; it was given the name of Balochistan by the Commander of Mir Chakar Rinds army, Mir Bibarg Rind (I. Baloch 1984:4; M. S. K. Baluch 1977:131). We can not say for sure whether he was the one who gave this name to the newly unified country

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of the Baloch or this name was already in use. However, in the poems attributed to him the word Balochistan occurs more than once (M. S. K. Baluch 1977:168,170; S. M. Mari 1970:43; Badalkhan 1990:7). 24. A poem, said to be composed by Haibetan, the Chief of the Mirali tribe, who lived during the 15th century (see M. S. K. Baluch 1977:318ff.), mentions that Balochistan was divided into various regions and every region had its local ruler: Kambar was the ruler of Kech, Miran the ruler of Da dar (cf. M. S. K. Baluch 1958:184), Omar the ruler of Nali zone, Ali Hot that of Bela, and Mir Chakar was the ruler of Sibi and the sardar of the whole Baloch country (S. M. Mari 1970:7; Elfenbein 1990:362-365 has reproduced the poem but his translation, in most cases, does not correspond to the original text). 25. It has, most probably, been a dmburg which has mostly three strings. I have not heard of playing any other instrument called sItar in Balochistan. 26. For the English translation of the ms. see Elfenbein 1983. 27. S. Hashmi claims to have seen in 1954 at Sandeman Library, Quetta, a good number of Balochi mss. written in Roman characters by English orientalists. But all these manuscripts were lost when he revisited the Library in 1965 (Hashmi 1986:242). A. S. Amiri, who had accompanied Hashmi during his visit to Quetta, confirms his statement and adds: We were told that there were a lot of Balochi mss. written in Eastern Balochi but people have borrowed them from the library and not returned them back all this had happened after the creation of Pakistan (1990:16; the English translation from Balochi is mine). 28. Abdul Qadir Shahwani says that the Baloch Nawabs and upper class people used to keep in their houses mss. but after the merger of Balochistan into Pakistan they (the Baloch) destroyed them for fear of a Pakistani repression (1978:17), for keeping mss. in Balochi meant having Baloch separatist sentiments. A. K. Mengal claims that many Baloch are still in possess of manuscripts, but neither they show them to anybody nor get them published (1980:ii). 29. Dames research was, unfortunately, limited only to a small area of the Baloch land where less than 4 per cent of the total Baloch population inhabit (Elfenbein 1985:162). Dames seemed to be aware of this problem; he wrote in 1902: The branch of the race with which I am concerned is that inhabiting the mountain country west of the Indus Valley, and spreading into the plains of the country known as the Derajat, and especially those tribes which still retain the use of the Balochi language. I must confess that my collections of materials were made originally mainly for purposes of philology, and only indirectly for reasons more strictly connected with folklore (Dames 1902:252). It seems that Dames had either not tried to record the vast body of oral poetry from that area or he did not have time or other resources, for we note that his collection does not contain

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poems of some of the very famous poets of the Mari-Bugti areas. 30. Published at Lahore in Urdu in 1881. It was translated into English by J. M. C. Douie and published in Calcutta in 1885, but the English translation does not contain poems. 31. Unfortunately, the text and its translation is nowhere free from errors and misprints. Only quite exceptionally, writes Elfenbein, can Dames texts and their translations be matched satisfactorily (1985:159). Elfenbein states further (1985: 163): The sort of corruption we see in the texts of Popular Poetry seems to stem mainly from a careful transcription taken down apparently verbatim and then puzzled out later, for the final results vary quite haphazardly from a very narrow transcription. As for the translation, he must have asked for a general idea only and hoped that he would be able to piece together the details on his own later: I cannot believe that he ever checked some of his texts or translation again with his original informants. A few Baloch writers have attempted to reproduce the text and correct the errors but with no great success (see e.g. Baloch n.d.). S. Hashmi writes that he had transliterated the book into Perso-Arabic characters (Hashmi 1986:242) but his transliteration was not published and nothing can be said about it at the present stage. 32. Elfenbein has reported the date of the foundation of the Balochi Academy Karachi at 1956 (Elfenbein 1989:642), while the date given by Sayyad Hashmi and other Baloch scholars is 1958 (Hashmi 1986:285). 33. Matheson states to have recorded some poems from the recitation of Jwansal himself. She writes: I met one of the most remarkable living Baluch poets, Jawan Sal Bugti, a tall, dignified old shepherd well into his eighties, whose fame had spread far outside the boundaries of tribal territory. With his white ringlets and snowy beard, his fierce-eyed, dark-ringleted sons by his side [...] this old man was gentle and unwarlike. Completely uneducated, he was, unusually for a Bugti, extremely religious and had spent his entire life as a shepherd, finding his inspiration as he wandered the desert with his goats and sheep. His long compositions were entirely religious and his diwan or collection included over one hundred and fifty of his own compositions, some of them with more than three hundred and fifty verses, a fact I wasn t aware of when I began recording in the khudal of mud and brush, crowded with curious and admiring spectators (1967:166). 34. The reason for misprints is that the typists and calligraphers employed by the Balochi Academy are non-Baloch so they often do not know what they are typing or writing on papers. The Balochi Academy, Quetta has repeatedly been criticised for its carelessness concerning the Balochi texts of the books they publish (see for example Gichki 1992:9; Sarbazi 1992:161-165).

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35. I am thankful to A. S. Amiri for providing me the photocopies of some of the material, even though many pages reproduced through xeroxing are very poorly handwritten and in most cases are illegible. Amiri told me that the original texts are kept in Sayyad Hashmi Academy, Karachi or with the family of Sayyad Hashmi, but I could not trace them. 36. See for example Balochistan ki kahani shairon ki zabani (Quetta, 1976); Balochi razmia shairi (Quetta, 1979a); Balochi ishqia shairi (Quetta, 1979b). These works contain extensive discussions on Balochi oral poetry and about the life and time of Baloch poets. I was informed in Mand that Gulkhan Nasir was given there some mss. in which Balochi poems were written including a large number of poems by Mulla Fazil Rind, a 19th century topmost famous poet from Mand. I could not obtain any information about these mss., but Gohar Malik, the daughter of Gulkhan Nasir, writes that most of the papers kept in their home were taken away by the police during the frequent raids because of the political activities of her father (Malik 1990:65). Mir A. K. Mengal, during an interview in 1989, told me that some of the poems collected by Gulkhan Nasir are still safe, but I could not see them. 37. I have a great sorrow to mention that two of my best informants and topmost famous minstrels, Saleh Mahmad Gorgej (d. 1991) and Ali Mahmad Sadbadi (d. 1992) have expired in the meantime. I had the opportunity to interview both of them during my earlier visits. I had also recorded a good number of poems from their rich repertoire but they knew such a great treasure of Balochi oral poetry and information concerning the minstrelsy tradition that there was still much to do with them. 38. There is only one television station in Balochistan which is in Quetta and it does not cover beyond Quetta and its peripheries. Pakistan TV telecastes daily news in Balochi and a 20 minutes musical programme once a week in Balochi from its Quetta station. The Editor of Balochi, Quetta, blames that Balochi programme producers at Pakistan TV, Quetta are non-Baloch, and when a Baloch singer is invited, he is not allowed to bring his Baloch musicians he is asked to sing with the accompaniment of non-Baloch music players employed by the TV. The Editor claims that the Baloch in Pakistan are like beggars and concludes an editorial note on this subject with the famous English idiom: The beggars have no choice (monthly Balochi, May 1988, Editorial). Recently a TV booster was installed in Sibi but its telecast is limited to Sibi and its surroundings. 39. An interesting situation has been noted among the Baloch tribes living in the area of Dasht-Goran in Kalat District. According to Y. Gichki, author of three anthologies of Balochi oral poetry, when a male child is born the men of the village/camp sing heroic songs from the old stock of Balochi poetry for seven nights. If, for any reason, this is not possible, an aged person is invited who recites

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seven heroic poems near the new born baby. It is thought to be the first lesson to the baby who is expected to behave according to the tradition maintained by his elders (oral communication; Habb, August 1989). 40. Mr and Mrs Jarrige, the well known French archaeologists, have been working in Balochistan since 1964. I met Mrs C. Jarrige in Paris in 1990. She recounted her experiences about the fast dying oral tradition in Balochistan. She said that until about 1974 there were always visiting minstrels and local music players who played music and sang epics almost every night until late. But about mid 1970s they suddenly found that there was no minstrel nor any traditional singer. In their place new radio transistor radios had arrived and people had started gathering around them. She said it was a shocking and surprising change that in such a short period such a great and sudden change had occurred. Only a single year earlier, she said, the people were so attached to their oral tradition and heroic epics that it was unimaginable to think that they could remain without it. 41. Pakistan radio and television corporations, according to Janmahmad, are engaged in a malicious distortion of the Balochi language (Janmahmad 1989:250). Baloch intellectuals and writers have very often objected to programmes by both corporations. Significant was a statement signed by 15 intellectuals, including poets and writers, expressing their disapproval of the programmes sponsored by Pakistan television. They called the programmes ridiculous and an insult to Balochi culture and language. They maintained that what is usually presented in the name of the Baloch is an insult to the Balochi language and literature (ibid.; for the statement see Jang, Quetta, January 29, 1979). 42. There are also some other countries from where Balochi programmes are broadcasted daily. Radio Irans station at Zahedan broadcasts a 60 minutes programme in Balochi on medium wave from 14.30 to 15.30 GMT but they broadcast mostly religious talks; Radio Baghdad, Iraq used to broadcast a 60 minutes programme at 17.00 to 18.00 hrs. GMT; the programme was concentrated on political propaganda mostly against the USA. Radio Afghanistan, Kabul used to broadcast daily 2.45 hrs. programme in Balochi; during the communist regime it was directed against the Pakistan government and the Islamic mujahidin based in Pakistan. After the recent developments I have not been able to monitor it. Radio All India broadcasts 45 minutes (15.15 16.00 GMT) Balochi programmes from its New Delhi station in which Balochi songs and Indian film songs are broadcast. 43. The following details of radio programmes have been prepared with the help of Hamid Shakir Baloch, producer of Balochi programmes, PBC, Turbat and Arif M. Bakhsh. I express my gratitude to both of them. 44. See monthly Manzil, January 1989, pp. 58-64, which has published an interview of the Director in which he has discussed about the lack of funding for

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Balochi programmes. 45. Indian musical influence is worth noting in other neighbouring countries as well. Fujii, treating the music of Afghanistan, writes: In recent years there has been remarkable commercialisation of Indian music through motion pictures, records, and broadcasting; and Indian traditional music and popular songs have urged into Afghanistan like tidal waves. Over 40 percent of music heard in Afghanistan is Indian, and people crowd into theatres showing Indian films. The popular music of India and themes from Indian movies are deeply ingrained in the young generation (Fujii 1980:24). A similar phenomenon can be observed also in Nepal. Where commercialised popular songs and movie themes of India are also invading even small villages of Himalayas. The spread of transistor radio is certainly accelerating this development (ibid. 25). The Baloch workers in the United Arab Emirates, Sultanate of Oman, Doha Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait have influenced the society back home very much. While out of Balochistan they find entertainment with the Indian motion pictures which are widespread in all these countries, and when they come home on leaves their preferred gifts include video and audio cassette players, television sets and the like. 46. These data were collected in early 1991. 47. The most active literary organisations functioning among the Baloch are the following: Baloch Writers Club, Karachi; Baloch Cultural, Dramatic, Literary Forum, Karachi; Bloi lbzanki diwan, Karachi; Ilum Publications, Karachi; Bloi dbi bor , Karachi; Lyari dbi o zemIli mjlIs, Karachi; Baloch Promotive, Golimar, Karachi; Baloch Publications, Chakiwada, Karachi; Kalakot dbi sosaiti, Durralen, Karachi; Lyari saz o zemIli mjlIs, Durralen, Karachi; Bloi dbi jUhdkar, Bahrain; Baloch Club, Bahrain; Blo kUmkkar diwan, Doha Qatar; Lwzcedg, Quetta; PazUl lbzanki mjlIs, Mand; Sayyad Hashmi Academy, Karachi; Azat Jamaldini Academy, Karachi; Syyd lbzanki mjlIs, United Arab Emirates; Almahand Club, Muscat, Oman; Lbzanki agIrd, Turbat; Lbzanki gIhbudi gll, Turbat; Izzat Academy, Panjgur; Wrna lbzanki gll, Gwadar; Shabab Music Club, Gwadar; Mulla Fazul Academy, Turbat, Tump, Nasirabad; Lbzanki karwan, Turbat, Ganz, Salala (Oman); NIhIng lbzanki mjlIs, Tump; Shahar Club, Shetagar; Lbzanki mjlIs, Sami; Baba-e Balochistan Arts Society, Pishshukan; Sngt lbzanki mjlIs, Turbat; Raskoh dbi mjlIs, Nushki; Bloi dbi mjlIs, Bulaida; etc. Besides these literary and cultural organizations, there are several literary magazines being published in Balochi. 48. The Balochi Academy, Quetta received a nominal grant of Rs. 25,000 per year during the late 1970s, stated Hashmi (1986:286). The situation is not changed much, as far as I know.

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