Brahui people

The origin of the word "Brahui" is uncertain.[1]

Mikhail Andronov hypothesized a derivation from Dravidian (lit. Northern hillmen); however, Josef Elfenbein found it unconvincing and hypothesized a derivation from Saraiki brāhō.[1][lower-alpha 1] The term was perhaps used to distinguish the Brahui, who had migrated into Sindh and became Muslims, c. 1,000 years ago, from the indigenous Hindu Jats.[2]

The number of Brahui tribes have fluctuated across the centuries.[1] As of Nasir Khan I's time, the Brahuis had eight nuclear tribes and seven peripheral tribes; by the time of the last Khan, twelve peripheral tribes have been added.[1][lower-alpha 2] The only census that ever recorded the Brahui as an ethnic group was conducted in 1911 in British India.[2] However, that most Brahui describe themselves as Baloch to outsiders, the recorded count is an underestimate.[2] Elfenbein, referencing estimations from 1996, notes that there are c. 700,000 Brahui tribesmen.[2]

The origins of Brahuis remain unclear.[1] Brahui lore — which speaks of a migration from Syria to Kalat, followed by displacement of the incumbent (Hindu) Sewa dynasty — are piecemeal borrowings from Baloch traditions; historical ballads etc. are nonexistent in the language.[1] Thus, says Elfenbein, that reconstructions of Brahui pre-history can only depend on linguistics and genetics.[1] The fact that other Dravidian languages only exist further south in India has led to two hypothesis — that either the Brahuis are a relict population of Dravidians remaining from a time when Dravidians were more widespread in mainland India or they migrated to Baluchistan from South India at sometime in the last two millennia.[3]

Noting extensive phonological similarities with Malto and Kurukh, Dravidian languages spoken as geographical isolates across Eastern India, many linguists — Murray Barnson Emeneau, Elfenbein, Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, et al. — speculates that the three groups might have had a common stage before migrating to different directions;[1] both Kurukhs and Maltos speak of an eastward migration from Karnataka in their lores and Brahuis' self-identification as migrants from Syria can be interpreted as an Islamized version of the same event.[3] However, the Brahuis do not have any significant Dravidian genetic component and are largely indistinguishable from surrounding Indo-European speakers (Balochi, Makrani, and Pathan) — this suggests passage of sufficient time since the admixture event thereby supporting the relict hypothesis.[4]

The Brahuis have traditionally been nomads; the state-formation — in the form of a confederacy, the Khanate of Kalat — appears to have been a response to the increasing penetration of Mughal governance, especially under Shah Jahan, into their traditional grazing lands and migratory routes.[1]

The Khanate was established by Ahmad Khan I, a Brahui chieftain, in 1660s and derived its power from a complex system of inter-tribal alliances with the Balochs and Dehwaris; notwithstanding nominal suzerainties to Persia and Afghanistan at times, the kingdom gained in size and reached its zenith under Nasir Khan I in late eighteenth century.[1] However, British incursion into the subcontinent coupled with territorial losses to Persia compelled Kalat to accept a protectorate status; in the aftermath of the Partition, the Khanate was absorbed into Pakistan notwithstanding popular protests.[1]

According to Elfenbein, only about 15% of the Brahui tribesmen are primary speakers of the Brahui language; only two nuclear tribes speak Brahui as a primary language.[2] Half of the rest may be secondary speakers of Brahui with Balochi as the primary language, while the other half are estimated to speak no Brahui "at all".[2]

The Brahui language belongs to the Dravidian language family and is hence, a geographical isolate.[2] It has extensively borrowed from Balochi and other languages of the area; David W. McAlpin found the language to be an "etymological nightmare".[5] There are three dialects with no significant variation: Sarawani (spoken in the north), Jhalawani (spoken in the southeast), and Chaghi (spoken in the northwest and west).[5]

No significant corpus of literature exists; the first known work, to be written in Brahui, was Tuḥfat al-aja īb (lit. Gift of Wonders), a translation from Persian by Malikdad Gharsin Qalati, c. 1759-1760, a court-poet of Nasir Khan I.[1][2] The Perso-Arabic script currently in use was developed c. 1900 out of the efforts of Mulla Nabo-Jan and Maulana Fazl Mohammed Khan Darkhani for spreading Islamic revivalist ideas.[1][2] Literacy rates among Brahuis remained very low as late as 1990s.[5]

• Stocksia brahuica Benth., a flowering plant belonging to the family Sapindaceae, named after the Brahui people.