Gichki

Gichki or Gitchki is a Balochi-speaking Rajput tribe living in the Makran region of Pakistan and Iran. The tribe, initially settled in the Gichk valley of Panjgur, formed the ruling class of the Makran state until 1955.

Origins

Gichki are ethnically not of Baloch stock and have origins in the Indus Valley. In the 16th century, their ancestors who claimed to be Rajputs arrived in Makran from north where they had settled after coming from Punjab or Rajasthan. Since they were not pastoralists unlike the Baloch, or as numerous as the already settled population of Makran, some scholars believe that Gichki migrated as a group of mercenaries, and conquered Makran by diplomacy and establishing alliances with the ruling families. Their close association with Zikrism, a local heterodox sect, may have also played an important role in their rise to power.

History

The political turmoil in Makran during the 17th and 18th centuries attracted several bands of raiders from the neighbouring regions; among them were Buledi, Gichki, and Nausherwanis, who later established their state in Kharan. According to a locally well-known tradition from Makran, the ancestors of Gichki were forty Rajput horsemen from north; in an alliance with Buledi, Gichki killed the then ruler of Kech, a certain Malik Mirza. Soon conflict broke out between the two tribes and Gichki ousted Buledi as well, hence gaining complete control over Makran. According to Fabietti, the factuality of some of the details mentioned in this account is uncertain, although the migration of Gichki Rajputs and the struggle between them and Buledi probably had a historical basis.

Historically, Gichki drove out Buledi around 1740 under their chief, Mulla Murad. Like Buledi, Gichki were also Zikris, and Mulla Murad Gichki is considered one of the major Zikri figures. He organised Zikrism as a faith and chose Koh-e-Murad as its central pilgrimage site. During the rule of Murad's son Malik Dinar Gichki, Makran was invaded nine times by the Khan of Kalat, Nasir Khan Brahui and Gichki were forced to pay half of their revenue to him. The advent of British rule weakened the influence of Kalat, allowing Gichki Nawabs to assert their internal independence again. The last Nawab, Mir Baian Gichki acceded to Pakistan in 1947.

Social organization

Despite their origins, Gichki have been gradually assimilated into the Baloch society and speak Balochi, a trend which they share with other ethnic groups of non-Baloch origins such as Jats, Lasi, Dihvar and Brahuis. Gichki are divided into two major branches, Isazai and Dinarzai, which previously ruled Panjgur and Kech respectively. They were initially Zikris, and only gradually converted to Sunni Islam after Mir Nasir Khan of Kalat undertook military campaigns against them. Gichki castles in Kech were surveyed by Fiorani Piacentini et al. between 1987 and 1991, who described their architecture as a blend of Rajput heritage of Gichki Nawabs and the Persian culture they followed.

Bibliography

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• Fabietti, Ugo (1992). "Power Relations in Southern Baluchistan: A Comparison of Three Ethnographic Cases". Ethnology. 31 (1). University of Pittsburgh: 89–102. doi:10.2307/3773444. ISSN 0014-1828.
• Fiorani Piacentini, Valeria; Redaelli, Riccardo, eds. (2016) [2003]. Baluchistan: Terra Incognita. Studies in the Archaeology and History of Baluchistan. Vol. I. Oxford, England: BAR Publishing. doi:10.30861/9781841715131. ISBN 978-1-84171-513-1.
• Fabietti, Ugo (2011). Ethnography at the Frontier: Space, Memory and Society in Southern Balochistan. Peter Lang. doi:10.3726/978-3-0352-0104-8. ISBN 978-3-0352-0104-8.
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• Pastner, Stephen (1978). "Conservatism and Change in a Desert Feudalism: The Case of Southern Baluchistan". In Weissleder, Wolfgang (ed.). The Nomadic Alternative: Modes and Models of Interaction in the African-Asian Deserts and Steppes. De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 247–260. doi:10.1515/9783110810233.247. ISBN 978-3-11-081023-3.
• Spooner, Brian J. (1988). "Baluchistan i. Geography, History and Ethnography". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. III/6: Baḵtīārī tribe II–Banān. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 598–632. ISBN 978-0-71009-118-5.