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Gichki or Gitchki is a Balochi-speaking tribe living in the Makran region of Pakistani Balochistan. The tribe, initially settled in the Gichk valley of Panjgur, formed the ruling class of the Makran state until 1955.[1][2]

Origins

Gichki are ethnically not of Baloch stock,[3][4] and trace their descent from Rajputs.[5][6] In the 16th century, they arrived in Makran from Indus valley where they had settled after coming from Punjab or Rajasthan.[5][7][8] Since Gichki were not pastoralists, unlike the Baloch, or as numerous as the already settled population of Makran, the Italian anthropologist Ugo Fabietti suggests that they migrated as a group of mercenaries, and rose to power by diplomacy and establishing alliances with the ruling families.[9]

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.[10]

The Gichki ruled Makran for a time, however they were forced to pay half of their revenue to the Khan of Kalat Mir Nasir Khan Brahui in the late-18th century. The advent of British rule weakened the influence of Kalat, allowing Gichki Nawabs to assert their internal independence again. The last Gichki Nawab, Mir Baian Gichki acceded to Pakistan in 1947.[11]

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.[4] Gichki are divided into two major branches, Isazai and Dinarzai, which previously ruled Panjgur and Kech respectively.[5] They were initially Zikris, and only gradually converted to Sunni Islam after Mir Nasir Khan of Kalat undertook military campaigns against them.[3]

References

  1. ^ Pastner (1978), pp. 248–.
  2. ^ Fabietti (2011), pp. 81–.
  3. ^ a b Dudoignon (2017).
  4. ^ a b Martin (2019).
  5. ^ a b c Pastner (1978), pp. 248–249.
  6. ^ Fabietti (2011), pp. 81–82.
  7. ^ Spooner (1988).
  8. ^ Fabietti (1992), pp. 98–99.
  9. ^ Fabietti (2011), pp. 83–.
  10. ^ Fabietti (2011), pp. 94–101.
  11. ^ Pastner (1978), pp. 251–257.

Bibliography

  • Dudoignon, Stéphane A. (2017). "History and Memory". The Baluch, Sunnism and the State in Iran: from Tribal to Global. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 33–78. doi:10.1093/oso/9780190655914.003.0002. ISBN 978-0-19-065591-4.
  • Martin, Axmann (2019). "Baluchistan and the Baluch people". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_25188. ISSN 1873-9830.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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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