THE LEARNING OF BALOCHI AND BRAHVI  IN  PAKISTAN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By

 

TARIQ RAHMAN

                         Ph.D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professor of Linguistics & South Asian Studies             Address for correspondence

National Institute of Pakistan Studies                                     H. 291 Safari Avenue

Quaid-i-Azam University                                                         Gulrez Housing Society,

Islamabad,                                                                                Chaklala – Rawalpindi

Pakistan                                                                                   Pakistan

Telephone : 508246

                                                                                            e-mail: trahman@sat.net.pk

The Learning of Balochi and Brahvi in Pakistan

Tariq Rahman*

The census of Pakistan gives figures for households in which Balochi is spoken (3.02 per cent) and Brahvi (1.21 per cent).  Both languages,  important as they are, being the mother tongues of the Baloch, are not taught in the manner and the degree to which they would have been had the state adopted multi-lingual language-teaching policies.  The question is whether their teaching, such as it is, is part of resistance (or ethnic) Language-teaching?  This question has been partly answered in my previous book Language and Politics in Pakistan1.  The book traced out the way Balochi is part of the ethnic symbolism of the Baloch in Pakistan in their desire for employment vis a vis the Pashto-speakers of Baluchistan and the Punjabi-dominated elites of the centre.  In this context it also touches upon language-teaching but that is not the focus of that book.

The following article is on attempt to connect language teaching with ethnic resistance in addition to providing a history of the learning of Balochi and Brahvi both informally (i.e. by individuals on their own) and formally (i.e. in institutions supported by private sources or the state)..  One answer to the question about resistance is given by Richard A. Slimbach who, after field work in Liyari (Karachi) in the mid-1990s, described certain organizations which ‘create and sponsor an assortment of “resistance pedagogies” aimed at raising political consciousness, revitalizing Baloch culture and resolving local binds’2.  These organizations do not concentrate much on teaching Balochi or Brahvi, as will be described later, but they do try to create ethnic consciousness through literary, cultural and political motivation.  They also enable young students to learn Urdu and English so as to help them do well in school.  Does this mean that the Baloch accept the dominance of the languages of power – Urdu and English – while using their own mother tongue as symbols of ethnicity?  These are questions which this article will attempt to answer.  But first let us look at the history of literacy, and hence of learning, Balochi and Brahvi.

*Professor of Linguistics & South Asian Studies, National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

The earliest book of Brahvi which exists today is Khidmat-e-Deen.  It is a book on advice and instructions of a religious nature of a hundred pages probably written in 1693.  After this there are magical spells and cures in Brahvi3 till we come to a major work known as Malik Dad Kalati’s Tuhfat ul Ajaib.  The book is said to have been completed in July 1760 but the manuscript is missing.  The printed edition dates from 1882.  It appears that, while Balochi and Brahvi might have been used as informal media of instruction and explanation for pupils, they were not the formal languages of scholarship or religious propagation till the British arrival.  The British unwittingly promoted the acquisition of these languages in Balochistan – we shall not look at Pashto which is also used in Balochistan in this article because it is covered  in the chapter on the teaching of Pashto in my forthcoming book Language, Ideology and Power (Karachi: Oxford University Press) – in two ways.  First, they made formal arrangements to examine their officers in them.  And second, they allowed the missionaries to preach and translate the Bible in them.  This made the Islamic ‘clergymen’, the ulema, apprehensive of losing the Baloch to Christianity and they too started writing in Balochi and Brahvi.  Let us look at both developments turn by turn.

The first printed books on Balochi and Brahvi grammar were written for and by Englishmen.  They had to learn and pass examinations in these languages and the purpose of these books was to enable them to acquire them.  The earliest manuscripts of a linguistic nature dated between 1820 and 1877, have been written, Elfbein opines, for British officers4. One of the most well known books of this kind are Longworth Dames’s  A Text Book of the Balochi Language (1901).  While Dames wrote in English an Indian official, Hathu Ram, wrote his Balochi Nama5 in Persian and Urdu.  In the preface of the latter, which is in highly stilted and Persianised Urdu, the author says that it had been written because he had helped British officers to learn the language and had decided to put his knowledge in one place6.  Both books, the latter translated and transliterated into English, were part of the proficiency examination in Balochi which British officials, such as H. T. Lambrick, took.  In Lambrick’s case the examination, held on 28 April 1941, comprised not only translation from English to Balochi and vice versa but also conversation with natives or examiners in Balochi7.

While the English officers learned Balochi and Brahvi in order to project their power onto the people of this region, there are those who learned them in order to resist this power.  How Balochi and Brahvi became symbols of resistance in the hands of the ulema has been mentioned in passing in my previous book8. In this article more details of this resistance movement, the Maktaba-e-Darkhani, are provided and some of the books written by it are described.

The work by the Maktaba-e-Darkhani can be described as a movement for spreading religious awareness among the Baloch to counter Christianity. Since the missionaries had translated the bible in the local languages between 1905 to 1907, there was apprehension among the ulema that Christianity would spread among the Baloch.  The Quran, therefore, became available in Brahvi in 1914 and in Balochi in 1949.  Other texts of a religious nature too became available in these languages.  These texts also served to spread literacy in Brahvi and Balochi.  The pioneer of the movement was Maulvi Mohammad Fazil (1823-1896) whose village, Darkhan, which is about six miles from Dhadhar, gave its name to it.  According to Nadir Qambrani, Fazil was inspired by Abul Khair, who was the religious mentor (Pir), of a number of people upto Afghanistan.  Qambrani’s grandfather himself was his disciple and the story comes from Qambrani who heard about the events described here as part of family lore.  According to the story Pir Abul Khair had come from Delhi, where he was normally resident, to pay a visit to his disciples in Afghanistan in the 1870s.  For some reason he also came to stay at Quetta. From there he went to Dhadhar, most probably in a tonga (one-horse carriage), to persuade Mohammad Fazil to write Islamic books for the common people in Brahvi and Balochi.  Fazil agreed and the Maktaba-e-Darkhani started getting books written and printed, generally at the Steam Press in Lahore, for publication from Darkhan9.

It is not known whether these books were used as additional reading material in the madrassas – where the core curriculum was based on the Dars-i-Nizami – but what is certain is that they were read out among the common people.  According to Abdullah Jan Jamaldini, one of the foremost pioneers of Balochi and Brahvi languages in contemporary times, he used to hear the Durrul Majeedi in Brahvi read out in a sing song voice when he was a child.  A certain blind man was famous for his recitation in the bazaar.  Women, some of whom were literate in the Quran, also read it out to others10.  In short, literacy in Balochi and Brahvi was facilitated by the presence of books in these languages.  As the people learned the written languages themselves, this was a classical case of voluntary language-learning.

Exactly how many books were published by the Maktaba-e-Darkhani is not easy to determine.  Guesses and a few incomplete lists are all we have to go by.  According to Abdur Rahman Brahvi, while about 1000 books were published in Brahvi only about 60 were published in Balochi11.  Shahwani lists 210 books in Brahvi and 91 in Balochi12.  The Catalogue of Books in Minor Languages (Vol. 2) at the British Library records 8 books in Brahvi but none in Balochi.  There are scattered lists in different places in Pakistan but none is complete or reliable. While nobody has the definitive list, everyone agrees that more books are available now in Brahvi than in Balochi. A large number of books are lost because books were buried when they became torn and worn out13. This was presumably to save them from desecration.  However, even if they were buried one assumes that both Brahvi and Balochi books were buried.  Thus, the lesser number of Balochi books cannot be explained unless one assumes that less were published to begin with. Out of the books available now, the present author saw the following:

Tuhfat ul Ajaib.  This is a printed copy of 1888.  As mentioned earlier, it was written in 1760 by Malik Dad Kalati.  It is in Brahvi verse.  It explains the requirements of prayers, ablutions for prayers and other rituals of Islam (Located at R S collection).

Shumail Shareef.  This book, in Brahvi verse, was printed in 1355 A.H (1936-37).  The author is Maulana Abdullah Darkhani and this copy was printed in Quetta.  The book is an example of hagiography as it describes the physical appearance, behaviour and qualities of the Prophet of Islam.  The titles are in Arabic (R S).

Shahad-o-Shifa.  This book, in Brahvi verse, was written by Maulvi Abdul Majeed of Mastung.  It was printed by Abdul Baqi at Quetta but all other details are missing.  It mentions Shah Abul Khair of Delhi who, being the initiator of the Maktaba-e-Darkhani, is praised highly.  Most of the book is a hagiography describing the Prophet’s marriage and life with his first wife, Khadija.  Brahvi ghazal, in praise of the Prophet, is also included (R S).

Mufat ul Awam.  This book probably by Mohammad Omar, is a nasihat nama – a book of advice and admonition.  It specially targets those who do not say their prayers.  It was either printed, or reprinted, in 1957 at Mastung (A Q B).

Tuhfat ul Gharaib  (Brahvi verse).  By Mulla Nubbo Jan, a prolific author and a leading figure of the Maktaba-i-Darkhani, this edition was published at Darkhan in 1888.  It too is about the essentials of Islam including prayers etc.  Another edition comprises both Tuhfat ul Gharaib and Tuhfat ul Ajaib.  This is called Naseh ul Baloch and Mulla Nubbo Jan has compiled and published it (A Q B and 010 C).

Umdat ul Bayan.  This book, also by Mulla Nubbo Jan, is in Brahvi verse.  The subtitles, however, are in Persian.  The book describes the fundamentals and rituals of Islam. It is also in the tradition of the nasihat namas.  The author especially warns people against neglecting prayers and deviating from the rituals of Islam.  The date is missing in this typescript (R S).

Durrul Majeedi.  This book, in Brahvi verse, is written by Mulla Abdul Majeed Chotoi (Choto is a place near Mastung).  The book has the well known tale of Yusuf-Zulaikha along with discussions of heavens and hell. Wrongdoers are threatened with dire consequences.  According to Abdullah Jan Jamaldini one of his relatives would threaten him with punishment for not saying the daily prayers by reciting couplets from it (Jamaldini. Int. 1999).  The date of printing is torn out but is probably 1909 (R S).

Muajzat-e-Mustafa.  This book, in Brahvi verse, is by Mohammad Omar. It was published by Abdul Ghafoor Darkhani and the edition available to the author was dated 1958.  It contains stories of the conquests of Khalid Bin Walid and the martyrdom of famous figures in Islamic history.  It also has a narrative about the mairaj (A Q B).

Tuhfat ul Khaleel.  This book, in Brahvi verse, is written by Abdul Majeed Chotoi.  It is published by Abdul Ghafoor Darkhani and printed at the Civil and Military Press at Quetta.  It narrates the Quranic tales about Nimrod, Abraham, Ishmael and advises Muslims to fallow the faith based upon past exemplars of piety and rectitude (A Q B).

Sakrat Nama.  Written in Brahvi verse by Abdul Majeed Chotoi, this book belongs to the sub-genre of admonitory writing about death.  It also contains the ghazals of Mohammad Omar Dinpuri.  This particular copy is torn so the printing and publication details could not be ascertained (A Q B).

Raghib ul Muslimeen.  Written in Brahvi verse by Mohammad Omar Dinpuri, it falls into the sub-genre of hagiographical writing about the Prophet of Islam.  Events from the life of the Prophet, the conversion of his admirer Abu Zar  and other inspiring stories are given.  The first and last pages are missing and no details of printing and publication are available.