Famous Fights of Indian Native RegimentsHodder, Reginald
History
Famous Fights of Indian Native Regiments
Hodder, Reginald
India -- History, Military; India. Army
Although the Baluchi differs greatly from the Pathan in the matter
of religion, there are many points in common in regard to social
character. The Baluchi has the manly, frank, brave, strong nature of
the Pathan, with a fund of patience rendering him capable of enduring
endless hardship, and a fine dignified carriage and physique combined
with a spirit of quick daring and sudden ferocity; to these qualities
he adds the virtues of truth, fidelity, and simple generosity. His
condemnation of servility, insolence, deceit, and treachery in many
tribes is indicative of his character. His wild, free, open-air life,
combined with the artificial restraints of civilisation, has given him
a bold and resolute air of vigour and self-reliance. It redounds to his
fundamental integrity to find still existing in Baluchistan a kind
of altar or sacred stone--"a stone or cairn of cursing--erected as a
perpetual memorial to the treachery of one who betrayed his fellow."
His chivalry is superior to that of some more cultured races, for,
wild as he is, he will not harm the women and children even of his
bitterest foe. Yet his moral code allows him to plunder and to loot
on a wholesale scale. But set against this is his strong adherence to
discipline, a quality which has developed more and more during his
closer touch with the British.
If a Baluchi were allowed his own choice of weapons in any fight
whatever, his immediate selection would be a long knife, a sword,
and a shield. He has never found any material use for the matchlock,
which has always been so dear to the heart of the Pathan. He is a
born knifer, and loves to kill at close quarters--a fact based upon
the primitive blood-thirstiness of his nature, "blood for blood"
being his motto. The tales of the Baluchi's prodigal hospitality to
a stranger within his gates, and then waylaying and murdering him on
his departure, must be discredited in these days, when these fierce
instincts have been turned into worthier channels. Nor should any
credence be accorded to such stories of degradation as picture him
the habitué of the opium, hemp, and gambling dens; for, though he
may have been prone to wild excesses, recent years have seen nobler
ambitions placed before him, and certainly those Baluchis now showing
their loyalty and love for Britain and the right on the battlefields
of Europe are not of the class of whom these stories have been told.
A word of praise must be given to the Baluchi's horse, which he rides
as if it were a part of him. Baluchistan produces some of the finest
horses in the world.
THE BALUCHI REGIMENTS, WITH THEIR BATTLE HONOURS
_Cavalry_
37TH LANCERS. (Baluch Horse.) Raised 1885.
Class Squadron Regiment. 2 squadrons Derajat Mussalmans (including
Baluchis), 1 squadron Pathans, 1 squadron Sikhs.
UNIFORM.--_Khaki serge_, facings _buff_. (No service.)
[Illustration: WITH THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, 1914.]
_Infantry_
126TH BALUCHISTAN INFANTRY. Raised 1825.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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