The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)Crooke, William
History
The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)
Crooke, William
Caste -- India -- History; Hindus -- India; Tribes -- India -- History
epithet with the name.
“The latter would then be derived from Belus, King of Babylon, a
derivation which is adopted by Professor Rawlinson.”
[The ordinary Biloch.] 2. Of the ordinary Biloch Mr. Ibbetson writes
[115]:—“The Biloch presents in many respects a very strong contrast
with his neighbour, the Pathân. The political organisation of each is
tribal: but while the one yields a very large measure of obedience to a
chief who is a sort of limited monarch, the other recognises no
authority save that of a council of the tribe. Both have most of the
virtues and many of the vices peculiar to a wild and semi-civilized
life. To both hospitality is a sacred duty and the safety of the guest
inviolable; both look upon the exaction of blood for blood as the first
duty of man; both strictly follow a code of honour of their own, though
one very different from that of modern Europe; both believe in one God
whose name is Allâh, and whose Prophet is Muhammad. But the one attacks
his enemy from in front, the other from behind; the one is bound by his
promise, the other by his interests; in short the Biloch is less
turbulent, less treacherous, less blood-thirsty, and less fanatical
than the Pathân; he has less of God in his creed, and less of the devil
in his nature. His frame is shorter and more spare and wiry than that
of his neighbour to the north, though generations of independence have
given to him a bold and manly bearing. Frank and open in his manners
and without servility, fairly truthful when not corrupted by our
Courts, faithful to his word, temperate and enduring, and looking upon
courage as the highest virtue, the true Biloch of the Derajât frontier
is one of the pleasantest men we have to deal with in the Panjâb. As a
revenue-payer he is not so satisfactory, his want of industry and the
pride which looks upon manual labour as degrading, making him but a
poor husbandman. He is an expert rider; horse-racing is his national
amusement, and the Biloch breed of horses is celebrated throughout
Northern India. He is a thief by tradition and descent; but he has
become much more honest under the civilising influences of our rule.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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