The Rakhshani ( bal, , brh, ) are a major
Brahui-
Baloch
Baloch, also spelled Baloch, Beluch and in other ways, may refer to:
* Baloch people, an ethnic group of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan
* Baluch, a small itinerant community of Afghanistan
* Balouch, Azad Kashmir, a town in Pakistan
* Baloch (s ...
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...
who live in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...
. They mostly live in
Qalat and
Lasbela, which is located in the
Rakhshan Division
Rakhshan Division is an administrative division of Balochistan Province, Pakistan.
In 2015, the Balochistan Assembly unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the provincial government to establish a new division comprising the districts of ...
.
History
Some sources say that the Rakhshani tribe came from the ancient city of
Merv
Merv ( tk, Merw, ', مرو; fa, مرو, ''Marv''), also known as the Merve Oasis, formerly known as Alexandria ( grc-gre, Ἀλεξάνδρεια), Antiochia in Margiana ( grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐν τῇ Μαργιανῇ) and ...
and migrated to
Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastl ...
. Nearly 19,000 people migrated across
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...
to the region of
Qalat. As time passed, the Rakhshani became one of the elite Baloch tribes in the region, with many Balochis renaming themselves ''Rakhshani''. The
Khanate of Kalat
The Khanate of Kalat ( bal, کلاتءِ ھانات) was a Baloch Khanate that existed from 1512 to 1955 in the centre of the modern-day province of Balochistan, Pakistan. Its rulers were Brahui speakers. Prior to that they were subjects of ...
included many Rakhshani nobles, and the population was mostly Rukhshani.
Language
The Rukhshani speak a dialect of the
Balochi language
Balochi or Baluchi () is an Iranian language spoken primarily in the Balochistan region of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. In addition, there are speakers in Oman, the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Turkmenistan, East Africa and in diaspor ...
called "Rukhshani". It is the second most spoken Balochi dialect after
Makrani. The Rakhshani dialect is the most spoken Balochi dialect in
Sistan and Baluchistan. Some
Brahui are also of Rukhshani descent and speak the Rukhshani dialect of
Brahui, which is different than the Balochi dialect. An important figure in Rukhshani literature is Aqil Khan Mengal, who wrote in both the Makrani and Rukhshani dialects of Balochi.
References
{{Brahui tribes
Baloch people