The Qarais, a Turkic tribe with an unusual history that includes a Christian heritage and two periods of standing on the verge of historical prominence, have so far escaped the notice of rug scholars. They are the dominant tribe of the Turbat-i-Haidari district with their headquarters located in the town of Turbat-i-Haidari, approximately 100 miles south of Mashhad in Khurasan, Iran.
Temuchin was a poor member of an insignificant Mongol tribe protected by and allied with the powerful Qarai. He parlayed his inherited good relationship with Toghril and his own courage and genius into a series of military exploits that gained him the support of the scattered Mongol tribes, allowing him to reassemble them under his command. As a result of these events, he was granted the title "Genghis Khan." After consolidating their power, the Mongols defeated the Qarai in 1203 A.D. and supplanted them as the dominant tribe in outer Mongolia.5
Though the power of the Qarai was broken after this defeat, their influence continued during the Mongol expansion. Genghis and his sons married into the Qarai royal house and appointed several of the tribe's leaders to important administrative positions.
The Mongol conquest created a division of the Qarai tribe. A portion retained its territory in the homeland.6,7 Another segment of the Qarai tribe accompanied Hulagu on his conquest of Persia (1256-59) and occupied Azerbaijan. After the decline of the Mongol dynasty, the tribe emigrated to Turkey.8
In the latter part of the 14th century Timur (Tamerlane) moved 40,000 families from Turkey to Samarqand, of which 12,000 subsequently separated and moved into Khurasan.9 In the early 16th century Shah Ismail Safavi settled part of the Qarai in Marv and Herat10 as a buffer against invasions from the Uzbeks of Khwarezm (Khiva), but these families later returned to the highland valleys south of Mashhad where they lived a disorganized and inconsequential nomadic existence for 200 years.
In the second quarter of the 18th century, the Persian monarch, Nadir Shah, reunited the various western factions of the Qarai tribe under Najuf Ali Khan and granted them a district in what is now known as east Khurasan. When Najuf Ali met a premature fate, the leadership of the tribe was seized by Ishak Khan.
Under the fair and capable command of Ishak, the tribe became the premier force in Khurasan, establishing its base at Turbat-i-Haidari which grew into a cultural and commercial center in the latter part of the 18th century. Ishak's illustrious career ended in 1816 when he was treacherously murdered by the Qajar prince, Mohammed Wali Mirza, Ishak's puppet governor at Mashhad.
Ishak was succeeded by his son, Mohammed Khan, who was the product of Ishak's marriage with the daughter of Najuf Ali. Although the Qarai remained powerful enough to maintain their independence from the Qajar central government, their means of livelihood changed dramatically. They had been administrators, traders, soldiers, landlords, and shepherds under the father but quickly sank to banditry under Mohammed. For many of the Qarai tribe, this era proved to be the precursor to their eventual devolution to becoming the equivalent of Baluchs.
Mohammed Khan was the last independent ruler of the Qarai. His successors, Sarhang Ali Muhammed Khan and later Sultan Abdur Reza Khan, ruled under the subjugation of an appointed Qajar governor,13 a state of affairs that promoted further decentralization of the tribe. Population estimates show that of the 12,000 families transferred to Khurasan 7,000 to 8,000 were present in the second quarter of the 18th century, with a decline to 5,00015 a century later and a total of only 3,000 families by the end of the 19th century.16
Toghril's light was eclipsed by his Mongol protege, Genghis Khan, so accurate historical references concerning him directly are scant, though inaccurate information abounds, especially in relation to his religion. It is true that he was both the chief of the Qarai tribe and a Nestorian Christian priest, as were most of the leaders of his tribe.
In 1194 A.D. the Tsin emperor of China bestowed the title of Wang (or Ong) Khan upon Toghril in appreciation of his heroics in a military campaign undertaken in alliance with the Manchurians against a border tribe known as the Buyr-Nurs. The sound of his title, similar to "John," became just that by the time reports of him had traveled to the West.17 Europe at this time was in a state of near religious hysteria over the various fates of two current crusades and seized upon the idea that Prester Johnl8 presented hope as a Christian prince ally who would bring a third front to the Christian-Moslem war in the Holy Land. Needless to say, this mysterious saviour from the East never materialized.>P> In his lifetime Toghril built the Qarai into the dominant tribe of outer Mongolia. In 1202 A.D. he defeated Genghis Khan in battle and was at the point of extinguishing the young Mongol's career the next year when he was surprised by a last desperate attack from his beleaguered protege and routed. This resulted in his death at the hands of an enemy tribe while fleeing from his defeat by the Mongols.
Ishak Khan, 1750?-1816 A.D.
Ishak overcame extraordinary odds to establish himself as a leader of the Qarai. The son of a Tajik servant to a Qarai Khan, Ishak inherited a social position that was inferior to even the lowest member of a military tribe. His father gained the attention of the leader of the Qarai tribe, Najuf Ali, and was appointed uzbashi or centurion. Consequently, Ishak was granted the position of Yessawul (mace bearer) to Najuf Ali and used this position to convince the chief of a need for a caravansarai in the then small village of Turbat-i-Haidari. While undertaking this project the ambitions of Ishak began to manifest themselves. As Ishak's project grew, he slowly converted the caravansarai into a fort while simultaneously fomenting quarrels and divisions within the tribe through various intrigues. His plan culminated in Najuf Ali's being murdered by his own officers with the chief's sons fleeing Khurasan.
The subsequent turmoil within the Qarai tribe brought discontented refugees from the feuding intertribal factions to seek sanctuary in Ishak's fort at Turbat. Ishak's even-handed government in these circumstances gained him a large base of adherents. He then married the daughter of Najuf Ali and entered into an alliance with Ahmed Shah, the founder and monarch of Afghanistan. These maneuvers gained him the leadership of the tribe.
The struggle between the Zand dynasty of Shiraz and the emerging Qajar tribe of Astarabad in the north left Persia without an effective central government after Nadir Shah's death in 1747. Throughout most of the second half of the 18th century, Khurasan was, in effect, an independent kingdom, a situation that allowed Ishak to implement his policies unimpeded. He built the Qarai into the most formidable tribe in east Persia and developed Turbat-i-Haidari into a large cultural and commercial center that became the hub of travelers and caravans from Samarqand, Bukhara, Herat, and India.19
In 1794-95, Aqa Muhammad Qajar overcame the Zand heir apparent, Luft Ali Khan, and unified Iran. The next year he visited Khurasan with the purpose of subduing the independent chiefs of this region. Either out of respect for Ishak's power or consideration for his good reputation, the Shah avoided a possible serious confrontation with the Qarai chief by foregoing the requirement for hostages and tribute that he had forced on the other Khurasani chiefs.20
Aqa Muhammad's successor, Fateh Ali Shah, sent the shahzadeh, Muhammad Wali Mirza,21 to Mashhad to serve as governor of Khurasan. Ishak Khan joined his service and assumed the positions of Sirdar (commander of the armies) and Vazir (prime minister). The influence of Ishak completely overshadowed that of Muhammad Wali, a state of affairs that aroused Ishak's ambitions. He initiated a conspiracy with the chiefs of Kabushan (Guchan), Radcan, Chinneran, Qain, and Tabas to unseat the governor and assume the reins himself.
The plan was successful and Muhammad Wali was placed under house arrest. After plundering Mashhad, Ishak's co- conspirators began quarreling over the spoils and challenging Ishak's right to accession. Ishak assembled those still loyal to him and restored Muhammad Wali to office. In an attempt to make amends he gave the governor one of his daughters in marriage.
Ishak undertook a visit to the court in Tehran where he convinced the Shah that Muhammad Wali was incompetent. Fateh Ali accordingly issued afirman (royal order) declaring Ishak as the Hakim of Mashhad, thus relegating the shahzadeh to the position of ornament.
In his turn, Muhammad Wali sneaked off to Tehran. There, he represented Ishak to be an ambitious and dangerous man whose progress needed to be checked. The Shah became convinced and ordered Muhammad Wali to execute Ishak.
Muhammad Khan, c. 1790-1850
At the time that Ishak married Najuf Ali's daughter and assumed the leadership of the Qarai tribe, he reconciled their objections to his race and heritage by honoring her above his other wives, educating her sons, and declaring that the eldest should be heir to the throne. The eldest son was Muhammad, a man who was undeniably intelligent and capable but who belied his education by the manner in which he chose to govern.
The Qajar central government attempted to conciliate the new ruler of Turbat by recalling Muhammad Wali Mirza to Tehran, dishonoring him while there, and sending Hasan Ali Mirza Shoja in his place. Hasan Ali ventured to Turbat to attempt to placate Muhammad Khan for the treacherous murder of his father. The essence of the lies exchanged at their meeting was that Tehran denied any implication in the murder of Ishak while Muhammad professed allegiance to the Qajars. The deal was sealed with Muhammad granting his sister to Hasan Ali Mirza for marriage.22
After Hasan Ali's departure Muhammad aligned himself with Bunyad Beg Hazara and began a career of depradation and slave dealing. This latter practice gained him covert alliances with the Khan of Khiva and the Emir of Bukhara, a situation that did little to enhance his reputation in Tehran. In 1832 the crown prince, Abbas Mirza, after subduing the Salor of Sarakhs, turned his attention to Muhammad Khan and his renegade tribe. Under the guise of using Turbat-i- Haidari as a staging ground for his army's invasion of Herat, Abbas moved the royal forces into the Qarai district where he deceived Muhammad into a meeting that resulted in his capture.
The independence of the Qarai tribe and the district of Turbat-i-Haidari ended with Muhammad Khan. The governors of the district were thereafter no longer of the Qarai tribe but of the Qajar tribe. The chief of the Qarais traditionally served alternate terms of naib and vazir to the Qajar governor for the rest of the 19th century. Muhammad Khan died comfortably, a prisoner in his own house in Tabriz.
The District and Town of Turbat-i-Haidari Prior to the burial of Sheqkh Kutb al-Din Haidar, the town and district was known as Zawa. Evidently no town existed before the 11th century because the Arab geographer, Muqadassi,23 who visited in the l0th century, describes it as a rural district that did not have any towns. The burial of the saint, said to be Uzbek24 from Balkh25 or Bukhara,26 resulted in a fired brick, domed mausoleum being erected early in the 13th century. A town must have existed at this time for it is mentioned that a Mongol scouting party led by Sabutai approached a town called Zawa in Khurasan in the year 1221 to request provisions for his men. The citizens refused his request and closed the gates to his party. Sabutai elected to move on but at that instant the citizens of Zawa began to hurl insults and blow trumpets at the Mongols. Sabutai turned around and stormed it for three days, gained entrance and massacred the inhabitants while burning the place to the ground.
Turbat-i-Haidari survived as a small, insignificant village until Ishak Khan built a caravansarai in the second half of the 18th century. Under his leadership the town grew to be an important commercial and cultural center during his life, a period in which the district thrived. His divan khaneh was large enough to hold 500 visitors and the bazaar was a large and substantial market supported greatly by a thriving transit trade with the east.
The transit trade declined during Muhammad Khan's rule but the bazaar continued to thrive with the primary business being contraband and slaves. Conolly28 ( 1830) states that the naturally fine district suffered from the retaliation of other tribes, instigated by Muhammad Khan's policy of plundering so that the cultivation of grain was carried on only in the vicinity of Turbat-i-Haidari and that the extent of this was limited to that which would suffice only their own needs. Mohan Lal29 (1832) found the district even more depressed. The bazaar was not its usual thriving self either. Lal states that he noticed that several shops were in ruins.
Forty years later the town was visited by the Boundary Commission, a group of British officers in Khurasan to determine the boundary between Afghanistan and Persia.30 The time, 1872, was at the tail end of a famine that ravaged Persia for three years. They describe this district as being the the most flourishing area on the frontier and the bazaar as being very active and well supplied.
Products included dried fruit, opium, tobacco, wool and goat hair. The wool and goat hair was the primary export in this district and had been since Ishak Khan's time. It was considered the finest quality in all of Persia.31
The 19th century boundaries of the Turbat district extended to Sharifabad, 24 miles south of Mashhad, in the north and to the villages of Danial or Miandeh in the south. The western boundary was Turshiz while the eastern boundary was indefinite. In the l8th and early 19th centuries the town of Khaf was considered a part of Turbat-i-Haidari. The district is peopled primarily by Qarai, Baluch, Hazara, Timuri and Lek tribes as well as some Tajiks.
Qarai Rugs
A number of Baluch tribes are known to have existed in Khurasan from the advent of the Afghan invasion in 1721 until the present day. The influence of these tribes on the weaving of the indigenous tribes is enormous, so great, in fact, that until recently their weavings had been considered to be indistinct from those of the Baluch. In 1982 the weavings of the KhuraSan Arab tribes were separated from those of the Baluch on the basis of structure.32 An attempt will be made here to employ this method, as well as some iconographic assistance, to isolate the weavings of a native Turkic tribe, the Qarai, from this same body of Khurasan Baluch weavings. From a design perspective, a certain group of Khurasan "Baluch" rugs is strikingly incongruous with mainstream Baluch work. Though the dark palette of these rugs is very similar to Baluch rugs, the source of the iconography appears to be distinct in that the designs are derived from classical Kurdistan garden carpets and so called "Herat" carpets. This type of rug is easily visually discerned by its distinctive white five petal flowers integrated into a red Mina Khani design on a sharply contrasting dark blue field (Illustration 2). Several borders may be found on these rugs but the most classic type, based on Kurdistan garden carpet plant motifs, is the most relevant to this hypothesis. The kilim ends generally found on this type of rug are usually composed of a wide band of either multicolored chevrons or diagonals. A rug with this type of kilim end was purchased by Gen. A. A. Bogolubov at the bazaar in Turbat-i-Haidari around 1900.33
Baluch rug designs are derived from a disparate variety of sources - trees, leaves or cockscombs, tiles, Baluchistan flatweaves, mosques, Turkic sources including Seljuk, and Turkoman weavings. Rarely are classical carpets a source of inspiration, though two other well known exceptions exist. One of these, found primarily in the vicinity of Farah in Afghanistan, is based on l7th and l8th century Caucasian carpets. This influence is directly attributable to the transfer of several Lesghi clans to this district by Nadir Shah in the second quarter of the 18th century.34 The second case, designs derived from 17th century vase carpets, runs fairly parallel with our hypothesis in that the innovators are a group of tribes relatively indigenous to Khurasan. This design is found primarily on Arab rugs from the Birjand-Qain-Firdaus triangle of south and west Khurasan. The Arab tribes of this district predate the arrival of most Baluch tribes by a millenium, having arrived with the Arab conquest. Like Turbat-i-Haidari in the 18th century, the Qain district thrived during the Safavid dynasty, peaking in the 17th century, thus providing an economic and cultural environment that would have allowed access to court carpets of this period. Under these circumstances only the Amir and possibly a few prominent khans would have the wherewithal to possess such magnificent carpets, but access to these could easily be gained by their subjects thorugh visits to the divan khaneh (hall of audience) which is open to the public. The proximity of Kerman in itself is another possible explanation for the migration of this design to the Arab tribes of the Qain district.
A similar scenario could have easily existed in the Turbat region in the 18th century when this district achieved economic and political importance under the leadership of Ishak Khan. Ishak's court has been historically established as being urbane enough to desire such carpets and wealthy enough to have them. Eighteenth century Kurdistan garden carpets were the current state of the art just prior to Ishak's ascent and could be considered logical luxuries for a ruler of his stature.
The source of the Herat carpet influence is clouded by doubts as to their origin. If indeed these carpets were made in Herat as early scholars claim (this is disputed by modern authorities), or in east Khurasan as Cecil Edwards35 speculates, then geographic proximity would have played an important role in explaining the source of this design in Qarai rugs. If India was the origin of Herat carpets, one cannot preclude the possibility of one or more reaching Turbat-i- Haidari during Ishak Khan's reign since he promoted a lively transit trade with the subcontinent through Hindu traders, some of whom maintained permanent residences in this town under Ishak's protection. If Herat carpets are of Isfahan origin, then the reasons36 for their widespread imitation in Qarai iconography are too remote to be considered. The structure of this particular group of "Baluch" rugs reveals a notable departure from mainstream Baluch weaving in that they are usually constructed with an offset or depressed warp. This is a deviation from true Baluch structure, a method of weaving based on flatweaves with all the warps set on one level. Another significant structural element found in these rugs is the selvedge, which is almost invariably composed of four cords wrapped in dark brown goat hair. The flatweaves of Baluchistan and the Baluch pile rugs of Afghanistan are generally made with two cords and one cord selvedges. Occasionally, pile rugs from Afghanistan do have four cords but this characteristic is not prevalent in any one group and very well may be a Khurasan influence.
The following is the typical construction of a Qarai rug:
Warp: Z2S ivory wool, depressed or partially depressed.
Weft: Natural camel hair, brown or olive dyed camel hair or
wool, two shoots.
Knot: Asymmetrical, open to the left; horizontal, 7;
vertical, 8; 56 knots per square inch. The range of the knot
count is surprisingly narrow. The horizontal count ranges
from 7 to 10 with 8 vertical knots occurring in 50% of the rugs
examined.
Sides: Invariably four cords of 2Z(Z2S) ivory wool secured
by the wefts and overwrapped in a continuous figure 8
manner with dark brown goat hair.
Ends: Two narrow bands of weft float on either side of a
wide band of multicolored weft-faced plain weave chevrons
or diagonals resolving at each color change into stepped
diagonal weft substitution, all on a weft-faced plain tapestry
ground. Another type that is frequently found is a simple
kilim of narrow colored bands of weft-faced plain tapestry.
Colors: DARK BLUE, red, deep rich aubergine, maroon
brown, and ivory are the most frequently used colors. In
older rugs a light powder blue may be found as well as a pale
buff or light lemon yellow that is light sensitive. This yellow
combined with blue produces a lovely primary green that
turns to teal on the exposed pile side.
Materials: Wool, goat hair, and camel hair. Silk is
occasionally found in the pile but rarely in examples made
between 1864 and 1900.
After establishing a structural criteria for this group of "classical" designed rugs, a variety of rugs with lattice designs emerged as well as a few rugs with Turkoman designs (Illustration 3) and archtypal Turkic motifs. The following is a list of design observations:
Guard stripes: In almost all cases the guard borders consist of short diagonal bars in two alternating colors.
Minor borders: In most cases a distinctive reciprocal running latch hook in ivory and dark brown.
Main borders: Several types occur frequently; the three most popular types are: 1. a sophisticated border featuring a maze of foliage based on Kurdistan garden carpets (Illustration I); 2. a Turkoman line with multiple latch hook appendages (Illustration 3); 3. multicolored diagonal bands resembling some Afshar borders. This may be an elaborated form of the guard stripes or adopted from Afshars who inhabited Khurasan prior to the 20th century.
Field: Surprisingly, lattice patterns are the predominate field design found in rugs with this structural composition. The lattice forms are fairly evenly divided between a diagonal four-sided diamond grid and a hexagonal lattice pattern. Generally speaking, the earlier examples have Turkic archetypal devices and Turkoman motifs filling the spaces formed by the lattice, while later rugs seem to prefer the primary flowers favored by the Mina Khani patterned rugs from this tribe.
The Mina Khani design is the second most favored field decoration in this structural group. The treatment of this design is done in classic Turkoman format. A large red flower, derived from Turkoman chemche guls, serves as the primary aspect (or "gul"), a white five-petaled flower assumes the secondary position, while tertiary devices vary from rug to rug though they are seldom missing (Illustration 4).
The number of petals in the secondary white flowers vary. Generally, the oldest examples tend to have five petals while six and bifurcated four petal flowers are favored in most later rugs.
Other odd designs occur in this structural group but only rarely. Of these Turkoman patterns predominate and usually are archaic in drawing and iconography. With the exception of the chevron end finishings, Baluch designs are rare.
An idiosyncracy of this group of weavings is a propensity for integrating square shapes into the design. This tendency manifests itself in a number of ways, such as in the centers of the flowers found in the Mina Khani or in the reciprocal space between the hexagons in the lattice pattern. Interestingly, the square was the tamga (brand or tribal symbol) of the Qarai tribe in the 13th century.37
Summary
The evidence that this group of weavings are not the product of Baluch tribes is fairly conclusive. The four-cord selvedge, depressed warp set, and weft substitution chevron kilim ends deviate from the structure of Baluch weaving found in Baluchistan38 and Afghanistan. Weavers frequently change their designs but seldom do they alter the way they were taught to weave.
From a design perspective this group of weavings deviates from traditional Baluch work in one important aspect. The reliance on classical iconography found in the Mina Khani group is a foreign influence that is not only atypical of Baluch aesthetics but is difficult to explain in terms of origin. Baluch tribes are generally too impoverished to possess such luxurious furnishings, seldom are Baluch tribesmen invited to court or any other polite place that these carpets exist, and they would have no use for such a large carpet should they happen to steal one.
Proving conclusively that these rugs are from the Qarai tribe is less tenable, but indications do exist. Historically, the prevalent tribe of the Turbat-i-Haidari district were the Qarai up until the turn of the century. Lady Sheil,39 in the mid 19th century, mentions a 5:2 ratio of Qarai to Baluch. Qajar politics from the 18th century onward were devoted to breaking the political and economic strength of the Qarais, and dwindling population statistics demonstrate the success of this campaign. By the turn of this century the Qarai were almost indistinct from their Baluch neighbors. A study of the weavings of this region parallels the history. Later examples of Mina Khani and lattice design rugs generally have less or no warp depression, two cord selvedges are more frequent, and weft float and soumak work in the kilim ends become more prevalent. Early examples present a cohesive structural and design group that breaks down as the century progresses much the same as the tribe.
A bit more tenuous, but worthy of notice, is the archetypal Turkic treatment of design in these rugs. The rendition of the major flower in the Mina Khani design is based on an archaic formula of laying a vertical cross over a diagonal cross. This is the format for the compartmentalized design seen in the Pazyryk carpet and perpetuated by the chemche gul in Turkoman rugs. The 2-1-2 arrangment of these flowers, the propensity to work squares into the designs, and the archetypal Turkic devices used to fill the lattice designed examples are characteristics that suggest a design pool originating in the central Asian steppes, not Baluchistan.
2 Rhys, E., The Travels of Marco Polo, New York, 1908, p. 142.
3 Czaplicka, M.A., The Turks of Central Asia, Oxford, 1918,p. 57.
4 Conolly, A Journey to the North of India, Vol. I, London, 1834, p.290.
5 An in depth account of Togril and Genghis may be found in The Secret History of the Mongol Dynasty by Yuan-Chao-Pi-Shi. A good summary of this is contained in Barthold's Turkestan Down to the Mongol invasion.
6 Rhys, op. cit., p. 116-7.
7 Czaplicka, op. cit., p. 38.
8 Malcolm, J., The History of Persia, London, 1811, p. 147, Vol.2.
9 Wolff, J. D., Narrative of a Mission to Bokhara, New York, 1845, p. 134-5.
10 Yate, C.E., Khurasan and Sistan, Edinburgh, 1900, p. 54.
11 Malcolm, op. cit., p. 147.
12 Omit
13 Yate, ibid.
14 Malcolm, op. cit., p. 147.
15 Sheil, Lady, Life and Manners in Persia, London, 1856, p. 401.
16 Yate, op. cit., p. 53.
17 Skrine, F.R., The Heart of Asia, London, 1899, p. 153, footnote.
18 Prestor is an abbreviated form of "presbyter" which means "priest" in old Latin.
19 Malcolm, op. cit., p. 147-8, Vol. 2.
20 Ibid., p. 194.
21 Frazer, J.B., Journey into Khorasan, London, 1825, p. 25, appendix B.
22 Omit 23 Brill, E.S., First Encyclopedia of lslam, Vol.8, Holland 1927 p. 1219.
24 Lal, M. Travel in Punjab, Afghanistan, and Turkistan to Balkh, Bokhara, and Herat, London, 1846, p. 120.
25 Smith, E., Eastern Persia, London, 1876, p. 352.
26 Bellew, H. W., From the Indus to the Tigris, London 1874 p. 349.
27 Doyle, J.A., The Cambridge History of Islam, Vol. 5, Cambridge, 1968, p. 310.
28 Conolly, op. cit., p. 290.
29 Lal, op. cit., p. 119.
30 Bellew, op. cit., p. 349 and Smith, op. cit., p. 353.
31 Curzon, G. N., Persia and the Persian Question, Vol. 2, New York, 1892, p. 509.
32 Craycraft, M., Belouch Prayer Rugs, Point Reyes Station, 1982, p.75.
33 Bogolubov, Carpets of Central Asia, England, 1973, Plate 34.
34 Elphinstone, M., The Kingdom of Caubel, Vol.1, Oxford, 1972, p.420.
35 Edwards, A.C., The Persian Carpet, London, 1953, p. 164.
36 Malcolm, op. cit., p. 149.
37 Czaplicka, op. cit., p. 43.
38 Konieczny, M. G., Textiles of Baluchistan, London, 1979.
39 Sheil, op. cit., p. 401. 5,000 Qarai families to 2,000 Baluch.
