For centuries, civilizations have been using different mediums to document their histories, narratives, tales, and traditions. For instance, during the Stone Age, people used to decorate their caves by scribbling on the cave walls. Likewise, the Egyptians engraved their narratives in the form of wall carvings, also called reliefs. While all forms of art have been used to document history, Balochi rugs, and carpets take the lead as they highlight cultural history and show symbolic and religious value. The designs and symbols on the rugs are considered manuscripts for the ancient Baloch civilization, which emphasizes the mythology, rituals, and pictorial images of the ancient Baloch people.
Rug weaving and embroidery are old domestic traditions of the Baloch, Brahui, and Pashtoon tribes residing in Balochistan. For rural women, it is one of their primary sources of income. As far as the rugs are concerned, they are generally small in size and have dark and somber color schemes. Besides this, the rugs have vibrant imagery, which reflects the lives and environments of the people. For instance, the rugs with images of domesticated animals like sheep, goats, camels, horses, and donkeys represent the centuries-old nomadic lifestyle of the Baloch people.
The Baloch women also added abstract images of flowers and geometric patterns to represent a harmonious life. However, after the Afghan-Soviet war and subsequent insurgencies in Balochistan, the patterns on the rugs also changed significantly, especially in the areas where women witnessed war firsthand. Now the imagery of fighter planes, tanks, rifles, and other weapons has made its way onto the Balochi rugs.
Apart from this, the abstract imagery influenced by the Persian, Turkish, and Central Asian cultures also became an important element of the Balochi rugs. Amongst these rugs, the most popular ones are those that have the depiction of Farabi’s good city, which was marked by utopia. In this city, various creatures lived together in harmony. Such rugs represented the thoughts and ideas of the Baloch tribes regarding their dreamland, which is marked with joy, peace, and synchronization.
