The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Brahui

a people living mainly in western Pakistan (Baluchistan, Sind) and also as neighbors or intermingled with the Baluchi population in several areas of Iran and Afghanistan. Total population, about 600,000 (1967 estimate). The Brahui language has no writing system and is related to the Dravidian languages, although it does not display a close relationship to any language of southern India. The language is divided into a series of dialects. Their religion is Islam of the Sunnite sect. Their occupations are seminomadic and nomadic cattle raising and, to some extent, farming. A small group of Brahui living in the Turkmen SSR is gradually merging with the Baluchi.

REFERENCES

Census of India, 1911, vol. 1, parts 1–2. Calcutta, 1913.
Census of India, 1941, vol. 14. Delhi, 1941–43.
Bray, D. The Life History of a Brāhūi. London, 1913.

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References in periodicals archive

International linguists and historians have devoted a lot of time and energy into studying Brahui since the 19th century.

In search of Tamil's cousin in Pakistan

1.1.2 The Brahuis are members of a tribal confederation, usually the Brahui Confederation, but other Balochi confederations occur as well.

Brahui and the Zagrosian hypothesis

Kalat region is dominated by Baloch Brahui speakers.

Land of Balochistan: A Historical Perspective

Swidler, W.W., (1972), Some Demographic Factors Regulating the Formation of Flocks and Camps Among the Brahui of Baluchistan, in William Irons and Neville Dyson-Hudson, eds., Perspectives on Nomadism, Leiden: Brill.

Tribal Entrepreneurship: A Socio-Anthropological Interpretation of Nomadic Community Raikas

Languages: Urdu (national and official), English, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Baloch, Hindko, Brahui, Saraiki (Punjabi variant).

Background note: Pakistan

The statistics for percentage of people having major languages as their mother tongue is: Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki (a Punjabi variant) 10%, Pashtu 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, Burushaski and other 8%.

The Media Boom, Local Languages and Self-Help in Pakistan

Because Afghanistan has not had a systematic census in decades, precise demographic figures are unavailable; the CIA estimates the ethnic breakdown of the population to be: "Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%" with 4% of the population constituted by other ethnicities such as Kirghiz, Wakhi, Farsiwan, Nuristani, Brahui, Qizilbash, Kabuli, and Jat.

From humanitarian intervention to the beautifying mission: Afghan women and beauty without borders

It contains 16 papers by scholars from diverse fields in the humanities and social sciences focusing on ethnic, socioeconomic, religious, linguistic, and cultural pluralism is Balochistan, an arid region located in the Iranian Plateau in Asia, between Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan and named after the Baloch tribes speaking Balochi, Pashto, Persian, Hazaragi, and Brahui languages.

The Baloch and others; linguistic, historical and socio-political perspectives on pluralism in Balochistan

The translation is now available in Arabic, Burmese, English, Malayalam, Zulu, Persian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Sindhi, Tegalog, Chinese, Tamil, Dory, Othmani, Hausa, Thai, Turkish, Greek, German, Indonesian, Korean, Warsh, Kaloon, Kazakh, Kashmiri, Macedonian, Albanian, Brahui, Chichewa, Yoruba, Anko, Somali and Bosnian languages.

Quran verses online

Eleven percent speak Sindhi, and the remaining 24 percent are other languages, such as Saraiki, Baluchi, and Brahui. Urdu, Punjabi, Pushtu, and Baluchi are of the Indo-European language group, while Brahui is believed to have a Dravidian origin.

Chapter 14 Geography and tourism in South and Southeast Asia

The majority of people living in Balochistan province speak either Balochi or Brahui.

A MARKET OF 135 MILLION PEOPLE TRAPPED IN DEBT