Balochistan: Architecture, Craft, and Religious Symbolism

This work explores the living traditions of Balochistan and provides a deeper understanding of the province’s religio-cultural, architectural, textile, and symbolic traditions which are explored in depth. The architectural and artistic traditions of the myriad Baloch groups are documented. The field work and data collection is theoretically contextualized and draws upon a combination of reference points from Islamic architecture as well as anthropology. Selected architectural forms of houses and mosques, and the design of their constituent elements, most notably minarets, are analysed to explain their practical functions and symbolic meaning. The Baloch lifestyle is examined on a broad plane, with particular focus on indigenous architecture and its characteristics, social contextualization, and methods of construction.