Based on ancient sources, the Paratas may have originated in northwestern Iran, northern Iraq or even eastern Turkey, roughly in the areas where Kurds live today, around the 7th century BCE. They then migrated, so that Alexander the Great encountered them in the area of Bactria and Sogdiana. They then moved through Seistan to reach Baluchistan in the 1st century CE, where they settled, first on the coast, and then in the interior. Indian sources also locate them in the same general area, beyond the Indus river. The Paratarajas must have maintained a strong interaction with their neighbors to the West, and their neighbors to the east, perhaps having a role of intermediary. The presence of the Paratarajas in Baluchistan suggests that the Kushans did not rule in that area. It seems that the Paratarajas fell into the orbit of the Sasanian Empire circa 262 CE, in light of a Naqsh-i-Rustam inscription of 262 CE stating that "P'rtu" became one of the provinces of the Sasanian Empire. The Paratas may have been submitted by the Sasanians around the time of Ardeshir I or more probably Shapur I. From a linguistic standpoint, the Baluchi languagebelongs to the Iranian group of Indo-European languages, and is most closely related to Kurdish, whose locutors live today in the area from which the Paratas seem to have originally immigrated. This raises the possibility that today's Baluchis are somehow descendants of the Paratas.
Numismatics
The Pāratas, an Iranian people and ruling dynasty from what is now western Pakistan, are known essentially through their coinage, which typically exhibit the bust of a particular monarch on the obverse, and a swastika within a circular legend on the reverse in Kharoshthi and sometimes in Brahmi. Coins depicting Pārata monarchs have been found in and around the district of Loralai, Balochistan, western Pakistan. This was the seat of their capital. Many similarities have been noted between Parataraja and Indo-Parthian coinage, as well as with the coinage of the Western Satraps, who were roughly contemporary and contiguous to the Paratarajas. Most of the names of kings on Parataraja suggest an Iranian origin.
In about 440 BCE, the Greek historianHerodotus described the Paraitakenoi as a tribe ruled by Deiokes, a Median monarch who ruled on northwestern Persia.. Strabo in his Geographica places the "Paraitakai" in northern Iraq and western Persia. Arrian described how Alexander the Great encountered the Pareitakai in Bactria and Sogdiana, and had Craterus conquer them. According to Isidore of Charax, the geographical area beyond Sakastene is called "Paraitakene", corresponding to modern Baluchistan and Seistan, possibly their new territory from that time. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes the territory of the Paradon beyond the Ommanitic region, on the coast of Balochistan. According to a Naqsh-i-Rustam inscription of 262 CE, "P'rtu", the "Paradanshah" congratulates Narseh on his victory over Bahram III.
