An Inquiry Into the Ethnography of Afghanistan/Page 151-175

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An Inquiry Into the Ethnography of Afghanistan

By H. W. Bellew

The Oriental University Institute, Woking, 1891

Ethnology of Afghanistan:Page 151-175


Shin, Rom, Yashkun

[Page-151]: Sagistan or Sistan. The other three races named in the same list as those above enumerated are the Odra, Paundraka, and Dravira ; these apparently dwelt in Southern India ; they are not traceable by those names along the Indus border of Afghanistan, The Shin country is called Shinkari and comprises a tract of that name on both sides the Indus ; that on the east bank being a part of Pakli, and inhabited now by Afghan tribes, Swatis and others ; whilst that on the opposite west bank, between Gor and Ghorband, is inhabited by the independent Shin. A notable peculiarity of the Shin is their aversion to the cow and its productions, and to the domestic fowl also, both of which they consider unclean and will not touch, though they have for several generations past professed Islam. The Shin are described as of inferior caste to the Rono ; but they consider themselves of a superior race, despise labour and handicrafts, and look upon hunting and agriculture as the only honourable pursuits. In Baltistan, where they are subordinate to the Tatar occupants, the Shin are called Brokpa, " Highlander," by the Balti Tatar ; but they call themselves Rom, and are in four divisions, namely :

Sharsing. Gabur. Doro. Yuday.

The Rom, it is said, do not intermarry with the Yashkun, who in Kharmang and Himbaps are also called Brusha (Byorisha Rajput).

Of the above names,

Next to the Shin in importance are the Yashkun. According to Biddulph, the Yashkun form the entire population of Hunza, Nagar, Ponyal, nearly all that of Yasin, and more than half that of Gilgit, Sai, Darel, and Astor. In Hunza and Nagar they call themselves Burish, and in Yasin, which is still known by its old name of Wurshigum (Burishgum), they call themselves Wurshik and Burisho. Their language is called Burishki, Burishaski, and Wurishki — the Khajuna of Dr. Leitner ; but Biddulph says that the term Khajuna is applied by the Gilgit people to the Burishki of Nagar, though, he says, it is never used in that country. The association here of the Yashkun or Yaskun (Assakanoi of the Greeks) with the Wurish or Burish (Byorisha Rajput) of Yasin or Burishgum is very curious, and affords an interesting subject for investigation, particularly in connection with the Warashpun, or Ashpun, and Khachin, or Gharshin, of the Batani tribe of Ghor,


[Page-152]: which we have previously described. It is certainly curious that the language of the Burish of Yasin should be called Khajuna, although there is a clan of the Kho Kafir called Kachin, and Kacho is a common proper name amongst the Kafir (I have met two Kafir men of that name, one Kachu, fromSaigal, and another Kachuk, from Drosh ; and still more so that it should differ so materially from all the other dialects spoken by the neighbouring peoples. Major Biddulph says that the Burishki (Khajuna of Dr. Leitner) is believed to be of the Turanian family ; in this connection it would be worth while to compare it with the language spoken by the Kachin of Manipur and the Assam frontier, who are supposed to descend from the Pandu through Arjuna, though it is more likely that they are — together with our Kachin or Khachin of Afghanistan — really Naga. The aboriginal inhabitants of Kashmir and the mountainous country to its north were of the Naga race, and the name may survive in the above modern Nagar district. There seems to be some confusion between the Yashkun and Burish of Yasin, etc. ; in the Kunjud country of Hunza and Nagar the people call themselves Burish, but are called Yashkun by the Shin. They are settled agriculturists, and are ruled by families of different descent from themselves. The designation of these ruling families is Thum, which is said to be a Chinese term equal to "Governor" ; and, says Biddulph, they descend from twin brothers named Moghlot and Girkis, who lived about the end of the fifteenth century, the Nagar ruling family being called Moghlot and that of Hunza Ayeshe, and both bearing the title of Suri, their wives being called Ganish, and sons Gashpur, all three words of Sanskrit derivation. The names Moghlot and Girkis suggest Mughal and Kirghiz ancestry, and Ayeshe relation to the Chandravansi or Lunar race of Rajput (Buddhists), for the Turki Ayisi, "of the moon, lunar." . The Chinese title, Thum, indicates the auspices under which these foreigners were established in their present positions. The Indian titles of Suri, etc., may have been at first applied to them by their subjects, and become afterwards adopted by the rulers. In Ponyal and Haramosh the inhabitants are Yashkun, and speak Shina, so that the Burishki or Khajuna, it would seem, is the dialect peculiar to the Burisho or Wurshik, rather than that of the Yashkun.

Besides the above-mentioned principal tribes of Dardistan, there is a numerous servile population, found mostly amongst the Yashkun, comprising the Kramin (Ustad of Chitral and Kashkar), or " artisan " classes, together with the Dom or minstrel class. In Gilgit there is also a colony of Kashmiri, who have been settled there since about the middle of last century. There is also a very numerous population of Gujar, who occupy the mountainous tracts


[Page-153]: to the south of Gilgit, and extend into Swat and Boner, etc. ; they are entirely employed as graziers, shepherds, and cattle breeders, and do not mix with the people of the country in any way. Like their kindred in Swat, Bajaur, and the Kohistan generally, the Gujar speak a dialect of the Panjabi.

This completes our sketch of the tribes inhabiting the region assigned to the nations composing the eleventh satrapy, exclusive of the Kaspioi.

Baktri

The twelfth satrapy, says Herodotus, comprised the Baktroi as far as the Aiglai. The name Baktri is a comprehensive term applied to the inhabitants of the country of Baktra proper, as distinguished from Baktriana, which had a wider signification. Baktria proper we may consider, for the purpose of our inquiry at all events, to comprise the modern Balkh and Badakhshan countries, extending from the basin drained by the Andkhoi river on the west to the Sarikol district on the east, and bounded on the north by the Oxus and Wakhsh rivers, and on the south by the Hindu Kush and Kohi Baba ranges. In all this tract there is no tribe now found by the name of Baktri ; their place appears to have been taken by the Ali tribe (Aioloi Greek), now more commonly called Shekh Ali Hazarah. It is a remarkable circumstance that in all this Balkh country the traditions of the people refer to Hazrat Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad, a multitude of heroic exploits, commemorated by sacred shrines and the ruins of former habitations scattered all over the country, notwithstanding the fact that he was never anywhere near this region of Asia. The similarity of names seems to have offered the Musalman converts a too tempting opportunity to disguise their real descent by transferring to the head of their religious sect traditions relating to their Greek ancestors ; as is indeed indicated by the appellation of the tribe — "Shekh Ali", — which means the "converted Ali", for Shekh was the honorific title often bestowed upon early converts to Islam, and here was evidently coupled with Ali the presumed tribal ancestor, and adopted as the patronymic of the tribe. The Shekh Ali are now reckoned among the Hazarah, but a large division of them, called Ali Ilahi (or those who believe in the Divinity of Hazrat Ali), are reckoned amongst the Turkman and Uzbak intruders of a later date. The Greeks of Baktria, as before related, were dispossessed by certain Skythian tribes, amongst whom the Tokhari occupied a very prominent place ; but, though they gave their name to the western half of the country, and more particularly to a province on the northern bank of the Oxus, they are now not found as a distinct tribe of that name in any part of the Balkh country, where their place is now taken by various tribes of Turkoman and Uzbak Tatar.


Tokhari

[Page-154]: The Tokhari appear to be the same people as the Tuchara or Tushara mentioned in the Ramayana, Mahabharat, and Harivansa (See Troyers' "Rajataringini," vol. ii. p. 321), and are reckoned an Indo-Skythic race of very ancient date, and allied to the Naga, who, it seems, were the earliest invaders of India from the north.

The Tokhari at an early date spread all through the Indus valley, where their posterity were formerly known as Toghyani Turk ; at the present day they are not found in Afghanistan as a distinct tribe of that name, though doubtless many of their tribes are represented in the yet unrecognised clans and sections of the Pathan tribes all along the Indus border of Afghanistan, and more particularly perhaps in the Turkolanri division of the Afghan genealogies, of which we shall speak presently.

Wardak

The eastern half of Baktria proper, comprising the mountainous districts of Badakhshan, Wakhan, and Shignan, has from a remote antiquity been inhabited by a population of Persian descent and language. This population is now designated by the general term Tajik, indicative of Persian nationality, amongst the Turk nations of Central Asia ; but amongst themselves the people are distinguished as Badakhsi, Wakhi, Shughni, or after their native districts. In appearance and character they differ little from their neighbours on the south side of Hindu Kush, except in the more open districts where they have mixed with the Uzbak invaders. Some of the people on the northern slopes of Hindu Kush are said to be of the same race as the inhabitants of Kafiristan, with whom also they are generally on friendly terms and intimate trade relations. The Vardoji, or people of the Vardoj district, seem to have planted a colony, at some former period, in the vicinity of Ghazni, where their posterity are now represented by the Wardak tribe, not only from the similarity of names, but also from other corroborative circumstances, such as similarity of appearance, character, and habits. The Wardak are not Afghan nor Pathan by descent, nor Ghilzi, nor Hazara, nor Turk, nor Mughal ; by some they are reckoned Tajik, by others they are called Shekh, whilst themselves pretend descent from the Arab Curesh. They speak the Pukhto, but in a corrupt dialect mixed with many foreign words, which may perhaps come from the Vardoj language. Though, as above stated, there are now no clans found in the Balkh country bearing the name of Baktri, that ancient people may have their modern representatives in the Bakhtyari, who are now largely distributed in Persia, and are found scattered about the Suleman range in small clusters here and there. In Persia, the Bakhtyari were formerly a very numerous tribe and celebrated for their superior soldierly qualities ; they distinguished themselves in Afghanistan by the cap-


[Page-155]: ture of the hill fortress of Kandahar under Nadir Shah in the middle of last century ; but the tribe had settlements in the Kandahar country long prior to that event. The Bakhtyari comprise numerous sections ; those best known in Afghanistan are : —

Ako. Ato. Alyas. Karai. Marghachi. Mukuri. Nazari. Pari. Tori. Yahya, etc.

Of these, the three last represent Parihar, Tuar, and Johya Rajput. The three preceding them are all Povindah clans, of which the two first are named after their settlements at Margha and Mukur, south of Ghazni. Karai is a Turk tribe.

Herodotus says that the Baktri extended as far as the Aiglai, without indicating the situation of the latter. Perhaps they may be represented by the Hykali or Haikalzi of Peshin. As above stated, the Tokhari are now represented in Afghanistan by the Turklanri or Kararani, or Karalanri, which is an overname merely.

The Turklanri are in two divisions — Kodi and Kaki. Among the Kodi are included the Dalazak, Aorakzi, Mangal, Tori, Musa, Hani, Wardak, and Wato.

All of which we have described in preceding pages. The coupling of these tribes together in this way may have some bearing on the political relations of the Tokhari with the people of this part of Afghanistan. The Dalazak was one of their principal tribes, and held Peshawar for a long time, as before stated.

The Dalazak sections are : —

Ama. Aman. Bacho. Bori. Khidar. Luri. Mandar. Mani. Mati. Samar. Sani. Umar. Wathak. Ya'cub. Yasin. Zakarya, etc.

Among the Kaki are included the Afridi, Khatak, Jadran, Khogiani, Shitak, Suleman, etc., all of which we have before described. The enumeration of these Pathan tribes under the over-name of Turklanri or Kararani may indicate the extent of the country over which the Tokhari were dominant. The Kator, or kindred tribe with the Tokhari, was the most powerful and important of the Jata, Geta, or Yuechi, who overthrew the Greeks of Baktria. The Kator established an independent kingdom, which extended over the whole of the Indus valley from the Himalaya to Balochistan and Sind, and from Kabul and Ghazni to the borders of the Indian desert and Lahore. Their kings were all Buddhists, and their rule lasted from the second century before to the ninth century after Christ, when they were displaced at Kabul by a Brahmin dynasty. The Katar are now found by that name in Afghanistan only in the Chitral valley and the adjoining districts of Kafiristan ; to the


Page 156-160

[Page-156]: east of the Indus they are found in several parts of the Rawalpindi and Jhelam districts. The greater part of the ancient Baktria is now occupied, as before stated, by Turkman and Uzbak tribes from beyond the Oxus. They differ entirely in physique, language, and manners from the earlier occupants of the country, whether Indian, Persian, or Greek.

The clans and sections of the Turkman and Uzbak tribes have not yet been completed. A complete list will be added hereafter.

The next satrapy of Herodotus— the thirteenth — comprised Paktyika, and the Armenians, and the neighbouring peoples as far as the Euxine Sea, and lay altogether beyond the region to which our inquiry is limited. It is worth noting, however, in this place that the identity of names between this western Paktyika and the Paktyika on the Indus — both so called by Herodotus — and the similarity in physical aspects of the two distant countries to which the name is applied, together with the facts that the Armenians claim affinity with the Afghans, and that the Afghans themselves claim descent from the Israelites of the captivities deported into Media and the borders of Armenia, all afford curious and interesting subjects for investigation. We shall recur to this subject in a later passage, when tracing the origin of the name Afghan as now applied to the people of the country we call Afghanistan.

Next in order comes the fourteenth satrapy, which, Herodotus says, comprised the Sagartoi, Sarangoi, Thamanai, Utoi, Mykoi, and those who inhabit the islands on the Red Sea, in which the king settles transported convicts. This satrapy appears to have occupied the south-western portion of Afghanistan — :that is the modern Sistan (Sajistan or Sagistan of the Arabs). Its boundaries may be roughly defined as follows : — On the north the watershed of the Siahkoh range, or Siahband, which separates the drainage of the Herat river in the Obah country from that running south- wards into the Sistan lake, and that portion of the Paropamisus formed by the basins of the Upper Helmand and Upper Arghandab rivers, both inclusive ; on the south the sandy desert separating Kandahar from Kharan and Sistan from Makran ; on the west the Kohistan separating Sistan from Kirman and Yazd ; and on the east the elevated plateaux, south of Ghazni, from which issue the Tarnak river, and its Arghasan and Kadani tributaries, down to the Khojak Amran range separating Kandahar from Balochistan. In other words, this satrapy may be considered as represented geographically by the modern Kandahar and Sistan. Of the above tribes enumerated by Herodotus, the Sagartoi are not now found in Afghanistan by that name. To the north of Panj-


[Page-157]: gur, in Makran, there is a range of hills and a district called Sagarkand on the southern confines of Sistan, which may indicate former occupancy by the Sagartoi; and, perhaps, the modern representatives of that tribe may exist amongst the Persian ilat, or nomads, of this region ; for, as Herodotus says, the Sagartoi were a Persian tribe of pastoral habits. The Sarangai are the same as the Zarangai and Drangai, who gave their name to the ancient Drangia, and more extensive Drangiana of Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolemy, and whose name has been revived in modern times by the Durani appellation of the Afghan kingdom established in the middle of the last century by Ahmad Shah, Abdali, as before related. The Thamanai have been long ago identified by Sir H.Rawlinson with the modem Tymani of the Ghor country, and of whom we have already spoken in describing the Char Aymac. They (the Tymani) occupy the south-western part of the Ghor mountains between Kandahar, Farah, and Herat ; which is much the same position as the Thamanai of Herodotus held. Their capital is the town of Tybara, or Taiwara, on the Khash river, not far from Zarni, or Ghor, the ancient capital of the Ghor kingdom, and the seat of the Suri princes and nation, who formerly possessed the whole of the western Ghor country or Paropamisus, both names of similar import, and meaning " mountainous country." The modern Tymani claim to be of the same stock as the Kakar of the Suleman range, and indeed have large numbers of the Kakar sharing the soil with them.

The Tymani are in two great divisions — Darzai and Kibchak — as before described.

The Utoi are represented by the modern Ut and Utman, before described ; their ancient seat was probably along the course of the Helmand about Bost (ancient Abeste of Ptolemy), Girishk and Zamindawar. Perhaps the Otak, or Hotaki (Hat, Hot, Ut) of Kalati Ghilzi may be offshoots from the ancient Uti. The modern Utman-khel (whose migration to the Indus along with the Mandanr and Yusuf has been described in a previous passage) also, like the Tymani, claim affinity with the Kakar, though now they are quite separated from that tribe.

The Mykoi, as before stated, may be now represented by the Maku Durani of Kandahar. The greater portion of the Maku, it is said, emigrated to Hindustan to escape the horrors of the Mughal invasion under Changhz Khan. There are some flourishing, though small, colonies of the Maku in Multan and the Derajat of the Indus valley. The Maku are generally associated with the Khagwani, a branch of the Khugiani, before described, and with them reckoned as of the Mak, or Makh, race, which I have supposed to be the Makwahana of the Rajput genealogy.

The Afghan genealogies commence with the tribes inhabiting


[Page-158]: the country of which we are now speaking, viz. — The modern Kandahar province, and they are all classed under the Sarabani (Suryabansi) division of the Afghan nationality. The Sarabani are in two great branches — Sharkbun, or Sharfuddin, and Kharshbun, or Khyruddin, and both are also indifferently styled Farsbun. The Sharkhbun comprise the five tribes — Tarin, Shirani, Miyana, Bahrech, and Aormur. The Kharshbun comprise the three named — Kand, Zamand, and Kansi.

The Tarin tribe is in three clans — Abdal, Spin Tarin, and Tor Tarin. The name Tarin may stand for Tari Brahman tribe of Northern India, whose ancient seat may have been in the Tarnak valley. The name Abdal or Awdal is supposed to represent the Ahtila Hun (Haital, pl. Hayatila), the Epthalites and Nepthalites of Byzantine writers: but it is just as likely to derive from a Rajput source (perhaps from Aodi or Udi) ; since the Abdal are classed in two divisions — Rajar, or Razar, and Kaki, or Kaka, both purely Rajput names, borne by tribes of the Indian desert and Indus border.

The Razab, Rajak, or Rajwar clans are, — Isa, Maku, Ali, and Aod, or Ud.

Isa sections are: —

Abdi*. Achak. Aka. Aliko. Apo. Ayub. Bahadur*. Bahlol. Bai. Bakal. Bako. Banu. Barak. Basama. Bayan. Bor. Chalak*. Darzai*. Daulat. Firoz*. Ghebi. Gurji. Hasan. Hawa*. Ishac*. Ismail. Jaeb. Kalandar. Kano*. Khojak. Khonsi. Lashkar. Lut. Maila. Mahya*. Mandan*. Ma'ruf. Musa. Nasrat. Nur*. Pagal*. Panjpae*. Popal. Prot. Sado. Safo. Sanjar. Sarkali. Shekh. Umar. Utman. Ya'cub. Yadu. Zako. Zangi. Zirak. Zitak, etc.


The above names are largely Rajput and Indian, and many have been before noticed.

Abdali.


[Page-159]: Maku sections are : —

Bedil. Firoz. Sahib, and others of modern Muhammadan nomenclature.

Ali sections are : —

Alik. Gyora. Hasan. Khwaedad. Khyr. Masho. Shekh. Sikandar. Sogani.

Of these,

  • Gyora may stand for Gahor, Gahlot Rajput.
  • Khyr is Pramara.
  • Masho stands for Mashwani the ancient Masiani before noticed.
  • Aod, or Ud, is not now found in Afghanistan by that name. The tribal ancestor of that name is said to have become a religious devotee ; which may mean that the tribe, on embracing Islam, changed its name for a Musalman one.

Spin Tarin sections are, —

Adhami. Adwani. Laghjam. Lasran. Marpani. Shadi. Suleman. Vazir. Yahya, etc.

Of these,

Tor Tarin sections are : —

Ababakar. Ahmad. Ali. Bado. Bale. Bate. Gondari. Hadya. Harun. Hydar. Hykal. Ismail. Kand. Karbala. Kokh. Malikyar. Malmoni. Mana. Mani. Mangal. Mazal. Nekbakhtani. Sikhi. Sayad. Toral, etc.

Of these,


[Page-160]: they lived not. after the manner of the Barbarians, their neighbours, but administered justice like the best ordered State of Greece, declared them free, and gave them as much land out of the neighbouring country as they requested, because their requests were moderate." There are the ruins still traceable of a city called Sari Asp on the banks of the Tarnak, about ten miles from Kalati Ghilzi, which probably mark the site of the ancient Ariaspi capital ; and in the neighbouring hills towards the Arghandab valley northwards is a small tribe called Nekbi-khel (for Nekbin-khel), " the Benevolent tribe." The Nekbi-khel have a large settlement in the Swat valley, where they are associated with the Sibujuna clan. This last name is composed of the conjunction of the two Rajput tribes Sipat and Juna. The Nekbi'khel are found also among the sections of several of the Pathan tribes all along the Indus border, sometimes as the Nekbi-khel, and sometimes as the Neknam-khel, and sometimes as the Nekbakhtan. Alexander came to the Euergetes from the country of Zarangia or Drangia ; that is, from the country on the west or right bank of the river Helmand, or the modern Sistan country. It is from these Drangai, or their posterity, that the Durani of our day derive their name. Ahmad Shah, Abdali, when he raised the Afghan people into an independent nationality under a monarch of their own race, about the middle of the last century, or less than a hundred and fifty years ago, was the first to adopt this name as the distinctive national designation of his native subjects. For, as I stated some years ago, in the paper previously mentioned, "Ahmad Shah was crowned at Kandahar, not as sovereign of the Afghan nation, but as king of the Durani people. Thus the new monarch resuscitated and raised into an independent kingdom the ancient province of Drangiana, and revived the apparently obsolete name of the ancient Drangai in that of the modem Durani." Thus the people of the ancient Drangiana — the modern Kandahar province (with Sistan) — were now distinguished as the Durani, " whilst the rest of the population of Afghanistan incorporated in the home kingdom, established by Ahmad Shah Durani, came to be styled Bar Durani, that is, 'Outside or Extra Durani.' But the name of the Government, as well as the royal title, was simply Durani — the modern form of the ancient Drangai ; and in later years, when the British Government reseated the fugitive and luckless Shah Shuja, 'on the throne of his ancestors,' the new kingdom was for a brief interval masqueraded under the imposing title of the Durani Empire."

Durani (p.161)

The Durani are in two great divisions — Zirak and Panjpae.


[Page-161]:

The Zirak division comprises the clans — Popal, Aliko, Barak, and Achak.

The Panjpae division comprises the clans — Nur, Ali, Ishak (or Sahak or Sak), Khagwani, and Maku.

The over-names Zirak (abbreviation of Ziraniki, or Jiranki Rajput), and Panjpae (abbreviation of Panj Pandu Rajput) may indicate former Rajput divisions of the modern Durani or Kandahar country, named after Indian tribes in occupancy.

Each of the clans above named under these two great divisions has greatly increased in numbers and power since their incorporation together into the Durani commonwealth.

The Zirak clansPopal, Aliko, and Barak I take to stand for the Greek Paioplai, Aloloi, and Barkai before mentioned ; the

  • Achak, a tribe held to be distinct from the others by the Durani themselves, I take to represent the Indian Achi or Achiholada, " The turbulent Achi," of the Rajataringini, a branch of the Damara (Dumar Kakar before noticed) tribe, which figures in the history of Kashmir as a powerful and turbulent people about Lahore and the northern Punjab in the reigns of Avantivarma, 857 to 886 A.D., and of Harsha, 1090 to 1102 A.D., both kings of Kashmir; they may represent tribes of the Tokhari or Toghiyani Turk, or of the Kator.

The Panjpae clans Nur and Maku I have before explained as representing the

Popal sections are : —

Ali. Ayub. Bado. Bahlol. Bami. Banu. Basama. Calandar. Habib. Hasan. Ismail. Kani. Ma'ruf. Nasrat. Sado. Salih. Umar. Zinak.

Of these,


[Page-162]:

from the river Strymon along with various tribes of the Paionoi, or Pannoi, and settled in a district of Phrygia. The tribes named as thus transported were the Paionoi, Siropaionoi, Paioplai, and Doberoi. These tribes seem to have moved eastward and settled In the ancient Drangiana (modern Kandahar), for we now find in this very country certain tribes bearing the same or very similar names. Thus the
  • Paionoi, or Pannoi, are represented by the existing Panni Afghan, who have mostly emigrated to Hindustan, but have left remnants of the tribe in Sibi and the country about Shal. The
  • Siropaionoi by the Sarpanni or Marpanni, now found amongst the Spin Tarin of Peshin. The
  • Paioplai by the Popalzi or Popali, of Kandahar, and the
  • Doberoi by the Dawari of Zamindawar on the Helmand, and the Dawari of Dawar, or Daur, on the Indus border. On the other hand,
  • Popal may stand for Pipara Gahlot, the clan being largely composed of Rajput sections. Besides those above explained,
  • Ismail, Kani, Sado, and Umar stand for Simala and Kani Rajput, Sisodia Gahlot, and Umra Pramara.
  • Sado is the tribe whence came Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Durani monarch ; on becoming the royal tribe, the Sadozi increased greatly in numbers, wealth, and influence, and soon branched off into a number of subdivisions bearing modern Musalman surnames, for the most part. Some of the more characteristic of these names, especially in reference to Rajput affinity, are : —

Ali. Harun. Ismail. Kamal. Kamran. Khidar. Maghdud. Musa. Rustam. Sarmast. Shajal. Yara. Zafaran, etc. Of these,


[Page-163]: reputation of being the most civilized, or least savage, of all the Afghan tribes.

  • Aliko, or Alikozi, occupy the districts of Jaldak, Arghandab, Panjwae, etc., on the east, north, and west of Kandahar itself, and number about fifteen thousand families, mostly agricultural. The name Aliko is the same as Alika, "of the Ali." The
  • Ali (Alikhel and Alizi) is a very widely distributed tribe in Afghanistan, and represents, I believe, the Greek Aioloi, In and about Kandahar, besides the districts above mentioned, they have settlements in Khakrez and the hills to the north of Mywand, and in Zamindawar on the west bank of the Helmand, and extend as far west as Herat. In the Hazarah country they appear as the Shekh Ali, and among the Turkman of Balkh province as Ali Ilahi. The Ali are also found amongst the Pathan tribes in the Kabul and Ghazni countries, and in British territory in Doaba of Peshawar and Chach of Rawalpindi districts, and also in some parts of the Dakhan (southern India).

The principal subdivisions of the Alikozi are Naso, Sarkani, and Ziyura. The mother of Ahmad Shah Abdali, was of the Alikozi tribe ; as also was the celebrated Wazir Yar Muhammad, of Herat, who belonged to the Naso section.

Barak or Barakzi

The Barak, or Barakzi, are more than twice as numerous as the Popalzi, whom they dispossessed of the government in 1818-19 A.D. Since that date the Barakzi have held the rule in Afghanistan by favour of the British. The Barakzi are partly agricultural and commercial, and largely pastoral and military. They occupy a large tract of country drained by the Arghasan river, and extending from the Toba and Margha plateaux of the Khojak Amran range in the east to the borders of Garmsil in the west, all along the south of Kandahar to the borders of Shorawak and the sand desert of Balochistan. In the south-eastern portion of this tract the Barak were formerly associated with the Achak, but Ahmad Shah on establishing his Durani kingdom severed the connection, and the Achak are now recognised as an entirely distinct tribe, and are held in light esteem as the most ignorant and savage of all the Durani clans. The Barakzi are now the dominant tribe in Afghanistan, and have acquired a high reputation for their military qualities in consequence of their prowess in the wars with the British. They appear to be the same people as the Baraki, or Baraki of Logar and the Barak clan of the Khattak tribe, though long separated, and not now themselves cognisant, at least confessedly, of any such affinity. The Barakzi are reckoned at upwards of thirty thousand families in Afghanistan, where their original seat is not far from the Baraki settlements of our day, as before described. The Baraki, it is said,


[Page-164]:formerly held very much more extensive- territory than that represented by the few castles and villages they now possess. Though recognised as a distinct people from all the other tribes of Afghanistan by the natives of that country themselves, the Baraki are nevertheless considered a superior race, and are held in esteem for their bravery and soldierly qualities. The Baraki are in high favour with the Barakzi rulers of the country, and are enlisted by them as trusted bodyguards, and for service about the royal palaces. At least such was the case up to the time of the late Amir Sher Ali Khan.

Achak, or Achakzi

The Achak, or Achakzi, are entirely pastoral and predatory, and inhabit the Kadani valley and north slopes of the Khojak Amran range to the Toba tablelands. But they wander far to the west, and are found scattered all over the country to Herat and Badghis, and parts of the Ghor country. They are reckoned at five thousand tents, and are in two divisions, viz., Bahadur and Gajan.

Bahadur (Batar, a tribeless clan of Rajput) sections are : —

Ashdan. Bakar. Fam. Ghabe. Kako. Shamo, etc.

Gajan (Kachin tribe of Naga) sections are : —

Ada. Adrak. Ali. Ashe. Badi. Harun. Jali. Kamil. Lali. Mali. Mapi, Mushaki. Shakar, etc. Of the above sections

Of the divisions of the Nurzi, the Badi section is Turk, and the Chalak (Chalak or Solanki) Rajput. Little is known of this tribe.

The Ali, or Alizi, are reckoned at sixteen thousand families, and occupy much the same districts as their kinsfolk, the Aliko, above mentioned, their chief seat being on the plain of Zamindawar, to the west of the Helmand, between Bost and Chaknasur.


[Page-165]: With the Alizi are joined the Ud, or Udzi, reckoned at five thousand families ; they have settlements in Darawat, Nadall, Garmsil, Ma'ruf, etc. The name Ud may stand for Rajput Udi or for the Uti of Herodotus.

The Ishak, Sahak, Sak, or Ishakzi, are partly pastoral and partly agricultural, and inhabit the lower course of the Arghandab river between Kandahar and Bost, and along the Helmand to the Sistan basin ; their principal seats are at Khan Nishin and in the Okat of Lash-Juwen and Farah. They are reckoned at twelve thousand families, of which about a thousand are settled in the Balkh country. The Ishak represent the ancient Saka conquerors of Sistan, or Sakastan, so called after them ; previously the country was called by Orientals Nimroz (the country of Nimrod, king of Babylon), and by the Grreeks Drangia.

The Khsagwani and Maku are joined together, and are very few in number, and have no territory of their own except at Ghazni, where they have a few villages in the suburbs of the city.

This completes our review of the tribes classed under the head of Tarim, in the Afghan genealogies.

Char or Chawara

The next tribe of the Sharkhbun branch of the Sarbani Afghan is the Shirani, called also Char (Chawara or Chaora Rajput). The Chaora, according to Colonel Tod (Annals of Rajasthan), was once a renowned tribe in the history of India, though its name, he says, is now scarcely known, and its origin is veiled in obscurity. It belongs neither to the Solar race nor the Lunar race, and is probably of Skythic descent. The name is unknown in Hindustan, and is confined, with many others originating beyond the Indus, to the peninsula of Saurashtra. If foreign to India proper, continues Tod, its establishment must have been at a remote period, as individuals of the tribe intermarried with the Surajbansi ancestry of the present princes of Mewar, when this family were the lords of Balabhi. The capital of the Chaora was the insular Deobandar, on the coast of Saurashtra, and the temple of Somnath, with many others on this coast, dedicated to Balnath, is attributed to this tribe of the Saura or worshippers of the sun. It was Vena Raja or Banraj, prince of Deo, who, 746, A.D., laid the foundation of Anhalwara, which his dynasty ruled for one hundred and eighty-four years, when Bhojraj, the seventh from the founder and the last of the Chaora, was deposed, 931 A.D., by his own daughter's son, Mulraj of the Solanki tribe. Mulraj ruled Anhalwara for fifty-eight years. During the reign of his son and successor, Chawand or Chaond Rae, called Jamand by Muhammadan historians, Mahmud of Grhazni invaded the kingdom of Anhalwara, and drained it of its immense riches, for Anhalwara was at that time the entrepot of the productions of the eastern and the western hemispheres.


[Page-166]: Anhalwara recovered fully from the devastations of Mahmud, and we find Sid Rai Jay Sing, the seventh from the founder, and who ruled from 1094 to 1145 A.D., at the head of the richest if not the most warlike kingdom of India. Twenty-two principalities at one time owned his power, from the Karnatic to the base of the Himalaya. His successor was displaced by the Chohan, Prithvi Raja, who set on the throne Komarpal, who then, quitting his own Chohan tribe, entered that of the Solanki. Both Sid Rae and Komarpal were patrons of Buddhism. The end of Komarpal's reign was disturbed by the lieutenants of Shahabuddin ; and his successor, Ballo Maldeo, closed his dynasty in 1228 A.D., when the Bhagela dynasty, descendants of Sid Rai, succeeded. Under the Bhagela rule dilapidation from religious persecution were repaired, Somnath rose from its ruins, and the kingdom of the Bahlika Rae was attaining its pristine magnificence, when, under Gahla Karan, the fourth prince, Alauddin invaded and annihilated the kingdom of Anhalwara, sacked and plundered the rich cities and fertile plains of Guzerat and Saurashtra. The statues of Buddha were everywhere cast down and mutilated, the books of his religion everywhere burned and destroyed. The city of Anhalwara was razed to the ground and its very foundations dug up. The remnants of the Solanki dynasty were scattered over the land, and this portion of India remained for upwards of a century without any paramount head, when its splendour was renovated, and its foundations rebuilt by Saharan, Tak, a convert to Islam, under the name of Zapar Khan, who, with the title of Muzaffir, ascended the throne of Guzerat, which he left to his son, Ahmed who founded Ahmadabad.

I have made this lengthy extract from Tod's "Annals of Rajasthan," because it throws much light upon the affinities of several of the modern Pathan tribes of the Suleman range and Indus frontier. The Chawand Rae, called Jamand by Muhammadan writers, is evidently the source of the Zamand division of the Kharshbun branch of the Sarabani Afghan; and Komarpal's quitting his own Chohan tribe and entering that of Solanki, is clearly the origin of the Afghan account of Shirani's quitting the Sarabani and entering the Ghurghushti branch of the Afghan nation. The Bhagela are now represented in Afghanistan by the Pagal, Bahagul, and Bakal sections of several of the Suleman range tribes. During the long centuries of the rule of the Chaora and succeeding dynasties the whole of the eastern portion of Afghanistan was mainly peopled by Rajput and Indian tribes of Skythic descent, who came into the country at different periods and probably from different directions also ; the earlier migrations being direct from the countries north of the Oxus, and the later from the direction of Hindustan.

Shirani, or Char

[Page-167]: Shirani, or Char, is in three divisions, viz. : Damar, Jalwani, Haripal.

The Damar, Domur, or Dumar are the same, I take it, as the Damara of the Rajataringini before noticed, as figuring prominently in the history of Kashmir between the ninth and twelfth centuries, during which period, it appears, they occupied the country about Lahore, and on several occasions caused trouble by their turbulence. They are mentioned sometimes along with the Lavanya and Achlholada, tribes of equally restless character but who for us have a peculiar interest on account of the identity of their names with those borne by some of the existing neighbours of the Afghan or Pathan Domar of Peshin and Shal Kot (Quetta), namely, the Luni Pathan and Achakzi Durani. The Achakzi, as before stated, of all the Afghan tribes are noted for their turbulence and barbarity ; and the Sanskrit name Achi-ho-lada, or Achi-holara, of the Rajataringini expresses this character for it means " The turbulent Achi." Tod, in his enumeration of the Hindu tribes of the Indian desert, mentions the Ashyag, a name which may stand for the Sanskrit Achi, and is evidently the source of the Afghan Achak, whom we have noticed above among the Durani clans. The Luni of Sibi and the borders of Shal and Peshin are clearly the same as the Lavanya of the Rajataringini, and derive orginally from the banks of the Luni river of Rajwara. The Lawani, Lewanni, and Lohani of the Suleman range are also probably from the same source.

Dumur, or Damar, sections are : —

Ahmad. Anjar. Babar. Boya. Daulat. Hamim. Hani. Hormuz. Jahin. Kapip. Landumar. Miyani. Musa. Niazan. Punbazan. Sayid. Sanjar. Shahmir. Umar, etc. Of these,

  • Babar is a Gujar clan.
  • Boya may be another form of Bai and stand for the tribe whence sprung the Bowi princes of the Dilami dynasty of Persia, the founder of which, Boya, is described as a son of Kaba Khusrau ;
  • Kaba being a clan of the Pramara Rajput. Hani may stand for Hana Brahman. *Hamim may perhaps stand for Hamir, a Rajput tribe of Sind ; and
  • Jahin for Chohan,
  • Niazan is the same as Niydzi before noticed.
  • Pumbazan, "cotton carder," is evidently a Musalman disguise. The
  • Babar, or Babur, are now the most numerous section of the Domar, and are reckoned as a distinct tribe, and generally associated with their neighbours, the Kakar. The
  • Anjar may have some connection with Anjira district of Kalat Balochistan.
  • Sanjar, is Turk, of the dynasty of that name which reigned at Kandahar.

The Jalwani division of Shirani is apparently derived from the Rajput Jhala (Makwahana), which probably gave its name to the Jhalawar division of Kalat Balochistan.


[Page-168]: Jalwani sections are : — Kongari. Marwat. Mayar. Nekbikhel. Salar. Sipand.

Of these,

The Haripal is a small tribe, inhabiting the hills between Bori and Zhob valleys, where they are associated with a neighbouring nomadic tribe called Isot, or Sot, another Rahtor clan.

Haripal, a purely Hindu name, sections are : — Yusuf. Nazak. Tori, or Tawari.

Miyana

The next division of the Sharkhbun Sarabani Afghan is the Miyana tribe, which I have supposed to represent the ancient Meionoi of Lydia. The Miyani are widely distributed all along the Indus border, from the Khybar to the Bolan, but are principally settled in the Derajat, or Daman, of the Suleman range.

Miyani sections are : —

Ahir. Aka. Bai. Budar. Gharshin. Ghorani. Hati. Jot. Kati. Kehi. Khatran. Las. Lawani. Lohani. Malahi. Masha. Mashwani. Musa. Nana. Nuro. Pasani. Rana. Rahwani. Sarghi. Sen. Shado. Shkun. Silaj. Sot. Sumra. Sur. Togh. Wuruki. Zakori. Zmari. Zora.

Of these,

Bahrech

[Page-169]:The next division of the Sharkhbun Sarabani Afghan is the Bahrech, or Barech, tribe, which I recognise as the Bhardecha clan of the Chohan Agnikula Rajput (well-known in Hindustan, where it has given its name to a considerable district of Oudh). They inhabit the Shorawak district of Kandahar, bordering on the sandy desert of Balochistan, and extend along the Helmand river from Bost (formerly the winter residence of Mahmud of Ghazni) to Sistan, and are partly agricultural and partly nomadic, living in movable huts, called Kadala, made of wicker frames of tamarisk twigs plastered with clay ; they keep large numbers of camels of a superior quality, and among Afghans are distinguished for their devotion to the breeding of that animal. The Bahrech have emigrated largely to Hindustan, where they have several colonies in the Delhi country, at Jhajjar, Gohana, etc.

Bahrech sections are : —

Badal. Barak. Basa. Chopan. Dadu. Husen. Malahi. Mandi. Mardan. Shakur. Sabit. Zako, etc. Of these,

Ormur

The next and last division of the Sharkhbun Sarabani Afghan is the Ormur tribe, before described. Ormur is said to have been the son of Amaruddin and to have been named after the place of his birth. Probably Ormur stands for Umra. Pramara, the name being applied to a part of the Umra Sumra clan of Pramara Rajput, who in the reign of the Emperor Akbar 1680-90 A.D. — created considerable disturbances on the Peshawar frontier by their activity in spreading the heretical doctrines of the Roshanya sect — " the Enlightened." Akhund Darveza, the celebrated divine of Swat, a contemporary and active opponent of Baizid, the founder of this sect in these parts, whom he contemptuously calls Pir Tarik, " Guide to Darkness," has written an account of this sect and their doings in this Tazkira or "Memoirs." The Roshdnya, or "Illuminated," adopted the doctrines of metempsychosis, free love, and community of goods, and are reckoned a branch of the Isma'ili Mulahida, better known in Europe as " the Assassins." They are called Ormur by the


[Page-170]: Patthans (in Pukhto, or= "fire " and mur= "extingnislied "), just as a similar sect amongst the Persians was called Chirogh-kush— " Lights out," on account of their nocturnal assemblies, when the extinguishing of the lights was the signal for their deeds of darkness to commence. The original sect of the " Ormur " is said to have been at Kiniguram, where the sect occupied all that district of the Suleman range which is now inhabited by the Mahsud Vaziri. On the suppression of the sect by Akbar's lieutenant at Kabul, the Ormur became dispersed, and for the most part disappeared ; but the name is still borne by scattered communities of their descendants. Sardar Hyat Khan, C.S.L, of Wah in Panjab, in his Hayati Afghani, says there are three or four hundred families of Ormur in their old homes at Kaniguram, of the sectionsKhekani, Bekani, Khuram Jani, Mulatani, and Jirani. Of these the last named is a well-known tribe of mercantile Rajput, and the first is a corrupt form of Kaikan for Kaikaya or Kakar. There are also some Ormur amongst the Baraki in Logar of Kabul, and a small colony of them in the Ormur village of the Peshawar district. They are an inoffensive, industrious people, mostly engaged in agriculture and trade.

This completes our review of the tribes composing the Durani Afghan.

Sistan

Map of Sakastan around 100 BCE

Sistan - We have now to notice the peoples inhabiting the ancient Drangia (modern Sistan), the country whence the Durani derive their name. Sistan was formerly called Nimroz (after Nimrod, king of Babylon), and was the residence of Jamshed and other Persian kings of the fabulous or traditionary Peshdadi dynasty; it is celebrated also as the centre from which the Persian power rose, and as being the home of the heroic Rustam. The principal inhabitants of Sistan are the Sistani, a very mixed people, who have no possession in the soil, and occupy a servile position amongst the dominant tribes of the country. With reference to these last, the divisions of Sistan may be said to be the Okat (pi. of Ok or Awak, a derivative perhaps from the Turki oe, or awe = " house habitation ") of Lash-Juwen and Farah, inhabited by the Ishak, or Sak, Durani ; Chaknasur, inhabited by Sarabani Baloch; Sihkijha, by the Kayani (now mostly at Ghayin in Persian Khorasan); Garmsil, inhabited by Baloch, Bahrech, Nur, and other Durani ; and Kandahabi by the Shahriki and Kurd. Of these, the Baloch, commonly called Sarbandi (Sarabani?), and the Shahriki ("of the Shahri") are the predominant tribes in numbers and in influence ; but the Kayani are the most ancient, and are said to descend from the Kai dynasty of Persia founded by Cyrus (Kurush). Besides these are some Tajik, supposed to be descendants of the ancient Persians, and some obscure wild tribes of hunters and cattle-graziers who


[Page-171]: dwell on the shores of the Hamun, or Sistan Lake, in the centre of which is an isolated rock called Kohi Zur or Sur, which is said to have been the seat of Rustam's castle.

The Ishak, Sahak, or Sak Durani we have already noticed.

Baloch in Sistan

The Baloch require particular attention. They are not included in the Afghan genealogies, and yet they are recognised as of kindred stock by the Afghans. The reason of their exclusion from the Afghan genealogies is because they do not conform to the Pukhtunwali, nor speak the Pukhto language. The Baloch are feudal in their government, and not republican, as are the Afghan and Pathan ; and they speak a distinct language called Balochki (" of the Baloch "), which is a Persianized Indian dialect, resembling the Sind language more than any other. The Baloch differ also from the Afghan in physical appearance, dress, manners, and customs ; but not more so than does the Sikh Jat from the Musalman Jat of Panjab, nor than is explainable by the different political conditions of their existence for long centuries past. The Baloch were originally the Baldecha of the Chohan Agnikula Rajput, and occupied the Nushki district to the south of the Bahrech above mentioned. It would be interesting to investigate the history of this tribe, which has evidently come under more direct, complete, and prolonged Persian influence than any other of the tribes of Afghanistan. They seem to have greatly increased in numbers and power, and have given their name to a distinct nationality, and to a large tract of country, in which are found many different tribes, some of a remote antiquity, all included together under the general name of Baloch. These we shall speak of presently, when we come to investigate the tribes of Balochistan. But it is very curious to mark the differences between the two neighbouring clans of the former Chohan Rajput — Bhardecha and Baldecha : the Bahrech Afghan of Pukhto speech and republican constitution, and the Baloch of his own national speech and feudal government, both long since converted to Islam of the orthodox Sunni creed ; but the one under influences from the side of India, the other under influences from the side of Persia. The differences now marking the Baloch and the Afghan, and separating them into distinct nationalities, are apparently the result of political causes ; but we cannot now stop to discuss this subject.

The Baloch, like the Bahrech, are distinguished for their nomadic and predatory habits, and their devotion to the camel as a means of livelihood and wealth ; but the one speaks Balochki, the other Pukhto. The Bahrech claims descent from the Israelite Kais, or Kash, Abdurrahman, Pathan (probably representing Kash or Kush, the son of Rama, the great ancestor of the Solar


[Page-172]: race of Rajput, founder of the Kashwaha or Kachwaha tribe) ; and the Baloch from Arab ancestors, whose home was at Aleppo (probably from the ancient Arabitai of the river Arabius of Arrian, the modern Hab, or " Arabic" AlHab) ; in either case a mere Musalman conceit on their conversion to Islam. The Bahrech, with the rest of the Afghan, prides himself on being Bani Israil ; whilst the Baloch scorns the idea of a common descent with the Afghan.

Other clans in Sistan

With the Baloch in Sistan are associated several different clans and tribes, such as Sarbandi, Nahroi, Sanjarani, Taoki, Mammasani, Kurdgali, and others who wander over the desert tracts to the south, and extend far into the neighbouring Persian districts of Kirman, Yazd, Grhayn, and all along the Khorasan hills to Mashhad and Kum.

  • Sarbandi were formerly an important tribe here, till their power was destroyed by Tamerlane, who, it is said, transplanted the bulk of the tribe to Hamadan, whence some of them were brought back to Sistan by Nadir Shah.
  • Nahui are recent arrivals from Balochistan.
  • Sanjarani, a Turk tribe, are mostly nomadic, dwelling in booths or sheds made of mats and wicker ; and during the rule of the Sanjar dynasty at Kandahar were the dominant tribe in these parts.
  • Taoki is a servile tribe of mixed races, vassals chiefly of the Sanjarani.
  • Mammasani probably represent the Mammisei mentioned by Pliny (Hist. Nat. v. 19) as inhabiting the tetrarchy of Mammisea in Coele (Koile) Syria ; they are numerous in Makran and Kirman, and at the time of Alexander's conquest dwelt about the Jaxartes. The Mammasani, Taoki, and Sanjarani are collectively styled Nakhai or Noghay ; they are all Turk, and more or less nomadic.
  • KurdGali, curiously enough, here retain the double name by which Pliny mentions their ancestors in describing the nations of this region ; viz, " the Gaeli, by the Greek writers called Kadusioiy The Kurd of Persia have long been recognised as the same people as the ancient Kadusioi ; and here, in Sistan, we have the two names of Gaeli and Kadusioi combined in the modern KurdGali This whole description of Pliny (Hist. Nat. vi. 18) is worth examination. He says that from the mountain heights of Margiana, along the range of Caucasus, the savage race of the
  • Mardi (whom we have before recognised in the Dahi Marda Hazarah), a free people, extends as far as the Baktri ; that below the district of the Mardi we find the nations of the
  • Orciani (Arghandi of the Arghandab valley), the
  • Comori (Kamari and Kambari of the Afridi and Baloch), the
  • Berdrigae (?) (Berdrangae, modern Bardurani ?), the
  • Harmatotropi (or " chariot horse breeders," perhaps the Rahtor Rajput, rathwan = "chariot driver), the
  • Citomariae (not recognised), the
  • Comani (Turk Koman, Turkoman), the

[Page-173]:

  • The rivers here, adds Pliny, are the Mandrus (Helmand) and the Chindrus (Arghandab) ; and beyond the nations already mentioned are the Khorasmi (Khorasani), the Kandari (Kanddhari) the Attasini, the Parikani, the Sarangae (Zarangi or Drangae, modern Durani) the Marotiani (Marwati, before noticed), the Aorsi, the Gaeli, by the Greek writers called Cadusii (our KurdGali, above mentioned),
  • the city of Heraclaea founded by Alexander, afterwards destroyed, and rebuilt by Antiochus, and by him called Achaia (the site marked by the modern Kala i Kah) ; the
  • Derbici (Dharbaki, Rajput minstrel tribe) also, through the middle of whose territory the river Oxus runs, after rising in Lake Oxus ; the
  • Syrmatae (Sur Mati, before noticed), the Oxydracae (Wakhan and Darwaz ?), the
  • Heniochi (former Venetian colonists?), the Bateni (Batani, before noticed), the
  • Saraparse (Sarpara of Balochistan, to appear later on), and the Baktri, whose chief city is Zariaspe (Hazdrasp), which afterwards received the name of Baktra from the river there. The last nation lies at the back of Mount Paropamisus, over against the sources of the river Indus, and is bounded by the river Ochus.
  • Aorsi above mentioned, according to Strabo (Geog. xi. B), was a great trading tribe which dwelt to the north and north-east of the Caspian Sea, and may have had a colony in these parts ; they are not now traceable by that name in Afghanistan, except in the Uras or Urarus section of the Dahi Zangi Hazarah. The Heniochi appear to have been a colony of Veneti, or Venetians, settled in Baktria for the purposes of trade ; these, however, together with the Jews, seem to have disappeared with the cessation of the overland trade between Europe (Byzantium) and the far East.
  • Sistani, also called Dihcan, represent the original inhabitants of the country ; they now occupy a very subordinate position amongst the general population, and are much mixed with foreign elements ; they own no land, but are employed in the various industrial arts and handicrafts, and are the vassals of the Baloch Sarbandi and Shahreki, much as the Taoki are of the Sanjarani. The Kurd-Gali of Sistan are a branch of the Kurd (Cordueni and Kardukhi of the ancients) of Kurdistan, who established a dynasty in

[Page-174]:

Luristan (between Kirman and Khuzistan) about the beginning of the twelfth century, and maintained their authority there till Shah Abbas annexed their province.

The Malik Kurd dynasty of Ghor was established by Shamsuddin Kurd, governor of Khorasan, for Sultan Ghiasuddin Ghori, about 1245 A.D. He was confirmed in his authority by the Mughal Emperor Holagu, of whom he was a vassal, and greatly increased his power and authority in the reign of his successor, Abaka Khan. Shamsuddin was succeeded at Herat, his capital, by his son Ruknuddin, who took Kandahar city, and died in the reign of the Sultan Arghun Khan, 1280 A.D. His brother, Ghiasuddin Malik Kurd, then succeeded, and was confirmed by the Mughal Emperor Aljaitu Khan in his command of Ghor to the confines of the provinces on the Indus. The Malik Kurd dynasty was after this reduced to vassalage by the Amir Cazan of Khiva, and was finally extinguished in 1383 A.D., when the Amir Tymur (Tamerlane) took Herat and slew its last prince, another Ghiasuddin, and his son.

This completes our review of the tribes inhabiting the territory assigned to the fourteenth satrapy.


The fifteenth satrapy, Herodotus says, comprised the Sakai and Kaspioi ; its position and area are now represented by Khiva and Bukhara, a region beyond the limits of our inquiry.

Parthioi, Khorasmoi, Sogdoi, and Arioi

The sixteenth satrapy comprised the Parthioi, Khorasmoi, Sogdoi, and Arioi ; it covered a wide area on both the south and north of the Oxus, and lay athwart the western borders of Paropamisus and Baktria, curving round from Sistan in the south- west to Khokand in the north-east. In the country to the south of the Oxus dwelt the Parthioi and the Arioi. The Parthioi appear to have been composed mainly of the Koman Turk, or Turkoman of our time, a very numerous and powerful horde of nomads, extending round the east, north, and west sides of the Caspian Sea, and later along its southern shores also. The only portion of the nation coming within the area of our inquiry is the Turkoman of the Mashhad and Marv districts. These we have already noticed along with the Char Aymak tribes, and have mentioned their Harzagi section as the modern representatives of the ancient Arsaki, founder of the Parthian empire.

Location of Parthia

Strabo (Geog. xi. 9) says,

"Parthia is a small country, thickly wooded, mountainous, and produces nothing ; for this reason, under the Persian dominion, it was united with the Hyrkanoi for the purpose of paying tribute, and afterwards during a long period, when the Makedonians were masters of the country. At present (Strabo died 24 A.D.) it is augmented in extent, Komissene and Khorene are parts of Parthiene, and perhaps also the country as far as the Caspian Gates, Rhagoi, and the Tapyroi, which formerly belonged to Media."

[Page-175]: The Komisene here mentioned is the Kum, or Kumis, district of Persia ; Khorene seems to be the same as the Khaarene mentioned by Strabo (Geog. xv. 2), and the same as the modern Kharan of Balochistan.

During the period of the Median Empire (about 600 BCE), Herat was recognized as Aria and was an important part of several Persian Empires.

The Arioi were the people of Aria, the modern Herat province, and are represented by the Harawi, or Herati. In the early centuries of our era the province of Herat, and chiefly the hilly country to its west, was occupied by the Abdali (Hayatili Hun ); but this people appear to have migrated, about the ninth century perhaps, to the eastward and settled on the elevated plateaux on the western base of the Suleman range, and their former seats in the Herat country are now occupied by the Karai or Garay Turk.

The Arioi, according to Strabo (Geog. xv. 2), were on the west by the side of the Paropamisadoi, and extended both north and west of the Drangai so as nearly to encompass them ; and the Drangai were by the side of the Arakhotoi and Gedrosioi. In another passage (Geog. ii. 6), Strabo says :

" Beyond India on the west, and leaving the mountains on the right, or north, is a vast region, miserably inhabited, on account of the sterility of the soil, by men of different races, who are absolutely in a savage state. These are named Arioi, and extend from the mountains to Gedrosia and Karmania."

The vast region here referred to includes the modem Sistan and Balochistan Makran, and the different savage races are represented by the various tribes of nomad and predatory Baloch. In another passage (xi. 10) Strabo says :

"Aria and Margiana, which are the best districts in this part of Asia, are watered by the river Arins and by the Margus. Drangiana as far as Karmania furnished jointly with Aria payment of tribute."

Parikanoi

The seventeenth satrapy comprised the Parikanoi and Asiatic Ethiopians. It corresponds with the modern Balochistan — the Gadrosia or Gedrosia of Strabo, Pliny, Arrian, etc., and comrises all that mountainous, arid, sterile, and for the most part desert and sparsely inhabited region which extends from the Indus to the Persian province of Kirman, east and west ; and is bounded on the north by the sandy desert separating it from Kandahar and Sistan, and on the south by the Arabian Sea. The western portion of this region belongs to Persia, and is distinguished as Persian Balochistan; it is for the most part covered by the Sarhad mountain ranges and plateaux, and contains the districts of Sarhad, Rampur (the town of that name being the capital of this division of Balochistan), Dizak, Gah, etc. The eastern portion belongs to India, and is called Kalat Balochistan (the town of that name being the capital of this division of Balochistan), and contains the provinces of Sarawan, Jhalawan, Kach Gandawa, Las Bela,


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