Bajaur Pakistan

Note - Please click → Bajor for details of similarly named villages at other places.

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Location of Bajaur in Pakistan

Bajaur (Hindi:बाजौर, Pashto: باجوړ) is a region of Pakistan. It has a hilly terrain. According to the 1998 census, the population was 595,227.

Location

It borders Afghanistan's Kunar Province with a 52 km border. The headquarters of the Agency administration is located in the town of Khaar. Major towns are Khaar and Inayat killi.

Variants of name

• Bazor
• Bajur
• Bajour
• Arigaeum (Arigaion) (Arrian:The Anabasis of Alexander/4b, Ch.24) Capital of Aspasians 327 BC

People

Bajour is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani (Tarkalani) Pashtuns, and there are there main sub-tribes in Bajaur: Utman Khel, Tarkalanri, Mamund (Kakazai, Wur and Salarzai) as well as a small population of Safis. The Utman Khel are at the southeast of Bajaur, while Mamund are at the southwest, and the Tarkani are at the north of Bajaur. Its border with Afghanistan's Kunar province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistan and the region.

Topography

An interesting feature in the topography is a mountain spur from the Kunar range, which, curving eastwards, culminates in the well-known peak of Koh-i-Mor, which is visible from the Peshawar valley. It was here, at the foot of the mountain, that Alexander the Great founded the ancient city of Nysa and the Nysaean colony, traditionally said to have been founded by Dionysus. The Koh-i-Mor has been identified as the Meros of Arrian's history—the three-peaked mountain from which the god issued.

History

V.K.Mathur writes that Masaga was a very safe place situated between Sindhu and Panjaura Rivers to capture which Alexander had to do extensive efforts. Masaga was inhabited by Assaka (Ashvaka) people and was their capital. The city was surrounded by mountains, river and artificial trenches and boundary. It is said that Alexander was wounded by arrow of Massagas while he was inspecting fort. Alexander assured them their safety but conspired and attacked them and occupied the fort. The fort remained in Alexander's occupation for sometime but it became free when Alexander left India. The location of Massaga is not known but it is believed that it was some where in the valley of Bazor.

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Babur's attack on Bajaur - In 1518, Babur had invested and conquered the fortress of Bajaur, The Gabar-Kot from Sultan Mir Haider Ali Gabari the Jahangirian Sultan and gone on to conquer Bhera on the river Jhelum,a little beyond the salt ranges.The Jahangiri Dynasty had well known chain of Royal-Tajik family, who were the descendants of Cyrus, the Great Sultan Skandar Zulqarnain of the Akhamanche Royal class of ancient Persia.the River Indus, these formed the traditional defensive frontier of India. Babur claimed these areas as his own, because they had been part of Taimur's empire. Hence, "picturing as our own the countries once occupied by the Turks", he ordered that "there was to be no overrunning or plundering (of the countryside)". It may be noted that this applied to areas which did not offer resistance, because earlier, at Bajaur, where the Afghan tribesmen had resisted, he had ordered a general massacare, with their women and children being made captive.

Babur justifies this massacre by saying, "the Bajauris were rebels and at enmity with the people of Islam, and as, by heathenish and hostile customs prevailing in their midst, the very name of Islam was rooted out...".

As the Bajauris were rebels and inimical to the people of Islam, the men were subjected to a general massacre and their wives and children were made captive. At a guess, more than 3,000 men met their death. We entered the fort and inspected it. On the walls, in houses, streets and alleys, the dead lay, in what numbers! Those walking around had to jump over the corpses.

The Gazetteers and Reports contain nearly all the modern information available about Bajour. The autobiography of Baber (by Leyden and Erskine) gives interesting details about the country in the 16th century.

H.A. Rose writes

H.A. Rose writes that Dilazak (दिलज़ाक), an important Pathan tribe, were the first Afghan tribe to enter the Peshawar valley, and the Akhund, Darweza, avers that they came first into Nangrahar^†

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† The Dilazaks first entered Nangrahar from the west or south-west and, prior to Timur's invasion, settled in the Peshawar valley, allying themselves with the Shalman's. In Babar's time and under Akbar they held Walasau and the eastern part of Bajaur. They assigned the Doaba to the Yusufzais and Mandars and they in turn to the Gagyanis, but the latter were defeated by the Ujbzaks Upon this the Khashis, headed by Malik Ahmad, the Mandar chief, attacked the Dilazaks and drove them out of all their territories north of the Kabul river. The Khalils and Mohmands then induced Kamran to attack the Dilazaks and he expelled them from Peshawar and all their possessions west of the Indus (c. 1533-4). Subsequently (c. 1549-50) Khan Kaju, Malik Ahmad's successor, formed a great confederation of Khashi tribes and defeated the Ghwaria Khel, headed by the Khalils, at Shaikh Tapur in 1549-50. Khan Kaju's power may be gauged from the fact that he had at one time a force of 150,000 men under his command and his authority was acknowledged from Nangrahar to the Marigalla pass, and from Upper Swat to Pindi and Kalabagh. Adam Khan Gakhar is said to have been his feudatory. Three or four years later in 1552 Humayun reached Peshawar, which fortress he found in ruins, and appointed Sikandar Khan the Cossack (Qzak) its governor. Soon after 1552 Khan Kaju marched on Bagram and there invested Sikandar, but having; no artillery or other firearms was compelled to raise the siege. Khan Kaju's Mulla or chief priest and minister was Shaikh Mali who divided the conquered lands among the Khashis.

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[Page-242] Dindār - Dirmān

from the west and passed on eastward before the time of Timur. Entering the vale of Peshawar they formed an alliance with the Shalmanis, who were then subject to the Sultan of Swat, and subdued or expelled, exterminated or absorbed the other tribes which held the valley. Thus they occupied the eastern part of Bajaur, and their territory extended from the Jinde river to the Kalapani and the hills of Swat. The Shalmanis held the Hashtnagar tract, but all the lands from Bajaur to the Indus north of the Kabul and south of it as far as the Afridi hills, were Dilazak territory when the Khashi Pathans appeared on the scene. That branch of the Afghan nation had been expelled from their seats near Kabul by Mirza Ulugh Beg, Babar's uncle, they applied for aid to the Dilazāks and were by them assigned the Shabkadr Doābah or tract between the two rivers.

Accordingly the Yusufzai ard Mandaṛ tribes of the Khashis settled in the Doābah, and some under the Mandar chief, Mir Jamāl Amanzai, spread towards Ambar and Dānishkol, while many Mandars and some of the Yusufzais pushed on into Bajaur. Then they came into collision with the Umr Khel Dilazāks, who held the Chanḍawal valley, and defeated them with the loss of their chief, Malik Haibu. The Yusufzai, Mandar and Khalil^* then divided Bajaur among themselves, but soon fell out and in the end the Khalils were crushed in a battle fought in the Hinduraj valley. The Khalils never again obtained a footing in Bajaur.

Meanwhile the Gagiānis had attempted to set a footing in Bajaur but failed and besought Malik Ahmad Mandar for aid. He assigned the Doabah to them, but they soon found cause of quarrel with the Dilazaks, and even with the Yusufzais and Mandars also. In 1519 the Gagiānis brought Bābar into the Hashtnagar tract, ostensibly against the Dilazāks, with whom the Yusufzai and Mandars left them to fight it out. In the result the Dilazak completely overthrew the Gagiānis. The former were elated at their victory, and thus aroused the jealousy of Malik Ahmad, who formed a great Khashi confederacy, including various vassals of the Yusufzai and Mandar. In a great battle fought in the Guzar Rud, between Katlang and Shahbāzgarhi, the Dilazaks were defeated with great loss, but in the pursuit Ahmad's son Khan Kaju chivalrously allowed the Dilazdk women to escape across the Indus. He subsequently received the hand of the daughter of the Dilazāk chief, and the political downfall of the Dilazak was thereby sealed. As good subjects of Babar they were obnoxious to Mirza Kamrān, and this doubtless accounts for the failure of all their attempts to retrieve their position, since they were only finally overcome after much severe fighting. In alliance with Kamrān the Khalils sought to despoil the Dilazaks of their remaining lands, and by 1534 they had obtained possession of the country from Dhāka to Attock, together with the Khyber and Karappa passes.

Ch.24: Operations against the Aspasians

Arrian writes....Alexander now took command of the shield-bearing guards, the archers, the Agrianians, the brigade of Coenus and Attains, the royal body-guard of cavalry, about four regiments of the other Companion cavalry, and half of the horse-archers, and advanced towards the river Euaspla,^[1] where the chieftain of the Aspasians was. After a long journey he arrived at the city on the second day. When the barbarians ascertained that he was approaching they set fire to the city and fled to the mountains. But Alexander followed close upon the fugitives as far as the mountains, and slaughtered many of them before they could manage to get away into the places which were difficult of access. Ptolemy, son of Lagus, observing that the leader himself of the Indians of that district was on a certain hill, and that he had some of his shield-bearing guards round him, though he had with himself far fewer men, yet he still continued to pursue him on horseback. But as the hill was difficult for his horse to run up, lie left it there, handing it over to one of the shield-bearing guards to lead. He then followed the Indian on foot, without any delay. When the latter observed Ptolemy approaching, he turned round, and so did the shield-bearing guards with him. The Indian at close quarters struck Ptolemy on the chest through the breastplate with a long spear, but the breastplate checked the violence of the blow. Then Ptolemy, smiting right through the Indian's thigh, overthrew him, and stripped him of his arms. When his men saw their leader lying dead, they stood their ground no longer; but the men on the mountains, seeing their chieftain's corpse being carried off by the enemy, were seized with indignation, and running down engaged in a desperate conflict over him on the hill. For Alexander himself was now on the hill with the infantry who had dismounted from the horses. These, falling upon the Indians, drove them away to the mountains after a hard struggle, and remained in possession of the corpse. Then crossing the mountains he descended to a city called Arigaeum, and found that this had been set on fire by the inhabitants, who had afterwards fled. There Craterus with his army reached him, after accomplishing all the king's orders; and because this city seemed to be built in a convenient place, he directed that general to fortify it well, and. settle in it as many of the neighbouring people as were willing to live there, together with any of the soldiers who were unfit for service. He then advanced to the place where he heard that most of the barbarians of the district had fled for refuge; and coming to a certain mountain, he encamped at the foot of it. Meantime Ptolemy, son of Lagus, being sent out by Alexander on a foraging expedition, and advancing a considerable distance with a few men to reconnoitre, brought back word to the king that he had observed many more fires in the camp of the barbarians than there were in Alexander's. But the latter did not believe in the multitude of the enemy's fires. Discovering, however, that the barbarians of the district had joined their forces into one body, he left a part of his army there near the mountain, encamped as they were, and taking as many men as seemed sufficient, according to the reports he had received, as soon as they could descry the fires near at hand, he divided his army into three parts. Over one part he placed Leonnatus, the confidential body-guard, joining the brigades of Attains and Balacrus with his own; the second division he put under the lead of Ptolemy, son of Lagus, including the third part of the royal shield-bearing guards, the brigades of Philip and Philotas, two regiments of horse-archers, the Agrianians, and half of the cavalry. The third division he himself led towards the place where most of the barbarians were visible.

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1. Supposed to be another name for the Choes.

p.250-252

See also

• A glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province By H.A. Rose Vol II/D: Dilazak, p.241-241

References

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