Birkot
| Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Birkot is a village in Kunar Valley located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of northern Pakistan.
Variants
Jat Gotras
- Gabr (गबर)
History
Buddha Prakash[1] mentions that towards the end of Pushyamitra's reign the Yavana menace also seems to have assumed alarming dimensions. Hence Pushyamitra himself advanced against them and, crossing the Indus, penetrated into the region called Koshthaka, modern Birkot and Udeygram in the Manglawar area, but was killed by the fall of a rock (P. C. Bagchi, ‘Krimisha and Demetrius’, Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol, XXII (1946) pp. 81 ff.). After him his empire broke up into several fragments ruled over by warring scions of his family.
Inhabitants
H.A. Rose[2] writes that Gabr (गबर), or, as they call themselves Narisati, a small tribe found in a few villages in Chitral. Fr. Nursut, one of the so-called Gabr villages in the Kunar valley. It is also called Birkot, and by the Kafirs Satrgran, Nursnt being its Chitrali name — The Kafiri of the Hindoo-Koosh, p. 26. Possibly the Gabrak of Babar's Memoirs, their language differs considerably from that of the Gabare of the Indus valley. The Chitralis speak of them as a bald race, and they certainly have scanty beards. Sir G. Robertson describes them as all Musalmans of the Sunni sect, who have a particular language of their own and are believed to have been anciently fire-worshippers.
The Gabr has no very distinctive appearance except that one occasionally sees a face like that of a pantomime Jew. There are one or two fair-visaged, well-looking men belonging to the better class, who would compare on equal terms with the similar class in Chitral : they, however, are the exception,
The remainder, both high and low, seem no better than the poor cultivator class in other parts of the Mehtar's dominions, and have a singularly furtive and mean look and manner. The women have a much better appearance. They dress in loose blue garments, which fall naturally into graceful folds. The head is covered with a blue skull-cap from which escape long plaits of hair, one over each shoulder, and two hanging down behind. White metal or bead neck and wrist ornaments contrast well with the dark blue material of their clothes. At a short distance these women are pleasing and picturesque.
According to H.A. Rose, The Ramgul Kafirs are also spoken of as Gabars or Gabarik, but they have no relationship with the Gabr.
References
Back to Jat Villages in Pakistan