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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 1-25


Afghanistan is the Ariana of the ancient Greeks

Ariana in Median Empire

There is so much relating to our subject which has to be compressed within the limited space at our disposal, that I must restrict my prefatory remarks to a bare outline of the course I propose to follow in the pursuit of this investigation.

Since the commencement of this century, when we first became personally acquainted with the people of Afghanistan, through the inquiries prosecuted in that direction by the Honourable East India Company, a great deal has been said and written about the Afghans and their origin. All this I propose to set aside and dismiss from my thoughts ; and now to set out upon an independent investigation, based upon the records of the ancient and modern authorities in whose writings we find notices of the region to which our inquiry is directed.


Strabo, the date of whose death is assigned to the year 24 A.D., speaking of Eratosthenes' account of India at the time of its invasion by Alexander (Geog. xv. 1. 10), says :

" At that period the Indus was the boundary of India and Ariana, situated towards the west, and in the possession of the Persians ; for afterwards the Indians occupied a larger portion of Ariana, which they had received from the Macedonians."

And farther on (xv. 2. 9), describing Ariana, he says :

" The Indians occupy (in part) some of the countries situated along the Indus which formerly belonged to the Persians. Alexander deprived the Ariani of them, and established there settlements of his own. But Seleukus Nikator gave them to Sandrakottus in consequence of a marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants."

Here we have two facts established. First, that at the period of Alexander's invasion — B.C. 330 — Ariana was peopled (in part) by Indians, who afterwards occupied a larger portion of the country, which they had received from the Macedonians. And next, that Alexander deprived the Ariani of their countries situated along the Indus, and there established settlements of his own ; presumably including Greek colonists, we may add. These statements of Strabo receive confirmation from Pliny, about half a century later (his death is dated 79 A.D.), who, describing


[Page-2] the boundaries of Northern India, says (Nat. Hist. vi. 23):

"Most geographers do not fix the Indus as the northern boundary of India, but add the four satrapies of the Gedrosi, Arakhotae, Arii, and Paropamisadae, fixing the river Kophes as its farthest boundary.

Here we learn from Pliny, the portions of Ariana which were peopled by Indians at a period subsequent to the invasion of Alexander by about four hundred years.

General Sir Alexander Cunningham, in his "Ancient Geo- graphy of India," published just twenty years ago, speaking of the boundaries of Northern India, quotes these passages from . Strabo and Pliny ; and, after recognising Sandrakottus as the Chandra Gupta Maurya, whose grandson Asoka propagated Buddhism to the most distant parts of his empire, mentions Alasadda the capital of the Yona, or Greek country, as one of these places, and, adducing proofs of the Indian occupation of the Kabul valley in the third and fourth centuries before Christ, instances its completeness by the use of the Indian language on the coins of the Baktrian Greeks and Indo-Scythians down to 100 A.D. ; which language, he observes, although lost for the next two or three centuries, again makes its appearance on the coins of the Abtelites, or White Huns, of the sixth century. In the following century, he says, the king of Kapisa was a Kshatriya, or pure Hindu ; during the whole of the tenth century the Kabul valley was held by a dynasty of Brahmans, whose power was not finally extinguished until towards the close of the reign of Mahmud Ghaznavi, down to which time, it would appear, a great part of the population of Eastern Afghanistan must have been of Indian descent, while the religion was pure Buddhism. " During the rule of the Ghaznavis, whose late conversion to Muhammadanism," says Sir A. Cunningham, "had only added bigotry to their native ferocity, the persecution of idol-loving Buddhists was a pleasure as well as a duty. The idolaters, he says, " were soon driven out, and with them the Indian element, which had subsisted for so many centuries in Eastern Ariana, finally disappeared."

The above remarks of the erudite scholar and eminent archaeologist just quoted are of great value, as confirming the existence of an Indian population in Eastern Afghanistan down to the first third of the eleventh century of our era. And I may here state in anticipation, that, although the idolaters were driven out of their idolatry, and with them the Indian element disappeared in the brotherhood of Islam, an Indian people, both in their tribal names and national customs, as well as in the languages they speak, still exists in the satrapies assigned to the Indians by Pliny. In the course of our inquiry we shall see Indians re-


[Page-3] appearing everywhere in eastern Afghanistan, and often by the names of great Rajput tribes of renown in the history of India.

One result of Alexander's conquest, as we have seen above, was the introduction into the countries along the Indus of settlements of his own, in which, we may conclude, were comprised various colonies of Greeks ; the cession of these countries by Seleukus Nikator (whose death is dated 281 B.C.) to Sandrakottus would not, under the amicable circumstances of the transfer, dislodge these settlements, though it would naturally be followed by an increase of the Indian population in the ceded countries. This, indeed, took place on, it seems, a great scale during a long period ; and the Indian element predominated in the population of Eastern Afghanistan down to the first third of the eleventh century, since which period it has been lost to view under the supremacy of Islam. Bearing these points in mind, we can now enter upon the inquiry before us, pepared to recognise in the existing inhabitants of Afghanistan representatives of the ancient population of Ariana.

The country now called Afghanistan is the Ariana of the ancient Greeks. Strabo (xv. 2. 8), quoting Eratosthenes, gives the limits of this region as follows:

" Ariana is bounded on the east by the Indus, on the south by the Great Sea, on the north by the Paropamisus, and the succeeding chain of mountains as far as the Caspian Gates, on the west by the same limits by which the territory of the Parthians is separated from Media, and Karmania from Paraetakene and Persia. . . . The name also of Ariana is extended so as to include some part of Persia, Media, and the north of Baktria and Sogdiana ; for these nations speak nearly the same language."

Eratosthenes died about 196 B.C., so that we may conclude that up to that date the language of Ariana was the Persian, or one of its dialects ; and that the Pukhto was not at that time formed ; or if previously existing, was confined to the Swat highlands and Suleman range. The boundaries he has assigned to Ariana were probably those recognised as the limits of the region during the period of the Greek sway ; for Herodotus was apparently unacquainted with the geographical divisions of this country which are mentioned by the later Greek writers.

For the purpose of our inquiry we may say that Afghanistan is bounded on the east by the Indus from Gilgit to the sea ; on the south by the Arabian Sea; on the west by the Persian Kirman and Khorasan ; and on the north by the Oxus river as far as Khojah Salih, and thence across the Kharizm desert to Persian Khorasan.

The name Afghanistan

The name Afghanistan, as applied to the region thus defined,


[Page-4]: is not commonly known, or so used, by the people of the country itself, either in whole or in part. It is the name given to the whole region in a general way by its neighbours and by foreigners, from the appellation of the dominant people inhabiting the country, and appears to have originated with the Persians in modem times only. I For, although our Afghans have been known in history as a particular people since the commencement of the eighth century, their country has not been called Afghanistan until this people were established as an independent nation under a king of their own race, in the middle of the last century ; immediately preceding which event, the conqueror Nadir Shah, having recovered this region to the Persian sovereignty, was the first who called the northern portion Afghanistan and the southern Balochistan, after the names of two great tribes or peoples predominating in these parts respectively.

Khorasan is the name used by the people themselves to designate the country known to outsiders as Afghanistan, and the term fairly corresponds to the limits above assigned to the Ariana in its extended signification ; the western portion of Khorasan, from the Mashhad district in the north to the Ghainat in the south, marking off the Persian Khorasan.

Ptolemy divides Ariana into the seven provinces of

  1. Margiana (Murgab or Marv),
  2. Baktriana (Balkh and Badakhshan, and now Afghan Turkistan),
  3. Aria (Herat),
  4. Paropamisus (Hazarah and Kabul to the Indus, including Kafiristan and Dardistan),
  5. Drangiana (Sistan and Kandahar),
  6. Arakhosia (Ghazni and Suleman range to the Indus), and
  7. Gadrosia (Kach and Makran, or Balochistan);

These provinces are fairly well represented by the modern divisions of the country, as above bracketed with each.

Native divisions - The native divisions of the country, as spoken of by Muhammadan writers, are not so well defined. Some speak of the northern half as Kabulistan, and the southern as Zabulistan ; of the north-eastern part as Bakhtar, and the north-western as Ghor ; of the south-eastern part as Roh, and the south-western as Nimroz. In this division Kabulistan comprises Margiana, Aria, Paropamisus, and Baktriana ; and Zabulistan comprises Drangiana, Arakhosia, and Gadrosia ; whilst Bakhtar would comprise Baktriana and the eastern half of Paropamisus ; Ghor, the western half of Paropamisus, Aria, and Margiana ; Roh, all Arakhosia, with the eastern halves of Drangiana and Gadrosia, or Kandahar and Kach ; and Nimroz, the western halves of Drangiana and Gadrosia, or Sistan and Makran.

The Afghanistan above defined is the region to the existing inhabitants of which our present inquiry is directed. It will facilitate our comprehension of the subject ultimately if we


[Page-5]: pursue the investigation in some definite order ; and as it is important, as an aid to our recognition of the different tribes and clans, that we should distinguish between the inhabitants under the ancient Persian domination and those introduced into the country after the destruction of the Empire of Darius Codomannus by Alexander the Great, I propose to take Herodotus, the earliest historical authority, as our guide for the former period ; and, as we proceed step by step, to add to what he has recorded of the ancient inhabitants of this region, so far as concerns their national designations and territorial occupancies, such further information of the like kind, regarding later arrivals, as we find in the works of the best known of the Greek and Latin writers of antiquity, subsequent to the period of that great revolution in this part of Asia — during which Greece and India joined hands in the intermediate regions of Persia and Ariana — such as Strabo, Pliny, Arrian, Ptolemy, Curtius, etc. ; and to supplement what we gather from their records, with such further illustrations of our subject as we may derive from the works of modern authorities, amongst which Tod's Annals of Rajasthan, published in 1829, is the most useful and instructive ; and, finally, to utilize the information gathered from these various sources by the light, however obscure and flickering, of personal observation during many years of residence amongst the people themselves.


By this plan we shall, I think, be the better prepared to recognise in many of the existing tribes of Afghanistan the modern representatives of the ancient nations of Ariana, and thus be enabled to form an accurately founded distinction between the old possessors and the later settlers; between the remains of subsequent dynastic invaders and the stragglers of transitory plunderers. And if a consequence of our inquiry is not to throw some new light upon the history of India in its connection with the Greek dominion and the Jata (Getic) invasion by which it was destroyed ; in connection with the relations of these Scythian conquerors with their kindred races of the earlier irruptions which peopled Northern India with the Brahman and the Kshatriya; in connection with their joint domination in ArianaBuddhist Jata in the north. Brahman Kshatriya in the south ; and finally in connection with the struggles of these Indians of Ariana with the fire-worshipping Parthian under the long supremacy of the Arsaki dynasty, their participation under the Parthian flag in the wars against the Romans in Asia Minor, their contact with Christianity, and their ultimate absorption into Islam ; if no such results issue from our inquiry into the ethnology of the peoples now composing the population of Afghanistan, we may, perhaps, at least learn what is the true meaning of that name, and who


[Page-6]: the Afghans really are. With this explanation I proceed to our inquiry.

Proceed to our inquiry

About a century prior to the destruction of the Persian Empire of Darius Codomannus by the Makedonians under Alexander the Great, Herodotus had written a very full history of that country down to his own day. But little of his most interesting records relate immediately to that portion of the ancient Persia with which we are just now concerned. That little, however, is of especial interest and great value to us in our present inquiry. At that period, about 450 B.C., Ariana, the Khorasan, or Afghanistan, we speak of, formed the eastern portion of the Empire of Darius HystaspesDara son of Gushtasp. This Darius belonged to a Persian family or tribe, whose seat was in the north-eastern part of the country we are discussing — in the Bakhtar province, the capital of which was the city of Balkh, called by the Arabs Um-al-bilad or "Mother of Cities," on account of its great antiquity. He succeeded, about 521 B.C., to the empire founded by Cyrus (Kurush), and enlarged and consolidated by his son and successor Cambyses (Kamhojia, Kamhohji), Cyrus — whose mother was called Mandane (Mandana ; perhaps a princess of the Mandan tribe), and said to be a Mede, and whose father was called Cambyses (Kamhohji ; probably a chieftain of the Kamboh tribe) — having reduced the Medes and conquered the kingdom of Crcesus the Lydian (Ludi) thereby became master of all the territory extending from the Indus to the Hellespont.


At this period, the principal Persian tribes, as named by Herodotus (bk. i. 126), were the Pasargadai (Pisar-kada) " Sons of the House "), the tribe of the Royal Family ; the Maraphoi and the Maspoi tribes apparently connected with the civil and military administration of the Empire ; the Panthialai, the Derusiai, and the Germanoi, who were all husbandmen ; and the Daai, the Mardoi, the Dropikoi, and the Sagartoi, who were all nomads.


The mother tongue of all these tribes would be the Persian. We find most of them represented amongst the existing population of Afghanistan by tribes bearing precisely the same names, and speaking the Persian language. The Panthialai, it would seem, formerly had an occupancy on the extreme eastern or Indus frontier ; for there is a district in the Mahmand hills, on the Peshawar frontier, north of the Khybar Pass and between the Kabul and Swat rivers, called Pandiali, after which a division of the Mahmand, or " Great Mand," tribe is named ; if, indeed, this division of the Mahmand be not descended from the Persian Panthialai, after whom the district is named ; for, though they are now incorporated with the Mahmand, and speak the Pukhto, they differ from other Pathans in many of their customs, and in


[Page-7]: appearance. The Derusiai are represented by the Daruzi in the mountains east of Herat, in Afghanistan ; and more numerously by the Drusi, or Druses, of the Lebanon, in Syria. The Germanoi are the Kirmani of the Persian Kirman province ; there is another Kirman district on the Indus, of which we shall speak later on. These are all settled tribes.

The Daai are the Dahi of Dahistan, or Hazarah, in Afghanistan. The Mardoi are now included with the Dahi, as the Dahi Mardah and occupy exactly the position assigned to them by Strabo, as we shall see farther on. The Dropikoi are the Derbikoi of Strabo and Derbikki of Pliny, and the Dharbi, or Dharbi-ki Rajput, a bard or minstrel tribe ; they are now found in Afghanistan as the Darbdki an obscure and little-esteemed people, scattered about in small clusters of a few families together, amongst the Jamshedi and Firozkohi Aymac, in the country between Herat and Mymana. The Sagartoi I have not been able to trace by that name in any part of Afghanistan, except by the name of a hill district in Western Balochistan. These are all nomadic. The language of both classes is Persian.

Chief tribes of the Medes

The chief tribes of the Medes, says Herodotus, were the Busai, the Paratakenoi, the Strukhatai, the Arizantoi, the Budioi, and the Magoi. None of these tribes are traceable by those names in Afghanistan. Paratakenoi is perhaps the same as the modern Kohistani and means "Mountaineer." The Magoi or Persian Magh are now called Gabr, and by this name are found in several parts of Afghanistan as small sections of some of the larger tribes; and in Swat and the neighbouring hills on the Indus, north of Peshawar, they constitute a distinct tribe called Gabari or Gawarai, occupying a small district called Gabrial, on the west bank of the Indus above the Barando valley. Formerly they were an important tribe in these parts, and Swat was called Gabari, or Swati Gabari, down to the time of the Emperor Babar, the middle of the fifteenth century. They were fire- worshippers,and appear to have come into these parts at an early period of the Parthian or Arsaki rule ; they are now nominally and professedly Musalmans. Among the western Muhammadans the name Gabr or Gawr is used as a term of reproach, and is the familiar Giaur applied by them to Christians and other unbelievers in Islam.

The other nations of the empire of Cyrus mentioned by Herodotus as dwelling within the kingdom of Orcesus, and Persian subjects, were the Lydoi, formerly called Moionoi or Meionoi ; the Phrygoi ; the Mysoi, who were colonists of the Lydoi ; the Mariandynoi, so named from the district they occupied ; the Khalaboi ; the Paphlagonoi ; the Thrakoi, who on crossing over into Asia


[Page-8]: were called Thynoi and Bithynoi ; Karoi, Ionoi, Doroi, Aeoloi ; and Pamphyloi. Most of these names are largely represented amongst the tribes of Afghanistan, and principally in the northern portion of the Indus border, in the precise locality which was a seat of Greek settlement, as we know from the evidence of coins,and architectural remains, as well as from historical record, during the period of the Greek Baktrian dominion from 330 to 126 B.C., or even to a much later date. The army of Alexander the Great was no doubt very largely recruited from the tribes of Asia Minor, not only as soldiers, but also as camp followers, menials, sutlers, and so forth. It was probably from this source that Alexander made those settlements of his own in the countries he took from the Ariani, as mentioned by Strabo in the passage before quoted. Whilst, later on, merchants and traders and colonists, in all likelihood, flocked to the Greek kingdoms and principalities on the borders of the wealthy gold-yielding India ; for India alone of all the twenty satrapies of Darius paid him tribute in gold, and is expressly stated to have been the richest of them all.

Greek and Makedonian tribes

However, be all this as it may, there must have been many genuine Greek and Makedonian tribes represented in the ranks and camps of Alexander's army, and in those of his immediate successors in Ariana, together with various Lydian tribes, received in the way of reinforcements from time to time. Among the new tribes introduced into Ariana by Alexander and his immediate successors, there must have been Akhaoi or Achaians, Boioi or Boeotians, Paionoi or Paeonians, and other Pannoi or tribes of Pannonia, such as the Norikoi, Paioplai, Doberoi, Bessoi, and other Pangaioi, or Pangseans.

I mention the names of these Makedonian and Greek tribes, because throughout a large tract of mountainous country bordering upon the Indus, and forming part of the ancient Baktriana, we have at this day a great number of tribes and clans of Afghans, so-called, bearing precisely the same names. To run over the list above, given by Herodotus — the Lydoi are represented in Afghanistan by the Ludi or Lodi ; the Maionoi, by the Miyani ; the Mysoi, by the Musa ; the Thynoi and Bithynoi, by the Tani and Bitani; the Karoi, Ionoi, Doroi, and Aioloi, by the Karo, Yunus, Dor, and Ali, or Aali, clans and sections of several Afghan tribes ; and the Pamphyloi, by the Parmuli or Farmuli.

The Ludi tribe of Afghanistan, with whom the Miyani and the Musa have always been closely associated, as will be seen further on, has figured conspicuously amongst Afghan tribes in connection with the history of medieval India, since the time of Mahmud Ghaznavi, at the commencement of the eleventh century ; at which


[Page-9]: time they had already acquired renown for their martial qualities. They were largely entertained by Mahmud as soldiers, and furnished him with several enterprising military leaders and capable provincial governors. The capture of Somnath, 1024 a.d., is said to have been due to the valour of the Ludi contingent, and Mahmud, in recognition of their services in this campaign, gave some of their chiefs important commands in Hindustan ; the favour they enjoyed under the Ghaznavi dynasty they retained under that of the succeeding Ghori, two centuries later, and it was a Ludi chieftain who, with his contingent of clansmen, led the van of Shahab- uddin's expedition against Delhi, 1193 A.D., when the Rajput sovereign of Hindustan, the Rae Pithora, or Prithviraja, was vanquished and slain, and the empire of India transferred to the Muhammadan, On this occasion, say the Afghans, Shahabuddin, the second Sultan of the Ghori dynasty of Ghazni, raised the Ludi chieftain, Malik Mahmud, to the rank of Amir, and granted extensive estates to himself and his fellow-chiefs.

Afghan tribes in India under Ludi rule

From this time the fortunes of the Ludi steadily rose, and they became powerful in Panjab. The conquest of Shahabuddin opened a free communication between Afghanistan and India; and large numbers of Afghans of many different tribes flocked into the country as military mercenaries. Two centuries later again, when the Amir Tymur, or Tamerlane, invaded Hindustan and captured Delhi, 1398 A.D., he was accompanied by a strong contingent of Afghans, at the head of which was Malik Khidab, Ludi, with the Jalwani, Sarwani, and Niyazi chiefs from the Suleman range. For his services on this occasion Malik Khidab, who was previously governor of Multan, was appointed to the government of Delhi, and under his rule the Ludi became masters of nearly the whole of Panjab, from Multan to Sarhind. In 1460 A.D., Bahlol, Ludi, mounted the throne of Delhi, and established the dynasty of Afghan, or Pathan, sovereigns of Hindustan. Under their rule the Afghans swarmed into Hindustan; whole tribes left their country and settled as colonists in various parts of India, principally in the Rajput States of Central India, in Rajwara, Barar, and Hydrabad of the Dakhan, or Southern India. Among the tribes thus quitting Afghanistan were the Ludi, the Panni, the Naghar, the Bitani, the Maku, and others ; whilst every tribe of note sent its contingent of clansmen, large or small, as the case might be, to join their countrymen and seek new homes and found new settlements in the wide extent of Hindustan. These emigrants are mostly dispersed in small communities amongst the general " population; but in some parts, as in Shekhawat, Barar, Karaoli, Hydrabad, etc., they form numerous and distinct colonies. In more recent times again, so late as the last century only, another


[Page-10]: great emigration of Afghans took place from the Roh division of Afghanistan into Hindustan, which peopled a whole province, named Rohilkhand, after their appellation of Rohila, or natives of Roh. I have entered into these details here, as the instance seems to afford an illustration of what may have occurred in the way of shifting of the population in the ancient Persian empire after its overthrow by the Greeks. The two cases seem to run parallel in many points ; but we have not time to dwell on the subject just now, more than to point out that in Persia, Greeks had overrun the country as merchants, scribes, physicians, etc., and were largely employed by the kings as mercenary troops, for ages before the Makedonians conquered the country ; and that in India the Afghans were employed as mercenary soldiers, personal guards, district governors, etc., and traversed the country in all directions as caravan merchants for centuries before the Ludi acquired the sovereignty, in the middle of the fifteenth century.

Miyani subdivisions

The Ludi have entirely disappeared from Afghanistan, but the Miyani, a branch of the tribe retaining its primitive name, is still found in the country, as one of the divisions of the association of caravan merchants denominated Povindah.

The Miyani subdivisions or sections, as given in the Afghan genealogies, are the following : —

Miyani sections.

Ghorani. Malahi. Silaj. Jat. Isot. Latah.

Mashani. Togh. Samra. Sur. Keki. Sarghi.

Rahwani. Lohani. Shakur. Zora. Ahir. Zmari.

Khatran and Gharshin or Khachin or Kachin.


Almost all of these names, not even excepting that of the clan itself, the Miyani or Myanah, are found amongst the clans and sections of the Rajput. But as the Rajput now comprise a great many sub-divisions, the names of which do not appear in the early genealogies of the race, as given in Tod's " Annals of Rajasthan," it would seem that they have from time to time adopted and incorporated with their own tribes many others, of perhaps kindred origin, with which they came into contact in ancient times, subsequent to Alexander's conquest of Ariana. I have prepared a classified list of Rajput tribes and their subdivisions for reference in connection with this inquiry, which will be found at the end of this paper. It will serve as a guide to distinguish the tribes coming into Ariana from the eastward from those entering the country from the west and the north, and to distinguish both classes from the tribes inhabiting the country prior and up to the period of the Makedonian conquest.

Among the other nations of Asia Minor, the kingdom of Crcesus above mentioned, are the Thynoi and Bithynoi. These are


[Page-11]: represented in Afghanistan by the Tani or Tuni sections of the Ghilzi and other Pathan tribes of the Suleman range, and by the Bitani, a tribe which has always been linked with the Ludi.

Links of Bitani tribe with Ludi

According to the Afghan tradition the Ludi tribe sprung from the offspring of a daughter of Shekh Bet or Bait — a new convert to Islam — the chief of the Bitani tribe, inhabiting the mountains of Ghor.

The tradition briefly runs thus. In the Khilafat of Walid, grandson of the Khalif Marwan, Hajaj bin Yusuf was dispatched in command of an army to conquer Khorasan and Ghoristan. On the approach of the invaders a revolution took place in that country, and its princes were deposed and exiled. One of these princes, Shah Husen by name, found an asylum in the tuman, or camp, of Shekh Bet, chief of the Bitani tribe dwelling in that neighbourhood, fell in love with his host's daughter, named Matu, and stole her honour. 'Coming events cast their shadows before,' and the outraged parents, to close the mouth of scandal and preserve the reputation of the family, decided to marry the delinquent couple. Still it was necessary, for the dignity of the Afghan name, to be assured of the rank and parentage of the prospective son-in-law, and Shah Husen gave the following account of his descent : When Faridun conquered Zohak (the Assyrian), and hanged him by the heels in the cavern on Mount Damawund, the family of the captive fled from their home at Istakhar, the capital of Fars, and took refuge in the fastnesses of the mountains of Ghor, and there established themselves with their dependents and followers. Prior to this time there was no habitation in the mountains of Ghor, though the borders of its territory were occupied by scattered families of the Bani Israil, Afghans and others. The family of Shah Husen descended from these Zohak refugees. When Hajaj had conquered Ghor, he sent its prince, Kamalluddin Mahmud, son of Jalaluddin Hasan, to the court of the Khalip Walid at Baghdad. At the same time the father of Shah Husen, called Shah Mu'azzuddin, set out on a pilgrimage to Makka, whilst the youthful Shah Husen betook himself to the neighbouring camp of Shekh Bet, Bitani.

This story, I may here interpose, seems based upon a hazy and confused recollection of the history of Husen bin Sam bin Sui, the founder of the Ghori dynasty, which ruled at Ghazni in succession to the dynasty founded there by Sabaktagin, Turk, of which Sultan Mahmijd Ghaznavi was the most celebrated prince and plunderer of India. This Husen, it is said, had gone to India a-trading, and on his return journey, after a variety of adventures and misfortunes, including shipwreck and imprisonment, fell into the hands of a band of robbers, in whose company


[Page-12]: he was captured by the troops of Sultan Ibrahim, who reigned at Ghazni from 1068 to 1098 A.D. The whole gang was taken to the capital, and condemned to death ; but on Husen explaining his misfortunes, he was taken before the Sultan, who, on learning of his family, etc., not only released him, but took him into favour, and gave him a post at the Court, from which he was by degrees advanced to the highest charges of the State. Ibrahim's son and successor, Mas'ud III., made Husen his governor of the whole province of Ghor, which was his native country, and where his ancestors had previously reigned (D'Herbelot from Khondemir).

Putting these two stories together, the Afghan account appears to mark the first contact in Afghanistan of the Bitani with the Ludi, which latter probably came from the west, as the former occupancy of the Bitani in Afghanistan is said to have been in the hills separating the Logar valley of Kabul from the Zurmat district of Ghazni ; whilst the Ludi occupancy in Afghanistan was in Kandahar. However, to continue the Afghan account of Shah Husen, and the tribes descended from Shekh Bet's daughter Matu. In order to verify Shah Husen's story of his parentage, the Shekh Bet despatched his servant, named Kagh, of the Dor (Dod or Dum) caste, to Shah Husen's friends in Ghor. The messenger returned with corroborative evidence, but declined to divulge it unless the prince agreed to marry his daughter, named Mahi, also, — a proposal to which Husen readily assented. Matters thus settled. Shah Husen was forthwith married to Matu, who shortly afterwards bore him a son, whom the parents named Ghalzoe "son of a thief," from the circumstances attending his birth. From this Ghalzoe sprung the Ghilzi tribe. Bibi Matu bore a second son (but it is not said by whom) named Ibrahim, and surnamed Loe "Great", on account of his remarkable intelligence and superior abilities. In the course of time this term Loe became changed to Lodi or Ludi, and was adopted as the patronymic of the tribes descended from him. By his other wife, Bibi Mahi, Shah Husen had a son, called Sarwani, from whom descended the tribe of that name. In the course of time the offspring of the children of Bibi Matu became very numerous, and were collectively styled Mati, because Shah Husen was not an Afghan. Such is the native tradition. I may note here that Mati is the name of a large and important Persian tribe, anciently inhabiting Northern Persia, between the modern Hamadan and Nishapur, and called Matianoi by Strabo (xi. 8). Pliny also mentions the Matiani ("Nat. Hist., vi. 18) along with the Sarangae and others, whose situation was west of the modern Helmand, and south of the Ghor country. In Afghanistan the


[Page-13]: early seat of the Mati is said to have been the district of Matistan, in the Arghandab valley. The descendants of Bibi Mahi are included along with the Mati.

The Bitani tribe

Besides the daughter Matu, above mentioned, Shekh Bet Bitani had three sons, viz. :

The tribes sprung from whom bore their respective names, and are collectively styled Bitani under which patronymic the Mati, or descendants of Bibi Matu, are also included. Pliny (vi. 18) mentions the Bateni, along with the Saraparae (a tribe we shall meet in Balochistan by-and-by) and the Baktri, in a situation apparently not far distant from that assigned as the early seat of the Bitani in Afghanistan, as above mentioned. It is curious to observe the mixture of races in these tribes, and to examine their composition is not without instruction.

According to the Afghan genealogies, the Bitani tribe comprises the four great clans of Warashpun, Ismail, Khajin, and Mati.

Khel and Zi - Let us see how they are severally constituted in their Khel and zi. These terms are added to the proper names of most of the clans and sections, and to many of the tribes of Afghanistan whose language is the Pukhto. They are not found attached to the names of the Persian-speaking tribes, nor to the tribes inhabiting Balochistan and Dardistan.

The term Khel is generally supposed to be an Arabic word signifying "troop, company, association, etc., of horse"; but more correctly it is the Muhammadan corruption of the Sanskrit or Hindi Kula signifying "tribe, race, family."

The particle zai in the plural zi is explained as derived from the Persian zadan "to beget," and signifies " children, offspring, descendants " ; and is also used to designate any "party, faction," etc., bound together by common interests ; properly it represents the Sanskrit genitive affix si.

I have not noticed any distinction in the application of these terms to the names of Afghan tribes ; they seem to be used indifferently, and often both applied to the same tribe, as Ali-khel and Ali-zi, Musa-khel and Musa-zi, etc. For the sake of brevity I have omitted these terminal affixes from the names of the Afghan clans and sections.

Warashpun or Ashpun comprises the following sections :


[Page-14]:

Of the above, those marked* are all distinctly Rajput and Indian in name.

  • Bahman and Balmir = Baman and Balmi mercantile Rajput clans.
  • Band = Bhand, a minstrel clan of the Hindu.
  • Damar is the Damara of the Rajataringini, and probably a clan of the Rahtor.
  • Gharan and Ghori are apparently the same, and represent the Rajput Gor.
  • Ibrahim and Ismail are probably Muhammadan substitutes for the Indian names Brahman and Simala the latter of which is a well-known Rajput clan.
  • Tari is the name of a Brahman tribe of Northern India.
  • Ismail, probably Rajput Simala, as above suggested, or else the followers of Ismail, the founder of the sect of " The Assassins," is said to have quitted the Bitani and joined the Sarwani tribe, whose seat was on the Koh Suleman, probably in the modern Sarwan division of Kalat Balochistan. He became a religious ascetic, and adopted the title of Shekh Ibrahim Sarwani. His tomb is said to stand at a place called Khwajah Khidar, on the Takht Suleman, where he died, leaving twelve sons and two daughters, of whom no further mention is made in the Afghan genealogies.

Khajin, Khachin, or Gharshin is composed of the following sections : —


Of the above those marked * are Rajput and Hindu.


[Page-15]:

  • Bala, often coupled with Sultano, is Hindu ; as is
  • Basi, originally a servile or serf clan, predial slaves.
  • Umar is the Umra of the Pramara Rajput, and is one of the commonest sections of all the larger Afghan tribes on the Indus frontier.
  • Wuruki is a curious name. It means " little one " in Pukhto, and is met with in two or three of the Afghan tribes along the Indus, as will be seen farther on. The occurrence of this name here in connection with Warashpiun or Ashpun, and Khajin, which are the Boriskki and Khajuna of Dardistan, to be noticed at a later stage of our inquiry, suggests the idea of its being only another and corrupt form, perhaps in the mouth of strangers, of Borishki.
  • Mati, the descendants of Shah Husen by Bibi Mato, above described, are in two grand divisions, the Ghilzi and the Lodi.
  • Malikyar = "King's Friends," stands for Molak and Jora, Indian herdsman clans coupled together, and is in two branches, Husen and Aybak.
  • Husen sections are : —
  • Ishac or Sahak or Sak, Cutb, Jalaluddin, Umar, Hand, Kuram, and Shah 'Alam, to which last Khel belonged, Mir Vais, Shah Mahmud, the conqueror of Persia, who destroyed the Saffavi dynasty and usurped their throne in the first part of the last century.

Of these :

  • Mali stands for Mal mercantile Rajput ;
  • Barat will appear again; and Umar has been before noticed.
  • Tarnak is named after the Tarnak river, which itself is probably named after its early occupants, the Tarin or Tari, a branch of the Brahmans of Northern India.
  • Ma'riif is named after a district so called.
  • Tun or Tani, probably represent the Thrakian Thynoi

[Page-16]: who moved into these parts in the time of Alexander, from their Asiatic settlement in Bithynia.

  • Utman we shall meet again.

Arab sections are: — Aka, Ali, Baba, Bami, Bai, Shashrozi.

  • Bami is a Brahmin tribe of northern India.

Though the over-name of the clan is Arab, we find nothing Arab in its composition ; possibly the name refers to the locality of their settlement, about the river Arabius of the Greeks, the modern Purali in Eastern Balochistan. Most of these sections we shall meet again, and largely amongst the Yusufzi, of which tribe a considerable colony was transported to the banks of the Helmand in the fifth century, as we shall mention later on, when speaking of the Yusufzi.

Tokhi

Mahmand sections are : —


Of the above,

  • Asho stands for Achi, an anciently powerful Indian tribe mentioned in the Rajataringini, and notorious for its turbulence and barbarity ; it is better known in Afghanistan as represented by the Achakzi tribe.
  • Buran stands for Bor, mercantile Rajput.
  • Khwaedad = Khudadad = Diodotus and may represent Greek settlers.
  • Maku stands for Makwahana, a very ancient Indian tribe, neither Rajput nor Jat by descent, but reckoned amongst the Rajput along with the Jat as adopted tribes ; a clan, perhaps, of the Saka Scythians.
  • Mama, or Mama, is a Brahman tribe of Northern India.
  • Musa is also an old tribe, and anciently held the Indus valley about the modern Lower Derajat and Upper Sind. Their chief, Musikanus of the Greeks and Muse Ka = "Chief of the Musa," of the Indians, having been excited by the Brahmans says Arrian, to rebel against Alexandeb, was reduced, and along with many Brahmans crucified as an exemplary punishment. The Musa are now found widely distributed along the Indian border and Suleman range, as clans and sections of several of the larger Afghan tribes.
  • Shamal is abbreviated Shah Mal which is the Muham-

[Page-17]: madan substitute for the Hindu Sri Mati, a well-known tribe of mercantile Rajput.

Ayub sections are: —

Of these,

  • Babu for the Bhiba before mentioned.
  • Kati is the name of an ancient tribe, which in Afghanistan has given its name to the Katawaz district of Ghazni ; they are the same people, apparently, as the Kathi of the Punjab, whose ancestors opposed Alexander, and whose posterity afterwards spread southwards and gave their name to an extensive country, the modern Kathiawad or Kathiawar.
  • Miran are the Mir or Mer of the Indian desert originally, and of the aboriginal Indian stock.

Hasan sections are : —

Of these the

  • Adam-khel will appear again.
  • Isa may possibly represent professors of Christianity, followers of Jesus, or Isa.
  • The other names are modern Muhammadan.

With reference to the Suri section, Mahmaud division, Tokhi clan, Turan branch of the Ghilzi, above noted as bearing the same name as one of the Khatri clans, I would add here, that Suri was the patronymic of the dynastic family of Ghor, which sat on the throne of Ghazni in succession to the dynasty established there by Sabaktakin the Turk, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries ; and that the name still exists in Ghor in the appellation of its Zuri tribe. Pliny's statement (Nat. Hist,vi. 18) that Antiochus, the son of Seleukus, rebuilt the destroyed city of Alexandria on the same site, watered by the river Margus, as a Syrian city, and called it Antiochoeia, has given rise in my mind to the supposition that the Suri of Ghor, in that very locality watered by the Margus (modern Murgab), may have been the posterity of the Syrians with whom Antiochus peopled his new


[Page-18]: city. But the question is,

  • Who were these Syrians ?
  • Were they a tribe of that name (Suri) brought by Antiochus from Syria (Surya) and settled here as a colony in his own interest ? Or
  • were they an Indian tribe of Suri already settled, but recently so, in that country, in consequence of its transfer or cession by Seleukus to Sandrakottus, as stated in the quotation from Strabo in a preceding passage?

The weight of conjecture, perhaps, is in favour of the latter supposition. The Suri were anciently a very celebrated people, and in the times of Apollodotus and Menander, the most powerful of the Greek Baktrian kings, seem to have conquered and colonized the whole of Saurashtra and Sind, giving their name to the former country. But we have not time to pursue this question now.

Burhan, Buran, or Polar, is in two great branches, viz, : Isap and Musa.

Isap or Yusuf is in three divisions, viz, : Suleman, Ali, and Aka.

Suleman Sections

Of these,

  • Dasu, Gali, and Fakir, represent hereditary slave, servile, and menial classes ; the first two of Hindu origin (Das and Gola), the other Muhammadan.
  • Mand is an ancient tribe, corresponding to the modern Wend of Austria, and seems to have made large settlements in Afghanistan at an early period. Clans and sections of Mand appear in many of the Afghan tribes.
  • Nuri is perhaps the Rajput Norkha, or Thrakian Norikoi
  • Ut and Utman are the same, and will appear again.


Ali sections are: —


Pages-19-25

[p.19]: Of these we have already noticed several.

  • Jani is the same as Chani of the preceding Suleman sections, and they stand for the Indian Chanan herdsman clan.
  • Kamal is a Turk tribe, and will appear again.
  • Bangi is a great Jat tribe, and will also appear again.
  • Gada stands for Gadi, Indian herdsman clan.
  • Adam and Khybari are Afridi clans, and with the Mashani, which stands for the Masianoi of Strabo, will be spoken of later on.
  • Neknam is the same as the Nekbakhtan, which we shall meet with farther on, and means “the honourable," "the fortunate’’; they represent the Euergetes, “the beneficent,” of the Greek writers, anciently called Agriaspae, and were so named, as Arrian says, by Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, for their aid in his expedition — about 530 B.C. — against the Scythians.

Alexander, just two centuries later, found these Euergetes inhabiting the country between the modern Kandahar and Ghazni, about the banks of the Tarnak river, and in the hills separating it from the valley of the Arghandab. The existing ruins of Sariasp on the river Tarnak are held to mark the site of the capital city of the ancient Agriaspse, whom Tod (Annals of Rajasthan) recognises as the Sarwaria of the Rajput tribes. At the present day, and in this very locality, is found the Nekbi-khel an abbreviation of Nekbakht-khel: but the original tribe is now much scattered, and sections of the name are found in the clans of several of the Afghan tribes on the Indus border. In the Swat valley the Nekbi-khel have a considerable settlement, into which they came along with the Yusufzi, when that tribe migrated from Kandahar back to its ancient home on the Indus, in the fifteenth century, as will be related in a later part of this inquiry. The over-name of this Ali division of the Isap branch of the Burhan Ghilzi is Greek, and represents ancient Aiolian settlers. The same remark may perhaps apply, mutatis mutandis to the next or Aka division of the Isap Burlian Ghilzi, which stands for Achaians possibly, though properly a Naga clan.

Aka sections are: —

Abdurrahim. Bari. Jalaluddin. Khwajo. Masti. Miro Vais, etc.

Of these the [[Bari] and Miro we have before noticed. Vais is the Rajput Bais a tribe which has given its name to the Baiswarra district of the Ganges — Jamna Doab. The Bais are Suraj-bansi or Surj'avansi, "the Solar race" of Hindustan; and the Vais are Sarbanri or Sarabani in the Afghan classification of their tribes. The Vais of Afghanistan is the tribe whence issued Shah Mahmud (Mir Vais}, the conqueror of Persia in the early part of the last century, as before mentioned.


[p. 20]: I may here note that the Afghan genealogies classify the whole of their existing tribes under three great denominations; viz., SARBANARE. BATAX, and GHURGHUSHT, which, the Afghans say, are the names of the three sons of Kais, Kish, or Kesh, a cotemporary of the Prophet Muhammad, and the original ancestor of the existing Afghan peoples. The Afghan story is briefly this. On the announcement by MUHAMMAD of his mission as the Rasulullah — “Apostle of God” — Kais, who was the leading chieftain of the Afghans, at that time inhabiting the mountains of Ghor, received a letter from Khalid bin Walid, an Israelite, whose ancestors, after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, had settled in Arabia about Makka and Madina, informing him of the advent of the "Last Prophet of the Times,” and inviting him to accept his doctrine; for the Afghans being Bani Israil, “Children of Israel,” maintained correspondence and communication with their Israelite kindred settled in Arabia. Kais, thereupon, set out from his home in Ghor, at the head of a party of seventy-six of his tribesmen representing the principal chiefs of the Afghan Bani Israil, for Makka (Mecca) where, on arrival, they embraced Islam at the exposition of Khalid bin Walid, and fought valiantly in the cause of Muhammad. In reward for their devoted services the Prophet, on dismissing them to their homes, gave them his blessing, and as a mark of his favour changed their Hebrew names for Arabic ones. To Kais, the leader of the party, he gave the name of “Abdur Rashid, Servant of the Guide,” and at the same time bestowed on him the title of Pihtan, said to mean the “rudder" of a ship in the Syrian language, because he was to be henceforth the director of his people in the way they should go. Further, the Prophet promised these Afghans that the title of Malik = "king,” which they had inherited from their great progenitor, Sarul Malik Talut (Saul, King of Israel, “Prince of great stature" should never depart from their nation, but should be the title of their chiefs and princes to the end of time. With regard to their descent from Sarul, the Afghans have the following story. Sarul, the son of Kais or KISH, of the tribe of IBNIYAMIN (Benjamin), had two sons, named BARAKIAH (BARACHIAH) and IRAMIAH (JEREMIAH); who were both born in the same hour of different mothers, both of whom were of the tribe of Lavi (Levi). These sons were born after the death of Sarul, who, together with ten other sons, was slain in battle against the Filistin or Palistin (Philistines), and grew up under the protection of Daud (David), Sakul's successor on the throne, who raised them to important offices in his government; Barakiah being his Prime Minister, and Iramiah his Generalissimo.


[p. 21]: Barakiah had a son named Asaf, and IRAMIAH one named AFGHANAH. These inherited the offices of their respective fathers under the government of Suleman (Solomon), the successor of David. At the time of the death of Suleman, the families of ASAF and AFGHANAH were among the earliest of the Bani Israil, and they multiplied exceedingly after the death of Asaf who had eighteen sons, and of Afghanah who had forty. At the time that Baitul mucaddas, "The Holy Temple," (Jerusalem) was taken and destroyed by Bukht-an-nasar (NEBUCHADNEZZAR), and the Bani Israil were oppressed and slaughtered by reason of their steadfast adherence to the religion of their forefathers, the tribe of Afghanah, owing to the obstinacy with which they resisted the idolatry of their conquerors, were banished from Sham (Syria, or Palestine), and after a time took refuge in the Kohistani Ghor — “Highlands of Ghor," and the Kohi Firozah — Mountain of Firozah (Turquoise Mountain). In these localities they were called Afghan, Aoghan, Aghvau or Alwan, and Bani Israil by their neighbours.

In the mountains of Ghor and Firozah (the ancient Paropamisus and modern Hazarah Dahistan, the Bani Israil multiplied exceedingly, and after a protracted warfare with the original heathen inhabitants of the country, finally subdued them. Some centuries later, their numbers having so greatly increased that the Ghor country became too small for them, the Afghans extended their borders by force of arms to the Kohistani Kabul, Kandhar, and Ghazni. During all this period of more than fifteen hundred years from the time of Suleman, this people, the Bani Israil of Ghor, were Taurat-khwan, or Readers of the Pentateuch, and were guided in all their actions and observances by the ordinances of the Mosaic Law; until, in the ninth year of Muhammad’s mission as the Apostle of God, the Afghans first heard of the advent of the "Last Prophet of the Ages." through Khalid BIN Walid, a fellow Israelite of Medina, though by some called a Koresh, owing to his having entered that famous Arab tribe.

The story then tells of the journey of Kais and his companions to Mecca, as already related, and ends with the statement that, after his return to Ghor, Kais preached the acceptable doctrine of Islam — a mere Reformation of their Mosaic religion — to his people, and enjoyed their respect and obedience to the end of his life. Kais lived to the age of eighty-three years, and died in the year 81 of the Hijrah, or Muhammadan era, which commenced on the 8th March, 699 A.D., leaving three sons, named respectively Sarabanr, Batan, and Ghurghusht, in whose progeny and posterity are comprised the whole of the tribes comprising the extant


[p.22] Afghan nationality. The Sarabanri caum, or nation, comprises 105 khel, or tribes, the kula of the Rajput genealogies; the Batani, 108 khel; and the Ghurghusht, 177 khel. Practically, however, the caum represents the tribe, and the khel or zi the clan and its subdivisions or sections: whilst the Aor, or house, the gotra of the Rajput genealogies, represents the family.

The whole of the above Afghan account, divested of its Mohammadan garb, may be read as an accurate bit of Indian history, but I have not time just now to strip off these coverings and disclose the facts they conceal. Perhaps at the conclusion of our inquiry I may venture to do so, if it should be found necessary. Meanwhile, I may observe in this place, with reference to the above names, the patronymics of the three great branches of the Afghans descended from Kais as a common ancestor, that Sarabanri is the Pukhto the ("Hill language,” the language of the Afghans) form of the Hindi or Indian Surajbansi or Suryabansi “Children of the Sun." the Solar Race of the Rajput; that similarly Ghurghushti is the corruption of the Rajput Kakutstha, a Hindi synonym of Surya: and that Batani is the Pukhto form of Bhattiani, “descendants of Bhatti," the great representative of the Yadu, Jadun or Gadun, the Lunar Race of the Rajput, who according to Tod “Annals of Rajasthan," vol. i. p. 85 migrated from Hindustan after the Mahabharat at Kurukshetra, near Delhi, about 2896 B.C., by way of the Salt Range of Jhelam — the Jadu ka dang, or Hills of Jad, Jadun, or Gadun — across the Indus into Zabulistan (the southern division of our Afghanistan previously mentioned), and there founded Gajni (modern Ghazni).

The Yadu hills derived their name of – “Jadu kadang" from the stay there of the Yadu tribes, descendants of Krishna, before they advanced into Zabulistan, and "peopled these countries over to Samarkand.’’ But in Zabulistan, the name Yadu seems to have given place to that of Bhatti: for it was under the latter name that this people was, in part at least, driven back upon the Indus, as Tod assures us. from those parts, in consequence either of the Makedonian invasion, or the revolution produced by the rise of Islam — events, I may observe, about a thousand years apart. From the Indus the Bhatti got possession of Panjab, and there founded Salbhanpur; but expelled thence they retired into the great Indian desert, and there established a succession of colonies, of which Jesalmir is the chief, in 1157 A.D. Be all this as it may, it appears certain that, at the present day, a very considerable proportion of the peoples inhabiting Afghanistan is composed of tribes referable to the Yadu, or Lunar Race of the Rajput of India, who represent the ancient Buddhists; whilst the Solar Race of Rajput represent the Brahmans.


[p.23]: Musa, the second clan of the BURHAN GHILZI, which I have recognised as representing the people of the Musikanus mentioned by ARRIAN, as referred to in a preceding passage, though they may also in part represent professors of the religion of Moses, or Musa, is in three divisions — Sahak or Sak, Andar, and Taraki.

Sahal: — the Sohag or Sohagni Rajput — sections are

Hasan. Yacub. Khidar. Bakhto. Yusuf. Ano.

Of these, the Muhammadan names Hasan and Y'a'cub have obliterated all trace of any Indian derivation which these sections may have. Khidar may be the Khejar Pramara, or the Kehdar mercantile Rajput. Bakhto is the Bhagti, herdsman clan of Northern India. Y'usuf is Isap before mentioned. Ano is Unae or Anwae Khatri clan, and. also a Kayasth clan.

Andai' — either Audar Hindu, or Andora mercantile Rajput — is in three divisions — Aod, Od or Ud, Suleman, and Khizuri.

Od or Ud, the Hod or Hudi Jat, sections are: —

Alibeg. Alisher. Bakhshi. Baura. Bazi. Brahim. Chur. Ghazi. Habib. Harun. Jalal. Kaba. Kabuli. Karim. Khani. Khyro. Koti. Kundi. Mihman. Nur. Pathan. Poladi. Shamshi. Sihpae. Tangiwal. Tota.

Of the above,

Of the above,

  • Desi is a Jat clan.
  • Khojaki derives its name from its occupancy on the Khojak range, an upshoot of the Suleman range; the range itself is perhaps named from ancient possessors, the Kho, clan of the Kachwaha, who are foniicl as the “Kho” among the tribes of Upper Kashkar and Kafiristan; they will be noticed farther on.
  • The Mushaki are also named after a district of that name near Ghazni.

The Nekbi we have before met.

The Muhammadan


[p.24]: names. Imam, Islam, Sayid, perhaps represent Arab posterity; or, in the case of the two first-named, converts who adopted the priesthood as a profession, though Islam may stand for Aslamya, a clan of the Jat. The Mushaki above mentioned is the name of a township, two stages south of Ghazni, and acquired a temporary importance during the last Afghan war as the home of the celebrated Mushaki 'Alim. The “Sage of Mushaki.” who under the vulgar appellation of Mushki i ’Alam “Perfume of the Universe,” played a conspicuous part as a militant divine and energetic patriot against the operations of the British at Kabul.

Ali. Arman. Aymal. Balechi. Barak, Calandar. Ghali. Girdi. Himmat. Hydar. Ido. Janati. Kamran. Karasu. Ladi. Lali. Lawani. Mada. Mamo. Mandi. Mata. Masti. Musa. Naso. Nasrat. Pakhi. Poti. Pir. Ramya. Ranri. Rustam. Shani. Sheb. Sheri. Shia’. Sirki. Yaro. Suri. Zakir. Sangu. Tim. Wali.

Of the above.

  • Taraki — the last division of Musa Burhan Ghilzi — stands either for Tari, Brahman tribe of Northern India, or for Tawari or Tori of Yadu Rajput, and comprises the following sections: —

Anari. Badin. Bastam. Begu. Brahlm. Catal. Duran. Piroz. Geran. Gilan. Gor. Gurbuz.


[Page-25]

Of these,

  • Gor is a Rajput tribe.
  • Sado stands for Sih Sada, which represents Sisodia Rajput.
  • Sak is the same as Sahak, and is supposed to represent the tribe of the Assyrian Zohac whose descendants settled in Ghor, as before stated in our notice of Shah Husen ; but more likely it represents the Saka Scythian.
  • Catal is supposed to stand for Kator, a very celebrated Scythian tribe, of which we shall speak later on.
  • Misari, above recognised as the Indian Mysari of Jaisalmir and the desert to its north, are by the Afghans supposed to represent Egyptians, and to be of the same stock as the Cubti or Copts, who are found dwelling amongst the Hazarah, and whom we shall notice later on.
  • Anari - With regard to the Anari, heading the above list of Taraki sections, I may here note that the name is seldom met with in the Afghan genealogies. I have taken the name to represent the ancient Anariakai of Strabo, who (Geog.xi. 8), quoting Eratosthenes, places them on the shores of the Caspian Sea next to Hyrkania (modern Gurgan) ; for Anariakai is a compound word signifying the Anari and those belonging to them. The Anari of Afghanistan may have been a branch or colony of the Anariakai of Hyrkania, and probably gave their name to the Anardara portion of the Adraskand valley, south of Herat. There still exist in this part of the valley of the Adraskand river, where the stream flows through a narrow rocky defile, about thirty miles to the south of the town of Sabzvar, the ruins of an ancient fortified city, now called Jaya by the Nurzi, Afghan nomads who dwell in its vicinity. These ruins perhaps mark the site of the ancient Artakoan captured by Alexander ; Artakoan and Adraskand being clearly the same name.

Note:- Pages 19 to 24 were missing which have been provided by Mr Ravi Kapur via email.


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