Pawindah, Border, and other Tribes
This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on Lahore : Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. |
Pawindah, Border, and other tribes
The tribes not possessing sufficient importance to merit detailed description are —
The Zarkani, a small colony of Shekhs who settled some 500 years ago in a corner between the Gandapur and Mian Khel country, under the foot of the Sulemans.
The Baluch, a small tribe of uncertain origin affiliated to the Lodi tribes.' They seem to have come in with the earhest Pathan invaders. They hold the country round Paniala, at the foot of the Salt-range where it leave the Indus to turn northwards, and are the dominant race in the north of the cis-Indus pjrtion of the dis trict.
The Khasor, with the Nur Khel and Malli Khel, form a small tribe which claims kinship with the Lodi, who repudute the claim. They hold the Kliasor range, or the ridge, of the lower Salt range which runs down the right bank of the Indus.
The Ghorezal , a petty clan of the Tabarak Kaka, and the Miani, an insigniticaut pawindah clan of the Shlrani tribe, hold lands in the Gomal valley, the former lying south and the latter nor th of the Luni river. They graze their flocks during summer on the western slopes of the Sulcmans. A portion of the Miani are independent pawindahs, but closely alhed to those of our plains.
The Kundi are a small pawindah clan who claim descent from the ancestor of the Niazi; They settled in Tank with the Uaulat Khel Lohani, and originally held the tract along the Suheli stream in the North-east corner of Tank. But within the last 50 years Marwat immigrants have encroached largely on their eastern lands. They are a lawless set and great robbers, and the proverb runs — A dead Kundi is better than a live one.
The Pawindah Tribes.— These tribes, which have been described generally in section 398' although not holding lands in the district, are of considerable administrative interest, as enormous numbers of them spend the cold weather in the pastures on either side of the Indus. The principal tribes are noticed below : —
The Nasar claim descent from Hotak, a grandson of Ghilzai ; but the Hotak say that they are a Biloch clan, and merely dependent on them.3 They speak Pashto, but differ from the Ghilzai in physique. They are the least settled of all the paivindahs, and winter in the Derajat and summer in the Ghilzai country, having no home of their OAvu. Their chief wealth is in flocks and herds, and they act as carriers rather than as traders. They are a rough sturdy lot, but fairly well behaved.
The Kharoti say they are an offshoot of Tokhi, mother of Hotak mentioned above. But the Tokhi say they are descended from a foundling whom the tribe adopted. They hold the country about the sources of the Gonial river in Warghun south by east of Ghazni, and they winter in the Tank tahsil. They are a poor tribe, and many of them work as laboirrers or carriers. Dr. Bellew identifies them with the Arachoti of Alexandes's historians, and points out that they still live in the ancient Arachosia. He considers them and the Na-ar to be of different origin from the mass of the Ghilzai.
The Suleman Khel are the most numeroas, powerful, and warlike of all the Ghilzai ,and hold a large tract stretching nearly the whole length of the Ghilzai country. Those who trade with India come chiefly from the hills east of Ghazni and winter in the northern trans-Indus tract. They bring but little merchandize with them, but go down country in great numbers, where they act a; brokers or dalldls between the merchants and other pawindahs. They are fine strong men and fairly well behaved, though not bearing the best of characters.
The Mian Khels have ah-eady been described in section 401. The trading and landowning sections are still closely connected, and in fnct to some extent indistinguishable.
The Dutanni inhabit the Warrak valley and the country between the Waziri hills and Gomal. They are a small, but well-to-do tribe, and trade with Bukhara.
It is not perhaps impossible that these may be of Biloch origin. The Khetran, perhap.^ of Pathan origin, have become the nucleus of a Biloch tribe ; while 351 men of Derah Ismail returned themselves in this Census as caste Biloch, tribe Andar, which latter is one of the Pawindah tribes of Pathans.
2 Macgregor says they are quiet and inoffensive.
3 One story makes them the descendants of a gang of blacksmiths who in the 14th century accompanied the Mran Khel on cue of their return journeys to Khorasan and settled there.
The Tokhi were the most promient of all the Ghilzal tribes till the Hotak gave rulers
to Kandahar ahout 1700 A.D. They hold the valley of the Taruak and the north valley of the
Argaudah, with Kelat-i-Ghilzai a-; their principal centre.
The Andar occupy nearly the whole of the extensive district of Shalgar south of Glazni. With them are associated the Musa Khel Kakar. who are descended from an Andar woman, and live south and west of Shalgar.*
The Tarakki winter about Kandahar. They are largely nomad.
The Border tribes — The mostimportant tribes on the Derah Ismail border are, beginning from the south, the Qasrani Biloch and the Ushtarani, already described in sections 883 and 401, the Shirani, and the Mahsud Waziri. The Waziri will be described when I come to the border tribes of Bannu (section 404\
The Shirani have already been mentioned and their origin described in section 400. They occupy the country round the Takht-i-Suleman. hounded to the north by the Zarkanni stream and to the south by the Ushtarani border, their principal habitat being the low valleys to the east of the Takht. They are divided inti the Shirani proper who bold the greater part of the tract, the Rabar of our plains described in section 401, and the small tribes of Hiripal and Jalwani lying to the south of the Shirani proper. They are of medium height, wiry, and active, and wild and manly in their appearance. Their dress consists of a couple of coarse blankets, and their principal occupation is agriculture.
