The Qizilbash

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This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on The Races, Castes and Tribes of the People in the Report on the Census of the Panjab published in 1883 by the late Sir Denzil Ibbetson, KCSI Lahore : Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article.

The Qizilbash

Caste No. 181 The Qizilbash ^ are a tribe of Tartar horsemen from the eastern Caucasus, who formed the backbone of the old Persian army and of the force with which Nadir Shah invaded India. Many of the great Mughal ministers have been Qizilbash, and notably Mir Jumlah the famous minister of Aurangzeb. They are said to take their name from a red cap of peculiar shape which they wear, which was invented by the founder of the Sophi dynasty of Persia, an intolerant Shiah, as the dis tinguishing mark of that sect, and which his son Shah Tumasp compelled Hu mayun to wear when a refugee at the Persian Court. There are some 1,200 families of Qizilbash in the city of Kabul alone, where they were located by Nadir Shah, and still form an important military colony and exercise considera ble influence in local politics. They are not uncommon throughout Afghanis tan. Besides the number of Qizilbash returned as such, 66 were entered as Pathans, of whom 48 were in Derah Ismail Khan. See also the preceding paragraph under the head Ghulam.

In the caste table the word is spelt Kizal, but 1 believe Qizil is correct.