View source for Pathan: Tribes of Peshawar

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This article is an extract from <br/>

PANJAB CASTES <br/>

SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. <br/>

Being a reprint of the chapter on <br/>
The Races, Castes and Tribes of <br/>
the People in the Report on the <br/>
Census of the Panjab published <br/>
in ''' 1883 ''' by the late Sir Denzil <br/>
Ibbetson, KCSI <br/>

Lahore : <br/>

Printed  by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, <br/>

1916. <br/>
''Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees ''<br/> 
''with the contents of this article.''
</div>
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[[Category:India|P]]
[[Category:Communities|P]]

=Tribes of Peshawar=

The Pathans of Peshawar belong, 
with the exception of the Khatak described above almost wholly to the 
Afghans proper, descendants of Sarban ; and among them to the line of 
Karshabun or the representatives of the ancient Gandhari, as distinguished 
from the true Afghans of Jewish origin who trace their descent from 
Sharkhabun. I have already told, in section 395, how during the 5th or 6th 
century a Gandhari colony emigrated to Kandahar, and there were joined and 

Dr. Bellew thinks that they and the Orakzai are perhaps both of Seythian origin, and 
belonged to the group of Turk tribes, among whom he includes all the Karlanri, or, as he calls 
them, Turklamri, who came in with the invasion of Sabuktagin in the 10th and Taimur in the 16th 
century of our aera. 

Dr. Bellew is of opinion that these names denote respectively the Magian and Buddhist 
religions of their ancestors. The present division of the tribes is given as follows by Major James : 
Samil. — Half the Orakzai, half the Bangash, the Mohmand, and the Malikdin Khel, Sepah, Kainr, 
Zakha Khel, Aka Khel, and Adam Khel clans of Afridi. Garr. — Half the Orakzai, half the 
Bangash, the Khalrl, and the Kuki Khel and Qambar Khel clans of Afridi. The feud between 
the two factions is still very strong and bitter, and is supplemented by the sectauan animosity 
between Shiah and Sunni, 

Converted by the Afghan stock of Ghor who blended with them into a single 
nation. Their original emigration was due to the pressure of Jat and Scythic 
tribes who crossed the Hindu Kush and descended into the valley of the Kabul 
river. Among those tribes was probably the Dilazak who are now 
classed as one of the Kodai Karlanri and who were converted by Mahmud 
Ghaznavi in the opening of the 11th century. They extended their 
away over the Rawalpindi and Peshawar districts and the valley of the 
Kabul as far west as Jalalabad, driving many of the original Hindki or 
Gandhari inhabitants into the valleys of Swat and Buuer which he in the 
hills to the north, and ravaging and laying waste the fertile plain country. 
Amalgamating with the remaining Hindkis they lost the purity of their 
faith, and were described as infidels by the Afghans who subsequently drove 
them out. 

The Kandahar colony of Gandhari was divided into two principal 
sections, the Khakhai and Ghoria Khel, besides whom it included the descend
ants of Zamand and Kansi. I give below the principal tribes which trace 
their descent from Kharshabun for convenience of reference : — 

 [[File:  499.png   | |frame|500px]]   
 
About the middle of the 13th century they were settled about the head
waters of the Tarnak and Arghasan rivers, while the Tarin Afghans held, as 
they still hold, the lower valleys of those streams. As they increased in 
numbers the weaker yielded to pressure, and the Khakhai Khel, accompanied 
by their first cousins the Muharamadzai descendants of Zamand, and by their 
Karlanri neighbours the Utman Khel of the Gomal valley,left their homes 
and migrated to Kabul. Thence they were expelled during the latter half of 
the 15th century by Ulugh Beg, a lineal descendant of Taimur and Babar's 
uncle, and passed eastwards into Ningrahar on the northern slopes of the 
Safed Koh, and into the Jalalabad valley. Here the Gugiani settled in 
eastern and the Muhammadzai in western Ningrahar, the Tarklanri occupied 

* Dr. Bellew seems doubtful whether the Dilazak were of .Jat or of Edjput extraction. He 
says the name is of Buddhist origin, 

- Another story makes the Utman Khel descendants of one Utman, a follower of Mahmud 
Ghaznavi, who settled circa 1,000 A. D. in the country which they now hold. 
Lughman,, while the Yusufzai (I use the word throughout in its widest sense 
to include both the Mandanr and the Yusufzai proper) and utman Khel 
moved still further east through the Khaibar pass to Peshawar. Here they 
settled peacefully for a while ; but presently quarrelled with the Dilazak and 
expelled them from the Doaba or plain country in the angle between the Swat 
and Kabul rivers, into which they moved. They then crossed the Swat river 
into Hashtnaghar and attacked the Eastern Shilmani, a tribe probably of 
Indian origin, who had only lately left their homes in Shilman on the Kurrara 
river for the Klmibar mountaius and Hashtnaghar. These they dispossessed 
of Hashtnaghar and drove them northwards across the mountains into Swat, 
thus acquiring all the plain country north of the Kabul river and west of 
Hoti Mardan. 

Meanwhile the Ghoria Khel whom they had left behind in the 

Kandahjir country had been following in their track ; and early in the 16th 
century they reached the western mouth of the Khaibar pass. Here they seem 
to have divided, a part of the Mohmand now known as the Bar Mohmand 
crossing the Kabul river at Dakka, while the remainder went on through the 
pass to the plain of Peshawar lately vacated by the Yusuf zai, where they 
defeated the Dilazak in a battle close to Peshawar, drove them across the 
Kabul river into what are now called the Yusuf zai plains, and occupied all the 
flat country south of the Kabul river and west of Jalozai. This they still 
hold, the Daudzai holding the right bank of the Kabul river, and the Khalil 
the left bank of the Bara river and the border strip between the two streams 
facing the Khaibar pass, while the Mohmand took the country south of the 
Bara and along the right bank of the Kabul as far as Naushahra, though they 
have since lost the south-eastern portion of it to the Khatak. Meanwhile the 
Bar Mohmand made themselves masters of the hill country lying north of the 
Kabul river as far up as Lalpura and west of the Doaba, ancl possessed them
selves of their ancestral capital Gandhilra, driving out into Kafiristan the in
habitants, Who were probably their ancient kinsmen, the descendants of such 
Gandhari as had not aecompanied them when, two centuries earher, they had 
migrated to Kandahar. They then crossed the Kabul river, and possessed 
themselves of the country between its right bank and the crest of the Afridi 
hills to the north of the Khaibar pass. 

While these events were occurring, the Gugiani, Tarklanri,' and Muham
madzai, who had been left behind in Ningrahiar, moved eastwards, whether 
driven before them by the advancing Ghoria Khel, or called in as alhes against 
the Dilazak by the Yusuf zai. At any rate they joined their friends in Doaba and 
Hashtnaghar, and attacking the Dilazak, drove them out of Yusufzai and across 
the Indus. They then divided their old and new possessions among the alhes, 
the Gugiani receiving Doaba, the Muhammadzai Hashtnaghar, while the 
Yusufzai, Utman Khel, and Tarklanri took the great Yusufzai plain.During
the next twenty years these three tribes made themselves masters of all the hill 
country along the Yusufzai, Hashtnaghar, and Bar Mohmand border, from the 
Indus to the range separating the Kunar and Bajaur valleys, the inhabitants 
of which, again the ancient Gandhjiri who had abeady suffered at the hands of 
the Bar Mohmand, they drove east and west across the Indus into Hazara and 
across the Kurram into Kafiristan. This country also they divided, the 
Tarklanri taking Bajaur, and the Utman Khel the valley of the Swat river up 

A section of the Tarklan,'! remained in Lughman, where they still dwell. 
to Arang Barang and its junction with the Panjkora, while the Yusufzai held 
all the hills to the east as far as the Indus and bordering upon their plain 
country, including lower Swat, Buner, and Chamlah. Some time later the 
Khatak obtained from Akbar, as has already been related in section 406, a 
grant of the plains in the south-east of the Peshawar district. Thus the 
Khakhai and their alhes held all the country north of the Kabul river from the 
Indus to Kunar, including the hills north of the Peshawar border, but ex
cluding those lying west of Doaba which were occupied by the Bar Mohmand ; 
while all the pfain country south of the Kabul was held, in the east by the 
Khatak, and in the west by the Ghoria Khel. These last attempted to cross 
the river into Yusufzai, but were signally defeated by the Yusufzai, and have 
never extended their dominions. How the Khatak pushed across into the 
Yusufzai plain has already been told (section 406) . 

The Dilazak, thus expell
ed fi-om their territory, made incessant efforts to recover it ; until finally, as the 
cause of tumult and disorder, they were deported en masse by the Emperor 
Jahangir and scattered over the Indian peninsula. When the Yusufzai settled 
in their possessions they divided the hill and plain country equally between 
their tAVO great sections, the Mandanr and the Yusufzai proper. But feuds 
sprang up amongst them which were fomented by the Mughal rulers ; and 
early in the 17th century the Yusufzai expelled the Mandanr from Swat and 
Buner, while the Mandanr in their turn expelled the Yusufzai from the greater 
part of the Yusufzai plain. Thus the Yusufzai now hold Swat, Buner, and 
the Lundkhwar and Ranizai valleys in the north-west of Yusufzai ; while the 
Mandanr hold Chamlah and the remainder of the plain country. 

== The Pathan tribes of Peshawar continued==

'''  The plain Mohmand '''  .— I now proceed to 
describe the tribes in detail. Passing from Kohat into Peshawar throngh the country of the 
Khatak, who have already been described in section 407, and turning west, we first come to the 
lower or Plain Mohmand, who occupy the south-west corner of the district, south of the Bara 
stream. They are divided into five main sections, the Mayarzai, Musazai, Dawezai, Matanni and 
Sarganni. Their headmen, in common with those of all the Ghoria Khel, are called Arhdb, a title 
meaning master, and conferred by the Mughal Emperors. They are good and industrious culti
vators, and peacefully disposed except on tfie Afridi border. Theu' relation with the Bar Mohmand, 
from whom they are now quite separate, differing from them in both manners and customs, is des
cribed in section 409. 

''' The Khalil '''occupy the left bank of the Bara, and the country along the front of the 
Khaibar pass. They have four main clans, Matuzai, Barozai, Ishaqzai, and Tilarzai, of which the 
Barozai is the most powerful. They are not good cultivators. There are some of the tribe still to 
be found in Kandahar. 

''' The Daudzai'''  occupy the left bank of the Kabul river as far down as the junction of the Bara. 
The Mohmand and Daudzai are descended from a common ancestor Daulatyar, son of Ghorai the 
progenitor of the Ghoria Khel. Daud had three sons, Mandkai, Maunir, and Yusuf, from whom 
are descended the main sections of the tribe. Mandkai had three sons, Huseu, Nekai, and Balo, of 
whom only the first is represented in Peshawar. Nekai fled into Hindustan, while Bale's few 
descendants live in parts of Tirah. 

''' The Gugiani'''  hold the Doaba or plain country in the angle between the Kabul and Swat rivers. 
They are descended from Mak, the son of Khakhai, by a hamsdyah shepherd who main-ied Mak's 
daughter Gugi, whence the name. They are divided into two great sections, Hotak and Zirak. 
Macgrcgor says that other Pathans do not recognise them as of pure Pathan blood. 

''' The Muhamraadzai''' - bold Hashtnaghar, a strip of territory some 13 miles broad running down 
the left bank of the Swat river from our border to Naushahra. They are descended from Muham
mad, one of the sons of Zamand ; and with them are settled a few descendants of his brothers, from 
cue of whom, Kheshgi, one of their prinicipal villages is named. Their clans are Prang, Charsadda, 
Bazar, Utmanzai, Turangzai, Umarzai, Sherpao, and Tangi with its two septs Barazai and Nasratzai. 

''' The Baizai'''. — The Yusufzai proper are divided into the Badi Khel (now extinct), Isazai, Hiaszai, 
Malizai, and Akozai. The Akozai are further divided into three clans, the Ranizai ^ who hold the 

1 Arbab is the plural of the Aralnc Rah or Lord ; a term often apphed to the Deity. 
- The tribe is often called Molimaudzai or Mamauzai, and their ancestor, Mohmand or Maman. 
' The Haiydt-i- Afghani calls the Ranizai a sept of the Baizai. This seems improbable, as they 
descend from different wifws of Ako. 
western portion of the hills between Yusufzai and Swat, the Khwajazai who occupy the country 
between the Swat and Panjkora rivers, and the Baizai. The last originally hold the Lundkhwar valley 
in the centre of  the northernmost portion of the Peshawar district, and all the eastern hill country 
between that and the Swat river. The hills they still hold ; but the Khatak have, as already recounted  in section 406, obtained all the western portion of the valley, while the Utman Khel Karlanri, whoni the 
Baizai called in as alhes in a fend with their neighbours and kinsmen the Ranizai, have obtained 
its north-east corner, and the Baizai now hold only a small tract to the south of these last. They 
are divided into six septs, Abba Khel, Aziz Khel.'Babozai, Matorczai, Musa Khel, and Zangi Khel. 
The last hes south of the Hum range which divides Swat from Buner. The other five originally held 
the Baizai valley and the hills to the north ; but since the irruption of the Khatak and Utman Khel, 
only the first three hold land in our territory. 

The Mandanr hold the remainder of the Peshawar district. They are divided into main clans 
as follows : — 


 [[File:  500.png   | |frame|500px]]   
 

The Saddozai are by origin a branch of the Utmanzai by a second wife of Utmau, but they are 
practically separated from them. The Usmanzai occupy all the northern and western portion of 
the Mandanr tract, the Kamalzai lying to the west immediately south of the Lundkhwar valley and 
stretching as far down as the border of the Bulaq Khatak, while the Amazai he to the east and 
south-east of the same valley. Of the septs, the Kishranzai, who hold Hoti and Mardan, and the 
Daulatzai he to the north, and the Mishranzai and the Ismailzai to the south of the respective tracts.
 
South of the Amazai and between them and the Khatak territory come the Razar ; while the 
Utmanzai and Saddozai hold the extreme east of the district on the right bank of the Indus, the 
Saddozai lying to the west and the Utmanzai to the east. These latter also hold a small area in the 
south of the independent Gadun valley, and early in the I8th century were called across the Indus 
by the Gujars of Hazara as alhes against the Tarin Afghans, and appropriated the Gandgarli tract 
from Torbela to the southcrn border of Hazara. In this tract all three of their main septs are 
represented, the Tarkheli section of the Ah'zai holding the southern half of the tract, and stretching 
across the border into Attak. The Khudu Khel, a Saddozai sept, occupy the valleys between 
Chamlah and the Gadun country. The valley of Chamlah on the Peshawar border and north of the 
Gadun country is occupied by a mixture of Mandanr clans, in which the Amazai, whose Ismailzai 
sept hold the Mahaban country, largely preponderate. The Mandanr, living almost wholly within 
our- territory and long subject to the rulers of Peshawar, are perhaps more civilised and less im
patient of control than any other Pathan tribe.


== The Pathan tribes of the Peshawar border==
'''   The Afridi '''  Dr. Bellew says that the 
Afridi, whom he identifies with the Aparytae of Herodotus, originally held the whole of the Safed 
Koh system between the Kabul and the Kurram river, from the Indus to the headwaters of the 
Kurram and the Pewar ridge. But since the great Seythic invasions of the 5th and succeeding 
conturies, they have been successively encroached upon by tribes of very diverse origin ; first by the 
Orakzai and Bangash to the south, and later by the Waziri and Turi to the south-west, the 
Khatak to the east, and the Ghilzai, Khuguini and Shinwari to the west. They now hold only the 
central fastnesses of the eastern extremity of the Safed Koh ; namely, the Khaibar mountains, the 
valley of the Bara and the range south of that valley which separates Kohat from Peshawar, and 
the northern parts of Trrah, which they recovered from the Orakzai in the time of Jahangir.The 
Pathan historians trace their descent from Buvhan, sou of Kakai, grandson of Karlanri, by his son 
Usman surnamed Afridi, and sav that in the 7th century the Khaibar tract was held by Rajputs of 
the Bhatti tribe and Yadubansi stock, subjects of the Raja of Lahore, who were constantly harassed 
by the Afghans of Ghor and the Sulemans ; and that about the end of the century the Afridi, then 
in alliance with the Gakkhars, obtained from the Lahore Government all the hill country west of the 
Indus and south of the Kabul river on condition of guarding the frontier against invasion. The 
Afridi are divided into five clans, of which the Ula Khel and in it the Zakha Khel sept is tho 

1 Some say that the Khatak, as well as the Utman Khel, were called in as alhes against the 
Ranizai. 
largest, while the Mita Khel are no longer to be found in Afghanistan and the Mirl Khel have been 
amalgaamated with the Malikdin and Aka Khel. Some of the principal divisons are shown



below : — 

[[File: 501.png   | |frame|500px]]   
 
But for practical pm-poses they are divided at present into eight clans, viz., Kuki Khel, Malik
din Khel, Qambar Khel, Kamar Khel, Zakhia Khel, Aka Khel, Sepah and Adam Khel, whoso 
names are printed in italics in the above table. 

The Adam Khel, Mdio include the Hasan Khel and Jawaki septs so well known on om border, 
occupy the i-auge between Kohat and Peshawar, from Akor west of the Kohat pass to the Khatak 
boundary. The Hasan Khel hold the land along the southern border of the Peshawar and the 
north-eastern border of the Kohat district. Next to them come the Aka Khel who hold the low 
range of hills from Akor to the Bara river, the Bassi Khel sept lying nearest to British territory. 
These two clans occupy the south-eastern corner of the Afridi country, and lead a more settled life 
than their kinsmen, being largely engaged in the carriage of wood and salt between Independent 
Territory and British India. The other tribes are in some degree migratory, wintering in the lower 
hills and valleys, while in the hot weather they retire to the cool recesses of the upper mountains. 
But their general distribution is as follows : North of the Bira river is the Kajuri plain, 
which forms the winter quarters of the Malikdin Khel, Qambar Khel, Sepah, and Kamar 
Khel. The Qambar Khel pass the summer in Trrah. The Sepah's summer quarters are in the Para 
valley ; while the Kamar Khel spend the hot mouths in the spurs of the Safed Koh between Maidau 
and Bara, and are better cultivators and graziers and less habitual robbers than their kinsmen. The 
Zakha Khel are the most wild and lawless of the Afridi clans. Their upper settlements are in the 
Maidan and Bara districts, and then- winter quarters he in the Bazar valley north of Landi Kotal, 
and in the Khaibar from Ali Masjid to Landi Kotal. Their children are christened by being passed 
backwards and forwards through a hole made in a wall after the fashion of a burglar, while the parents 
repeat Be a thief ; be a thief, an exhortation which they comply with scrupulously when they arrive 
at years of discretion. They are notorious as liars and thieves, even among the lying and thieving 
Afridi. The Kuki Khel hold the eastern mouth of the Khaibar, and the pass itself as far as Ali 
Masjid. In summer they retire to the glen of Kajgal, north of Maidau, in the Safed Koh. They 
trade in firewood, and offend rather by harbouring criminals than by overt acts of aggi-ession. 

The 
Afridi is the most barbarous of all the tribes of our border. All the Karlanri, with the single 
exception of the Khatak, are wild and uncontrollable ; but most of all the Afridi. Ruthless 
cowardly robbery and coldblooded treacherous mm-der are to an Afridi the salt of life. Brouglit up 
from earhest childhood amid scenes of appalling treachery and merciless revenge, nothing has yet 
changed him : as he lives, a shameless cruel savage, so he dies, r et he is reputed brave, and 
that by men who have seen him fighting ; and he is on the whole the finest of the Pathan races of  
treacherous than other Pathans. This much is certain, that he has the power of prejudicing 
Englislimen in his favour ; and few are brought into contact with him who do not at least begin 
with enthusiastic admiration for his manliness.* He is tall, spare, wiry, and athletic ; hardy 
and active, but impatient of heat. His women are notoriously unchaste. His is only nominally 
a Musaluian, being wholly ignorant and intensely superstitious. The Zakha Khel removed the 
odium under which they suifered of possessing no shrine at which to worship, by inducing a 
sainted man of the Kaka Khel to come and seltle among them, and then murdering him in order 
to bury lus corp e and thus acquire a holy place of their own. The Afridi are intensely demo
cratic, the nominal Chiefs having but little power. 

''' The Mullagori'''North of theAfridi come the Mallagori, a small and inoffensive tribe who 
are associate! with the hill Mohmand, but whose Pathan origin is doubtful. They hold 
the Tartarah country north of the Khaibar range. They are noted thieves, but confine them
selves to petty offences. 

Macgregor's Gazetteer of the North-Western Frontier, verb. Afridi. 

''' The Shinwari''' are the only branch of the dcscendants of Kansi, third son of Karsliabuu,
who still retain a corporate existence as a tribe. Thoy he west of the Mullagori, hold the hills 
to the north of the western end of the Khaibav pass, and thence stretch along the northern slopes 
of the Safed Koh np to The Khugiani territory. They are divided into four great clans, Sangu 
Khel, Ali Shcr Ivhel, Sepah, and Mandozai. The Kliaihar Shinwari belong to the Ali Sher Khel, 
and live in the Loargi valley at Landi Kotal. Their principal septs are Prro Khel, Mir Dad 
Khel, Khuga Khel, Shekh Mai Khel, and Snleman Khol. They are largely engaged in the 
carrying trade Ijeweeu Peshawar and Kabul ; and are stalvart, hardworking and inoffensive, though 
much addicted to petty thieving. They probably came up to this part of the country with the 
Ghoria Khel (see section 409), 

''' The Bar Mohmand'''. — The history of the hill or Bar Mohmand has been related in section 
409. They hold the hills to the west of the Douba between the Kabul river and Bajaur and the 
Utman Khel country, the southern portion of Kunar, and some of the northern hills of the 
Khaibar. They have also spread across our border along the Kabul river, between the two branches 
of which the Halimzai clan hold a small area lying between the Daudzai and the Gugiani. Their 
principal sections are Baizai, Khwaczai, Tawczai, Utraanzai, Kukozai, and Tarakzai, the last of 
which is divided into Halimzai, Isa Khel, Burbun Khel, and Tarakzai proper. The Halimzai and 
the Tarakzai proper bold land on our border, the others living further west. The Khan of 
Lalpura, Chief of the Mohamand, who belongs to the Tarakzai clan, probably enjoys more real 
power than any other tribal Chief among the Pathans of our immediate border. The Mohmand 
is almost as great a savage as the Afridi, while his venality is even greater. You have only 
got to put a rupee in your eye, and you may look at any Mohmand, man or woman. They for
merly gave much i rouble on our border. 

''' The Utman Khel'''. The history of the Utman Khel has already been sketched in sections 
408-9. They occupy both banks of the Swat river beyond our border as far up as Arang 
Barang, and have, as stated in section 410, obtained a portion of the Baizai valley of Lundkhwar. 
The two chief clans are Umar Khel and Asfl Khel, the former of which hold the hills on the 
Peshawar frontier, while the latter who live on the Swat river are the more powerful. They 

are described as tall, stout, and fair, often going naked to the 
waist. The women labour like the men and everything shows 
the absence of civilization. They are a sober people, with 
none of the vices of the Yusufzai. - They give us but little 
trouble. 

''' The Yusufzai proper'''. — The history of the Yusufzai has 
already been related in sections 408-9. Their main divisions 
are shown in the margin. The holdings of the Akozai clans 
have already been described in section 410. The Isazai hold the 
north-cast slopes of Mahaban, and the mountainous country on 
both sides of the Indus in Hazara and the Gadun valley. The 
Malizai hold eastern and the Hiaszai western Buner. The Ranizai 
and Baizai septs of the Akozai hold all the hills beyond the 
northern border of 'Yufzai, the former to the west and the 
latter to the east. Beyond them in Buner he the Salarzai sept 
of the Iliaszai, and again between them and the Chamlah valley 
are the Nurazai of the Malizai clan, which includes the Abazai section. The Yusufzai are incredibly 
superstitions, proud, avaricious, turbulent, merciless, and revengeful. But they are of a lively, 
merry, sociable disposition, fond of music and poetry, and very jealous of the honour of their 
women. Their tribal constitution is distinctly democratic. 

''' The Jadun Country'''—South of the Yusufzai territory come Chamlah and the Khudu Khel 
territory already noticed. The southern parts of the country between Peshawar and Hazara 
constitute the Jadun or Gadun country. The holdings of other tribes in this valley have already 
been noticed. The Jadun themselves occupy all the eastern portions of the valley and the 
southern slopes of Mahaban down to the Indus, as well as, a considerable area in Hazara. They 
are described in section 417.