Gandapur tribe is extracted from the Ustarani tribe of Pashtuns. Ustaranis allege themselves to be descended from the famous saint Sayyid Muhammad Gaisu Daraz by one of his Sherani Pashtun wives. Ushtarani had five sons, of whom the descendants of four (Tarri or Gandapur, Sheikhi, Mareri and Umra) are collectively known as Gandapur, while those of the fifth, Hamar, are alone known as Ushtarani. Grandchildren of Gaisu Daraz were raised by their maternal grandfathers. It is, however, very doubtful that Gesu-daraz had any relationship to any Pashtun tribe, including the Gandapur.
Gandapurs were originally a pawandah and pastoral tribe. When they settled down in Daman, they began to give up their periodical migrations westward, and their commerce with the countries in that directions but even in late 19th century, a few persons of each clan of Gandapurs followed commercial pursuits, and joined the pawandahs in their migrations, and resorted to Kabul, Kandahar and other cities.
Recommended external link: GANDĀPŪR – Encyclopaedia Iranica
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| Mir Alam Khan, a Gandapur chieftain, 1861. From Watson and Kaye collection. |
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| Nowrung Khan Gandapur, 1861. From Watson and Kaye collection. |
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| Muhammad Gul Khan Gandapur, 1861. From Watson and Kaye collection. |
Gandapur:
ReplyDeleteThe Gandapur are a Pashtun tribe inhabiting the environs of Dera Ismail Khan, a major commercial center the west bank of the Indus River, in the southern region of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, near the frontier with South Waziristan. The Gandapurs reside principally in the small town of Kulachi on the bank of River Gomal, a tributary of River Indus and trace their origin to Afghanistan. They settled in Dera Ismail Khan area in 17th century A.D. A part of the tribe lives in Sur Kalay in Ghazni Province of Afghanistan.
History
The Gandâpûr, like many other nomadic Pashtun groups in the region, regularly moved between Afghanistan and the Dâmân plains stretching from the Indus to the eastern slopes of the Solaymân mountains. They combined pastoral nomadism with transporting and peddling of goods between Central Asia and South Asia. The pattern of these nomadic movements and the transformations of their society fluctuated with the rhythms of trade and the nature of their contacts with the surrounding political economies throughout their history. During the 17th century, most of the Gandâpûr had settled in Dêra Ismâîl Khân, with large numbers engaged in the trade between India and Khorasan, which intensified in the next two centuries. [Elphinstone, 373.]
Tradition of tribe's origin
The origin of the Gandapurs is based only on traditions not yet properly researched. In some sources, Gandapurs are described as syeds. There is a tradition that they are the descendants of Syed Muhammad Gaisu Daraaz who was a Sufi Poet of 16th century AD. This tradition, as supported by Tarikh-e-Pushtun and Tarikh-e-Gandapur, traces the origin of Gandapurs as follows:
*Syed Muhammad Gaisu Daraaz =>> Storay (meaning Star in Pashto) =>> Tairi Khan or Gandapur.
The tradition tells us that Tairi married a girl Gul Andama . Gul andama belonged to a hostile tribe and so Tairi had to migrate to avoid revenge from his wife's tribe. His Father Storay bid him farewell and prayed for him as "Ganda pura" (Pashto words meaning Ganda = Bag and Pura = Full) and it meant "Tairi should always have full bounties and blessings of all kinds" and hence it became the epithet of Tairi and was later known as Gandapur.The original name of Gandapur was Tairi Khan. He had four sons and a daughter. The names of the sons and daughter are as follows;
ReplyDelete#Yaqub Khan (His descendents known as Yaqub Zai)
#Ibrahim Khan (His descendents known as Ibrahim Zai)
#Hussain Khan (His descendents known as Hussain Zai)
#Dre Plaara (His descendents are not known)
#Khubai, the daughter of Gandapur. The descendants of her son Kamal are known as Kamal Khel.
The Khaddal Luvañ episode
Luvañ is a small Pashtun tribe residing in and around Qamardin Karez in the west of Zhob district in the north-west Balochistan. Gandapurs used to pass through their area while going from their place in Ghazni to Dera Ismail Khan in a usual annual cycle of Nomadic life.
Khaddal Luvanh was chief of the Luvanh tribe in 16th century A.D. He chose a narrow pass in the way of nomadic tribes going to Dera Ismail Khan and the rest of Indus plain passing through his area and laid their. He demanded that girls from various tribes should come and lift him in their shawls. That was very humiliating demand and none of the tribe could accede to that. When the Gandapurs arrived to at the narrow pass, they found Khaddal luvanh lying in the pass. When lengthy negotiations bore no fruit, some of the Gandapur young men disguised themselves as girls wearing shawls of women and came to Khaddal. Apparently they had come to lift him in their shawls but they divided him into pieces.
The death of Khaddal Luvanh brought them in confrontation with the Luvanh tribe and their route from Ghazni to Dera Ismail Khan no longer remained safe. This led to the separation of the tribe into two parts. One part of the tribe settled in Damaan, Kulachi, Dera Ismail Khan and the other part remained in their original abode in Ghazni, Afghanistan. A distance of more than 450 kilometers between two places and the enemy tribe inhabiting the route divided the tribe. Over a period of almost four centuries, both the parts of Gandapur tribe have lost any contact between them.
Sir where have you studied all this
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