This blog by Barmazid features articles on the history of the Pashtun people as well as images of historical importance related to Pakhtunkhwa and its people
Abdul Ghani Khan (1914–1996) was a renowned Pashtun poet, artist, and politician.
He was the son of Abdul Ghaffar Khan (popularly known as Bacha Khan).
Caption: “Son of ex-King of Afghan... now U.S. collegian.” Abdul Ghani (Khan), eldest son of former king Abdul Ghaffar Khan of Afghanistan, who has temporarily left his royal house for an American college campus. He is enrolled for freshman work in sugar chemistry at Louisiana State University and says he will avoid political life in favor of a career in this field. The young man’s father was elected king of Afghanistan just after the World War and was almost immediately deposed. Ghani, who studied in England for two years with a private tutor just before coming to America for his first visit, says he likes America because it is democratic and cosmopolitan.
Note: American journalists either mistook Abdul Ghaffar Khan for the King of Afghanistan due to his title Badshah Khan, which translates to “King Khan,” or confused him with Bacha-i-Saqao (Habibullah Kalakani), who briefly ruled Afghanistan from 17 January to 13 October 1929.
'Umeer Dost Mahomed Khan' (Amir Dost Muhammad Khan), 1843. By Lockyer Willis Hart. Dost Muhammad Khan (1793 1863), seated in the centre, was the founder of the dynasty of the Barakzai in Afghanistan.
Dost Mahommed, King of Caubul, and his youngest son. By Lieutenant James Rattray.
Watercolour drawing of 1835-1838 showing Amir Dost Muhammad Khan at Kabul', by Godfrey Thomas Vigne
Dost Muhammad (d.1863), Amir of Afghanistan, with his three sons, Muhammad Akram Khan, Haidar Khan and Abdul Ghani Khan, seated on a carpet, ca.1840 (made).
Dost Muhammad Khan Barakzai, Amir of Kabul North India, probably circa 1840. Source
Reception of Afghan dignitaries in the Afghan Boundary Commission winter camp at Bala Murghab, Herat, January 1, 1885.
Seated from left to right:
1- Captain ? (De Lassoe or Barrow)
2- Kazi Saad ud-din Khan, Afghan Chief Commissioner
3- Naib ul-Hukumat Muhammad Sarwar Khan (Afghan governor of Herat)
4-Genral Muhammad Ghaus ud-din Khan (a native of the tribe of Baruki, in the Logur valley, was Commander of the Afghan troops at Panjdeh )
Habibullah Kalakani (Bacha Saqao), 1929. Members of court enjoying a musical evening at Dilkusha Palace, including Mohammad Amir of Bokhara and Muhammad Kabir, son of Amir Habibullah
Photograph of a group, seated and standing, of heavily armed men, said to be soldiers in the service of Bacha-i-Saqao (Habibullah Kalakani), king of Afghanistan in 1929. A copyprint.
In Dera Ismail Khan, the highest peak of the Sulaiman mountains range (کوہ سلیمان) is known as Takht-i-Sulaiman at 3,487 metres (11,440 ft). In Balochistan, its highest peak is Zarghun Ghar at 3,578 metres (11,739 ft) near Quetta city. Takht-i-Sulaiman is situated in the territory of Sheranis, near Darazinda village. Legend has it that at Darazinda or 'Dar-i-zindan" which literally means prison-house, were imprisoned the restive genii, at the orders of King Solomon, after whom Suleiman Mountains range and Takht-i-Sulaiman (height 11,070 feet) are named [1]. Prophet Sulieman, who, as the story goes, once came to Hindustan to marry a lady named Balkis. While returning from India with his bride in a flying throne, the lady requested Sulaiman to stop for awhile, to enable her to take a last fond look at her native land. Thereupon the throne alighted on this peak, which has ever since borne the name of Takht-i-Sulaiman, or Solomon's Throne.
Koh-i-Sulaiman is known as 'Kasaey Ghar (کسې غر) among Pashtuns.
The Sulaimanis (سلیمانی) of Sulaiman Mountains
The Suleiman mountains range was generally thought to be the cradle of the Pashtun race and it is supposed that their eponymous ancestor is buried on the Takht-i-Sulaiman. Sulaiman mountains range was highly associated with Pashtun people in medieval times. Pashtuns were sometimes referred to as Sulaimani in India, for example Qasim Sulaimani (a 16th century Pashtun saint belonging to Khalil tribe) and Khwaja Hasan Sulaimani (a 13th century Pashtun saint belonging to Dawi tribe). Arabs almost always referred to them as Sulaimani in the past. Ahmad Shah Durrani had constructed a serai in Mecca for Pashtun pilgrimages in 18th which was known as Rabat al-Sulaimani (the serai of the Sulaimanis) among local Arabs (it was demolished by Saudis in 20th century). Reportedly, Arabs call Pashtuns Sulaimani to this day. The "Census of India" (1911) by British states:
"There is one another name by which the Afghans are known — Sulaimani. It is derived from their home round the Takht-i-Sulaiman, and is that still employed by the Arabs, among the whom the proverb is current ,"Thou art a Suleimani - therefore a thief". [2]
A Pashtun king residing on the Sulaiman Mountains range in the early 14th century
Sulaiman mountains was seat of some one in early 14th century who was reputed to be the king of Afghans (Pashtuns). Moroccan Travelar Ibn-i-Batuta ( 1304 – 1368) notes;
".. Their (Afghans') principal mountain is called Koh-i-Sulaiman. It is related that the Prophet of God Sulaiman (peace be upon him) climbed this mountain and looked out over the land of India, which was [then] covered with darkness, but returned without entering it, so the mountain was named after him. It is in this mountain that the king of Afghan resides" [3]
The Sulaiman Mountains had the reputation of being the 'true Afghanistan' in the past
During the reign of Timur Shah Durrani, an Indian visited Pakhtunkhwa and collected information about it for the British East India Company. About Koh-i-Sulaiman or Kasaey-Ghar he writes:
"West of the town of Chaudhwan rises that lofty peak of the Koh-i-Sulaiman or Koh-i-Siyah, called the Takht-i-Sulaiman, giving name to the whole of the stupendous range. The Afghans style it Kesah Ghar, and Kasi Ghar, and also Shu-al. It is a very lofty mountain, and on the summit of it is the place of pilgrimage, known to the Afghan people as the Ziarat of the Patriarch, Sulaiman. It shows itself from an immense distance, and its summit is generally clothed with snow".
From the town of Chaudhwan to the Ziarat of Hazrat Sulaiman, on its summit, is a distance of twenty-five kuroh, and the way thither is well known. This great range of mountains intervenes between Kandahar and the Derajat, extending lengthways from the Darah of Khyber and Jalalabad on the north, to Siwi and Dadar on the south, a distance of three hundred kuroh, and in breadth, including its offshoots, one hundred kuroh. Within these limits, forming an extensive territory, there are numerous darahs and plateaus; and it was herein, but specially in into the vicinity of, and around Kasi Ghar, or Shu-al, that the Afghan tribes, according to their traditions, first took up their abode, and subsequently spread out in all directions.
The limits above-mentioned constitute the true Afghanistan; and it is to this tract, and to no other, that the earlier Musalman chroniclers refer under that name." [4]
The first Europeans who reached the ziarat at Takht-i-Sulaiman
In 1891 two British officers Major Maclvor and Captain A.H.McMahon reached the famous ziarat at the peak of the Takht-i-Suliman and gave the following account of their adventure ;
"We found ourselves on June 28, 1891, at the Pezai spring, on the western slopes of the range — the highest point at which spring water on that side is obtainable. At dawn on the 29th we commenced the actual ascent, and by the evening, after a hard day's climb, reached the crest-line at the point where the famous shrine is situated. Here we found a couple of rough stone hut shelters erected by pilgrims, in which former visitors had each in turn left cooking-vessels and supplies of flour and rice for the use of them who might come after them. The actual shrine was close by, and within a few yards, but far from a pleasant place to get at. The face of the mountain at this point on the eastern side is a sheer precipice of many thousands of feet. The shrine is some 20 feet down below the edge of the precipice, and consists of a small ledge of rock about 4½ feet long by 3 feet wide, with a slight artificial parapet of rocks on the outer sides, about a foot in height. It is reached by four foot-holes cut or worn away in the rock. The hand and foot-hold is good, but the edge of the precipice appears slightly to overhang the little ledge below, and the sensation therefore experienced in going down or coming up over the edge of the precipice is only equalled by that of seeing some one else do so. All pilgrims apparently do not enter this shrine, but content themselves with looking down into it from above. Those who do descend have a small token in the form of a small piece of stick, which they fix into the interstices of the little rock parapet. Both of us descended, and left our stick tokens. The look down into space from this little ledge does not tempt one to make a very long stay there."
"The crest of the mountain at the shrine is not the highest point, which is at one of the three knob-like peaks at the south end of the crest. These we determined to ascend, if possible, next day, notwithstanding the assurances of our native guides that these peaks were quite inaccessible. After a cold night on the crest, on the ground, where some snow was still lying in patches, we commenced a bard day's work. Each of the three peaks before us was separated from the place in which we were and from each other by precipitous gaps in the crest-line, and the ascent certainly did not appear hopeful. Without describing the many adventures of the day, it will suffice to say that we both succeeded in reaching the tops of all three peaks, and also, I am glad to say, in discovering a possible way down again—a matter which at one time appeared somewhat doubtful."
"This is the first occasion on which Europeans have reached either the shrine or the summit of the peak of the Takht-i-Suliman. No one has, as far as I know, gone up to ether place since. "[5]
References
1- Indus, Volume-11, Page-15
2- Census of India, Vol-V, p-98
3- "The Travels of Ibn Battuta", Volume 3, p-590
4- Notes on Afghanistan, by Raverty, p-329
5- The Geographical Journal, Volume 4, Issues 2-6, p-486
View of Takht-i-Suliman mountain with part of the Lohani Camp at Daraband, 1836. Painting by G.T.Vigne.Ziarat on the Takht-i-Sulaiman, 1909.Takht-i-Sulaiman. Photo courtesy: Zarak MandokhailPeople offering prayers at the Takht-i-Sulaiman (FR Dera Ismail Khan)
Mausoleum of Khwaja Khizr Sarwani (Sonipat, Haryana, India)
Khwaja Khizr Khan Sarwani was a Pashtun of saintly reputation who was governor of Sonipat (Haryana state, India) during the during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi (1517-1526 AD). He is buried in Sonipat in a magnificent Mausoleum which was constructed during the reign of Sultan Ibahrim Lodi. According to a Persian inscription on the site, Khwaja Khizr Khan was the son of Darya Khan Sarwani. The latter himself was an influential noble in the court of Sikandar Lodi. Work commenced on the tomb in 1522 and was completed by 1524. It was built on the orders of Langar Khan Khizr who was most probably his relative. The inscriptions read as follow:
"The portico of the tomb of Khwaja Khizr Khan, son of Darya Khan Sarwani – may God have mercy upon both! – was erected on Monday, 15th Shawwal, 928, in the reign of Just and liberal King, who relies on the assistance of the Merciful, Abul Muzaffar Ibrahim Shah, son of Sikandar Shah, son of Bahlul, the King. May God continue his kingdom and reign! "
"With the help of God, who is blessed and exalted, and by his grace, the building of this tomb of the great and noble saint, Miyan Khwaja Khizr Khan, the deceased, the pardoned, son of Darya Khan, son of the Shaikh of Shaikhs Shaikh Ahmad, son of the king of Shaikhs Shaikh Manduki Darwesh Sarwani – may God have mercy upon them, – muqta (governor) of the town of Sonipat, was completed in the time of the kings of kings, the confirmer of the laws of Islam and the faith, the shadow of the God in both worlds, who trusts to the aid of the Merciful, Abdul Muzaffar Ibrahim Shah, son of Sikandar Shah, son of Bahlul Shah, the King – may God perpetuate his kingdom and rule – by order of Langar Khan Khizr, on the 15th Rajab – may the honour of this month increase, A.H. 930."
Sarwani is an extinct tribe of Pashtuns who are said to be descendants of Sarwanaey, a son of Shah Hussain Ghori by his second wife Bibi Mahi who was daughter of a servant of Shaikh Batan. Descendants of Sarwanaey were brought up by Bibi Mato and are also grouped under the general name of Mati tribes.
Qasim Sulaimani was a Pashtun saint of great fame during the reigns of Akbar and Jahangir. He belonged to the Khalil tribe of Pashtuns. Emperor Jahangir suspected him of favouring the claims to the throne of his son Khusrau, and imprisoned him in the fortress of Chunar in 1606 where he died the following year. Sulaimani is a name by which the Pashtuns were known. His grandson Abdur-Razzak wrote a history of the Pashtun tribes which was in the possession of Major H.G. Raverty (Reference: "Notes on Afghanistan", Raverty)
According to Asrar ul Afaghina, Shaikh Qasim was born at Peshawar in 956 Hijri, 1549 AD. [North Indian Notes and Queries, Volumes 1-2, 1892, p-163]
Mausoleum of Qasim Sulaimani at Chunar, 1803's painting.
Kamal, a Spin Tarin from Harnai, language informer of Georg Morgenstierne for Wanetsi Pashto, 1929.
"The Mikhiani and Wanechi Tarins of Shahrig use a modified form of Pashto that is known as the Chalgari or Tarinao. This dialect differs from the ordinary Pashto of the Quetta District and according to the traditions the progenitor of the Wanechis quarreled with his father who cursed him saying 'warsa, pa shabe de sok ma pohesha " that is "be gone, let no one understand thy language. " ["History of the Pathans", Vol-III, Haroon Rashid]
Bremner set up his studio in Karachi and another in Quetta, the growing capital of the province of Baluchistan, he travelled across the province, following the newly laid railway tracks, to the very north-western edge of British India, on the border of Afghanistan. In his memoir he wrote of his encounters there: "There is nothing the Baluchi and Afghans value more than to be armed with a gun". (shown with jezail matchlock rifle, blunderbuss, shield and pulwar sword).
The Khattak dance or the Attan of Khattaks in the past was essentially a war-dance, which would be performed as a warm-up exercise before taking on their enemies in a battlefield or after scoring a victory over the enemies. It is still preserved with the original essence of a war-dance and is performed with swords. The performance of Attan with swords was once a custom of many other Pashtun tribes, but they did not preserve it.
The traditional dance of the Khattaks which is performed with swords is usually referred to as a Khattak Dance in English but among the Khattak themselves it is known as the "bangarah" (not to be confused with Bhangra of Punjabis), and the entire performance consists of three separate phases. The performance commences with the "bangarah", which is performed with swords, followed by the "derabi", also performed with swords, and as the finale, the "bulbullah", without swords.
The "derabi" is followed by the "bulbullah", a dance somewhat in style to the movements of the "bangarah", only the swords are discarded and instead, after a twirl, the dancers clap their hands in unison. This dance is commenced by two of the dancers singing a love song in a high falsetto voice as they circle slowly round the fire.
Buster Goodwin writes:
A "bangarah" is seen at its best when performed on a dark night with a large bonfire of logs and brushwood flaming in the center of the dancers. Swords which flash in the firelight when whirled are necessary. Brushwood is thrown on the fire, which, bursting into flame, sends sparks high into the air, the sparks looking like a swarm of fire-flies. An important item is the orchestra — two flageolets and two drums. The flageolets when played sound something like the pipes of Scotland. Unless all these conditions are fulfilled, the dance is a tame affair.
Reference: "Life among the Pathans (Khattaks)" by Buster Goodwin
Bangarah or Khattak dance performed by the Khattak soldiers of 20th Punjab Infantry at Bala Murghab (Herat) on New Year's Day , January 1, 1885. From The Illustrated London News
A Khattak sword dancer, 1909." Among the Wild Tribes of the Afghan Frontier" by Theodore Leighton Pennell.
Khattak dance around fire in camp of 72nd Highlanders, Kohat, Second Anglo-Afghan War, illustration from magazine Graphic, January 4, 1879
Khattak Dance. Water colour painting of 1878 by Lt. Oswald Radford
.......
Pathan Sword-Dance before Prince Albert Victor at the Cavalry Camp, Muridki, India. Illustration for The Illustrated London News, 8 March 1890.
Khattak dance, c.1914
Khattaks of the 2nd Baluch Battalion doing feats of skill with the sword in Baluchistan, 1896. Photo by A.C. Yate.
Shinwaraey was the son of Kasi. It is not known when they got separated from the parent tribe. Notwithstanding, their genetic link with the Kasis, they are known as an independent tribe. In sixteenth century , they along with the Ghoria Khels moved eastwards and ousted the Gigyanis, Tarklanris, and Muhammadzai from Ningarhar. In Afghanistan where the major portion of the tribe presently resides , they occupy the northern slopes of the Spin Ghar from Landi Kotal westward.
Azad Khan, a Shinwari Malik, 1878. A sketch by William Simpson
Pozai Khan, A Shinwari Musician, 1879
Major Cavagnari arranging with the Shinwaris for the protection of the
road from Dakka to Lundi Khana , Second Anglo-Afghan War. Illustration
for The Illustrated London News, 25 January 1879
Inhabitants of Khyber : Shinwari , Afridi and Orakzai, 1827-1843. By Imam Bakhsh Lahori.
