Mir Alam (a Tajik of Kohistan) in his summer dress, 1841

 

Mir Alam (a Tajik of Kohistan) in his summer dress, 1841. Painting by James Rattrey. 

He belonged to a band of infamous highway robbers, who infested the Ghorband pass (in Parwan province, Afghanistan).  James Rattrey writes : "They were commanded by a chief called Hussun, who levied black-mail on everything passing through his mountain defiles, and, resisting every attempt made to take him, became the terror of the whole country." One day Hassan approached the British political agent William Macnaghten and offered to bring him the head of Amir Dost Muhammad Khan Barakzai who was then hovering about Nijraw (in Kapisa province, Afghanistan) and the Ghorbund Pass. Macnaghten turned down the offer but afterwards Hassan and his bandits were enrolled among the infantry escorts of James Rattrey's brother.

James Rattrey praise them as follow: "The Coistaun has always been remarkable for the warlike character of its inhabitants, who average some forty thousand families famous for the efficiency and excellence of their “Pyadas” (foot soldiery). As light infantry they are unrivalled, and, from their numbers and determined courage, are of considerable importance in the event of any revolution in which they may take part." 

About their dress and arms, he writes : Their dress consisted of the blue, red, or white loose shirt, worn outside the full trouser; “kummerbund” (waist-belt) of muslin or Peshawuree “loonghee,” a plaid scarf of silk and cotton mixture, from which hung the “kummerkeess,” or embroidered Russia leather powder, shot, and bullet purses, with a variety of useful articles suspended on fantastically-shaped hooks, consisting of diminutive hammers, gunpicks, knife, and rosary. On their heads they were the high flowing turban, or close scull-cap. Their arms were short iron spears, shields of buffalo or rhinoceros hides; “choras,” or straight knives from twenty-five to thirty-five inches in length; blunderbusses, called “sherebuchchas” (lion-whelps); “tofungs,” matchlocks, with barrels forty-six inches long, and stocks studded in ivory, brass, or silver patterns; curved swords, and “juzzails.”

On 3 November 1841, the troops of Kohistan rangers at Kahdarrah (about 20 miles north west of Kabul) revolted and killed their British officers Lieutenant Richard Maule and Lieutenant Wheeler .

Source: "Scenery, inhabitants and costumes of Afghaunistan" by James Rattray. 

Image source: https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/18784/lot/72/?category=list