Origin of the Tughlaq sultans of India; their connection to present-day Afghanistan

The Tughlaq Sultans who ruled India in 14th century, were from that part of Khurasan which is now western Afghanistan. Belonging to the Qarauna/Negudari Mongol tribe, they spoke Mongolian and were related to, but distinct from, the Hazaras. It is important to note that Tughlaq was not the name of their tribe but rather the title of the dynasty's founder, who hailed from Khurasan according to Shams Siraj Afif, a contemporary courtier [1]. Ibn Battuta, another contemporary figure who served under Muhammad bin Tughlaq, described the sultan's homeland as a mountainous area between Turkestan and Sindh, corresponding to the regions of Ghor and the hilly tract near Herat. [2]

They were part of the marauding Mongol armies of the 13th century. According to Isami (author of Futuḥ al-Salāṭīn, written in the 1350s), Sultan Balban’s son was killed by a Qarauna horseman of the Mongol army in 1285 AD [3]. In his elegy written upon the death of Balban’s son, Amir Khusrau described his captor as a Qarauna:

“He sat on his horse like a leopard on a hill. His open mouth smelled like an armpit, whiskers fell from his chin like pubic hair.” [4]

The Qaraunas appear to have been the offspring of Mongol men and Indian women captured from Punjab and Sind during their raids. "Qara" means black in both Mongolian and Turki languages, suggesting a darker complexion. Marco Polo described them as "half-breeds" and equated the term Qarauna with Negudari.

"Many towns and villages across this plain have tall, thick earthen ramparts to protect them against the bands of marauders known as Qaraunas who infest these parts. And why are they called Qaraunas, which means ‘mongrels’ in our language? When these people set out to rob and pillage the land, they cast diabolical spells that turn daylight to darkness until it is virtually impossible to see anything. And they spread this darkness over an area that takes seven days to cross. They know the lie of the land inside out, so when they have summoned the darkness they ride side by side – sometimes as many as 10,000 at once, sometimes more, sometimes less – and commandeer the plain they mean to rob so utterly that no one in their path can escape them and everything, man, beast and object, is liable to be seized. And when they have captured the men, they kill all the elderly and cart off the young to sell them as serfs and slaves. Their king is called Neguder. And this Neguder went with a good 10,000 of his own men to the court of Chagatai, a brother of the Great Khan, and stayed with him, because Chagatai was his uncle and a mighty lord." [5]

Mughal king Babur in his description of Kabul (i.e. Kabulistan) wrote that Hazaras and Negudaris lived in the western mountains (to the west of Kabulistan) and some of them spoke Mongolian language at that time.
"On the west it (Kabul) has the mountain region in which are Karnud (?) and Ghor, now the refuge and dwelling places of the Hazara and Nikudari tribes." [6] 

"In the western mountains are the Hazara and Nikudari tribes some of whom speak the Mughuli tongue."[7]

References:

 

1- 'Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi', Urdu translation by Maulvi Muhammad Fida Ali, p-31

2- 'The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History', by Peter Jackson, p-328

2- 'Futuh al-Salatin', p.382-383

4- 'Wasat al-Hayat', by Amir Khusrao, cited in Muntakhib al-Tawarikh, ed. Maulvi Ahmad Shah (Culcutta : Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1868), Vol.1, p.153

5- Marco Polo The Travels, translated by Nigel Cliff, pp.81-82

6- Baburnama, English translation of A.S.Beveridge, p-200

7- Ibid, p-207

    

Pashtun soldiers of British-Indian army

Pashtun and Hazara soldiers of the British-Indian Army, 1898. From left to right: Khattak (Jamedar), Ghilzai (Havaldar), Mahsud (Sepoy), Hazara (Sepoy) and Kakar (Sepoy).

Pashtun and Baloch soldiers of British-Indian army, 1897. Photo by Fred Bremner. From left to right: Durrani Pashtun, Wazir Pashtun and Brahui-Baloch. The Durrani in the Photo is referred to as "Afghan"; in 1890s and early 20th century many British officials began to use the term Afghan exclusively for the subjects of Amir Abdur Rahman, Amir Habibullah, King Amanullah etc. of Afghanistan. Pashtuns from present-day Afghanistan (Durranis, Ghilzais etc.) also enlisted themselves in the British-Indian army. While those British officials used the word "Pathan" for Pashtun subjects of British-Indian government. This was obviously done so to create distance between Pashtuns on both sides of Durand line and to integrate Pashtuns under their rule with India.

A falooda (فالودہ) stall in Kabul city, 1840 (c)

 

A falooda (فالودہ) stall in Kabul city (Afghanistan). The man on the left is a Hazara and is carrying snow, 1840 (c).

James Atkinson (the painter) writes:

"The stall where this delicacy is sold is very neatly and tastefully fitted up. A pillar of snow stands in one corner, a fountain plays behind it, while pots of flowers and loaves of sugar are arranged on either side. The month of May is the season for the Fulloodeh, which is a white jelly strained from whey, and drunk with sherbet and snow. So fond are the people of it that they call it “Rahut-i-jan,” or the solace of life, and in the hot season a draught of it si truly refreshing. One of the Huzzareh’s in the foreground is carrying snow for sale. In the winter these people collect it in pits, lined with chaff, where it is rammed down and covered over. When required during the summer, it is cut in pieces, and taken to market on men’s backs. Another with a pole slung over his shoulders supports a pile of earthenware vessels filled with butter-milk separated from each other by pieces of wood. A third holds a bag containing “root,” (dried curds pressed into hard lumps) some of which he is bargaining to exchange for bread with the baker’s boy seated near him."

Hazara men from villages near Ghazni,1840 (c)

 Hazara men from villages near Ghazni,1840 (c). Painting by James Atkinson. 

The Hazara man on the right "has a charm written by some holy person as a preventive against sickness, folded up in a piece of silk, and sewn on the back of his garment." 

James Atkinson writes: "The Huzzareh are inhabitants of villages near Guznee. Their dress of “urruk,” (a kind of coarsev cloth,) over which, in winter, they wear a sheep's skin pelisse, and the close fitting skull cap, distinguish their costume from that of their Giljee neighbours. One of the group has a charm written by some holy person as a preventive against sickness, folded up in a piece of silk, and sewn on the back of his garment. It has the policy of their Afghan rulers to reduce to insignificance the Huzzareh Chieftains, so that at the present period, notwithstanding their numbers, but few of this tribe have wealth: none power in the state."

In 19th century some Tajiks often forayed into Hazarajat, captured Hazaras as slaves and sold them to Uzbeks

In 19th century some Tajiks often forayed into Hazarajat, captured Hazaras as slaves and sold them to Uzbeks. 

James Atkinson in 1843 writes :

"The term Tajuk is applied to all people of Afghanistan, whose vernacular language is Persian. They reside in villages and are essentially cultivators, never leaving a pastoral life. In general they form the most peaceable class of the population, but in the Kohistan the case is reversed. Turbulent and vindictive their blood feuds are there endless. It is rare to see a man go to hunt or even ride out without being attended by some of hisclan as a guard. To the north of Akrobat, towards Toorkistan, also, they bear no high character. In that quarter, the Tajuk Chiefs, like the notorious Mahomed Ali Beg, of Syghan, often engage in forays into the Huzzareh districts for slaves to sell to the Uzbeks. Some years ago, one of them, the ruler of Kamurd, having been unsuccessful in his “chappaos” for human beings in the territory of his neighbour, deliberately seized the whole of the inhabitants of one of his own villages, and presented them to the Koondooz Chief. The figure on the left hand of the drawing, is a Kohistan Tajuk in his winter dress the child also belongs to that district, as does the cotton cleaner with his basket on his back, on the opposite side. A man and woman of Bameean, complete the group. The scanty dress and squalid appearance of this female, and the dejected look of her helpmates, indicate but too faithfully, the miserable state in which those “Troglodytes” exist in their subterraneous dwellings." Source

"Awghan" (اوغان) is not a derogatory distortion of the word Afghan

Some Pashtuns of Afghanistan (particularly the diaspora) get offended when Uzbeks, Tajiks and Hazaras refer to them as Awghan (اوغان), thinking it is a derogatory distortion of the word Afghan. 

But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that it is Awghan which is original while Afghan might be its Arabic or Persian modification of later times. 

 

In ancient Bactrian documents, Pashtuns are mentioned as "αβαγανο" i.e., Abagano or Awagano (since "b" is interchangeable with "w"). 

Source: "Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan II: Letters and Buddist Texts", by Nicholas Sims-Williams, p-144

 

Source: "Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan II: Letters and Buddist Texts", by Nicholas Sims-Williams, p-144

Indian astronomer Varāha Mihira mentioned them as Avagāṇa in his Bṛhat-saṃhitā in 6th century A.D.

Source:  Encyclopedia Iranic

Hsuen Tsang, in 629 A.D, refers to the people living between Bannu and Ghazni as " O-Po-Kien". According to Alexander Cunningham, O-Po-Kien is rendering of Avaghan in Chinese. 

The original spelling Awghan occasionally occur in the medieval Persian sources of the last millennium. From Tarikh Nama-i-Herat (written in circa 1320 A.D) :-

The role of Hazaras during the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42)

In 1842 Hazaras in the vicinity of Ghazni approached British and expressed their wish and desire that British invaders should exterminate the Pashtun race and repopulate the country (eastern Afghanistan) with Indians and Hazaras.

Henry Rawlinson in his diary writes: 

 "The Huzareh all visited us and did their best to supply us. They have been fighting with the Afghans in this district for a long time and they now took advantage of our presence and of our recent success over their enemies to fire all the villages which the Ghilzyes had deserted.... All their observations betrayed the most inveterate rancour against the Afghans, and they seemed to hope that we should aid in exterminating the Ghilzye population of Karabagh. The recent events at Cabool, Ghuznee served them as textbooks for inveighing against Afghan perfidy, Afghan cruelty and Afghan cowardice and they seriously asked if it was not our intention to exterminate the Afghan race and repopulate the country with Indians and Huzareh colonists.” [Source: "Afghanistan in the age of Empires: the Great Game for South and Central Asia" by Farrukh Husain, p-328.] 

Henry Rawlinson, from whose diary the above excerpt is taken, served as political agent of Kandahar in 1840-42 during the British occupation.

The Farsiwans of Kandahar and Qizilbash of Kabul also opposed Pashtun insurgents and supported British during the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42). [Source: "The Revolutions of 1841-2 in Afghanistan" by M.E.Yapp]

Reference:

"Afghanistan in the age of Empires: the Great Game for South and Central Asia" by Farrukh Husain, p-328

Hazaras collaborated with British invaders during the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-80)

During the 2nd Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880), when Wardak (Pashtun) men were busy fighting against British invaders elsewhere, the neighboring Hazaras took advantage of their absence and attacked the Wardak villages. This diverted Ghazi Muhammad Jan Wardak's attention from British invaders to Hazaras for a time.

Sketch of General Muhammad Jan Wardak (most probably from London Illustrated News).

Source: 'The Annual Register of World Events', Volume 122, p-248. The above 

The following excerpt from the account of Sir Donald Stewart's march from Kandahar to Kabul in 1880 was written at the time and sent home for publication by an eyewitness of the events described. Published in Macmillan's Magazine, Volume 44, 1881.

"It was at Karabagh, 190 miles north of Kandahar, that General Stewart first received trustworthy intelligence of the numbers and constitution of the hostile gathering on our right, and of their avowed intention to fight at all hazards. At this time, however, the enemy were out of sight among the hills, being driven to a greater distance than before by the crowds of their deadly enemies the Hazaras, who, at the first sign of the approach of the English troops, swarmed down in thousands from the lofty mountains to the West. A great deal had been written and said about the advantages we should reap directly we got into the Hazara country; all difficulties about getting supplies and intelligence were at once to disappear; the Hazara tribes were in short to prove themselves most efficient and useful allies. Suffice it to say that so far from this being the case, from the moment that the first Hazara chiefs came into our camp at Karabagh, to the date on which at Ghazni the General finally dismissed in Durbar the very large gathering of chiefs that had by that time assembled, the presence of these men was to all concerned not only an immense and unmitigated nuisance, but a positive obstruction to our movements; while their conduct in looting and burning Afghan villages, and in slaying every Afghan man, woman, and child whom they met with on the road—as long as our presence secured them against retaliation—brought upon us the odium and responsibility of acts which we exerted ourselves to the utmost to prevent.

No words can convey an idea of the extent to which the feud between the Karabagh Afghans and their Hazara neighbours had been pushed. Neither age nor sex had been spared; children had been butchered, women foully dishonoured, and the graves of the dead everywhere desecrated. It seems hopeless to expect that the two tribes can ever again exist as heretofore in neighbourly juxtaposition one to another. The only satisfaction was that the most careful inquiry made on the spot elicited the fact that the Karabagh massacres could in no way, however remote, be ascribed to the presence of the British in Afghanistan. Nearer Ghazni the bitterly hostile feeling that existed between Afghan and Hazara, took its rise, no doubt, in the refusal of the latter to join in the war against the British, and the fighting engendered thereby was certainly embittered by the course of events in Karabagh. But the Karabagh massacres were mainly and primarily due to an attack made by the Hazara Malik of the Char-Dasteh tribe upon a defenceless village which had been purchased from him by a Kharoti Afghan several years before. The Afghans had lived for years at peace with their Hazara neighbours. Faiz Mahomed, the Hazara chief, thinking, however, that the disturbed state of affairs at Kabul afforded him a good opportunity of recovering gratis the property ha had sold, planned an attack upon the Afghan village, and in the dead of night killed every man and child in it, distributing the women among his own followers. It cannot be wondered at that the thirst for vengeance on the part of the Afghans was deep, and not easily appeased; and the atrocities since committed by them upon the general body of Hazaras, without reference to their tribes, has of course intensified the deadly enmity between the two sections.

The army arrived in Karabagh on the 16th of April, and halted there one day, as a rest was much needed by men and animals, and it was necessary to recruit the supplies. One Hindu merchant alone had remained in the district and had collected a large quantity of grain and flour, for which he received liberal payment. The army could, however, have obtained ample supplies here for days by its own agency, had it not been for our so-called allies, the Hazaras. The pitching of our tents was, however, the signal for these men to come down in thousands from the mountains. They looted supplies that would have otherwise come to us, and day and night the horizon was aflame with the blaze of the villages which they had set on fire.1 Their chiefs seemed to have no power over them, and their own answer to remonstrances was that as they had already suffered much, and were certain to suffer still worse, at the hands of the Afghans, they were bound to inflict all the injury possible upon their enemies while the opportunity offered. On the arrival of the English in Karabagh one of our foraging parties found 400 Hazaras squatting, fully armed, round a fort in which twenty-five Afghans had shut themselves up. These latter had intended to bolt on our approach -with the rest of their compatriots, but had been surrounded by the Hazaras before they could get away, and when our party arrived they were found looking uncomfortably over the walls of their village at what must have seemed to them very like certain death. The Hazaras were quietly waiting until the gates should be opened to bring out provisions for us, when they intended to rush in and indulge themselves with a general massacre. It was with great difficulty that they were induced to retire and forego their bloodshed and booty, and indeed they did not budge until the Political Officer arrived and intimated to them very plainly that it would go hard with them if they attempted to attack the besieged Afghans. They then retired slowly and reluctantly, and their intended victims escaped during the night. By dawn the Hazaras had returned and burned the fort. On another occasion our advanced cavalry scouts surprised in a village two Afghan women who had come back to search for a child lost in the general exodus of the previous day. The Hazaras swore that these were women of their own tribe, intending doubtless to cut their throats; and it was piteous to see the terror of these poor creatures when they were taken before the Political Officer to have their fate decided. They were soon made happy, however, and being placed on a couple of donkeys were taken to our advanced picquets and told to make the best of their way to the enemy's outlying picquets, clearly visible at about two miles distance; the excellent time which they and the donkeys mutually made across the intervening distance was refreshing to witness. This was the day before the action at Ahmed Khel.

(On the return march of Sir F. Roberts force to Kandahar in August of the same year the condition of affairs was entirely reversed. It was then the Afghans who were in the ascendant in Karabagh, and the Hazaras were everywhere deserting their villages and property, and fleeing for their lives.)

A group of Behsudi Hazara chiefs with two boys and a mule, 1879

Origin of the Hazaras

Mir Khvand in his book Rauzat-us Safa (written in 1497 AD) tell us that Chenghiz Khan sent his youngest son Tulai to conquer Khurasan and to devastate its cities of Merv, Nishapur and Herat. Mongols slaughtered all the inhabitants of these cities. The following year he sent an army of 80,000 to kill the whole population of Herat and what is now Hazarajat. He ordered his men to spare no living creatures, not even cats and dogs. It appears that the ancestors of the Hazaras had been settled in this country during the thirteenth century by Chaghatai, Chenghiz Khan's son, or by Manku Khan, his grandson, especially in the lands of Ghor, whose inhabitants had been largely exterminated during the Mongol invasions. The Hazaras, therefore, were probably dependents or followers of Mongol warriors. It is more probable that they represented many of the tribes and races incorporated in the Mongol army. Abu Fazal (court historian of Mughal emperor Akbar) also declares them to be the offspring of the Mongols. He says that "the Hazaras are the descendants of the Chaghatai army sent by Manku Khan (grandson of Chenghiz Khan) to the assistance of  Halaku Khan" (brother of Manku Khan)..

The Mongol origin of Hazaras is attested by their high cheekbones and sparse beard, which readily distinguishes them from Pashtun and Iranian neighbors. Furthermore, the word Hazara is said to be the Persian equivalent of the Mongol word ming , meaning 'thousand', the term originally being used to refer to the Mongol military unit of 1,000. The Mongol regiments were also styled from the number of men they usually contained. The term was applied to these people in consequence of them having been left there as military colonists in detachments of a thousand fighting men each by Chengiz Khan.

The descendants of Halaku, who exercised authority in Persia after him, were known as 'IlKhans'. The last ruler of Ilkhanate dynasty was Abu Said (1316-34), and Malik Chopan was his premier officer who led his army into eastern Khurasan and settled there. The Dai Chopan, a major Hazara tribe, was named after him. Following the fall of the Ilkhanates , shortly after the death of Abu Said (1334) , there was a power vacuum in Iran.  In 1381 Timur overran the city of Herat, Khurasan and all eastern Persia and laid claim to the provinces of Qandahar, Garamshir and Kabul. Several other cities terrified by Timur's success, submitted to him. Timur, after a great slaughter also established his power over the Persian province of Mazendaran, with its capital at Astrabad , which was governed by a descendant of Shaikh Besud , an Ilkhan officer. The Besudis , another major Hazara tribe, was named after him. Under his sons and successors, troops and officials were sent to the area, and it is probable that some of them remained thereafter the death of Besud's son, Shah Rukh in 1447.


Reference: "The Hazaras of Afghanistan in Mughal times" by Farha Samreen , Proceedings of the Indian History Congress ,Vol. 70 (2009-2010), pp. 821-829 

"A Hazarah peasant of the Ghuznee Country", 1836 (painted), Godfrey Thomas Vigne (artist)

1878's sketch of a Hazara man

A group of Besuti Hazara chiefs with two boys, 1878. Some of the Hazaras wear pointed caps called hazaragi while others wear small turbans. Photo by John Burke.

The conquest of Baluchistan by Shah Hussain Hotak

In 1733 the ruler of Kalat encroached upon the Pashtun territories and succeeded in capturing the fort of Quetta. When the news of the invasion reached the ears of Shah Hussain Hotok (king of Kandahar), he set out from Kandahar with an army to dislodge Balochs from Shal and reduce them to submission. His force was composed of Pashtun and Hazara levies. He first crossed the Khojak Pass and reached Pishin. He put the fort at Pishin into an efficient state of defence and left a garrison there to hold it. Then he crossed Kotal-I-Gaz into Shal (the present-day Quetta district). Balochs sallied out from the fort of Quetta under their leader Salar Khan and clashed with Hotak army but were defeated. After few days, they made another sally which was also unsuccessful. After some days Balochs evacuated the place under the cover of night and made for Mastung and Kalat. Shah Hussain Hotak left a force of 500 jezailchis and a body of 200 cavalry under the command of Sherdil Khan Babuzai and then pushed on to Mustang.

Balochs abandoned Mastung and fled towards Ganjaba-Kachhi area and Kalat. Shah Hussain Hotak occupied Mastung and issued orders to pursue Balochs. A body of the Baloch fugitives was overtaken by the Afghans on the boundary of the Kalat district. Baloch men took to the hills and left their families, cattle, flocks and other property in the hands of the Afghan force under Asadullah Khan Ishakzai Hotak. The latter left the women and children unmolested but took possession of the cattle and flocks.

When a body of Baloch fugitives reached Kalat, Mehrab Khan (the Khan of Kalat) expecting that the next movement of Afghans would be against the Kalat, tendered his submission and sent offerings of horses and other presents to Shah Hussain Hotak. Sher Khan Baloch (the ruler of Nauhski) and Mohabat Khan (chief of Ganjaba) also submitted and tendered their allegiance to the Hotak king. The Khan of Kalat agreed to restore the cattle he had carried off from Pishin and Shorawak and to make the losses sustained by the people of Shal. He also had to furnish a contingent of 5,000 men whenever the sovereign of Kandahar required troops; and to give up some chiefs as hostages for the performance of these terms. This ratified, Shah Hussain Hotak returned to Kandahar, taking five chiefs along with him as hostages. 

Quetta fort, 1839. Source

An imaginary portrait of Shah Hussain Hotak

Ruins of Kalat fort

References

1- Raverty, "Notes on Afghanistan and Balochistan:
2- Haroon Rashid, "History of the Pathans, Vol-III