former are supreme in Afghanistan, but the latter possess the more
brilliant record. They have given kings to India and Persia, and have
ruled as kings in their own country. The memory of these achieve-
ments has led to sanguinary struggles against the supremacy of the
Duranis. The bravery and the numerical superiority of the Ghilzais
has, however, been rendered of no avail, owing to a fatal absence of
co-operation. Owing to the extent of country over which they are
spread, local interests have caused the interests of the clan at large to be
lost sight of, some tribes holding back, while the others were asserting
their pretensions in arms. Owing to their position at the head of the
Passes, which lead to India, they have been intimately connected with
that country. The Ghilzais are both agricultural and pastoral in their
mode of life, according to the position of the lands they occupy. The
Duranis have been associated with Persia, owing to their situation in
Afghanistan. Theirs is apparently a better military organisation than
that of their rivals. They are more equestrian or nomadic in their
habits than the latter. The histories of the less famous tribes contain
a great deal of interesting information, but do not illuminate the
obscurer portions of the history of their country. With some
important exceptions, such as the Momands, the Yusufzais, the Afridis
and Khataks, the tribes have adhered to one or other of the con-
federacies led by the Ghilzais and the Duranis.'
^ The Duranis are divided into two groups known as tlie Panjpai, or Panjpao
and Zirak. The former consist of the tribes of Nurzai, Alizai, Ishakzai, Khwa-
gani and Maku. The Zirak division, of the Popalzai, Alakozai, Barakzai and
Achakzai. The Sadozais belonged to the Popalzai clan, the present Muham-
madzai Dynasty to the Barakzai clan. The Popalzai are located to the north of
Kandahar, but are to be found in the country towards the Helmand. The
Barakzais to the south of Kandahar, towards the Hehiiand and in the Arghasan
valley. The Achakzais were a branch of this tribe from which they were separated,
it is said, by Ahmad Shah. The Achakzais inhabit the country between the
Kadanai and Lora rivers, the western edge of the Pishin district and the Khojak
and Toba hills, in the Baluchistan Agency.
The Nurzais towards Seistan, Khash and Farah. The Alizai head-quarters
are in the Zamindawar country. The Ishakzais (or Sakzis) range from Seistan to
the Arghasan valley. The Khwagani and Makus are small clans, with no distinct
range or habitat. Some regard them as merely the " Hamsayahs '' or clients
or adoptives of the other three tribes.
19
The Alakozai tribi of the Zirak division now is to be found towards Herat,
but the eponymous ancestor of this tribe — Alako — is said to have been buried at
Nicharah, a vallej' in the Harboi mountains to the east of Kalat in Baluchistan,
The tomb of Alako is said to be regarded as a Ziarat.
These tribes were known earlj- in their history as the Abdals or AvdaU.
Perhaps in this name we may find a survival of the Ephthalites, called by the Per-
sians Hiatila, the name of the dominant race in the confederacy of equestrian tribes
known in history as the Huns. Durani is a later name for the Avdals or Abdals,
and is popularly believed to have originated in the practice of wearing- pearl
earrings, but in the time of Ahmad Shah, the clansmen as a body could not have
afforded such luxuries. It seems not impossible, however,that this name existed at
an earlier date as it seems to appear in a 17th century chronicle, ihe Shahjahan-
namah.
The Tarins, of whom the Abdals are supposed to have been a branch accord-
ing to the fabulous genealogy of the Afghans, migrated largely to India and
maintained a steady intercourse with that country through Multan, but the Dura-
nis or Abdals for some reason do not appear to have followed this example to any
appreciable extent. Probably their equestrian or nomadic way of life rendered
them disinclined to settle in India.
The Tarins, on the contrary, are agricultural and commercial in their mode of
life compared with the Abdalis.
NOTE.
Note. — The tradition preserved by the Hebrews of Bokhara (according to
Dr. Joseph Wolff) gains in probability, when it is recollected that, according to
classical story, Bactria was first conquered and added to Assyria b}' Ninus.
The connection of this counlrj- with the early Persian Empire rests on a better
foundation. We are told that Cyrus built the great city of Cyropolis to guard
the fords of the Jaxartes (Jihun). He initiated the policy of governing Bactria,
through a Prince of the Blood Royal, as the Satrap.
After the disastrous invasion of Greece, by Xerxes (about 480 B.C.), tha
monarch planted a colony of Ionian Greeks beyond the Oxus. The Branchiadae,
originally from Miletus ; they had been compelled to fly from this place when the
Greek cities of Asia finally cast off the Persian yoke. They were obliged to escape
from the wrath of their Greek neighbours because they had been guilty of betrav-
ing the treasures of Apollo of Didymi to the Persians.
Their descendants enthusiastically welcomed the soldiers of Alexander ; but
thej- were butchered by his orders presumably on account of the sacrilege
committed by their forefathers. (Bactria : the Hare University Prize Essay,
1908, by H. G Rawlinson, M. A.)
A connection between the country in the vallc)' of the Oxus, and beyond that
river — and therefore, presumably with Afghanistan — and the valley of the Euphra-
tes and the seaboard of the Mediterranean, must have existed from times of
which we have no knowledge.
CHAPTER III.
Relations with India.
THE kingdoms of the Sultans of Ghazni and of Ghor gave place
to another whose capital was situated on the lower Oxus.
Their territories to the west of the Indus became a part ot
the vmwieldy kingdom of Khvvarazm. On the downfall of
the Ghori Sultans in the early years of the 13th century, the Mameluke
of the last Sultan, who had governed his master's Indian possessions,
set himself up as an independent ruler. During the predominance of
the Mongols and Turks in the countries beyond the Indus, India
offered an asylum to fugitives from the west, who formed a welcome
addition to the military resources of the Muhammadan Rulers of
Delhi. The fugitive chieftains and their followers acquired wealth
and influence in India, and in course of time disputed the throne of
Delhi, or established themselves as independent kings on the frontiers
of Islam in India. But the vigour and resolution of the races to which
they belonged deteriorated in the malarious and enervating climate of
their new possessions, and the services of warlike immigrants from
the west were gladly accepted and formed a valuable accession to the
forces of the Muhammadan Princes, confronted as they were with
coalitions of powerful Hindu adversaries. The hardy Afghans were
assured of lucrative employment as mercenaries ; and the Ghilzais as
the nearest to India appear to have availed themselves very readily of
such a state of affairs. Among these, the Lodis appear to have been
pre-eminent. This tribe (which has practically disappeared from
Afghanistan) belonged to the eastern section of the Ghilzais. In 978,
Shekh Hamid Lodi had been appointed governor of the Lamghan
district (on the Kabul river) and of Multan by the founder of the
Ghaznavide dynasty, and his descendants, or members of his sept,
played an important part in the history of India for about 700 years.
The grandson of Hamid Lodi governed Multan (for the famous
AFGHANS IN INDIA. 21
Sultan Mahmud) till he embraced the heretical tenets of the Karma-
thians, numerous in Multan. Another member of this family, Malik
Mahmud, accompanied the ill-fated Ghori Sultan Muiz-ud-din on his
expeditions to India.
When the g-randfather of Bahlol Lodi of the Shahu Khel sept
quarrelled with his elder brother, it was to India that he directed his
footsteps, and he appears to have prospered. The uncle of Bahlol
Lodi attained to power and wealth, and is said to have given employ-
ment to 12,000 Afghan soldiers of fortune. The father of Bahlol
was killed in a quarrel with the Niazis, another Ghilzai tribe, and
his son was brought up by the uncle Islam Khan, and eventually
succeeded to the estates and wealth of the latter. About 1486-7 Bahlol
Lodi seized the throne of Delhi, and when he died he left a fair
heritage to his son (1492). The successors of Bahlol departed from
the democratic mode of life and conduct of their ancestors, and a
rigorous ettiquette offended their Afghan nobles. Notwithstanding
his unpopularity, when he was threatened with invasion by the famous
Timuride Prince, Baber, the Afghans rallied to the standards of
Sultan Ibrahim, grandson of Bahlol, who took the field at the head of
a vast but unwieldy force, and in the decisive action at Panipat, the
Lodi Sultan fell with some 5,000 of his countrymen (26th April 1526).
Among others whom the late Sultan had estranged was his kinsman,
Daulat Khan Lodi, who possessed great influence in the Punjab, and
who incited and aided Baber in his attempt on India.
The Afg-hans were, however, a power in the country, and Humayun,
the un warlike son of Baber, was driven out of India by Farid Khan
Sur, who had earned the title of Sher Khan b)^ his bravery, and who
assumed the title of Sher Shah after he seized the throne in Delhi.
The grandfather of Sher Shah with his son, Hasan, had come to India
to seek his fortune, and Sher Shah was the son of Hasan Sur, by
an Afghan lady. The Sur tribe, of which he was a member, belonged
probably to that tribe of Sur, which, at an earlier period, had been
independent in Ghur, but which had either become a part of the
Ghilzais subsequently, or were confederated with them.
Sher Shah was killed at the siege of Kalinjar on the 24th May
1548, and the dynasty he founded endured but a few years. In the
record of the troubled reigns of his successors, there appear the names
of many tribes, which have practically disappeared from Afghanistan;
but which at that time were powerful in India, and they prove how
great must have been the influx of Afghan tribes into India, while the
Lodis and Surs occupied the throne in Delhi.
22 THE KINGDOM OF AFGHANISTAN.
The last member of this family, Mubariz Khan, was the son of
Nizam Khan, own brother of Sher Shah, and he obtained the throne
by the murder of his sister's son (a minor) Firiiz Khan, the grandson
of Sher Shah. The assassin took the style of Muhammad Shah-i-Adil.
He was a worthless and dissipated person. Everywhere the Afghan
nobles withdrew their allegiance from him. He raised low-caste
associates to positions of trust and high rank. Chief among these
was one Hemu the Dhusar, a Hindu of the trading caste, who
became Vazier to the Afghan Ruler. The authority of the latter was
disputed by members of his tribe, one of whom, Ahmad Khan Sur, was
governor of the Punjab, and he was raised to the throne in Delhi by a
number of influential Afghan Chiefs. The invasion of India by
Humayun was aided by the disunion that prevailed among the Afghans.
Ahmad Sur advanced to Naushahr, beyond Sirhind, and took up a
position to await the invaders. For some days the armies lay inactive
in sight of each other, till at last the Afghans, numbering some 80,000
men, moved out of their lines in order of battle on the 2nd May 1555.
The result was fatal to their cause, and the defeated Ruler of Delhi
fled into the Siwalik hills and made his way into Bengal. There
remained the unprincipled Adil, who lurked behind the defences of
Chunar, which he feared to leave on account of the hatred borne him
by the revengeful Afghan Chieftains. To Hemu, the Hindu, was
intrusted the task of maintaining his master's cause.
In the meantime Humayun had died from the effects of an accident.
The young Prince Akbar and his tutor Bairam Khan — the Turkoman —
had been called to the Punjab to disperse the Afghan followers of the
defeated Sultan Sikandar (Ahmad Khan Sur). The Afghans of the
tribes of Lodi, Sur, and the Niazis were in arms in the east, and only
the country to the north of Delhi was effectively held, when Hemu
took the northern road from Chunar at the head of a vast array of
armed men, leaving his unworthy master safe in that fortress. Agra
and Delhi were evacuated by the Moghuls, and Hemu advanced north-
wards at the head of an army said to have numbered 100,000 horse
with 500 elephants : once more in the vicinity of Panipat the
sovereignty of Hindustan depended on the issue of a decisive battle.
On the 5th November 1556, Hemu, defeated and made a prisoner,
was put to death in cold blood. His followers dispersed, and the
sovereignty over Hindustan passed for ever from the hands of the
Afghans.
Sher Khan, son of Muhammad Shah-i-Adil, was at the head of
30,000 men in 1561 ; but he was defeated and his followers scattered.
RELATIONS WITH THE MOGHUL EMPERORS. 23
For a time, Afghan adventurers attempted to establish themselves in
Bengal and Orissa, but they were overthrown and compelled to
acknowledge the supremacy of the Moghuls. In a very short time the
powerful tribes, which had emigrated from Afghanistan, lost their
distinctive organisation and were absorbed into the mass of the popu-
lation. A part of them appear to have returned to their original seats,
preferring the unrestricted freedom among their native hills to loss of
prestige in India. Those, who were unable or unwilling to follow this
course, directed their steps southwards towards the Peninsula of India;
and a very large influx of Afghans took place, encouraged by the
existence of independent Muhammadan Principalities, which afforded
an outlet to their restless natures. A part of the Carnatic was so
largely occupied by these emigrants, that in the 17th century it was
still known as the Carnatic of the Afghans. In Rajputana, Central
India, and in the fertile lands on the left bank of the Ganges, there was
a very strong Afghan element in the popvilation. In the last-named
tract the earlier colonists were reinforced from time to time by immi-
grants from the hills to the west and north of Peshawar, and the
country in which they settled became known as Rohilkand, the country
of the Rohillas. There the Afghans and their descendants became the
dominant race, the original Hindu population being reduced to the
condition of their serfs.'
The first Emperors of Delhi maintained a firm grip on their posses-
sions beyond the Indus ; but while Kandahar was a bone of contention
between Indian and Persian Monarchs, being alternately won and lost
by each, the right of the former to Kabul and its Province was never
seriously challenged for 200 years. With all the advantages they pos-
sessed, the Moghul Emperors of Delhi had continual trouble with their
unruly subjects. The religious sect of the Roshanis afforded constant
occupation for the Imperial troops even in the reign of the famous
Akbar. In about 1583, an Imperial General Zain Khan built a fort at
Chakdarah and defeated the Yusufzais in twenty-three engagements.
Owing to the insubordination of the leaders of the reinforcements he
had received, Zain Khan fell back on Peshawar. He was caught in
^ Rohilla seems to be an Indian term. An " Afghan " must be able to prove
or at least to state clearly his lineage. Members of the servile or less regarded
tribes, provided they adopted a sufficiently martial air, disguised their less
honourable origin under the name Rohilla or Rohela, a hillman, and were accept-
ed at their own valuation. Among the Rohillas, the distinction between the
descendants of long domiciled colonists and new arrivals was carefully main-
tained. The term D^si, country-born, was applied to the former implying and
probably correctly a taint of indigenous blood. The term Vilayati was applied to
later immigrants of approved Afghan descent on both sides of the family. Both
however were called generally, Rohilla Pathan.
24 THE KINGDOM OV AFGHANISTAN.
the Balandri Pass or defile' and overwhelmed by the mountaineers — •
about 8,000 men and 500 officers, are said to have perished ; but Zain
Khan, who commanded the van-guard, extricated the remains of his
master's troops and retired on Attock. The next year he was back
in the Yusufzai country. He built a large fort on the Panjkora river,
and the lost supremacy was restored. In 1586-87, the Momands and
Ghoris, under Jalaluddin, the Roshani (son of the founder of the sect),
committed great depredations in the Peshawar district. Two years
later, the Roshanis in Tirah had to be subdued. In 1593-94, the
Governor of Kabul was killed by the Roshanis. His successor invad-
ed Tirah, but was compelled to retire hastily owing to a failure of
supplies.
Towards the close of Akbar's reign, a Roshani leader named
Ihdad (grandson of the founder of the sect), kept the Province of Kabul
in a ferment. In the reign of the next Emperor, Jahangir, the chieftain
dared to attack Kabul itself, and on the 5th April 161 1, he took
advantage of the absence of the Governor to plunder the city. Nad Ali,
the Chief of Maidan, hurried reinforcements to the city, and co-operating
with the garrison of the Citadel and townsmen, Ihdad was driven off
with loss. The Viceroy of Kabul blockaded him for a long time in
a fastness in Jarkhai, in the Kohistan of Kabul, and Ihdad fled
towards Kandahar (1615). Many years afterwards he was in Tirah,
where he possessed a retreat in the Awagarh mountain. Here he was
attacked, the sangars which he had built to defend the narrow defile
were stormed, 26th January 1625, and he was shot dead.^
After the loss of Kandahar (1622), Kabul remained in the hands of
the Indian Government, and was the only city of the first rank beyond
the Indus. A garrison in Ghazni controlled the country up to the limits
of the Kandahar Province. Charbagh (or Karabagh) near the pools in
which the Tarnak stream takes its rise, was the frontier post in this
direction, to the south of which the country was held by the Persians.
In the reign of the Emperor Shah Jahan, the revenue of Kabul was
stated at 40 lakhs, but it was probably insufficient for all purposes of
the government of that Province as the revenue from four good
^ Probably the Malandari Pass, at the head of the Barkua Stream, about
30 miles N. E. of Hoti Mardan.
^ This stronghold was undoubtedly in the vallej' in which the villages of
Zawo, Yasta, Kotkika, are situated' to the south of the Zawagarh Peak, in the
Zaimukht country, about 8 miles north of Chinarak and about i8 miles north of
Thai in the Kuram, The Zawagarh Peak rises to over 9,400 feet above sea
level, on the water shed between the Khanki valley and that of the Kuram.
In December 1879 (during the second Afghan war), an expedition repeated the
performances of the Moghul troops. Marching from Thai, Zawo was burnt after
two days' desultory fighting.
REBELLION OF THE LODI CHIEFTAIN. 25
districts in the Punjab was bespoken for the expenses of the Kabul
Province. The tribes probably were left alone to manage their domes-
tic affairs by means of their tribal jirgfahs ; the Viceroy of Kabul exercis-
ing- a paternal and general supervision so long as the rights of the
Emperor of Delhi were not infringed, and the peace of this Province
depended very greatly on the character of the Viceroy. Service under
the Royal Standard in India, or under the banner of tribal chieftains,
who had settled on valuable estates in India, as nobles of the Court of
Delhi, provided ample and congenial employment for the wilder spirits
of the tribes, and afforded avenues whereby they might attain to
wealth and rank. Among those who had exchanged their mountainous
and unproductive patrimony for estates in India, the more distinguished
were the chiefs of the Lodis, the Parni and Bangash clans, but pre-
eminent among them was the chief of the Lodis.
The fickle and turbulent nature of the Afghans rendered them bad
subjects, whether in their own country or in India ; and it was a well
understood regulation that no fortresses were to be intrusted to their
care. The most serious rebellion of Afghans against the supremacy
of the Emperor Shah Jahan took place not in Afghanistan but in India ;
and apparently was aimed at the subversion of the Moghul dynasty.
The chief of the Lodis at this time was Pir Khan, a descendant of that
Daulat Khan, who had urged Baber to essay the conquest of Hindustan,
or of a younger branch of the same family. In the reign of the Em-
peror Jahangir, Pir Khan Lodi had attained to the rank of a comman-
der of 7,000 horse with the title of Khan Jahan Khan, Among other
offices he had enjoyed, were the governments of the Provinces of Mul-
tan and Malwa. Such was his influence among the Afghan tribes, that
while at Multan, the trans-frontier Afghans had offered to put him in
possession of the country up to Isfahan, if he would take them into his
pay. But, while he was governor of Malwa, he had sold some districts
belonging to the Moghul Emperors, to MurtezaNizamShah, an indepen-
dent Ruler in Southern India. The closing years of the life and reign
of Jahangir had been embittered by the rebellion of his son, afterwards
the Emperor Shah Jahan. In the second year, after the latter had
ascended the throne, Khan Jahan Khan was summoned to Agra.
The attitude of the new monarch and his courtiers roused the suspi-
cions of the Afghan chieftain. Deeming his honour and life in danger, he
broke out of Agra on the night of the 14th October 1629 at the head of
2,000, or 3,000 Afghan retainers and fled southwards, where he hoped to
find an asylum with one or other of the independent Rulers, and
adherents among their Afghan subjects and troops. He is said to have
26 THE KINGDOM OF AFGHANISTAN.
despatched letters inciting the Afghan tribes round Peshawar and
Jalalabad to rise and create a diverson in his favour. Escape in that
direction was impossible, and the only prospect of making good his
retreat lay towards the south. He succeeded in reaching the district
of Baghlana belonging to Murteza Nizam Shah, with the royal troops at
his heels. The Deshmuks or zamindars, of Baghlana took up arms in
his defence. They beat off the Imperial forces, and neither threats nor
bribes could induce them to surrender the fugitives. So important was
the matter that the Emperor Shah Jahan took the field in person.
Three divisions of Imperial troops under selected Commanders were
detailed to suppress the movement. One division broke down the
resistance of Murteza Nizam Shah, and penetrating by the western
route, Khan Jahan Khan was forced to retreat further south. Mu-
hammad Adil Shah, King of Bijapur, refused to countenance the Lodi
Chief, but the Afghans had begun to join him.
The season was unfavourable, no rain had fallen, a dreadful famine
was raging, and, in addition, a pestilence had broken out. Asalat Khan,
eldest son of Khan Jahan Khan, died at Daulatabad. The resolution
of the Lodi Chief broke down, and he began to talk publicly of retir-
ing to Mecca. His adherents became discouraged, and recruits ceased
to join. Khan Jahan Khan then formed the desperate resolution of
attempting to reach the Ganges, in hopes of being able to find sup-
porters among the Afghan settlers, and of making his way to the north
to join the tribes whom he had incited to rebellion. Followed by the
Imperial troops, he made his way across the Central Provinces into
Bandelkand. Jagraj Bikramajit, son of Jhujhar Singh, the Ruler of that
country, defeated the fugitive's rearguard killing one of his sons and
Darya Khan; the Lodi Chief's best officers (nth January 1631).
An attempt on Kalinjar failed, and here another son of Khan Jahan
Khan was killed. He continued his flight to Sehonda' where he
turned to bay on the bank of a tank. He allowed all his retainers,
who desired to abandon him to depart. He also sent off the families
and wounded or wearied followers, and with 500 or 600 of his staunch-
est followers covered their retreat. Here the pursuers closed with
their quarry who had given them such a long chase. After a desperate
conflict, in which Pir Khan Lodi displayed the utmost bravery, he was
run through by the lance of Madhu Singh, a Rajput cavalier, and was
cut to pieces with his son Aziz Khan (24th January 1631). Several of
^ At that time the head of a district, now a mere village in the Banda district of
the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. . Sehonda is situated among the ravines
on the bank of the Ken River, which joins the Jumna forty miles further to the
north. Sehonda lies about 25 miles from Kalinjar to the north.