The Qizilbash Pathans (William Crooke, 1896)

The Qizilbash Pathans

Pathan — One of the chief Muhammadan tribes. There has been much controversy on the origin of the term. To quote Dr. Bellew, the latest and best authority on the nationalities originally represented by it, carries us back to very early times. The term Pathan is not a native word at all. It is the Hindustani form of the native word Pukhtana, which is the plural of Pukhtun or Pakhtun (the a as in our pack) as it is pronounced by the Afridi. And Pukhtun is the proper patronymic of the people inhabiting the country called Pukhtankhwa, and speaking the language called Pukhta or Pukhto. What the meaning of the word Pukhta, from which Pukhtun and its derivatives are held to come, may be a matter of speculation. By some it is supposed to be the same word as the native Pukhta, “a ridge” or “hill” in distinction to Ghar, “a mountain chain” or “peak”; the two words corresponding respectively to the Persian Pushta and Koh. Be this as it may, and there is no denying the fact that the name PukhtunKhwa, “the Pukhtun coast or quarter”, “is very well in accordance with the character of the country in its physical aspect; there is also the fact that in the time of Herodotus, four centuries before our era, this very country was called Pactiya or Pactiyaca, and its natives Pactiyans. In Western Afghanistan the harsh kh is changed into the soft sh, and Pukhtun becomes Pushtun, Pukhtu becomes Pushtu, and so on. By some Pukhtun tribes, the Afridi notably, Pukhtun, Pukhtu, etc., are pronounced Pakhtun, Pakhtu, etc., and this brings the words nearer to the Pakhtues of Herodotus. In short, the Pakhtun or Pukhtun of to-day, we may take it, is identical in race and position with the Pactiyan of the Greek historians”.

Tribes of the Pathans of North-Western Provinces

At the last Census the Pathans of these Provinces were classified under the following chief tribes: — Afridi, Bagarzai, Bangash, Barech, Bunerwal, Daudzai, Dilazak, Durrani, Ghilzai, Ghorgashti, Ghori, Kakar, Qizilbash, Khalil, Khatak, Lodi, Mehmad, Muhammadzai, Rohilla, Tarin, Tarin, Urmuz, Ushturyani, Warakzai, Waziri, Yaqubzai and Yusufzai. The following notes are mainly taken from the writings of Dr. Bellew and Mr. Ibbetson.

The Qizilbash or Qazalbash Pathans

Mr. Ibbetson calls the Qizilbash Pathans “a tribe of Tartar horsemen from the Eastern Caucasus, who formed the backbone of the old Persian army and of the force with which Nadir Shah invaded India. Many of the great Mughal ministers have been Qizilbash, and notable Mir Jumla, the famous minister of Aurangzeb. They are said to take their name from a red cap of peculiar shape which they wear, and which was invented by the founder of the Sophi dynasty of Persia, an intolerant Shiah, as the distinguishing mark of that sect, and which his son, Shah Tumasp, compelled Humayun to wear when a refugee at the Persian Court. There are some twelve hundred families of Qizilbash in the city of Kabul alone, where they were located by Nadir Shah and exercise considerable influence in local politics.”

William Crooke — The Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. Volume [04] (1896)