Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Shefi Khan Afshar (A. H. Layard, 1846)

Shefi Khan Afshar




The Suhuni is a large tribe of I’liyat; the chief, Shefi Khan, is a liberal and able man, and was the wezir of Mohammed Taki. Having been long accustomed to collect the annual tribute of the tribes, and to devote his attention to their internal polity, he was better acquainted with the state and history of the Bakhtiyaris than any other man I met with in the country. Although the Chief of the tribe, he is not a member of it, but of an Afshar family long settled in the mountains. He was for some years in Teheran, and served as major in the Bakhtiyari regiment disciplined by Major Hart. The Garmesirs of the Suhuni were originally in Andakau and Shimbar to the north of the Karun, but being strongly attached to Mohammed Taki, they crossed the river and settled in Gulgir and A’smari. This tribe has both good horse and matchlock men. They cultivate corn and barley, to the growth of which the land they occupy is particularly favourable. Since the fall of Mahommed Taki, the Suhuni have recrossed the Karun, and placed themselves under Mohammed Meti and Ja’fer Kuli. Shefi, their chief, is now a fugitive in the mountains.



A. H. Layard — A Description of the Province of Khúzistán (1846)

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