The Qizilbashes of Afghanistan (Shahāmat ʻAlī, 1847)

The Qizilbashes of Afghanistan

During our stay in Kabul I often received invitations, especially from the Kazalbash people, with whom I became acquainted through my friend Mohan Lal, and had many opportunities of examining and observing their habits and manners. They are a very social and familiar race of people, very fond of good living and good clothing, and every other luxury within their reach; and really they seem to live from hand to mouth, and have nothing to spare. Their parties are very pleasant and agreeable, and on the whole I was highly delighted with their society. They appear much more polished in their manners than their neighbours, the Afghans, who are considered by them a very headstrong race. It is proverbial when they happen to make any mistake or to go wrong, to say that it was “Afghani,” or like an Afghan. When they sit down in a mahfil, or assembly of guests, they will make you laugh excessively by telling their tales and anecdotes in a mimic way. Among others, I was often very much amused by the gay Naeb Mahomed Sharif, who is certainly a very odd and ingenious man.

The head of the Jawan Sher people, one of the branches of the Kazalbashes, is Khan Shirin Khan. He is a very fine, courteous-looking person, and possesses great influence in his tribe. During the late Government he was considered a chief of great weight: the Shah has also employed him in his service with six thousand Sowars of his own tribe, and treats him more kindly than any other of his race.¹

Notwithstanding these favours Shirin Khan also appeared to be disaffected, and did not like his situation; saying that he was not so respectfully treated as before the restoration. He also added, that on the approach of his Majesty to Kabul, when he went out to greet him, as he passed, the Hindustani people on the way called out to him, “That is a Nawakharam, or disloyal;” and uttered some other terms of abuse; and that this was the taunting manner in which they were all regarded by the conquerors. In fact. These slight circumstances tended to increase the dislike of his people to the Shah, even among his old friends. Great dissatisfaction began generally to prevail, and some satiric couplets also were in circulation among them, which they took a pleasure in repeating. Such beginnings were a sign of a bad ending.

¹He used to correspond with the Shah in his exile at Lodianah.

Shahāmat ʻAlī — The Sikhs and Afghans, in connexion with India and Persia (1847)