Qashqai Tribe
When
the Khalaj came to Persian Iraq from the provinces of Asia Minor, part of them
left the main body and settled in Fars. So the general public referred to the
migration of these people as “qach qai” i.e. “gurikhteh” (a fugitive), and this
was afterwards changed in form to “Qashqai”.1
Afterwards
part of them settled in the district of Qunqari and dwelt in villages. Up to
the present their language has remained Turkish, and this division is called
the Khalaj.
Those
who made the semi-yearly migrations are divided into two groups ― Khalaj and
Qashqai.
The
chief of the Qashqais, who is always a member of the tribe, is known as the
“Il-Khani”, while his deputy is known as the “Il-Begi”. Headmen of villages do
not recognize any superior except the Il-Khani and the Il-Begi. Particulars
regarding the leaders of this tribe are to be found in this Fars-Nameh in the
section of Maidan-i-Shah ― a quarter of Shiraz.
The
winter quarters of the tribe in the south are in such places as the Districts
of Arba’ah, Afzar, Jarah, Khisht, Khanj, Dashti, Dashtistan, Farashband, and
Mahur Milati.
They
have their summer quarters in the Districts of Dizgird, Sar Hadd-i-Chahar
Dungeh, Sar Hadd-i-Shish Nahieh, Kam Firuz, and Kakan.
There
are sixty-six sub-divisions of the tribe.
Muhammad
‘Ali Khan was born in A.H. 1208 and succeeded his father after his death, as
Il-Khani. In A.H. 1240 he married into the family of the Farman Farma and in
A.H. 1248 took offence at the latter, and withdrew all the tribe from Fars to
the neighbourhood of Kirman.
Prince
‘Abbas Mirza, Governor of Kirman, gave them a hearty reception, and appointed
for their use sufficient land for 100,000 households of nomads, both in the
cool region and in the hot belt of his province.
Three
years later Minuchihr Khan Mu’tamidu’d-Dawleh, Vezir of Fars, forced him and
Mirza Muhammad Fasai to go to Tihran, where the former remained as an honoured
guest for years. In 1265 he returned to Shiraz, where he played an important
part in the affairs of the province and died A.H. 1268.
He
had three sons, the eldest of whom, Iftikharu’l-Akfa Jihan Gir Khan Il-Begi,
was born in A,H. 1230. For a time he was commandant of the Qashqai Regiment,
and spent some years in that capacity in Tihran until his return to Shiraz in
1265. For two years he was governor of Darab and then Kazrun. After the death
of his father he became Il-Begi.
Muh.
Quli Khan became Il-Khani in A.H. 1268, and until his death in A.H. 1284 he
exerted such an influence for good over his tribe that no one suffered robbery
at their hands.
1
This is obviously a Persian
invention. Regarding the Bayat sub-tribe, which he classes as a branch of the
Qashqais (vol. II, p. 313), he says elsewhere (vol. II, p. 27, l. 5): “They
originally came from the plain of Qachaq in Turkestan and came to Fars with the
Qashqai tribe in ancient times. Then they divided into two branches, one of
which united with the Qashqais and became nomads, while the other settled in
the Shiraz. The Bayats of Fars and the Bayats of Nishapur in Khurasan were one
tribe in the first plce.” See also vol. II, p. 109, ll. 21―7: “The Agh Aughali
tribe originally came from Turkestan with Fars to the Bayats and Qash-qais.
Turkish is their language up to the present.”
D. Austin Lane, Hajji Mirza Hasan-i-Shirazi on the
Nomad Tribes of Fars in the Fars-Nameh-i-Nasiri, JRAS 1923, pp. 215—217.
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