Afshar
A
tribe of Persians who are spread over Kirman, Fars, Luristan, and Khuzistan,
and round the lake of Urumieh. No good account of them is available. They are
said to be of Turkish origin and to speak a dialect of that language. Morier
says their two principal branches are Shamlu and Karklu, and they number 20,000
families. They principally reside in towns and are to be found in great numbers
at Ab-i-Vard, the birthplace of Nadir Shah, who was of the Karklu branch of
this tribe, and at Kalat, the place so carefully peopled and strengthened by
that conqueror. The Afshars are looked on with great suspicion by the present
dynasty of Persia. They were one of the seven Turkish tribes to whom Shah
Ismai’il Safavi owed much of his success, and to whom, in consequence, he gave
the name of Kizil Bash. Napier adds that Shah Ismai’il Safavi, who brought the
clan from Azarbaijan, whither they had emigrated in the track of Tartar traders
from the banks of the Jaxartes, settled there in the open valley of the Qibqan,
in which are the hamlets of Darband Qibqan, the first village in the state of
Darreh Gaz.
Layard
says the tribe of Gunduzlu of Khuzistan is a branch of the Afshar tribe. They
were found here by Nadir Shah and compelled by him to return to the north of
Persia, but in his death they again went back to their former pastures. Before
their deportment by Nadir, the Afshars occupied the greater part of the
province of Khuzistan to the foot of the great chain of mountains, and even the
country now inhabited by the Ka’b Arabs, where Dauraq was their principal
settlement. The Bakhtiari were confined to the mountains, and the Afshars were
generally sufficiently powerful and united to oppose them with success if they
ventured into to plain. The Gunduzlu now number 1,500 fighting-men, and
acknowledge the supremacy of the Bakhtiari Chief.
The
Afshars also found round lake Urumieh and in the district of Sain Keleh in the
south-east of the province of Azarbaijan. In the latter the title was disputed
by the Chahardauri tribe, with whom they are in consequence in a constant state
of feud.
Sheil,
who commanded a regiment of Afshars of Urumieh, says they are the wildest and
most turbulent lot in Persia, always quarreling, robbing and getting drunk.
Nevertheless, they had fine physiques, and had the making of very excellent
soldiers in them.
There
are also Afshars in the Kangavar district of Kirmanshah; they are sedentary and
of the Shiah persuasion.
They
have the character in Persia of being officious and loquacious flatterers.
Abbott
mentions coming across encampments of Afshars at several places on his route
from Bam to Shiraz.― (Morier; Malcolm;
Layard; Sheil; Abbott; Napier.)
Gazetteer of Persia. Volume III, Part I: A to K,
Simla: Government of India Press, 1924, pp. 22―23.
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