Qizilbashes of Kabul (Sir Alexander Burnes, 1834)

Qizilbashes of Kabul

Near the Bala Hissar, and separated from it and every part of the city, the Persians, or Kuzzilbashes, as they are called, reside. They are Toorks, and principally of the tribe of Juwansheer, who were fixed in this country by Nadir Shah. Under the kings of Cabool they served as body-guards, and were a powerful engine of the state. They yet retain their language, and are attached to the present chief, whose mother is of their tribe. I had an opportunity of seeing these people to advantage; being invited to a party given by our conductor from Peshawur, the jolly Naib Mahommed Shureef. I met the whole of the principal men, and their chief, Sheeren Khan. The entertainment was more Persian than Afghan. Among them, I could discover a new people, and new mode of thinking; for they have retained some of the wit that marks their countrymen. As the evening was drawing to a close, the chief called on a person to display his powers, not in a tale, but in depicting the peculiarities of the neighbouring nations. He began with the Afghans; and, after an amusing enough exordium, which excepted the Dooranees or chiefs, (who, he said, were not like other Afghans,) he described the entry of some twenty or thirty nations into paradise. When the turn of the Afghans came, he went on blasphemously to relate, that their horrid language was unintelligible, and that, as the prophet had pronounced it to be the dialect of hell, there was no place in heaven for those who spoke it. The fellow had humour, and brought in some Afghan phrases, much to the amusement of the company. He then attacked the Uzbeks for their peculiar way of making tea, and their uncouth manners. He now levelled his batteries against the whining, cheating and deceitful Cashmeerian; and these people must be belied indeed, if they be not master in vice^*. All parties, however, admit their talents and ingenuity, which is a considerable counter-balance. The natives of Herat, and their peculiar dialect, exercised the powers of this loquacious Meerza: he imitated the roguery of their custom-house; and allowed himself, as the officer on duty, to be bribed out of his due, by accepting some wine, which he pretended was not for himself.

^* A Persian couplet runs thus: ―

“Dur juhan ust do taefu be peer;

Soonee i Balkh, Shiah i Cashmeer:”

Which may be translated, that there is not an honest man among the Soones of Balkh or the Shiahs of Cashmeer.

Sir Alexander Burnes, Travels into Bokhara; being the account of a journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia; also, narrative of a voyage on the Indus, from the sea to Lahore, with presents from the King of Great Britain; performed under the orders of the supreme government of India, in the years 1831, 1832, and 1833. Vol. I. — London: John Murray, 1834, pp. 156—158.