Qizilbashes of Punjab (Sir Denzil Ibbetson, [1883] 1916)

Qizilbashes of Punjab

509. Ghulam (Caste No. 130).―These men are returned from the Peshawar district to the number of 3,347 under the name of Ghulam Khanazad, and from Multan to the number of 99 to the name of Khanazad simply. The latter may be an error from Khanzadah. The Peshawar men show their clans as Turkhel Ghulam and Malekhel. They are said to be descendants of captives in war who were made slaves (ghulam), whence their name. They are still chiefly employed in domestic service, and are generally attached to their hereditary masters, though some of them have taken to shop-keeping and other occupations.

Since writing the above, which is based upon the information of a highly educated gentleman in our political service, himself a Native of Peshawar, I find that Muhammad Haiyat Khan states in his Haiyat-i-Afghani that the Qizilbash of Kabul described below are collectively known as Ghulam-khanah. If so, our Ghulam Khanazads are probably nothing more than Qizilbashes. But the class described above does exist in Peshawar in considerable numbers.

509a. The Qizilbash (Caste No. 18).―The Qizilbash¹ are a tribe of Tartar horsemen from the Eastern Caucasus, who formed the backbone of the old Persian army and of the force with which Nadir Shah invaded India. Many of the great Mughal ministers have been Qizilbash, and notably Mir Jumlah the famous minister of Aurangzeb. They are said to take their name from a red cap of peculiar shape which they wear, which was invented by the founder of the Sophi dynasty of Persia, an intolerant Shiah, as the distinguishing mark of that sect, and which his son Shah Tumasp compelled Humayun to wear when a refugee at the Persian Court. There are some 1,200 families of Qizilbash in the city of Kabul alone, where they were located by Nadir Shah, and still form an important military colony and exercise considerable influence in local politics. They are not uncommon throughout Afghanistan. Besides the number of Qizilbash returned as such, 66 were entered as Pathans, of whom 48 were in Derah Ismail Khan. See also the preceding paragraph under the head Ghulam.

¹ In the caste table the word is spelt Kisal, but I believe Qizil is correct.

Panjab Castes. Being a reprint of the chapter on "The Races, Castes and Tribes of the People" in the Report on the Census of the Punjab published in 1883 by the late Sir Denzil Ibbetson, K.C.S.I. ― Lahore: Superintendent, Government Press, 1916, p. 213.