Istalif
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Istalif
Town in the Kabul province of Afghanistan, situated in 34° 59' N. and 69° 5" E., 20 miles north-north-west of Kabul city. The population, including that of seven villages depending on it, comprises from 15,000 to 18,000 souls. The inhabitants are Tajiks, Ghilzais, Kizilbashis, and about fifty families of Sikh shopkeepers. The Tajiks of Istalif, contrary to the usual habits of these people, are among the most turbulent in the ccnmtry. They have the repu- tation also of being the best foot-soldiers in Afghanistan, and are a healthy and handsome race, fond of sport and war,
The place is singularly picturesque and beautiful. It is built on the side of the hills in the form of a pyramid, the houses rising one above the other in terraces, the whole being crowned by magnificent chinars (planes) which surround the shrine of Hazrat Eshan, while far below, in a deep glen, a foaming brook rushes over a bed of rocky boulders, on both sides of which the valley is covered with the richest orchards and vineyards. 'The people of the country have a proverb that he who has not " seen Istalif has seen nothing ; and certainh' it ma\- be allowed that he who has seen Istalif is not likely to see man}- places to surpass it, and few to equal it\' Nearly every householder has his garden or orchard, to which the families repair in the fruit season, closing their houses in the town. A great part of the population is of the weaver class, and quantities of coarse cloths are manufactured, a trade in which is maintained with Turkistan,
Istalif was destroyed in September, 1842, by a force under General McCaskill, on account of its having harboured several chiefs impli- cated in the murder of Sir A. Burnes at Kabul and in the massacre of the garrison of Charikar.
