Pathan: Tribes of Hazara
This article is an extract from PANJAB CASTES SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. Being a reprint of the chapter on Lahore : Printed by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, 1916. |
Tribes of Hazara
The Hazara mountains on this side of the Indus were from a very early date inhabited by a mixed population of Indian origin, the Gakkhars occupying the portion to the south and having authority over the Rajputs of the eastern hills, while a Gujar population held most of the northern and central parts of the district. In 1399 A.D. a family of Karlagh Turks came into India with Taimur, settled in the Pakhli
^ Dr. Bellews say-, they came from Persia in the time of Nadir Shah, and settled among the Pathans.
^ Macgregor's Gazetteer, voce Utman Khel. plain in the north and centre of the district and established their rule over the whole of the district, then known as the kingdom of Pakhli.' I have already related how, about the middle of the 16th century, the Dilazak were driven out of Peshawar across the Indus, and were presently followed by the representatives of the old Gandhari, the present inhabitants of Swat and Buner andthe mountains north and east of Peshawar. As the Afghans who had possessed themselves of the trans-Indus tract opposite the Hazara District increased in numbers and extended their rule, successive bands of the old inhabitants crossed the river and settled in Hazara. About the end of the 17th century a Saiyad named Jalal Baba, ancestor of the famous Saiyads of Kagan, came with a heterogeneous following from Swat, drove out the Karlagh, and approjoriated the northern half of the district, including the valley of Kangar.
About the same time the Tanaoli crossed the river and occupied the hill country between Abbottabad and the river, now known by their name as Tanawal ; while the Jadun came over from their original seat between Peshawar and Hazara and possessed themselves of the tract south of Abbottabad, the Tarin drove out or subjected the Gujar famihes of the Hazara plain, and the Utmanzai, called across the Indus by the Gujars as alhes, appropriated the Gandgarh tract along the bank of the river from Torbela to the boundary of the district. During the first 20 years of the 19th century the Durrani lost their hold on the district, something like anarehy prevailed, and the distribution of tribes gradually assumed its present form. This may be broadly described as follows. Afghans hold the country between the Gandgarh range and the Indus, and the plains for some little distance south east of the junction of the Siran and Dor.
Tribes of Indian origin hold the whole south and south-east of the district and the eastern hills as high up as Garhi Habibullah oposite Muzaffarabad, the Gakkhars holding the south of the tract along both banks of the Haro river, while above them the Dhunds, Karrals, and Sarraras occupy the hills in the south-eastern corner of the district, and the adjoining Haripur plains are held by a mixed population of Awans and Gujars. The remainder of the district, that is the northern and central portion, is held by tribes which, whatever their origin, have by long association become assimilated with the Pathans in language and customs, the Jadun holding the Dor valley from Bagra upwards to Mangal, the Tanaoli holding the Tanawal tract in the west centre of the district be tween Abbottabad and the Indus, much of which belongs to the semi independent Nawab of Amb, while the Swatis hold the whole mountain country north of Mansahra and Garhi Habibullah.
The Utmanzai have been already fully described in the discussion of the Peshawar tribes. The Tarkheli is one of the principal Utmanzai clans in Hazara, and occupies the Gandgarh country. A few Tarin Afghans, first cousins of the Abdalt, wrested a considerable portion of the Haripur plains from the Gujars early in the 18th century, and still live there, but are now few and unimportant. The Mishwani are descended from a Saiyad father by a Kakar woman, and are alhed to the Kakar Pathans. A small number of them came across the Indus with the Utmanzai, to whom they were attached as retainer. and now occupy the north-eastern end of the Gandgarh range, about Srikot. With the Utmanzai came also a few Panni, a Kakar sect, who are still settled among them.
