Siah Posh Kafirs

Pre-1895 (un-Islamized) Kafir society

Prior to 1895, the Kafirs of Hindukush were classified into two groups as (i) Siah-Posh and (ii) Safed-Posh. But the British investigator George Scott Robertson who visited Kafiristan and studied the Kafirs for about two years (1889–1891) had improved upon the old classification and re-classified the Kafirs more scientifically into (1) Siah-Posh, (2) Waigulis, (3) Presungulis, or Viron people and (4) Ashkuns. The Ashukuns are probably allied to the Waigulis. The later three groups of the Kafirs used to be collectively known as Sped-Posh Kafirs.

Siah-Posh sub-divisions

The Siah-Posh tribe was further sub-divided into (1) Siah-Posh Katirs (Kamtoz), (2) Siah-Posh Mumans (or Madugals), (3) Siah-Posh Kashtoz (or Kashtan), (4) Siah-Posh Gourdesh (or Istrat) and (5) Siah-Posh Kams (or Kamoze). The Siah-Posh Katirs (Kamtoz) further comprise (1) the Katirs who occupy twelve village of the lower Bashgul (Kam) country, (2) the Kti or Katawar Siah-Posh Kafirs live in the Kti valley possessing two village. (3) the Kulam Siah-Posh Katirs living in the Kulam country and controlling four villages. (4) and the Ramguli Katirs, the most numerous among the Siah-Posh Kafirs living in the most western part of Kafiristan on the Afghan frontier. The Ramgulis Katirs control twenty four village of the Ramgul valley from which they derive their name

All Siah-Posh groups of Kafirs are regarded as of common origin. The Siah-Posh Katirs themselves admit of common origin and general relationship to each other. They all have a common dress and customs and they do not speak precisely same language, but the difference in their speech is more a difference of dialect than radical distinction of language. The Kati language or its dialects are spoken by various Siah-Posh communities.

Nicholas Barrington et al. report that the Sped-Posh Kafirs (Waigulis and Presungulis) refer to all Siah-Posh Kafirs (including the Kamoz) as Katirs and regard them of the same stock linguistically and ethnographically.

According to American ethnographer Richard Strands, the Bashgul valley Kafirs have various designations like Kata, Kom, Mumo, Ksto, Bini, Jamco and Jasi etc. But they are also called by other names like Kamtozi/Kantozi, Kamozi, Kam, Katir etc.

While the Siah-Posh Kamtoz Katirs of the lower Bashgul valley are the most numerous, the Siah-Posh Kam or Kamoz/Kamoje Kafirs of the upper Bashgul valley were the most intractable and fierce and to be most dreaded for their military prowess.

Probable racial origin

Some earlier writers had speculated and propagated the myth that the Kafirs of Hindukush may have descended from the army of Alexander the Great. The Pakistani Tourist Bureau still continues to propagate that the peoples in the mountains are descendants of soldiers from the army of Alexander but Greek descent of Kafirs has been discounted by H. W. Bellew, George Scott Robertson and many later scholars. However many other scholars do believe in thei authenticity of this tale that the Kalash themselves claim as being descedants of Alexander's army. This list of scholars who propagate the Kalash's ancestry claim is true includes Sir George Scott Robertson, and Eric S. Margolis.

The Siah-Posh Kafirs themselves claim to have descended from certain Koresh (Gurashi/Gorish or Goraish) a name linked to Koresh tribe of Arabs but this is merely a fashionable fiction. H. W. Bellew relates name Gurish/Gorish or Koresh of the Kafirs accounts to Kurush and writes that Koresh or Kurush is the national designation of the Kafir tribes of Kafiristan, north of Laghman. Bellew further speculates that Koresh (or Kurush) may have been the family name of the Cyrus, king of Persia who was born in the Cabul country. Keruch, according to Bellew is the name of a Rajput clan which may have been adopted into the Rajput nation though of different race and descent. Thus, Bellew seem to relate Siah-Posh Kafirs to the Iranians.

George Scott Robertson also rejects Greek origin of the Kafirs. According to him, the present dominant clans of Kafirstan viz. the Katirs (Kamtoz), the Kams (Kamoz) and the Wais are mainly descended from the ancient Indian population of Eastern Afghanistan who refused to embrace Islam in tenth century, and fled for refuge from victorious Moslems to the hilly fastnesses of Kafirstan. There they probably found other races already settled, whom they vanquished, drove away, or enslaved, or with whom they amalgamated.

According to Donald Wilber and other recent writers, the Anthropological data suggests that the Kafirs are not the tenth century migrants to Kafirstan but are a remnant of original population of the area which according to some was Dravidian but according to the others Indo-Aryan. They appear to be a mixture of an extremely ancient element related to oldest known population of central Himalayas (the Presuns), the element with resemblance to the Kurds and a type with Nordic and Dinaric traits (the Siah-Posh/Wai groups) which goes back to the ancient prototype of these races preserved in the midst of Indo-Aryan ascendancy.

Connection with Kambojas

"Parts of Kafiristan (Nuristan) formed a portion of the Greek strapy of the Paropamisadae in the fourth and third century BCE. The people of the region were then called Kambojas and described as of mixed Indo-Iranian descent. Possibly, they occupied much wider area then and were gradually forced to their present mountainous fastnesses by the Muslim onslaught during medieval era. One of their dominant clans is still known as Kam or Kamoz, while the other is called Kamtoz, which remind us of the name Kamboja" "The Kamoz tribe of Kafirs are fairly supposed to be the surviving representatives of the Kambojas of primeval Indian literature, a name with which scholars have connected that of Cambyses....In two other Kafir tribes — the Asphins and Ashkins (Ashkuns) — one is tempted to trace remnants of the Aspasii and Assaceni of Alexander's historians".

Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval India and several other authorities note that the Siah-Posh tribe living in Hindukush mountains descended from the ancient Kambojas

While discussing the Kambojas, H. H. Wilson and several other authorities also acknowledge that there is an apparent trace of their (Kambojas' ) name in the Camojis of Kafirstan (Nuristan) who may have retreated to the mountains before the advance of the Turk tribes.

The physiognomic features and other physical characteristics of the Siah-Posh tribes resemble those of the Kamboj population of greater Panjab(Pakistan). Like the (unmixed) Kamboj, they have fairly tall stature, fair-body color, light brown or some times green eyes, brown and some times blond hair, slender and straight or acquiline noses, high physical and mental tenacity & stamina etc.

Ancient roots of the Kafirs (Nurestanis)

(ca. 125,000–300,000

)

Nuristan Province

Nuristani languages, Pashto and Persian(Dari)

Sunni Islam

Kalash

The Siah-posh Kafirs of the Hindukush ranges, who used to be collectively known as Kamoges or Kamojis (Sanskrit Kambojis or Kambojas) are stated to have been a remain of a considerable ancient people among whom were original Kashmerians and a greater part of Badakshan and Kabol as far as Deggan tribes...and on the southern face of the higher ridges of Himalaya extending to an unknown distance...Though whole of their pristine population being subjected to Muslim conquerors in the Middle Ages, and having mixed with them, they have now lost their pristine individuality of national character but still among the Kabulis, in particular, it is still not infrequent to observe heads and figures that might serve for models to the sculptors who would portray a Jupiter or a Mars according to the refined idealism of the ancient Greeks. The Kafirs have oval faces, their brows are well-arched and the nose and mouth even more refined than the Greeks. They are still fairer, generally, with lighter hair and gray eyes. Blending with the nearest black-haired tribes, the ancestors of the Kamoges are believed to have given rise to ancient Persians and with the faired-haired on the north, they are said to have produced the handsome tribes of the Goths. The name Kamoges or Kamojis apparently reminds one of the ancient Kambojas living in Hindukush, Pamirs as well as in Badakshan. (See: Kamboja Location). The Siah-Posh clans of Kams, Kamoz/Kamoges and Kamtoz, as stated above, are said to have descended from the ancient Kambojas.

Siah-Posh Kafirs in history

The first reference to Siah-Posh Kafirs occurs in Timur's invasion of Afghanistan in 1398 CE. Timur's autobiography (Tuzak-i-Timuri) amply attests that he had battled both with the Katirs as well as the Kam sections of the Siah-Posh (black-robed) Kafirs of the Hindukush mountains.

Timur's encounter with Katirs/Kators

Timur invaded Afghanistan in March, 1398. On the basis of local complaints of ill-treatment and extortions filed by the Muslims against the Kafirs, Timur personally attacked the Kators of the Siah-Posh group located north-east of Kabul in Eastern Afghanistan. The Kators left their fort Najil and took refuge at the top of the hill. Timur razed the fort to ground, burnt their houses and surrounded the hill where the Kator had collected for shelter. The relic of the historic fort is said to still exist a little north to Najil in the form of a structure known as Timur Hissar (Timur's Fort). After a tough fight, some of the Kators were defeated and were instantly put to death while the others held out against heavy odds for three days. Timur offered them death or Islam. They chose the latter, but soon recanted and attacked the regiment of Muslim soldiers during night. The latter being on guard, fought back, killed numerous Kators and took 150 as prisoners and put them to death afterwards. Next day, Timur ordered his troops to advance on all four sides to kill all men, enslave the women and children and plunder or lay waste all their property. In his autobiography called Tuzak-i-Timuri, Timur proudly boasts of the towers of the skulls of the Kators which he built on the mountain in the auspicious month of Ramazan A.H. 800 (1300 CE)

Timur's encounter with Kam Kafirs

Again, according to Timur's autobiography (Tuzak-i-Timuri), a military division of ten thousand Muslim soldiers was sent against the Siah-Posh (Kam) Kafirs under the command of General Aglan Khan to either slay these infidels or else to convert them into Islam. Tuzak-i-Timuri frankly admits that the regiment was badly routed by a small number of Siah-Posh Kafirs. The Muslim forces had to flee from the battle-field leaving their horses and armor. Another detachment had to be sent under Muhammad Azad which fought gallantly and recovered the horses and the armor lost by General Aglan and came back home, leaving the Siah-Posh alone.

It is notable that Timur does not boast of any killings or imprisonment of the Siah-Poshes as he does for the Katirs and numerous other communities of India proper. Also, he gives no further details of his conflict with the Siah-Poshes in his Tuzak-i-Timuri after this encounter, which clearly shows that the outcome of the fight against the Siah-Poshes was very costly and shameful for Timur.

Other references to these Kafirs are made in the fifteenth and later in sixteenth century during the Mughal period.

In 1839, the Kafirs sent a deputation to Sir William Macnaghten in Jalalabad claiming relationship with the fair skinned British troops who had invaded the country

See also

Hindukush Kafir people

Kata-vari

Katirs

Kamtoz

Kam

Kafirstan

Nurestan

Nuristani people

Nuristani languages

Kambojas

Kamboj

Footnotes

References

The Kafirs of the Hindukush, 1896, by George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick, (Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints);

Afghanistan: its people, its society, its culture (Survey of world cultures), 1962, by Donald Newton Wilber.

Tribes of the Hindu Kush (Calcutta, 1880) by John Biddulph;

Kafiristan (Lahore, 1881), Gottlieb William Leitner;

Aus dem westlichen Himalaya (Leipzig, 1884), K.E. von Ujfalvy;

The gates of India: Being an historical narrative by Thomas Hungerford Holdich (Unknown Binding - 1977);

The Indian Borderland, 1880-1900 by Thomas Hungerford Holdich (Paperback - April 12, 2001);

An account of the Kingdom of Caubul and its dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India, (comprising a view of the Afghaun nation, and a history of the ... Entdeckungsgeschichte und Geographie Asiens), 1969 Edition, by Mountstuart Elphinstone;

Proceedings (1869, 1879, 1881, 1884...)... by Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain), Norton Shaw, Francis Galton, William Spottiswoode..;

The Religions of the Hindukush: The Religion of the Kafirs : The Pre-Islamic Heritage of Afghan Nuristan (The Religions of the Hindukush) by Karl Jettmar (Paperback - Mar 1986);

A History of Kafferistan: Socio-economic and Political Conditions of the Kaffers, 1989, Amar Singh Chohan;

Journal of the United Service Institution of India (Simla, 1881), Gottlieb William Leitner;

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, O.S., vol. xix. (London, 1862), Trumpp;

Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischcn Gesellschaft, vol. xx. (Leipzig. 1800);

The New International Encyclopaedia edited by Daniel Coit Gilman, Harry Thurston Peck, Frank Moore Colby 1911;

The Encyclopædia Britannica, 1888, Thomas Spencer Baynes;

Afghanistan, 1956, Donald Newton Wilber - Afghanistan;

Afghanistan: A Study of Political Developments in Central and Southern Asia, 1967, William Kerr Fraser-Tytler, Michael Cavenagh Gillett - Afghanistan;

Afghanistan: its people, its society, its culture, 1962, Donald Newton Wilber, Elizabeth E. Bacon - Juvenile Nonfiction;

Country Survey Series, 1956, Human Relations Area Files, inc - Human geography;

Geographical and economic studies in the Mahābhārata: Upāyana parva, 1945, Moti Chandra - History;

The London quarterly review, 1973;

Memoir on Cuneiform Inscription, 1949, Henry Creswicke Rawlinson;

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 1849, RAS Great Britain and Ireland;

Die Voelker des oestlichen Asien: Studien und Reisen, 1869, Adolf Bastian, Heinrich Kiepert;

Ancient geography of India, 1971, Anundoram Borooah;

Political History of Ancient India, 1996, H. C. Raychaudhury, B. N. Banerjee;

The Indian historical quarterly, 1949, S Chattopadhyaya, India;

The Achaemenids and India: By Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya. 2d Rev. Ed, 1974, Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya;

India as described in early texts of Buddhism and Jainism, 1980, B. C. Law - Tripitaka;

The geographical dictionary of ancient and mediaeval India, 1979, Nundo Lal Dey - Social Science;

The Indian historical quarterly, 1936, India;

Ancient Indian tradition & mythology: Purāṇas in translation, 1969, Jagdish Lal Shastri;

Ancient Indian Tradition & Mythology: Purāṇas in Translation, 1970, Jagdish Lal Shastri, Arnold Kunst, G. P. Bhatt, Ganesh Vasudeo Tagare;

Vishnu Purana, H. H. Wilson;

The Sun and the Serpent: A Contribution to the History of Serpent-worship, 1905, Charles Frederick Oldham;

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 1856, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland;

Indian Caste, 1877, p 286, John Wilson; India of To-day, 1906, Walter Del Mar;

On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629-645 A.D., 1904;

Publications, 1904, Published by Oriental Translation Fund (Editors T. W. Rhys Davis, S. W. Bushel, London Royal Asiatic Society);

Ancient Buddhist Monasteries: India and Nepal, 1998, S. Gajrani;

Journal of Indian History, 1963, University of Kerala Dept. of History, University of Allahabad Dept. of Modern Indian History, University of Travancore, University of Kerala - India;

Census of India, 1961, India Office of the Registrar General, Office of the Registrar General, India;

Transaction, Indian Institute of World Culture, Indian Institute of World Culture, Published by Indian Institute of World Culture;

Journal of Uttara Pradesh Historical Society, Vol XVI, Part II;

Ancient Kamboja, People and the Country, 1981, J. L. Kamboj, Dr Satyarti Shastri;

The Kambojas Through the Ages, 2005, Kirpal Singh;

Kāṭhakasaṅkalanam: Saṃskr̥tagranthebhyaḥ saṅgr̥hītāni Kāṭhakabrāhmaṇa, Kāṭhakaśrautasūtra, 1981, Surya Kanta

The Contemporary Review, Vol LXXII, July-Dec, 1897, A. Strahan (etc.), London;

Bhārata-kaumudī; Studies in Indology in Honour of Dr. Radha Kumud Mookerji, 1945, Radhakumud Mookerji - India).

External links

Richard Strand's Nuristân Site: [7]

Siah-Posh Kafirs in history

The first reference to Siah-Posh Kafirs occurs in Timur's invasion of Afghanistan in 1398 CE. Timur's autobiography (Tuzak-i-Timuri) amply attests that he had battled both with the Katirs as well as the Kam sections of the Siah-Posh (black-robed) Kafirs of the Hindukush mountains.

Timur's encounter with Katirs/Kators

Timur invaded Afghanistan in March, 1398. On the basis of local complaints of ill-treatment and extortions filed by the Muslims against the Kafirs, Timur personally attacked the Kators of the Siah-Posh group located north-east of Kabul in Eastern Afghanistan. The Kators left their fort Najil and took refuge at the top of the hill. Timur razed the fort to ground, burnt their houses and surrounded the hill where the Kator had collected for shelter. The relic of the historic fort is said to still exist a little north to Najil in the form of a structure known as Timur Hissar (Timur's Fort). After a tough fight, some of the Kators were defeated and were instantly put to death while the others held out against heavy odds for three days. Timur offered them death or Islam. They chose the latter, but soon recanted and attacked the regiment of Muslim soldiers during night. The latter being on guard, fought back, killed numerous Kators and took 150 as prisoners and put them to death afterwards. Next day, Timur ordered his troops to advance on all four sides to kill all men, enslave the women and children and plunder or lay waste all their property. In his autobiography called Tuzak-i-Timuri, Timur proudly boasts of the towers of the skulls of the Kators which he built on the mountain in the auspicious month of Ramazan A.H. 800 (1300 CE)

Timur's encounter with Kam Kafirs

Again, according to Timur's autobiography (Tuzak-i-Timuri), a military division of ten thousand Muslim soldiers was sent against the Siah-Posh (Kam) Kafirs under the command of General Aglan Khan to either slay these infidels or else to convert them into Islam. Tuzak-i-Timuri frankly admits that the regiment was badly routed by a small number of Siah-Posh Kafirs. The Muslim forces had to flee from the battle-field leaving their horses and armor. Another detachment had to be sent under Muhammad Azad which fought gallantly and recovered the horses and the armor lost by General Aglan and came back home, leaving the Siah-Posh alone.

It is notable that Timur does not boast of any killings or imprisonment of the Siah-Poshes as he does for the Katirs and numerous other communities of India proper. Also, he gives no further details of his conflict with the Siah-Poshes in his Tuzak-i-Timuri after this encounter, which clearly shows that the outcome of the fight against the Siah-Poshes was very costly and shameful for Timur.

Other references to these Kafirs are made in the fifteenth and later in sixteenth century during the Mughal period.

In 1839, the Kafirs sent a deputation to Sir William Macnaghten in Jalalabad claiming relationship with the fair skinned British troops who had invaded the country