Former Kafirs
Characteristics of Pre-Islamic
Nurestani Society (The former Kafirs)
Based on obervations of G. S. Robertson, THomas Holdich, Donald N. Wilber, HW Bellow, and
some other noted investigators.
Both the Kafirs and Afghans are brigands by instinct
and both are careless of human life. Perhaps the Kafirs are the worst of the
two in both respects, but a Afghan makes the account more than even by his added
perfidy and cunning. All the neighbouring Musulman tribes have an intense
hatred of the Kafirs because of the injuries the former have received at the
hands of the Kafirs through the ages. The Kafirs love to dance to their war god
Gish after killing Musulmans.
The Kafirs love to fight. Their inter-tribal hatred,
sometimes, goes to the limits of absurdity, thus entirely deadening their
political foresight. It is probable that there is no single tribe of Kafirs at
the present day Kafirstan which is at peace with all other tribes. Some of
their inter-tribal wars have continued for generations, and the one between the
Kamoz and Katirs of Ramgulis went over a century. The Kafirs are highly
revengeful. For honour's sake, a man of any position in the clan (even the
slave) having been killed by an outsider clan must be avenged by blood. No
matter what, a murder has to be avenged under all circumstances. Blood-feuds
within a tribe do not exist, but if a fight did start, it was the duty of all
witness to intervene at once. The slayer of his fellow, even by accident, has
to pay a heavy compensation or else become an outcast. The stigma attaches
itself to children and their marriage connexions. Kafirs have true conceptions
of justice. There is no death penalty since a fighting male is too valuable a
property of the whole tribe to be so wasted.
Though in his raids into hostile territories, whether
of Kafirs or Musulmans, the Kafir spares neither men, nor women, nor even
children and though, he holds human life as of very little account, and though
in hunting, he appears to employ brutal methods of getting his game, yet he is
not cruel by nature. Though highly passionate and wildly independent, the Kafir
can be easily appeased. Though exasperated to such fury by centuries of
persecutions by Musulmans, the Kafirs, in general, are harmless, affectionate
and kind hearted people. They are indeed a model of politeness. They are merry,
playful, fond of laughter and of very social and joyous disposition. The Kafirs
are splendidly loyal to their friends and are accustomed to grandest acts of
self-sacrifice and bravery. Kafirs are very hospitable. They are kind even to a
Musulman when they admit him as their friend or guest.
The Kafirs are remarkable for their cupidity. They can
be easily bribed, can do anything for money. But in matters of honour, no Kafir
can ever be won by any amount of cash, whatsoever. Kafirs are extremely jealous
of one another, no matter how they have intermarried. Kafir hates Kafir more
than he hates Musulmans, which sometimes leads to internecine strife. It is as
natural for a Kafir to thieve, as it is for him to eat. The children are
encouraged to steal. Kafirs are remarkable for their reckless courage, furious
bravery and towering love for freedom. Kafirs women are also extraordinarily
courageous and dashing.
The war strategy of Kafirs is to wear down the enemy
by playing purely defensive tactics. They hold positions, form little ambushes,
and seek to cut off stragglers and harass the invaders in every possible way.
Then when the enemy, from accumulated losses, begins to retreat, the
tiger-footed Kafirs attack him on all sides like a swarm of hornets. At this
point, the dogged resistance turns into furious bravery. A Kafir never fights
so well as when the advantage is to his side. He plays a winning game
splendidly. Each man tries to emulate the traditional heroes of his tribe and
will performs some of the grandest deeds of courage and heroism to gain the
admiration of his tribal. The Kafir of Bashgul is ever on the raid and on watch
for a chance for a Musulman's life. The killing of Musulmans is ranked the
chief object of a Kafir's life since his social position is dependent on the
number of Musulmans he kills. A robe of honour (a Shawl) is awarded to those who
have killed four or more Musulmans.
The Kafirs are chiefly remarkable for their love of
cattle. In Kafir opinion, a good man is one who is a successful homicide, ever
ready to quarrel, of an amorous disposition, a good dancer, and a good
stone-quoit player. The whole of the Kafir race are remarkable for their
fairness and beauty of complexion. A Kafir exudes impression of personal
dignity, self-respect, self-confidence, strength and gracefulness. Kafir
society is essentially democratic and the Kafirs are theoretically all equal.
The Kafirs, as seen above, seem to be as degraded in
many respects as it is possible for this type ever to become. If it were not
their splendid courage, their domestic affections and their overpowering love
of freedom, the Kafirs would indeed be a hateful people. In other respects,
they are what they have been made by uncontrollable circumstances. For them,
the world has not grown softer as it has grown older. Its youth could not be
crueller than its present maturity, but if they had been different, the Kafirs
would have been enslaved centuries ago. Their present ideas and all the
associations of their history and religion are simply bloodshed, assassinations
and blackmailing; yet the Kafirs, though a highly wild people, are not savages.
Many of them have the heads of statesmen and philosophers. Their features are
Aryans and their mental capabilities are great. Their love of decoration, their
carving and their architecture all point to a time when they were higher in
human scale than they are at present.
Former religion of Nurestanis
Before their forced conversion by Abdur Rahman,
Kafirs, the forefathers of the Nurestanis were practitioners of ancient
pre-Islamic Animistic traditions. The Kafiri picturesque ceremonial and good
humoured tolerance was replaced by the selfrighteous pride of Islam, Imra
became Allah, Moni became Mohammed, and Dizane became Fatima while all the
shrines, altars and holy places were destroyed. A whole generation of male
youth was kidnapped and taken to Kabul to be islamised (sheikh-convert). There
were lingering traces of ancestor-worship and fire-worship. The Kafir religion
was a blend of Zoroastrian rituals, Hindu beliefs, Buddhist tenets and diverse
ceremonies as well as paganism reminiscent of the mythology of Greece. In a
public apartment of Kamdesh was a high wooden pillow on which sat a figure with
spear and staff in his hands, this effigy represented one of the great men of
the village who by giving several feasts for the whole village had earned this
privilege. Imra (Kati) Mara (Perun valley) was the God of creation. Every Kafir
village had its Imra shrine (stone altar under sacred -oak-ceder or juniper
tree) and in Kstigigrom in the Perun valley was the temple of Mara, the largest
in Kafiristan (a place still considered holy to the Kalashi of Pakistan). God
Moni (Kalashi-Balomain) was the chief prophet of Imra/Mara. Gish (Kalashi
Mahandeo) or Great Gish was the war god-his shrines were extremely popular
among the Bashagul Kati. His cult involved headhunting (trophy taking) the more
kills a brave made the higher his possition in the community and at death
braves were honoured by the erection of an effigy recording the number of his
kills. The Goddess Dizane (Kalashi Jeztak) was the mother Goddess of Kafiristan,
her shrine above Kamdesh was typical of many Kafiri holy places (that used to
be every were in former Kafiristan)- a small, lovely carved house with an
effigy of Dizane visible in the door. There was also a holy vineyard-Indrkun
(in Kafiristan's Wama valley) that was sacred to Indr. The gods of lesser
significance along with local-tribal Gods were many. Bagisht was the God of
waters, Sudaram the God of the weather and Arom was the tribal God of the Kati
tribe. The religion of Kafiristan (with local twist) is still alive among the
Kalashi in Pakistan. Effigies were erected to the faires (Kundrik)-to protect
the crops, to honour baves (Dal) and ancestors (Gandeo). Some Idols were of
stone with metal masks while others were carved from wood.
Genetics
The Nuristani people's closest relation is to the
Kalash people. Furthermore, they have very little genetic relation to
neighbouring ethnic groups like Pashtuns and Kashmiris. This is because they
have always remained isolated in the mountains which has led them to become a
genetically isolated population. It is also speculated that Nurestani people
are of different origin altogether assimilated in the region at at some point
of time in history.
Rosenberg et al. (2006) ran simulations dividing
autosomal gene frequencies in selected populations into a given number of
clusters. For 7 or more clusters, a cluster (yellow) appears which is nearly
unique to the Kalash. Smaller amounts of Kalash gene frequencies join clusters
associated with Europe and Middle East (blue) and with South Asia (red).
Soviet war
in Afghanistan
General Issa
Nuristani was second in command following the King during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Before his assassination,
General Issa called the Nuristani people in a "Jihad" against the
Soviet Army. The Nuristani people were among the first in Afghanistan to rise
against the Soviet invasion. They played an important role in the conquering of
some provinces, including Kunar,
Nangarhar,
Badakhshan,
and Panshir. Following the withdrawal of the Soviet troops, the
Mawlavy Ghulam Rabani was declared as governor of the Kunar Province.
Most of the former Hindu Kush Kafir people
are considered the ancestors of the Nuristanis. Led by the Koms
tribe, the Nuristani were the first citizens of Afghanistan
to successfully revolt against the communist
overthrow of their government in 1978. Thereafter, Nuristan remained a scene of
some of the bloodiest guerrilla fighting with the Soviet forces from 1979
through 1989. The Nuristanis inspired others to fight and contributed to the
demise of the Afghan communist regime in 1992.
Nuristanis in Pakistan
Some Nuristanis venture across the border into the
adjacent Chitral District of Pakistan
where they have come to dominate the commerce and trade of the district capital
and have integrated successfully into the cosmopolitan social dynamics of the
district capital, Chitral, alongside Khowar
speakers, Kalashas,
Tajiks,
Pashtuns and Wakhis.
There is a large number of these people use to live in
Chitral, Pakistan the eastern border of Nuristan. Most of these people are from
the KATA Family and Janaderi Branch, some of these people are use to live in
Ozhor (recent Karimabad), Gobor, Buburat, Ayun, Broze and Mastuj. There is very
popular Rock (Stone) associated with this tribe located in Karimabad (Juwara)
called KATA BOHT (Kata is the name of the trible normally they associated with
the Headtribe and BOHT is stone in Chitrali Language). They are physically
strong, brave,light hair, eyes, and skin like other Nuristani. Now they
normally use Kuraishi with their names.
Tribes
Nuristan, in light green
The Nuristani do not have a formal tribal structure as
the Pashtuns do, however they do designate
themselves by the names of the local regions they are from. In total, there are
35 such designations: five from the north-south valleys and 30 from the
east-west valley.
Some of these tribes include:
Jench (of Arnce village)
Kshto
Kambojas or kam
Dungulio
Kalasha
Tregami
Vasi
Askunu
Sanu
Gramsana
In popular culture
Nuristanis were depicted as their pre-Islamic past the
Kafiristanis, as one of peoples inhabiting Kafiristan
in Rudyard Kipling's book called The Man Who Would Be King which was then made into a film.
Friend, where can I find a copy of G.S. Robertson's excellent book on these people? It seems it is out of print and google books does not have a copy. Much obliged for any more pre-islamic information about these most magnificent fighters. If you could provide me more leads, I would be most grateful.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting the blog. i do not have any copy of the book but you can find it in Amazon.com. please find the link below:
Delete1: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+K%C3%A1firs+of+the+Hindu-Kush&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3AThe+K%C3%A1firs+of+the+Hindu-Kush
2: http://www.worldcat.org/title/kafirs-of-the-hindu-kush/oclc/50333243
Dear Abdul Wahid , I got your email ( luke = Kafiristani ect ) I am unsure how I contact you other than leaving messages on your blog ( here for example ) I do like your ideas and will help were and how ever I can . Have you joined jstor = this is a free online study sight were I got a lot of photos and written info to , I would say cheque it out , I think you will like it as they have all the reports and studies that have been done on both the Kalashi and Kati and other former Kafiri tribes ect over the last hundred years . I do own a copy of the Kafir's of the Hindu Kush which unlike the online editions has the pictures in it and it is these as well as some pictures taken in 11929 in Urtsun valley before conversion to Islam , these are of Imras and Varin's shrines and the Rikhini or holy dancing platform there . I have some of these photos on my Kafiristani album or on my facebook kafiristan album .You are welcome to copy and use what ever you want , all the best my friend . I will try and order the 2 photos from 1885 upper bashgul valley trip by the gilgit mission under lockhart ( I think or lovelock ) but these cost 70 pounds each so I might take me a few months to be able to afford the , but touch wood it all works out .
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliments.
DeleteHave they retained any old customs even after the conversion?
ReplyDeleteIs vocabulary of their language available? Do they resent the forceful conversion?
The are loosing their old custom by passage of time
Delete