1 60 PANJAB CASTES.
2 points out that most of the learned men who reject the tradition of Jewish
3 descent have no personal acquaintance with the Afghan people. The Afghan
4 proper is said still to call himself indifferently Ban-i-Afghan or Bau-i-Israil
5 to distinguish himself from the Palhiin proper who is of Indian, and the
6 Ghilzai who is probably of mixed Turkish and Persian extraction. Pashto^
7 the common language of all three, is distinctly Aryan, being a branch of
8 the old Persian stock. It is desei-ibed in Chapter V, sections 322-3 of this
9 Report .
10 There is great conflict of opinion concerning both the origin and constitu- [P.
11 tiou of the Pathan nation. Not a few deny that there is any distinction
12 whatever between the original Afghan and Pathiin stocks, though these are for
13 the most part officers of our frontier who are not brought into contact with the
14 original Afghans. I have however been obliged to adopt some one theory of
15 the constitution of the nation as a basis for my classification of tribes ; and 1
16 have therefore adopted that of Dr. Bellew, who probably has a greater
17 knowledge of the Afghans of Afghanistan as distinct from the Panjab frontier,
18 and especially uf the old histories of the nation, than any other of the author-
19 ities who have treated of the matter. The constitution and early history of the
20 nation according to Dr. Belle w's account are discussed in the paragraphs
21 presently following. But whatever the origin of Afghans and Pathans proper
22 may be, the nation to w'hich the two names are now applied indifferently in
23 Persian and Pashto respectively, occupying- as it does the mountain country
24 lying between the Persian empire on the west, the Indiun on the east, the
25 Mongol on the north, and the Biloch on the south, includes as at jiresent con-
26 stituted many tribes of very diverse origin. They are without exception
27 Mussalraans, and for the most part bigoted followers of the Sunni sect, hating
28 and persecuting Shiahs, or as they call them Rafazis.^
29 393. Tribal organisation of tlie Pathans.— The tribe is probably far more
30 homogeneous in its constitution among the Pathans than among the Biloches.
31 Saiyad, Turk, and other clans have occasionally been affiliated to it ; but as a
32 rule people of foreign descent presei-ve their tribal individuality, becoming
33 merely associated, and not intermingled, with the tribes among whom they
34 have settled. Even then they generally claim Pathan origin on the female
35 side, and the tribe is usually descended in theory at least from a common
36 ancestor. The hammyah custom described in section 380, by which strangers
37 are protected by the tribe with which they dwell, is in full force among the
38 Pathans as among the Biloches. But with the foriuer though It does protect
39 in many cases families of one tribe who have settled with another, it seldom
40 accounts for any considerable portion of the tribe ; and its action is chiefly
41 confined to traders, menials, and other dependents of foreign extraction, who
42 are protected by but not received into the tribe. Thus a blacksmith living in
43 an Utmanzai village will give his clan an Utraanzai ; biit his caste will of
44 course remain Lobar. The nation is divided genealogically into a few great
45 sections which have no corporate existence, and the tribe is now the practical
46 unit, though the common name and tradition of common descent are stiU
47 carefully preserved in the memory of the people. Each section of a tribe,
48 ' The 52 Hiudus shorni in the table? are probably traders living iiuder Pathan protection, or
49 due to errors in enumeration. There are several Sbiah clans among the Orakzai of Tii'ah on the
50 Kobttt border. The people of the Samilzai tapah of the Kohat district, which is contermiuou*
51 with the territory of these clans, arc also Shiahs. All own allegiance to the Shfah Saiyads of
52 the Orakiai Tirah ; while everywhere many of the tribes which claim Saiyad origin ar« SWaha,
53 V,