| Ghilji | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Ethnicity | Pashtuns |
| Location | Afghanistan,Pakistan |
| Branches | Ahmadzai,Akakhel,Andar,Hotak,Ibrahimkhel,Ibrahimzai,Kharoti,Lodi,Nasar, Stanikzai,Sakzai,Sulaimankhel,Tarakai,Tokhi |
| Language | Pashto |
| Religion |  Islam |
TheGhiljī (Pashto:غلجي,pronounced[ɣəlˈd͡ʒi];[a]Persian:خیلجی,romanized: Xelji) also spelledKhilji, Khalji, orGhilzai andGhilzay (غلزی), are one of the largestPashtun tribes. Their traditional homeland isGhazni andQalati Ghilji inAfghanistan but they have also settled in other regions throughout the Afghanistan-Pakistan Pashtun belt.[1][2] The modern nomadicKochi people are predominantly made up of Ghilji tribes.[3] The Ghilji make up around 20–25% of Afghanistan's total population.[4]
They mostly speak thecentral dialect ofPashto with transitional features between thesouthern andnorthern varieties of Pashto.[citation needed]
.jpg)
According to historianC.E. Bosworth, the tribal name "Ghilji" is derived from the name of theKhalaj (خلج) tribe.[7] According to historianV. Minorsky, the ancientTurkic form of the name wasQalaj (orQalach), but the Turkic /q/ changed to /kh/ inArabic sources (Qalaj >Khalaj). Minorsky added: "Qalaj could have a parallel form*Ghalaj."[8] The word finally yieldedGhəljī andGhəlzay in Pashto.
According to a popularfolk etymology, the nameGhəljī orGhəlzay is derived fromGharzay (غرزی;ghar means "mountain" while-zay means "descendant of"), a Pashto name meaning "born of mountain" or "hill people."[9]
One theory of origin states that Ghiljis are likely to be descended from theKhalaj people. According to historianC.E. Bosworth, it seems very likely that the Khalaj people of the Gazna formed the core of the Ghilji tribe,[7] who are usually referred to asTurks.[8][10][11] The Khalaj were sometimes mentioned alongsidePashtun tribes in the armies of several local dynasties, including theGhaznavids (977–1186).[12]
According toThe Cambridge History of Iran volume 3, Issue 1, the Ghilji tribe of Afghanistan are the descendants of Hephthalites.[13]
The 17th-centuryMughal courtierNimat Allah al-Harawi, in his bookTārīkh-i Khān Jahānī wa Makhzan-i Afghānī, wrote a mythical genealogy according to which the Ghilji descended from Shah Hussain Ghori and his first wife Bībī Matō, who was a daughter of Pashtun Sufi saint Bēṭ Nīkə (progenitor of theBettani tribal confederacy), son ofQais Abdur Rashid (progenitor of all Pashtuns).[14] Shah Hussain Ghori was described in the book as a patriarch fromGhor who was related to the Shansabani family, which later founded theGhurid dynasty. He fled Ghor whenal-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf (Umayyad governor of Iraq, 694–714) dispatched an army to attack Ghor and entered into the service of Bēṭ Nīkə, who made him an adopted son. The book further stated that Shah Hussain Ghori fell in love with the saint's daughter Bībī Matō, fathering a son with her out of wedlock. The child was named by the saint asghal-zōy (غلزوی), Pashto for "thief's son," from whom the Ghilzai derived their name. The 1595 Mughal accountAin-i-Akbari, written byAbu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, also gave a similar account about Ghiljis' origin. However, it named the patriarch from Ghor as "Mast Ali Ghori" (which, according to Nimat Allah al-Harawi, was the pseudonym of Shah Hussain Ghori), and asserted that the Pashtuns called him "Mati". After the illicit intercourse with one of the daughters of Bēṭ Nīkə, "when the results of this clandestine intimacy were about to become manifest, he preserved her reputation by marriage. Three sons were born to him, vis., Ghilzai (progenitor of the Ghilji tribe), Lōdī (progenitor of theLodi tribe), and Sarwānī (progenitor of theSarwani tribe)."[15]
Medieval Muslim scholars, including 9th-10th century geographersIbn Khordadbeh andIstakhri, narrated that the Khalaj were one of the earliest tribes to have crossed theAmu Darya fromCentral Asia and settled in parts of present-day Afghanistan, especially in theGhazni,Qalati Ghilji (also known as Qalati Khalji), andZabulistan regions. Mid-10th-century bookHudud al-'Alam described the Khalaj assheep-grazingnomads in Ghazni and the surrounding districts, who had a habit ofwandering through seasonalpastures.
11th-century bookTarikh Yamini, written by al-Utbi, stated that when theGhaznavid EmirSabuktigin defeated theHindu Shahi rulerJayapala in 988, the Pashtuns (Afghans) and Khalaj betweenLaghman andPeshawar, the territory he conquered, surrendered and agreed to serve him. Al-Utbi further stated that Pashtun and Khalaj tribesmen were recruited in significant numbers by the Ghaznavid SultanMahmud of Ghazni (999–1030) to take part in his military conquests, including his expedition toTokharistan.[16] The Khalaj later revolted against Mahmud's son SultanMas'ud I of Ghazni (1030–1040), who sent apunitive expedition to obtain their submission. During the time of theMongol invasion of Khwarezmia, many Khalajs andTurkomans gathered inPeshawar and joined the army of Saif al-Din Ighraq, who was likely a Khalaj himself. This army defeated the petty king of Ghazni, Radhi al-Mulk. The lastKhwarazmian ruler,Jalal al-Din Mangburni, was forced by the Mongols to flee towards theHindu Kush. Ighraq's army, as well as many other Khalaj and other tribesmen, joined the Khwarazmian force of Jalal al-Din and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Mongols at the 1221Battle of Parwan. However, after the victory, the Khalajs,Turkomans, and Ghoris in the army quarreled with the Khwarazmians over the booty, and finally left, soon after which Jalal al-Din was defeated byGenghis Khan at theBattle of the Indus and forced to flee to India. Ighraq returned to Peshawar, but later Mongol detachments defeated the 20,000–30,000 strong Khalaj, Turkmen, and Ghori tribesmen who had abandoned Jalal al-Din. Some of these tribesmen escaped toMultan and were recruited into the army of theDelhi Sultanate.[17] 13th-centuryTarikh-i Jahangushay, written by historianAta-Malik Juvayni, narrated that a levy comprising the "Khalaj of Ghazni" and the "Afghan" (Pashtuns) were mobilized by the Mongols to take part in a punitive expedition sent toMerv in present-dayTurkmenistan.[8]
Just before theMongol invasion, Najib Bakran's geographyJahān Nāma (c. 1200–1220) described the transformation that the Khalaj tribe was going through:
The Khalaj are a tribe of Turks who from theKhallukh limits migrated to Zabulistan. Among the districts of Ghazni there is a steppe where they reside. Then, on account of the heat of the air, their complexion has changed and tended towards blackness; the tongue too has undergone alterations and become a different language.
— Najib Bakran,Jahān Nāma
TheKhalji orKhilji[b] dynasty ruled theDelhi sultanate, covering large parts of theIndian subcontinent for nearly three decades between 1290 and 1320.[18][19][20] Founded byJalal ud din Firuz Khalji as the second dynasty to rule theDelhi Sultanate of India, and successfully fending off the repeatedMongol invasions of India.[21][22]
One year after the 1506Battle of Qalati Ghilji, theTimurid rulerBabur marched out ofKabul with the intention to crush Ghilji Pashtuns. On the way, the Timurid army overranMohmand Pashtuns inSardeh Band, and then attacked and killed Ghilji Pashtuns in the mountains of Khwaja Ismail, setting up "a pillar of Afghan heads," as Babur wrote in hisBaburnama. Many sheep were also captured during the attack. After a hunt on the plains ofKatawaz the next day, wheredeer andwild asses were plentiful, Babur marched off to Kabul.[23][24]
In April 1709,Mirwais Hotak, who was a member of theHotak tribe of Ghiljis, led a successful revolution against theSafavids and founded theHotak dynasty based inKandahar, declaring southern Afghanistan independent of Safavid rule. His sonMahmud Hotak conqueredIran in 1722, and the Iranian city ofIsfahan remained the dynasty's capital for six years.[25][26] The dynasty ended in 1738 when its last ruler,Hussain Hotak, was defeated byNader Shah Afshar at theBattle of Kandahar.
Azad Khan Afghan, who played a prominent role in the power struggle in western Iran after the death of Nader Shah Afshar in 1747, belonged to theAndar tribe of Ghiljis. Through a series of alliance with localKurdish and Turkish chieftains, and a policy of compromise with theGeorgian rulerErekle II—whose daughter he married—Azad rose to power between 1752 and 1757, controlling part of theAzerbaijan region up toUrmia city, northwestern and northernPersia, and parts of southwesternTurkmenistan and easternKurdistan.[27]
During theFirst Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842), Ghilji tribesmen played an important role in the Afghan victory against the BritishEast India Company. On 6 January 1842, as theBritish Indian garrison retreated from Kabul, consisting of about 16,000 soldiers, supporting personnel, and women, a Ghilji force attacked them through the winter snows of theHindu Kush and systematically killed them day by day. On 12 January, as theBritish regiment reached a hillock nearGandamak, their last survivors—about 45 British soldiers and 20 officers—were killed or held captive by the Ghilji force, leaving only one British survivor, surgeonWilliam Brydon, to reachJalalabad at the end of the retreat on 13 January.[28][29] This battle became a resonant event in Ghiljis' oral history and tradition, which narrates that Brydon was intentionally let to escape so that he could tell his people about the bravery of the tribesmen.[30]
The Ghilji rebelled against Afghanistan's ruler in 1886, after which a large number of them were forced to migrate to northern Afghanistan byBarakzai EmirAbdur Rahman Khan.[31]
Among those who were exiled wasSher Khan Nashir, chief of theKharoti Ghilji tribe, who would become the governor ofQataghan-Badakhshan Province in the 1930s. Launching an industrialization and economic development campaign, he founded the Spinzar Cotton Company and helped makingKunduz one of the wealthiest Afghan cities.[32][33][34] Sher Khan also implemented Qezel Qala harbour on thePanj River at the border withTajikistan, which was later namedSher Khan Bandar in his honour.[35]
.jpg)
More recently, the former Presidents of AfghanistanAshraf Ghani Ahmadzai (2014–2021) andMohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (1987–1992) belonged to theAhmadzai branch of the Ghilji tribe.[citation needed]
Two other former Presidents of Afghanistan,Nur Muhammad Taraki (1978–1979) andHafizullah Amin (1979), belonged to theTarakai andKharoti branches of the Ghilji tribe, respectively.[36]
In Afghanistan, the Ghilji are primarily concentrated in an area which is bordered in the southeast by theDurand Line, in the northwest by a line stretching fromKandahar viaGhazni toKabul, and in the northeast byJalalabad. Large numbers were forced to migrate to northern Afghanistan after the rebellion of 1886.[36]
Before the 1947partition of India, some Ghilji used to seasonally winter as nomadic merchants in India, buying goods there, and transporting them bycamel caravan in summer for sale or barter in Afghanistan.[37]
The Ghilji of the central region speakCentral Pashto, a dialect with unique phonetic features, transitional between the southern and the northerndialects of Pashto.[38]
| Dialects[39] | ښ | ږ |
|---|---|---|
| Central (Ghazni) | [ç] | [ʝ] |
| Southern (Kandahar) | [ʂ] | [ʐ] |
| Northern (Kabul) | [x] | [ɡ] |
Indeed, it seems very likely that [the Khalaj] formed the core of the Pashto-speaking Ghilji tribe, the name [Ghilji] being derived from Khalaj.
This dynasty, like the previous Slave dynasty, was of Turkish origin, though the Khaljī tribe had long been settled in Afghanistan. Its three kings were noted for their faithlessness, their ferocity, and their penetration to the South of India.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)