From the Black Mountain to Waziristan: Being an account of the border countries and the more turbulent of the tribes controlled by the north-west frontier province, and of our military relations with them in the pastWylly, H. C. (Harold Carmichael)
History
From the Black Mountain to Waziristan: Being an account of the border countries and the more turbulent of the tribes controlled by the north-west frontier province, and of our military relations with them in the past
_Khudu Khels._—These are a sub-division of the Saddozai division of the
Utmanzai clan of the Mandanr Yusafzais. Their territory is bounded on
the north by Chamla, on the west by Yusafzai, on the south by Utmanama,
and on the east by the territory of the Gaduns and Amazai. Their country
is about twenty-two miles long and about fifteen wide. The Khudu Khel
contains two sections, is very much divided among its members, and could
probably, if united, furnish some 1600 fighting men, of no particular
value. Their country is very open to attack from British territory and
to blockade, and for this reason the Khudu Khels have not given us any
real trouble since 1847 and 1849, when a British force marched into
their country and surprised their villages.
The Khudu Khel have settlements also in British territory in the Mardan
district.
[Sidenote: Nasozais and Utmanzais]
_Nasozais._—This sub-division of the Iliaszai Yusafzais, though not
included among the Bunerwals proper, is practically identical with them.
It is located north-east of Buner in the Puran Valley on the eastern
slopes of the Lilban Mountains, and is divided into two sections. The
Nasozais can muster some 800 fighting men.
_Utmanzais._—These are a clan of Mandanr Yusafzais. They inhabit both
banks of the Indus, those on the right bank being independent and
occupying a narrow strip of land between the river and the Gadun
country, bounded on the north by the Tinaolis and on the south by the
British. The Utmanzais on the left bank inhabit the Torbela-Khalsa
tracts in British territory in the Hazara district. They contain four
divisions and do not number more than 400 fighting men of good quality.
About two-thirds of the original Utmanzai territory is now occupied by
the Gaduns, who in old days were invited to cross the Indus as
mercenaries, and were given in requital the lands they now hold on the
western and southern slopes of the Mahaban Mountain.
This clan is more or less dependent upon us, and their territory can be
reached by several routes.
[Sidenote: Gaduns and Hindustanis]
_Gaduns._—The origin of the tribe of Gaduns or Jaduns is not very clear,
but they certainly have no connection with the Yusafzais among whom they
dwell. They claim descent from the family of Ghurghusht, but are more
probably of Rajput origin. Many of the descendants of Jadu, the founder
of a Rajput dynasty, emigrated from Gujrat, some eleven hundred years
before Christ, to the hills of Kabul and Kandahar. When they moved to
the Mahaban range, the southern slopes of which some of them now occupy,
is uncertain, but in the sixteenth century a portion of the tribe
crossed the Indus into Hazara, where, about Sultanpur, Mansehra and
Abbottabad, their descendants are still to be found. These have,
however, lost all connection with their trans-frontier tribesmen, have
even forgotten Pushtu, and are to all intents and purposes Punjabis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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