Gandapur

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The Gandapurs are a Pashtun tribe inhabiting the environs of Dera Ismail Khan, a major commercial center the west bank of the Indus River, in the southern region of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, near the frontier with South Waziristan. The Gandapurs reside principally in the small town of Kulachi on the bank of River Gomal or Gumal, a tributary of River Indus and trace their origin to Afghanistan.

They settled in Dera Ismail Khan area in 17th Century A.D. A part of the tribe lives in Sur Kalay in Ghazni Province of Afghanistan.

Contents

[edit] History

The Gandâpûr, like many other nomadic Pashtun groups in the region, regularly moved between Afghanistan and the Dâmân plains stretching from the Indus to the eastern slopes of the Solaymân mountains. They combined pastoral nomadism with transporting and peddling of goods between Central Asia and South Asia. The pattern of these nomadic movements and the transformations of their society fluctuated with the rhythms of trade and the nature of their contacts with the surrounding political economies throughout their history. During the 17th century, most of the Gandâpûr had settled in Dêra Ismâîl Khân, with large numbers engaged in the trade between India and Khorasan, which intensified in the next two centuries (Elphinstone, p. 373).


[edit] Tradition of tribe's origin

The origin of the Gandapurs is based only on traditions not yet properly researched. In some sources, Gandapurs are described as syeds. There is a tradition that they are the descendants of Syed Muhammad Gaisu Daraaz who was a Sufi Poet of 16th Century AD. This tradition, as supported by Tarikh-e-Pushtun and Tarikh-e-Gandapur, traces the origin of Gandapurs as follows;

  • Syed Muhammad Gaisu Daraaz =>> Storay (meaning Star in Pashto) =>> Tairi Khan or Gandapur.

The tradition tells us that Tairi married a girl Gul Andama (Persian words meaning 'having limbs like flowers'). Gul andama belonged to a hostile tribe and so Tairi had to migrate to avoid revenge from his wife's tribe. His Father Storay bid him farewell and prayed for him as "Ganda pura" (Pashto words meaning Ganda = Bag and Pura = Full) and it meant "Tairi should always have full bounties and blessings of all kinds" and hence it became the epithet of Tairi and was later known as Gandapur.

Modern linguist Asif Amir Khan Gandapur doubts the credibility of the above tradition regarding the origin of Gandapurs. He says," No historical tradition supports that Syed Muhammad Gaisu Daraaz came all the way from Deccan to Sulaiman Range and married any Shirani tribe girl here. Gaisu Daraaz lived in 16th Century and there are evidences that there was a sizeable population of Gandapurs in the 16th century and hence it is not possible that they could be the descendant of Gaisu Daraaz. Moreover in the Mughal era it was quite common to associate one self with syeds (descendants of the Holy Prophet Muhammad) in order to get more respect in Muslim Society."

He further adds, "Linguistic and Anthropolical research and Geographical and traditional evidences show that they are part of the large Ghilzai Tribe. In Afghanistan, they are considered close or rather cousins of Tarakai tribe. Traditionally they have followed the same nomadic route as other Ghilzai tribes from Ghazni or Ghilzai tribe's area to Damaan, Dera Ismail Khan ."

[edit] The Khaddal Luvañ Episode

Luvañ is a small Pashtun tribe residing in and around Qamardin Karez in the west of Zhob district in the north-west Balochistan. Gandapurs used to pass through their area while going from their place in Ghazni to Dera Ismail Khan in a usual annual cycle of Nomadic life.

Khaddal Luvanh was chief of the Luvanh tribe in 16th century A.D. He chose a narrow pass in the way of nomadic tribes going to Dera Ismail Khan and the rest of Indus plain passing through his area and laid their. He demanded that girls from various tribes should come and lift him in their shawls. That was very humiliating demand and none of the tribe could accede to that. When the Gandapurs arrived to at the narrow pass, they found Khaddal luvanh lying in the pass. When lengthy negotiations bore no fruit, some of the Gandapur young men disguised themselves as girls wearing shawls of women and came to Khaddal. Apparently they had come to lift him in their shawls but they divided him into pieces.
The death of Khaddal Luvanh brought them in confrontation with the Luvanh tribe and their route from Ghazni to Dera Ismail Khan no longer remained safe. This led to the separation of the tribe into two parts. One part of the tribe settled in Damaan, Kulachi, Dera Ismail Khan and the other part remained in their original abode in Ghazni, Afghanistan. A distance of more than 450 kilometers between two places and the enemy tribe inhabiting the route divided the tribe. Over a period of almost four centuries, both the parts of Gandapur tribe have lost any contact between them.

[edit] Gandapur or Afghanpur

When the great Afghan King and worrior Ahmad Shah Abdali gathered all the Pashtun tribes and conquered a large part of the area presently comprising Afghanistan and Pakistan, Gandapurs were part of his army. As the tradition goes, soldiers speaking Persian used to pronounce "d" in the word Gandapur as soft d (such as th in the English word The). With the soft d, the word "Ganda" would become a Hindustani language word "Ganda" (meaning not clean or untidy). When Ahmad Shah Abdali came to know that fact, he bestowed upon Gandapurs the title of "Afghanpur". Gandapurs were held in high esteem by Ahmad Shah Abdali.

[edit] Size of the tribe

Gandapurs living in Pakistan do not form a very large tribe. They have occupied northern part of Tehsil Kulachi. The area occupied by Gandapurs is roughly one-third of the area as occupied by Marwat Tribe. Population of Gandapurs may range from 40,000 to 60000. But their influence is more as compared to their size of population.

The Gandapurs living in Afghanistan may also range between 30000 to 40000 according to conservative estimates. They live in Ghazni district in Afghanistan where they associate themselves with Tarakai tribe.

There is no interaction between Gandapurs living in Afghanistan and Pakistan.


[edit] Sub Tribes

The tribe is further divided into following sub-tribes;

Some of the sub tribes though living with Gandapurs are not considered as part of the original tree. They are as follows;

  • Shakhi
  • Rana Zai

In Afghanistan, Gandapurs are considered as Cousins or a part of the large Tarakai tribe.

[edit] Present State of Gandapurs

Gandapur are a small tribe as compared to other Pashtun tribes. Their main concentration is in northern part of Tehsil Kulachi where every sub tribe was allotted large chunk of lands. A large number of Gandapurs reside in Dera Ismail Khan, Zhob, and also in Loralai. Some educated and wealthy families also reside in Peshawar, Islamabad and Quetta. As their lands are mostly barren, they are not very rich people. Most of them live below poverty line. Education has been the only escape from the clutches of poverty. They are regarded as one of the most talented Pashtun tribe.

[edit] Distinguished sons

Since Gandapurs live in Kulachi on lands most barren due to paucity of water, education has been the only means to move forward on the path of development and prosperity. Gandapurs have made a mark in various walks of life and ratio of of educated and talented people is more than any other tribe of Southern NWFP as compared to their total population. Some of the important personalities are as follows;

[edit] Politics

  • Noor Muhammad Tarakai: He was the President of Afghanistan after the Communist Revolution. He founded the Afghan Peoples Party. He was also a great literary figure.
  • Naurang Khan: He was the chief of Ibrahim Zais in second half of the 19th Century A.D. According to the Gazzetteer of Dera Ismail Khan District 1882-83, Naurang Khan "did a yeoman service" and saved the British forces in Multan in the Indian War of Independence 1875 A.D. He was rewarded jagir in the Marwat area near Bannu and the village has been named after him as Sarai Naurang. He was cursed by Muslim pious people for his anti-Muslim services and loyalty to British Empire. The curse still continues and there is atleast one insane person in his family in every generation.
  • Aurang Zeb Khan: He was the chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province before 1947 Muslim Goovernment. He was the one who endorsed the Pakistan Resolution on 23rd March 1940 representing the North-West Frontier Province Muslim League.
  • Inayat Ullah Khan: Born in Kulachi on 27th August, 1919, famous for his Texan attire, served as Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province from 1973 to 1975,and held various portfolios of Revenue,Excise & taxation,Transport,Law & Parliamentary affairs,Communication and works, Irrigation, Finance, Agriculture from his tenure in 1970s to 2005. He would always stand as an independent candidate in his political career. He enjoyed shooting and hunting especially wild boar hunting. He was famous for his political integrity and never had any other assets apart from his inherited landed property,family home and a 1970 Land Cruiser 4 Wheeler, with a special number plate carrying the first numbers of Peshawar (PR-1) by which he performed Hajj by road from his home town Kulachi to Mecca and reutrn journy too. He was the oldest member of the North West Frontier Province and died, while still being a member of parliament at the age of 86, on 28th April 2005, leaving behind 6 daughters and 3 sons.
  • Maj (R) Aminullah Khan: He is a well known literary and political figure of the N.W.F.P,Pakistan. He served as Provincial Agriculture Minister in Musharraf Government beforee 2002 A.D.

[edit] Literature

  • Sher Muhammad Khan: Writer of "History of Pashtun" in the latter half of the 19th century. Sher Muhammad Khan Gandapur Muhammad Jamil Hanifi Encyclopaedia Iranica
  • Faqir Noor Muhammad (RA): Great Sufi and writer of various books. Hazrat Faqir Noor Muhammed He was an authority on interpretation of the teachings of well known Sufi Hazrat Sultan Bahu (RA). He translated the important writing risala-Roohi written by Hazrat Sultan Bahu (RA) in Urdu. The Book of Soul By Hazart Sulatn Bahu (R.A)
  • Tahir Kulachvi: Son of Faqir Noor Muhammad. Important Pashto Poet. Received pride of performance for his literary services.
  • Atta Ullah Khan Atta: Persian Poet and scholar of the 20th Century. He belongs to Bahadur Khel sub-tribe of Gandapur.
  • Mamoon Tariq Khan: Self styled intellectual commanding great authority amongst literary, scientific, and political circles throughout the world. [1]. Mamoon Tariq Khan is a philosopher and a revolutionary who has been credited by The Guinness Book of World Records as “The Man with the Finest Retentive Brain in the World". Arguably, it is said that his world record is the most important and most substantial of all the records in the entire Guinness Book as it is the most acute time-based brain efficacy record. Earlier, he was also one of the youngest individuals ever to have successfully completed 18 years of schooling in less than 20 years of age.

[edit] Sports

  • Abdur Rashid Junior: Highest hockey goal scorer of the 1960 Mexico Olympics and winner of all three Olympic medals: Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
  • Abdul Hamid Hamidi: The Captain of the Pakistan Hockey Team in 1960, winners of Pakistan's first Olympic Gold Medal. A veteran of 4 Olympic games.

[edit] Professionals

  • Dr Abdullah Khan son of Sultan Musazai Gandapur was the first surgeon among Gandapur who graduated in 1918 from Lahore. He was appointed in state service of the Nawab of Junagarh his father Sultan Khan Gandapur was doing business for a long time exporting horses and elephants abroad.

[edit] Future of the Tribe

The future of the tribe is not as bright as other tribes living nearby. The main reasons are poverty, illteracy, internal feuds and political maneuvering of the tribe.

[edit] References

The most important sources regarding the history of Gandapurs areas follows;

  • Tarikh-e-Pushtun (History of Pushtun) by Sher Muhammad Khan Ibrahim Zai Gandapur. It is originally a book written in Persian under the title "Khurshid e Jahan" (Sun of the World) for Begum of Bhopal. This book was published in 80s by Alauddin Khan Gandapur, the great grandson of Sher Muhammad Khan in collaboration with the Urdu research writer Jamil Jalibi who arranged the book to be translated in Urdu by Siraj Uddin Alvi. This book was written in the later half of the 19th century.
  • Tarikh-e-Ganadapur (History of Gandapurs) by Qadir Dad Khan Gandapur. This book is mainly based on information drawn from Tarikh-e-Pushtun (History of Pashtun) by Sher Muhammad Khan. This book was written in 70s and also gives valuable information about Gandapurs and their town Kulachi in mid twentieth century.
  • Gazetteer of District Dera Ismail Khan (1882-83) provides valuable information about the Gandapurs and their areas. This is one of the most authentic source about the Gandapurs of the later half of the 19th century. It provides for various statistics regarding Gandapur population and their area.

[edit] External links

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