Kom (people)

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The Kom or Kam is one of the main present-day Nuristani tribes and was one of the former Black-Robed (Siah-Posh) Kafir clans of Kafiristan (present-day Nuristan).

Most used alternative names are Kamozi, Kamoz/Camoze, Caumojee/Kaumoji, and Camoje (M. Elphinstone, George Roberston, Richard Strand).

[edit] History

In 1895, following their conquest by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, the Kom Kafir people in Afghanistan were converted to Islam. Everey former Kafiristan Kafiri were renamed Nuristani (The Enlightened Ones) respectively Nuristan (Land of Light). In present time there are now known Nuristani Kom or simply Kom.

At the end of the 19th century, they were living in the lower part of the Bashgul Valley, known as Kam (George Scott Robertson), Kamdesh in Khowar, and Kamoz in Pashto, and in the adjacent valleys.

Numerous scholars have connected the names Kom and Kata with ancient Kamboja and identified the Kafirs, especially the Siah-Posh Kafirs, as having descended from ancient Kambojas (H.H. Wilson, M. Elphinstone, Bombay Gazetteer, D. Wilber, M. C. Gillet, W. K. Fraser Tytler, J.R.A.S. 1843, J.A.S.B. 1874, etc, etc).

The Kom were said to be the fiercest and most intractable of all former Kafiristan Kafirs and the most to be dreaded for their military prowess. They held much better together, and it is for this reason that, though not a numerous people, they were greatly respected by the neighboring tribes as well as by Chitralis and the Pashtun people. The Kom control the destiny of Bashgul valley and were said to be its virtual kings (George Roberston).

The political headquarters of the Kom of the Siah-Posh Kafir clan were at Kamdesh or Kombrom. The country of the Koms is also in present-day Nuristan called Komstan.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

The Kafirs of Hindukush, 1896, George Scott Robertson
An Account of the Kingdom of Caubol, London, M Elphinstone
Tribes of Hindukush, Craz (Austria), 1971, J Biddulph
The Kom. Retrieved July 04, 2006, from Richard F. Strand: Nuristan, Hidden Land of the Hindu-Kush [1].