Swati

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This is about the tribe in Pakistan. For the unrelated African language, see Swati language.
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The Swati are a famous Pashtun tribe, dwelling in the districts of Batagram and Mansehra of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, a mountanious area that contains such historical places as Pakhli, Agror, Thakot, Balakot, Kaghan, Black Mountain of Hazara and Allai.

[edit] History and origin of the name

The term "Swati" refers to Pashtun tribes which occupied the area of Swat before the arrival of the Yusafzai.

The Swati moved from Swat to fight the Sikhs in Sikh-ruled areas of present-day Pakistan. According to some authorities, when the King of Kabul, Mirza Ulagh beg pushed Yousafzais from Kabul, they took refuge in Swat, Bajawar and Peshawar of Swatis and Dilazaks country, due to conspiracies of Mughals, the tribes fought an intense guerilla war against each other for more than two decades, culminating in the withdrawal of the Swatis from their lands. King Babar himself took part in conquering their strongholds.

The late Pashto poet and philosopher Abdul Ghani Khan shares that opinion. He considers the Pashtuns a mixture of various races that came through their territories from Central Asia. Suddum (mardan), Khyber (Peshawar) and Elum (Swat) have place names resembling those of bani Israel, and Mir Afzal Khan Jadoon asserted that the features and habits of the Pashtuns resemble those of the Jews. Apart from the clans of Karlanr and Mati, Swati, Tanolis and Jadoons have similar dwellings and clothes resembling those of Jews of the past.

A Thirteenth-century book, Tabakat-e-Nasiri, by Minhajuddin Josjani mentions the fort of Gabar in the reign of Mahmood Ghaznavi, later on we founded the names of Gabri/Jahangiri Sultans of Swat amongst Swatis of Bajuar and Swat in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth centuries.

The name Swat cannot be found in ancient history. Early peoples called the area by various other names. For example, some 3,000 years ago, it was called Udhyana ("Garden"). In the writings of Chinese travelers, the name Soto is mentioned (the name which comes closest to Swat), while in Greek accounts the name Asoconoi is given. Mahmood Ghaznavi called it Qerat.

Others believe the name is of Arabic origin. Some authorities say the word Swat is derived from Aswad ("black") because the hills and mountains of the area are covered with thick forests, which appear black.

Still another account relates that when Mahmood Ghaznavi conquered the land, he wanted to settle some of his people to keep control of it, so he settled two tribes, the Swati and Dalazak, in the territory. As the Swati tribe was larger, the area took its name from that group.

Batagram was a tribal area until 1958, when the people of that district themselves wished to be a part of Pakistan. Authors also mention them, in the times of Mohammad of Ghor they came to conquered Swat from Afghanistan, as the frontline soldiers and Chiefs of the Army. Other historians say Swatis were great Assakenois and It's subsection Aspasios as Yousafzais, who fought great wars against Alexander the Great in 326-27 BC.

Swati is one of the largest land-owning tribes of Pashtun in the Northwest Frontier Province. The population is widely spread from Mansehra, Balakot, Kaghan and Batagram all the way to the eastern slopes of the Black Mountain of Hazara and the mountains of Allai. Politically and economically, they have very strong hold in the region.

Swatis have ruled Swat, Malakand, Dir and other regions for more than 300 years. They also ruled Kashmir from 1339 to 1561. They took Pakhli ( Hazara Division ) from the Turks in 1703 under the leadership of Syed Jalal Baba.

Sa'adat Khan Swati was the first ruler of Pakhlai (1762-1780), during the reign of Durranis. One of his ruler sons, Najeebullah Khan Swati, was martyred in the famous War of Mangal against the Sikhs.

According to some authors, the Swatis are descended from Bitan of Ghilzai, one of the sons of Pashtun, a mythical and whimsical ancestor of the Pashtun people. Another account claims they originated in the Ranizai section of the Yousafzai.

Some well-known khels and subsections of the Swatis are Jahangiri, Malkals, Deeshan, Akhun Khel, Beror, Jadoor, Khan Khel, Kuchelai, Madda Khel, Musa Khel, Narors, Tirimzai, Samkori, Sana Khel, Sumla Khel, Warozai, Khazan khel, Sherkhani, Gabarzai or Gabri, Barkhan khel or Barkhani and Ghoris. Pashto is spoken in the whole region among them. Three other Pashtun tribes of the Hazara division are the Jadoons, Tareens, and Mashwanis.

[edit] References

  • Pashtun apni nasal ke ainey mein by Syed Bahadur Shah Zafer Kaka Khel.
  • History of Hazara, by Sher Bahadur Khan Panni
  • Shahadat Gah-e-Balakot, by Piyam Shahjahanpuri.
  • Pashtun Tribes of the North West Frontier of India, a dictionary prepared by the General Staff Army Headquarters (Calcutta 1910)
  • Across the border or Pashtun and Biloch, by Edward E Oliver, M. (1890)
  • Twarikhe Hafiz Rehmat Khani
  • Tazkara by Khan Roshan Khan.
  • The memoirs of Kind Babur (Tuzk-e-Baburi).
  • Hazara Gazetteer by D.H.Watson.
  • Baharista-e-Shahi by an unknown Persian author (A.D 1614)
  • Maghza-e-Afghani by Niamatullah Hirvi(A.D. 1612)
  • A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of Panjab and NWFP, by E.D Magligan/H.A Rose (First published in 1911).
  • An article by Abdul Qayum Balala.
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