Karlan or Kalanai is said to have been a direct descendant of Ghurghusht[1] the second son of the legendary Qais Abdur Rashid, the folklorish ancestor of the Pashtun people. He was the son of Burhan himself the son of Ghurghusht.[1] Because of the numerous tribes associated with his name, he is sometimes mentioned directly as the fourth son of Qais Abdur Rashid.[2] All Karlan or Karlani tribes are said to be descendants from Ghurghusht the second son of Qais Abdur Rashid.
The Legend of Karlan in Afghan folklore[3] says:
"In his infancy he became an orphan and after losing his family he alone survived and was adopted by the Urmar Tribe. The tribe gave him shelter & protection & raised him like their own son. When he reached a marriageable age, the chief of the Urmar Tribe made Karlan his son in law."[4]
The history of Karlan and all Karlani tribes are closely knit and owe a great deal to the now forgotten and almost extinct Urmar Tribe.
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Karlan had two sons named Kuki and Kodi, from whom the Karlanri tribes descend.
The Karlanri tribes are revered by other Pashtun tribes for their enhanced fighting skills. About the Khattaks of todays Lund Khwar, Sir Olaf Caroe in his book entitled "The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957" printed St Martin's Press 1958 by MacMillan and Company Limited, writes at "The Greek Historians 39"[5]:
..........."Taken together, the Khataks and the Shitaks, who now have a common boundary close to Bannu, cover a stretch of territory as large as that held by any Afghan or Pathan tribe, whether Yusuf-zai, Durrani or Ghalji. From the Khatak settlements around Lundkhwar, close to the Malakand Pass, to the Shitak villages in Upper Daur in the Tochi, the distance is over 200 miles. The wide extent of their present territory, their large population, and the association of both groups of tribes at one time or another with the rich oases of Bannu and the Tochi, suggest sufficiently their importance in this family of peoples. They did not spring from nowhere in the night. They are Karlanris."