Sarbans

Sarbans / Sarbani
Ahmad Shah Durrani, who established the Durrani Empire in 1747. The name of Durrani tribe originates from that period
Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan in space, from Mohmand tribe
Muhammad Ayub Khan, Field Marshal Gen., former military dictator and late President of Pakistan, from Tareen tribe
Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan, from Popalzai Durrani tribe
Total population
several millions
Regions with significant populations
Afghanistan, Pakistan
Languages

Pashto, Dari Persian, Urdu
Religion

Islam
Related ethnic groups

other Pashtun tribes, other Iranian peoples

Sarbans or Sarbani are the largest[1] tribal group of Pashtuns. They are situated in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Sarbans include many Pashtun tribes, among whom the most numerous are the Durrani, Tareen and Miani tribes.

Contents

Name origin

According to legend, the Sarbans are descendants of Sarban, who was one of the sons of Qais Abdur Rashid, the common ancestor of the Pashtun people.

The name itself is similar (or identical) with the name of an historical tribe on Caucasus that was also named Sarbani (the Caucasian tribe was recorded under this name in the 10th century). According to some opinions, these Caucasian Sarbani are identified with Serbs (whose Sarmatian / Iranian origin is also suggested by some researchers).[2][3][4][5] Pashtuns are believed to be of partial Scythian descent[6] and Sarmatian language is also grouped within Scythian branch.

History

The origin of the Sarbans, might be connected with Hephthalites,[7] who had a large nomadic confederation that included present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan in the 5th-6th centuries AD, as well as with Scythians,[8] who are known to have settled where most of Pashtuns live today.

The Durrani Empire that existed in the 18th-19th centuries and that was centered in the territory of present-day Afghanistan was founded by the Ahmad Shah Durrani, an Afghan military commander under Nader Shah of Persia and chief of the Abdali Sarban tribe. Since that time, the Abdali tribe is known as Durrani.

Geographic distribution

In Afghanistan, Sarbans mainly inhabiting western part of the country, notably the provinces of Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan, Helmand, Nimroz, Farah, Herat, Badghis, and Balkh, as well as provinces Nangarhar and Kunar in the eastern part. In Pakistan, Sarbans are situated in the northern parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas regions, as well as in the northern part of Balochistan.[9]

Sarbanri Tribes

There are 105[10] Sarbani tribes, including:

  1. Babar
  2. Durrani
  3. Kasi
  4. Khalil
  5. Miani
  6. Mohmand
  7. Sherani
  8. Shilmani
  9. Tareen
  10. Urmar
  11. Yusufzai

See also

References

  1. ^ http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/images/maps/Pashtun_Confederacies_lg.jpg
  2. ^ De administrando imperio, Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (Emperor of the East), Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Görög Filológiai Intézet, 1949, page 115.
  3. ^ India in Kurdistan, Parameśa Caudhurī, Qwality Book Company, 2005, page 79.
  4. ^ The early medieval Balkans: a critical survey from the sixth to the late twelfth century, John Van Antwerp Fine, University of Michigan Press, 1991, page 56.
  5. ^ Constantini Porphyrogenneti... libri duo De ceremoniis aulæ Byzantinæ. Prodeunt nunc primum Græce, cum Latina interpretatione et commentariis. Curarunt Io. Henricus Leichius et Io. Iacobus Reiskius..., VII Constantin, Gleditschius, 1754, page 397.
  6. ^ Martial races of undivided India, Vidya Prakash Tyagi, Gyan Publishing House, 2009, page 122.
  7. ^ The Hephthalites: Archaeological and Historical Analysis, Aydogdu Kurbanov, Berlin, 2010, page 242.
  8. ^ A brief history of Afghanistan, Shaista Wahab, Barry Youngerman, Infobase Publishing, 2007, page 14.
  9. ^ http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/images/maps/Pashtun_Confederacies_lg.jpg
  10. ^ http://en.pashtunfoundation.org/bodytext.php?request=66

External links