Luharan, Nayaan, Nandapan and Mulayan??

[Charsi Malang]

This is interesting. My family are Mullayan/Qazyan(of Turkic lineage) and we're highly respected so I think Mullayan are a bit different from the other ones. I should also mention that we're still fully Pashtun in our culture and customs although we do put Islam above Pashtunwali(which is something a lot of educated religious Pashtuns do anyway).

I have a question though. I've heard of another caste called "Miagan." They're the ones who are supposed to own land. What's up with them? Are they also not Pashtun?

My family are also Mullayan from many generations ago. My uncles tell me that we came a long time ago from another place in Central Asia, then on to Afghanistan, then Tirah and now on to our current location. Some people also call us Miangaan but we are not Syed and no one in our family have ever claimed to be Syed. I don't think any one of us for the past 300-400 years have been able to speak Arabic or Persian. We have never known anything but Pashto.

We have another medium sized tribe who have almost the same history as us and live with us, who started off as tablikyaan-lol looking at them you wouldn't think it for they are very hardcore.

I still wouldn't describe our Mullatob as being anything related to caste. Our qaam is Quraysh and Durrani mixed, and our kissab would be Mullatob.

[Samandri]

I'm from Ziarat Kaka Sahib which is majority Kaka khel so that's must be why I was confused about them. But now I have another question. What is the difference between Qazyan/Mullayan and Miagan? They're both descended from saints of supposed non-Pashtun origin so what's the difference?

You should write something about these castes on your blog.

I dont know about Qazis, (there are Qazis of Peshawar but those are Durranis), it might be that your family are descendants of Qazis (judges) of Durrani period......Mullahs seem to be from many backgrounds (e.g one family of Mullahs in my area are Qureshis, while another were originally "Daman" and became Mullahs for better status)......this book is talking about role of Mullah in Pashtun society Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan - Olivier Roy - Google Books

Akhundzadas, Sahibzadas, Miangan etc are people of more or less same category.........descendants of saints and religious scholars

[Nekrofrost]

This is interesting. My family are Mullayan/Qazyan(of Turkic lineage) and we're highly respected so I think Mullayan are a bit different from the other ones.

Kinda the same in my case. My great grandfather(so was my grandfather till he moved to peshawar) was also a Mullah altho he was a pashtun who came from ogai(near mansehra) to nizampur and i think he was a yousafzai.

Anyways how often is it that the village mullahs sre non pashtun tho?

[Samandri]

Interesting post brother. I myself was unaware of the number and set up of non Pashtuns that live amongst Pashtuns back home. Up until relatively recently I wasn't aware of the fact that many of the skilled persons tend to be non Pashtuns. We have less of this our areas south of Peshawar and we find many
Pashtuns with tribal ancestry who are skilled. Same with the "Khani " system which is prevalent amnongst Yusufzais-we haven't heard of it back home.

However I would still argue that this whole caste system is not actually a Pashtun phenomenon. Within Pashtuns there are no castes i.e. one group of people being above another based on occupation carried on through generations. The conquered natives, possibly already skilled were made to continue do what they were doing but then were not given the same social status as the conquerors, the genealogical Pashtuns.

Any Pashto speaking individual is Pashtun..........but in the manner of Arabs, Pashtuns tend to give great importance to pedigrees , tracing it to legendary figure of Qais. Arabs still have "Al-Hindi, "Al-Turki" surnames among them no matter how much they appear Arabic. The founder of Rohillkhand state was not even a Pashtun tribe-wise but was a Pashtunized Jat and tens of thousands of tribal Pashtuns rallied around him for the cause of Pashtuns.....in the same way Pir Roshan (Ansari Arab assimilated into Urmars) was also not a Pashtun genealogy-wise but he launched a kind of Pashtun nationalism movement.

What you are saying, must be the case, that skilled ones were allowed to continue their ancestral profession while others were reduced to pure slavery. As Pashtuns detested adopting these castes so even the areas distant from India, like Durrani areas of Afghanistan, have also these castes in their villages. Also many villages must have hired and invited these skilled individuals to their villages, not necessarily conquered ........so this thing is intrinsic to Pashtun society. Even Waziristan has this system and that area has no traces of Hindu past.

[Traveller]

My family are also Mullayan from many generations ago. My uncles tell me that we came a long time ago from another place in Central Asia, then on to Afghanistan, then Tirah and now on to our current location. Some people also call us Miangaan but we are not Syed and no one in our family have ever claimed to be Syed. I don't think any one of us for the past 300-400 years have been able to speak Arabic or Persian. We have never known anything but Pashto.

We have another medium sized tribe who have almost the same history as us and live with us, who started off as tablikyaan-lol looking at them you wouldn't think it for they are very hardcore.

I still wouldn't describe our Mullatob as being anything related to caste. Our qaam is Quraysh and Durrani mixed, and our kissab would be Mullatob.

Wow we're the same, also from central Asia and never claimed to be Sayyid. But our lineage is actually Turkic and our Qaam is Seljuki(from the famous House of Seljuk that once ruled the Seljuk Empire). Of course our kisaab would be Mullatob(or Qazitob).

Akhund Adyan Baba Seljuki, Turkish scholar who migrated to Nowshera during the time of Khushal Baba and Kaka Sahib(Father of Kakakhels), is our progenitor if you've ever heard of him.

[Traveller]

I dont know about Qazis, (there are Qazis of Peshawar but those are Durranis), it might be that your family are descendants of Qazis (judges) of Durrani period......Mullahs seem to be from many backgrounds (e.g one family of Mullahs in my area are Qureshis, while another were originally "Daman" and became Mullahs for better status)......this book is talking about role of Mullah in Pashtun society Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan - Olivier Roy - Google Books

Akhundzadas, Sahibzadas, Miangan etc are people of more or less same category.........descendants of saints and religious scholars

Akora Khattak | nowshera. Org Read the part about Akhund Adyan Baba Seljuki. He's our ancestor so that might give you more context.The famous Qazi Hussain Ahmed is also of this lineage.

[Charsi Malang]

Wow we're the same, also from central Asia and never claimed to be Sayyid. But our lineage is actually Turkic and our Qaam is Seljuki(from the famous House of Seljuk that once ruled the Seljuk Empire). Of course our kisaab would be Mullatob(or Qazitob).

Akhund Adyan Baba Seljuki, Turkish scholar who migrated to Nowshera during the time of Khushal Baba and Kaka Sahib(Father of Kakakhels), is our progenitor if you've ever heard of him.

Definitely brother-it seems we have similar if not the same ancestry. We were always told we used to be "aaliman" and our tribe is Quraysh and Durrani. However at present our family and extended family make up is like a compendium of Khyber tribes lol- Afridi, Shinwari, some Tirahwal tribes as well as a few Khattaks and other minor genealogical Pashtun tribes.

I've heard of Seljuk Turks and I have also heard of Kaka Sahib and his descendants Kaka Khels amongst Khattaks. From what I have heard they are very well respected.

Really interesting stuff brother. 👍

[toughpashtun]

Definitely brother-it seems we have similar if not the same ancestry. We were always told we used to be "aaliman" and our tribe is Quraysh and Durrani. However at present our family and extended family make up is like a compendium of Khyber tribes lol- Afridi, Shinwari, some Tirahwal tribes as well as a few Khattaks and other minor genealogical Pashtun tribes.

I've heard of Seljuk Turks and I have also heard of Kaka Sahib and his descendants Kaka Khels amongst Khattaks. From what I have heard they are very well respected.

Really interesting stuff brother. 👍

You mentioned that you were from Kohat, in reply to my question on some other thread.
Kohat actually is a sort of melting pot for many different tribes as you mentioned such as Khattak,Bangash,Shinwari,Afridi,Orakzai etc.Quite a multi-tribal region.

[Charsi Malang]

You mentioned that you were from Kohat, in reply to my question on some other thread.
Kohat actually is a sort of melting pot for many different tribes as you mentioned such as Khattak,Bangash,Shinwari,Afridi,Orakzai etc.Quite a multi-tribal region.

Indeed brother. You would also be surprised at the number of non Pashtuns who live in Kohat. Kohat city has a lot of Hindko speakers and most of the shopkeepers are Hindkyan-we call them Bazarwaal. Then there are some areas outside the city where Hindko speakers such as Awans are found in abundance. Of course when these folk migrate to other countries they claim to be Pashtun yet retain their Hindko language. I've even known some to outright claim to be from a completely different Pashtun tribe.



As you get closer to Tirah, Darra Adam Khel and the Khattak and Bangash dominated areas this diminishes greatly. You even find a lot of non Orakzai Tirahwal in Kohat. As well as this there are smaller Pashtun tribes that no one outside of Kohat would have heard of..

[toughpashtun]

Indeed brother. You would also be surprised at the number of non Pashtuns who live in Kohat. Kohat city has a lot of Hindko speakers and most of the shopkeepers are Hindkyan-we call them Bazarwaal. Then there are some areas outside the city where Hindko speakers such as Awans are found in abundance. Of course when these folk migrate to other countries they claim to be Pashtun yet retain their Hindko language. I've even known some to outright claim to be from a completely different Pashtun tribe.



As you get closer to Tirah, Darra Adam Khel and the Khattak and Bangash dominated areas this diminishes greatly. You even find a lot of non Orakzai Tirahwal in Kohat. As well as this there are smaller Pashtun tribes that no one outside of Kohat would have heard of..

1) I met a guy from Kohat who was bilingual in both Pashto and Hindko, but Hindko was his first language.He claimed to be a Bangash Pashtun.If his claim is correct,then that means that some Bangash have adopted Hindko as their first language.Is this true?

2) Is there any other Pashtun tribe in Kohat that had taken up Hindko?

[Charsi Malang]

1) I met a guy from Kohat who was bilingual in both Pashto and Hindko, but Hindko was his first language.He claimed to be a Bangash Pashtun.If his claim is correct,then that means that some Bangash have adopted Hindko as their first language.Is this true?

2) Is there any other Pashtun tribe in Kohat that had taken up Hindko?

If this fellow feels that his first language is Hindko then we would class him as a Hindkai. Pashtuns who speak Pashto would always put Pashto first. Another phenomenon I have come across is that some people on account of being from Kohat refer to themselves as Bangash, to make it easier for outsiders to understand. It may be the other way round. Maybe he was a Hindkai who knew Pashto.

There probably are Pashtun tribes that have taken up Hindko but then they start becoming more distant from Pashto speakers and closer to Punjabyaan. At least that's the mentality of people from the part of Kohat my family are from.

"Tsok che ubbo ta yayee paani"...... poy shwe graana?

[Traveller]

If this fellow feels that his first language is Hindko then we would class him as a Hindkai. Pashtuns who speak Pashto would always put Pashto first. Another phenomenon I have come across is that some people on account of being from Kohat refer to themselves as Bangash, to make it easier for outsiders to understand. It may be the other way round. Maybe he was a Hindkai who knew Pashto.

There probably are Pashtun tribes that have taken up Pashto but then they start becoming more distant from Pashto speakers and closer to Punjabyaan. At least that's the mentality of people from the part of Kohat my family are from.

"Tsok che ubbo ta yayee paani"...... poy shwe graana?

Pashtuns who call ooba pani have very little Pukhto left in them.

[ZarakDurrani606]

Interesting post brother. I myself was unaware of the number and set up of non Pashtuns that live amongst Pashtuns back home. Up until relatively recently I wasn't aware of the fact that many of the skilled persons tend to be non Pashtuns. We have less of this our areas south of Peshawar and we find many
Pashtuns with tribal ancestry who are skilled. Same with the "Khani " system which is prevalent amnongst Yusufzais-we haven't heard of it back home.

However I would still argue that this whole caste system is not actually a Pashtun phenomenon. Within Pashtuns there are no castes i.e. one group of people being above another based on occupation carried on through generations. The conquered natives, possibly already skilled were made to continue do what they were doing but then were not given the same social status as the conquerors, the genealogical Pashtuns.

Hey you guys heard of the karlaal and parachas?? Would you classify them as Pashtuns? My grandfather reckons the karlaal are dravidian. Might be speculation on his part but not everyone that calls themselves pashtun is infact one. I know for a fact that the Yousafzais of swat still have these indic peoples who are like modern day serfs, labourers and basically perform various other menial tasks. I did'nt think much about the caste system but then the Pashtuns do have a propensity for maintaineng their bloodlines.

[Charsi Malang]

Hey you guys heard of the karlaal and parachas?? Would you classify them as Pashtuns? My grandfather reckons the karlaal are dravidian. Might be speculation on his part but not everyone that calls themselves pashtun is infact one. I know for a fact that the Yousafzais of swat still have these indic peoples who are like modern day serfs, labourers and basically perform various other menial tasks. I did'nt think much about the caste system but then the Pashtuns do have a propensity for maintaineng their bloodlines.

Pakheroona

We have Parachgaan in Kohat. They aren't classified as Pakhtun. A very successful community in terms of trade, so I've heard. Haven't heard of Katlaal

[toughpashtun]

If this fellow feels that his first language is Hindko then we would class him as a Hindkai. Pashtuns who speak Pashto would always put Pashto first. Another phenomenon I have come across is that some people on account of being from Kohat refer to themselves as Bangash, to make it easier for outsiders to understand. It may be the other way round. Maybe he was a Hindkai who knew Pashto.

There probably are Pashtun tribes that have taken up Pashto but then they start becoming more distant from Pashto speakers and closer to Punjabyaan. At least that's the mentality of people from the part of Kohat my family are from.

"Tsok che ubbo ta yayee paani"...... poy shwe graana?

sar e maat ka pa kaanri!