Luharan, Nayaan, Nandapan and Mulayan??

[Nekrofrost]

So this is from a wikipedia page of my village that my cousin who lives there made:

Its population is nearly 10,000 (in 2011), all Pashtun. 99% are of the Khattak tribe which is further divided into sub-castes ("Khail" in Pushto). The main Khails are Nasokhail (55%), Usmankhel (30%), Chawarkhail (10%) and others (5%) such as Luharan, Nayaan, Nandapan and Mulayan.

Now my question here is. What are these "Luharan, Nayaan, Nandapan and Mulayan"

[Nekrofrost]

Are these mullayan and nayaan not counted at pashtuns or what?

[Traveller]

So this is from a wikipedia page of my village that my cousin who lives there made:


Now my question here is. What are these "Luharan, Nayaan, Nandapan and Mulayan"

You're from Nowshera, right? I'm also from there and my village is pretty similar. I don't know about the other the other two but Nadapan and Mullayan(also known as Qazyan in my village) are basically feudal classes. They're not tribes themselves but sometimes people from a certain tribe occupy a certain caste. For example, my tribe are(were) all Qazyan in the village where I'm from and in fact all of the people of our tribe are known as Qazis. I don't know about your village but the reason people like us might be counted seperately is that we ourselves are of a non-Pashtun(in my case Turkic) lineage; basically what happened is that our ancestor was a scholar who came to what was then Afghanistan from Central Asia and his descendants also ended up being religious clerics. Of course we're still as Pashtun in our culture and language as everyone else.

[toughpashtun]

Historically, there were some trades and professions that non-Pashtuns would do , in a Pashtun society.Every Pashtun village would have these for e.g naye(barber),luhaar(ironworker) etc. They are generally know as Karigar also.
These people are not Pashtuns actually, though they adopt the language and customs due to integration among local Pashtuns.
Things are changing now,and genuine Pashtuns have begun doing these trades, especially in urban areas.

[Traveller]

Historically, there were some trades and professions that non-Pashtuns would do , in a Pashtun society.Every Pashtun village would have these for e.g naye(barber),luhaar(ironworker) etc. They are generally know as Karigar also.
These people are not Pashtuns actually, though they adopt the language and customs due to integration among local Pashtuns.
Things are changing now,and genuine Pashtuns have begun doing these trades, especially in urban areas.

My grandmother's village is on a river and all the fishermen there are Hindkowan while everyone else is Pashtun. I think the fishermen are called marngan.

[torkham]

Toughpashtun is on right track. Mulayan is the easy, the mullas. Nayan; barbers, loharan; blacksmiths. There is a connection with hindu caste names, nayee, lohar, and more such as tarkhan (carpenters), taeli (not to be confused with pashto tilai), oil pressers.

[Charsi Malang]

Nayee, lohar, tarkhan are proper castes. "Khel" or anything ending in a khel (or any Pakhtun tribal name) cannot be described as a caste. A lot of Pakhtuns are nowadays wrongly describing their tribes as castes. Castes are a purely Hindu thing introduced possibly by Aryans. Nothing to do with Pashtun or Afghan culture. Please don't do this as it leads outsiders to think we are the same as Indics.

With a lot of Mullayan I think the story is the same where they started off as scholars from somewhere else but later became infused with older and established Pakhtuns and have basically become Pakhtun now. However Mullayan are a hell of a lot more respected than ironmongers, cloth weavers, and barbers. The Pakhtun has little time for anyone skilled in a trade. They probably also look down on these other professionals as they tended to be from other races Hindkyaan/Panjopay/Indic. Some of the brothers here may have heard Pakhtuns insulting each other and using terms like "jolla bachaya"

As brother ToughPashtun has suggested "genuine" Pashtuns have also started doing jobs reserved for mostly Hindkyaan and other such types.

"Kissab"" and "qaam" are two different things.

Except of course if you are Hindu- then they are the same thing and lo and behold you have the caste system.

[Samandri]

I think i was among the first ones who introduced internet-ish Western-Pashtuns (ones brought up in West) to the fact that these castes exists in Pashtun society and are considered inferior , on a web forum back in 2007 (Chaikhana/Pashto.org). The members back then had no clue what i am talking about , they refused to believe it and concluded that i must be from some Punjabized society. Then on this very forum we had heated debates about its existence, me and other native Pashtuns (e.g Gadoonwal) explained it in detail while the western diaspora was in denial. Nowadays members are lot more knowledgeable.

There are two classes in Pashtun society, Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns. Pashtuns are the ones who are genealogically Pashtuns and are divided into tribes....the non-Pashtuns are the dependent castes and communities who live under the shadow of Pashtuns and are mostly serfs. They are the descendants of conquered people ......Akhund Darweza inform us that when Pashtuns conquer any new territory, the native survivors are reduced to the status of slaves (برده ) and serfs (رعيت عاجز )...They were not assigned lands in Wesh system

In the past many of these conquered ones were also kept as household slaves.....when Pashtuns migrated to India, they also brought their household slaves and serfs to India. Some of these slaves or serfs made great figures in history. They were characterized by not having any tribal identity. For example Khawas Khan of Sher Shah Sur's household. Daud Khan of Shah Alam's Barech household etc

[Samandri]

The Western Afghans from Afghanistan, in their ignorance have claimed on this forum that it must be Pakistan-specific thing, or will be only confined to KP but not FATA.........but whatever has been documented about Afghanistan's society, reveals that this categorization and "hamsaya" , serfs also exist there, just racial composition is different, .....This set up also exists in FATA.......for example Bajaur and Mohmand have same type of societies as upper KP

[Traveller]

I think i was among the first ones who introduced internet-ish Western-Pashtuns (ones brought up in West) to the fact that these castes exists in Pashtun society and are considered inferior , on a web forum back in 2007 (Chaikhana/Pashto.org). The members back then had no clue what i am talking about , they refused to believe it and concluded that i must be from some Punjabized society. Then on this very forum we had heated debates about its existence, me and other native Pashtuns (e.g Gadoonwal) explained it in detail while the western diaspora was in denial. Nowadays members are lot more knowledgeable.

There are two classes in Pashtun society, Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns. Pashtuns are the ones who are genealogically Pashtuns and are divided into tribes....the non-Pashtuns are the dependent castes and communities who live under the shadow of Pashtuns and are mostly serfs. They are the descendants of conquered people ......Akhund Darweza inform us that when Pashtuns conquer any new territory, the native survivors are reduced to the status of slaves (برده ) and serfs (رعيت عاجز )...They were not assigned lands in Wesh system

In the past many of these conquered ones were also kept as household slaves.....when Pashtuns migrated to India, they also brought their household slaves and serfs to India. Some of these slaves or serfs made great figures in history. They were characterized by not having any tribal identity. For example Khawas Khan of Sher Shah Sur's household. Daud Khan of Shah Alam's Barech household etc

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?

[Traveller]

Also us Pashtuns who have grown up prade can be as bit annoying with our ignorance.
Please excuse us as many of us are trying to keep our roots even as we live abroad.

[Samandri]

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?

The saints (from different communities but also including Pashtuns), scholars and Sayydis were given respectable place in Pashtun society......they were given lands.

Some of the Miangan (descendants of Syed Ali Tirmizi alias Pir Baba) are of Syed origin , others are descendants of saints of different roots i believe. Akhund Panju Baba was Pashtun and his descendants are called Miangan. The most famous Miangan are Kaka Khels of Nowshera and they are actually Khattaks but recently they are claiming to be Syeds. A while ago i posted the following information about Kaka Khels on my blog ;

"As I have mentioned before, large number of Syeds in Pashtun belt and Indo-Pak, are fake. Among these fake Syeds are Kaka Khels of Nowshera. Their progenitor , Kasteer Gul alias Shaikh Rahmkar, has been clearly mentioned as a Khattak in Tarikh-i-Murassa (Yasin Khel Bolak Khattaks). "Manaqeeb" a Pashto source, whose author was contemporary of grandson of Khushal Khattak, also mention Shaikh Rahamkar as a Khattak. According to Sarfraz Khan Khattak (author of Tarikh-i-Khattak), " Majma-ul-Barakat" (written in 1868) was the first source which mentioned Kaka Khels as Syeds for the first time and thus misguided the people. According to him , after the Punjab , the settlement was due in Peshawar area ; the Syeds and Pirs expected "maafis"....Syed Abdullah Shah , a disciple of Kaka Sahib , thought of converting descentants of Kaka Sahib to be of the Syed origin and he hurriedly wrote down "Majma-ul-Barakat. The genealogical table produced in favour of Syed origin of Kaka Khels, is factually wrong. It is claimed that Kaka Sahib was a Yasinzai Syed of Pishin but Yasinzai Syeds (descendants of Syed Yasin) of Pishin claim descent from Imam Musa Kazim whereas Kaka Khels say Kaka Sahab was descendant of Syed Ismail. Their pedigree table say that Syed Ismail had three sons by name of Qaf, Khatim and Rajal but geneologists object to these tables and point out that Syed Ismail did not have descendants by these three names."

[Traveller]

The saints (from different communities but also including Pashtuns), scholars and Sayydis were given respectable place in Pashtun society......they were given lands.

Some of the Miangan (descendants of Syed Ali Tirmizi alias Pir Baba) are of Syed origin , others are descendants of saints of different roots i believe. Akhund Panju Baba was Pashtun and his descendants are called Miangan. The most famous Miangan are Kaka Khels of Nowshera and they are actually Khattaks but recently they are claiming to be Syeds. A while ago i posted the following information about Kaka Khels on my blog ;

"As I have mentioned before, large number of Syeds in Pashtun belt and Indo-Pak, are fake. Among these fake Syeds are Kaka Khels of Nowshera. Their progenitor , Kasteer Gul alias Shaikh Rahmkar, has been clearly mentioned as a Khattak in Tarikh-i-Murassa (Yasin Khel Bolak Khattaks). "Manaqeeb" a Pashto source, whose author was contemporary of grandson of Khushal Khattak, also mention Shaikh Rahamkar as a Khattak. According to Sarfraz Khan Khattak (author of Tarikh-i-Khattak), " Majma-ul-Barakat" (written in 1868) was the first source which mentioned Kaka Khels as Syeds for the first time and thus misguided the people. According to him , after the Punjab , the settlement was due in Peshawar area ; the Syeds and Pirs expected "maafis"....Syed Abdullah Shah , a disciple of Kaka Sahib , thought of converting descentants of Kaka Sahib to be of the Syed origin and he hurriedly wrote down "Majma-ul-Barakat. The genealogical table produced in favour of Syed origin of Kaka Khels, is factually wrong. It is claimed that Kaka Sahib was a Yasinzai Syed of Pishin but Yasinzai Syeds (descendants of Syed Yasin) of Pishin claim descent from Imam Musa Kazim whereas Kaka Khels say Kaka Sahab was descendant of Syed Ismail. Their pedigree table say that Syed Ismail had three sons by name of Qaf, Khatim and Rajal but geneologists object to these tables and point out that Syed Ismail did not have descendants by these three names."

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.

[Charsi Malang]

I think i was among the first ones who introduced internet-ish Western-Pashtuns (ones brought up in West) to the fact that these castes exists in Pashtun society and are considered inferior , on a web forum back in 2007 (Chaikhana/Pashto.org). The members back then had no clue what i am talking about , they refused to believe it and concluded that i must be from some Punjabized society. Then on this very forum we had heated debates about its existence, me and other native Pashtuns (e.g Gadoonwal) explained it in detail while the western diaspora was in denial. Nowadays members are lot more knowledgeable.

There are two classes in Pashtun society, Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns. Pashtuns are the ones who are genealogically Pashtuns and are divided into tribes....the non-Pashtuns are the dependent castes and communities who live under the shadow of Pashtuns and are mostly serfs. They are the descendants of conquered people ......Akhund Darweza inform us that when Pashtuns conquer any new territory, the native survivors are reduced to the status of slaves (برده ) and serfs (رعيت عاجز )...They were not assigned lands in Wesh system

In the past many of these conquered ones were also kept as household slaves.....when Pashtuns migrated to India, they also brought their household slaves and serfs to India. Some of these slaves or serfs made great figures in history. They were characterized by not having any tribal identity. For example Khawas Khan of Sher Shah Sur's household. Daud Khan of Shah Alam's Barech household etc

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.

[Nekrofrost]

This is all interesting stuff. Thanks alot guys.