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Ghurids were Pashtuns

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Ghauris were Pashtuns, atleast linguistically and culturally, they might have been different people before pashtunization. There is wikipedia war going on between Tajiks/iranis and Pashtuns, the info about ghauris there is incorrect.
Ghauris were different from persians and turks. They were tribal people of ghoristan mountains, divided into numerous tribes.
Among the numerous Ghorid chiefs, the Shansabani tribe had the most authority over all the other Ghorid tribes "As Persians had no tribal culture, the Shansabani were a tribe and the Ghauris were structured as a tribal society. Therefore ghauris could not be Tajiks and Persians .
If you look at the Geneology of the Shansabani Tribe; you notice that the Patriarch of the Shansabani rulers possesses the name "Suri". e.g Sayf ud-Din Suri (1146-1149 ). Mohammad ibn suri, who was ancestor of shahabudin ghauri.

Baihaqi who is considered as the most famous historian of the Ghaznavid era had written in page 117 that "Sultan Massud leaves for (jaroos ghoor) “jai darmeshi paat”... and sends his learned companion with two people from Ghor as interpreter between this person and the people of that region.
baihaqiwo0.jpg

Now why is there a need for an interpreter between this learned companion who already spoke Farsi and turkic and the people of the Ghor region ? That clearly indicates that the region was not speaking Farsi or turkic speaking.
There are also other numerous accounts such as the accounts of Minhaaj Saraj from that era and others who gives similar accounts.

Now come to the most important proof. Amir karor suri, malak ya gharsheen and
asad suri were famous pashto poets from ghor/ghoristan region before times of mongol invasion.

Ghor itself is a pashto word which means mountain.

The Suri tribe of the Afghans inhabited the mountains of Ghor east of Furrah and their principal cities were Ghore, Feruzi and Bamian (Gazetteer of the world or dictionary of geographical knowledge. Vol 5. London: A Fullerton and Company. p. 61.)

Also Note that original abode of numerous pashtun tribes was ghor e.g Niazis, mohmands, lodhis, suris etc. Mongol invasion annihilated ghor, forcing remnants of ghorid tribes to move eastward.

Amir Ibn-i Suri
Amir Suri was a non-Muslim king in the region of Ghor from an ancient dynasty and he was defeated by Mahmud of Ghazni. According to Minhaju-S Siraj, Amir Suri was captured by Mahmud of Ghazni, made prisoner along with his son and taken to Ghazni, where Amir Suri died by poisoning himself.
It was also the last stronghold of an ancient religion professed by the inhabitants when all their neighbors had become Muslim. In the 11th century AD Mahmud of Ghazni defeated the prince of Ghor Ibn –I-Suri, and made him prisoner in a severely-contested engagement in the valley of Ahingaran. Ibn-I-Suri is called a Hindu by the author, who has recorded his overthrow; it does not follow that he was one by religion or by race, but merely that he was not Muhammadan
(The Kingdom of Afghanistan: a historical sketch By George Passman Tate Edition: illustrated Published by Asian Educational Services, 2001 Page 12)

According to recorded Afghan tradition, Surs are descended from the Ghori tribe. Several books by Islamic historians including Tarikh-I-Guzida of Hamdu-lla-Mustaufi, Towareekh Yumny, as well as Ferishta record that besides Muslim Surs there were also Non-Muslim Hindu and Buddhist Surs, who were attacked by Mahmud of Ghazni and converted to Islam by him.

Sultan Mahumud now went to fight with the Ghorians , who were infidels at that time. Suri, their chief, was killed in this war, and his son was taken prisoner; but he killed himself by sucking poison which he had kept under the stone of his ring. The country of Ghor was annexed to that of the Sultan, and the population thereof converted to Islam. He now attacked the fort of Bhim, where was a temple of the Hindus
(Tarikh -I-Guzida of Hamdu-lla-Mustaufi. Page 65 from The History of India told by its own Historians H M Eliot and Dowson Volume 3)

'In the following year AH 401 (AD 1010), Mahmood led his army towards Ghoor . The native prince of the country, Mahomed, of the Afghan tribe of Soor (the same race which gave birth to the dynasty that eventually succeeded in subverting the family of Sebüktigin), occupied an entrinched camp with 10,000 men. Mahmood was repulsed in repeated assaults which he made from morning till noon. Finding that the troops of Ghoor defended their entrenchments with such obstinacy, he caused his army to retreat in apparent confusion, in order to allure the enemy out of his fortified position. The Ghoorians, deceived by the stratagem, pursued the army of Ghizny; when the king, facing about, attacked and defeated them with great slaughter. Mahommed Soor, being made prisoner was brought to the king, but having taken poison, which he always kept under his ring, he died in a few hours; his country was annexed to the dominions of Ghizny. The author of the Towareekh Yumny affirms, that neither the sovereigns of Ghoor nor its inhabitants were Mahomedans till after this victory; whilst the author of the Tubkat-Nasiry, and Fukhr-ood-Deen Moobarik Shah Lody, the latter of whom wrote a history of the Kings of Ghoor in verse, both affirm, that they were converted many years before, even so early as the time of Ally
(Ferishta-Translation John Briggs, p. 28 vol 1)

Shah Hussain was descended from the younger branch of the Ghorian race, while Muhammad-i-Suri, said to be the great-great-grandfather of the Sultans Ghiyas-ud-Din and Muizz-ud-Din (Muhammad of ghor) was descended from the elder branch, with whom sovereignty lay. Shah Hussain by one of his Afghan wives, had three sons, Ghalzi, Ibrahim surnamed Lodi, and Sarwani. The Afghan tribe of Sur was founded by Sur, son of Ismail, grandson of Lodi ("Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North West Frontier Province" H.A. Rose, Ibetson 1990, P210)

Mahuy Suri
Mahuy Suri was the Sasanian governor of Merv in Khorasan during the reign of
Yazdegerd iii.(The Shah-Namah of Fardusi translation by Alexander Rogers LPP Publication Page 547)

Muhammad ibn Suri
First king of ghorid dyansty.

It is said that Muhammad was a great king and most of the territories of Ghor were in his possession. But as many of the inhabitants of Ghor of High and low degree had not yet embraced Islam, there was constant strife among them. The Saffarids came from Nimruz to Bust and Dawar, Ya'qub al-Saffar overpowered Lak-Lak, who was the chief of Takinabad, in the country of Rukhaj. The Ghorians sought the safety in Sara-sang and dwelt there in security but even among them hostilities constantly prevailed between the Muslims and the infidels. One castle was at war with another castle, and their feuds were unceasing; but owing to the inaccessibility of the mountains of Rasiat, which are in Ghor no foreigner was able to overcome them, and Muhammad was the head of all the Mandeshis.
(The History of India as told by its own Historians by Eliot and Dowson, Volume 2 page 284)

Ghurids didnt speak farsi or Turkic
Ghor itself was a country of infidels, containing only a few Musulmans, and the inhabitants spoke a language different from that of Khurasan (The History of India as told by its own Historians by Eliot and Dowson, Volume 2 page 576)
Amir Kror Suri
Famous Pashto poet and governor of mandesh (ghor).

...............

Some more references

"...the prevalent and apparently the correct opinion is, that both they and their subjects were Afghans. " & "In the time of Sultan Mahmud it was held, as has been observed, by a prince whom Ferishta calls Mohammed Soory (or Sur) Afghan.
(Elphinstone, Mountstuart. The History of India. Vol. 1 p.598-599)

The History of India - Mountstuart Elphinstone - Google Books

"the founder of the Ghori dynaasty, was a native of Afghansitan. The origin of the house of Ghor has, however, been much discussed, – the prevailing opinion being that both they and their subjects were an Afghan race."
(The Cyclopædia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Commercial ... - Edward Balfour - Google Books



ghaurid-empire-1149-1212.png
 
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The lingua franca of the Ghurid empire was definitely Persian and the Ghurid elite also seem to speak only Persian. Language is the most important cultural identity of an ethnicity.
 
I do believe the original Ghoris were Pashtunized, most likely due to the major religions followed by the Pashtuns before their conversion [ Budhism / Zoroastrianism / Shamanism / Hinduism ]
 
The lingua franca of the Ghurid empire was definitely Persian and the Ghurid elite also seem to speak only Persian. Language is the most important cultural identity of an ethnicity.
Lingua franca, court language of Lodhi, suri and durrani empires was also dari/farsi.
 
The lingua franca of the Ghurid empire was definitely Persian and the Ghurid elite also seem to speak only Persian. Language is the most important cultural identity of an ethnicity.


Yes, you are correct.
 
Yes, you are correct.
Yet native tongue of ghoris was not farsi

"Ghor itself was a country of infidels, containing only a few Musulmans, and the inhabitants spoke a language different from that of Khurasan (The History of India as told by its own Historians by Eliot and Dowson, Volume 2 page 576)
 
Yet native tongue of ghoris was not farsi

"Ghor itself was a country of infidels, containing only a few Musulmans, and the inhabitants spoke a language different from that of Khurasan (The History of India as told by its own Historians by Eliot and Dowson, Volume 2 page 576)

yes, I believe the original Ghoris spoke a local language.

If we take a look at the map of Afghanistan, Ghor is a continuum from the mountains beginning in the Pashtun Areas.

I believe the original inhabitants of Bamiyan, and all areas inhabited by Hazaras were also pashtunized areas, and the original inhabitants spoke a local language.

Most likely, the Ghoris were left non-Muslim because they feared assimilation as most of their surrounding neighbours became Muslim. There is a similar case with the Russians. They were pagans and out of fear of assimilation, converted to eastern Christianity [that was still in communion with the western roman pope], because their powerful neighbours, the Bulgars had adopted Islam, and their southern power neighbour had adopted Judaism [ the Khazars] and their eastern powerful neighbours [ the poles and Lithuanians ] had adopted western catholic Christianity.
 
It makes a lot of sense. The Muslims had established themselves permanently in Merv, and Samarqand, and the northern plans of Afghanistan, while they had also established themselves permanently in Sistan - Kandahar all he way up to Ghazni.

So, the only area where the local pagan populace congregated freely was the area in between, that is Ghor and the regions to the south, east, and north east of it, which I believe was the Ghori area.

This shows that Ghor must have been the central non-Islamic area left in Afghanistan with Muslims to the North, West, and South [ Kandahar ]. I would include half of adjacent provinces to the east and north east of Ghor into this original Ghor kingdom (Dai Kundi and Bamiyan]. The south western parts of Ghor below probably were under the Muslims and not the non-Muslim kingdom.

800px-Ghor_in_Afghanistan.svg.png
 
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The map of ghurid empire from wikipedia is wrong, an attempt to made it persia-centric, while excluding indian territories....here is accurate one

ghurid-dynasty-map.jpg
 
Why are ugly punjabis jealous of great afghan history? Its 100% proven suris are pashtuns and shahabuddin ghori's great grandfather had last name suri! And even ghori dynasty was founded by muhammad of ghor's suri ancestors, you ugly punjabi ghulams can't change the face of whole history, probably nader shah said ugly Punjabis are the most begherat people in the world, they don't fight invaders they welcome invaders lol

I was hasty in coming to the conclusion that Ghurids were Suri Pashtuns. My assertions were mostly based on Tarikh-e-ferishta, Suri surname of Ghori Kings , Tarikh-e-shershahi, pata khazana and the fact that language of ghor was different from khorasan. With little deeper research , i have come to different conclusion.

1- Matti tribes of Pashtuns are, perhaps partly descended from ghorids if Pashtun oral history is to be believed......Husband of Bibi Mato, Shah Hussian Ghori was a Persian prince from line of zuhak in 55th descent. The traditional pashtun history itself doesnt consider ghorids to be pashtuns.
2- In original Persian text of tarikh-e-ferishta , there is no mention of word afghan for ghurids.......In Professor John Dowson's english translation, word afghan is added to Suri rulers of ghor. Dowson's mistranslated version of tarikh-i-ferishta is known to the world.
3- Minhaj-ud-din, a native of ghor , author of "tabaqat-e-nasiri" is familiar with afghans but he doesnt mention any where that ghorids themeslves were Afghans
4- Pata khazana is either fabrication of alama habibi or he modified the dates of oldest poetry in original manuscript and claimed the poets to be of ghor. The original manuscript, by Muhammad hotak in 1729 might not have included amir kror suri part. According to H.G Raverty, the original abode of pashtuns is, the Ghar (not ghor) i.e Suleiman mountains . Ghar means mountain in pashto. If Amir kror suri or asad suri existed, they were most likely inhabitants of ghar not ghor.
5- B.Dorn gives reference of passage in text of janabi where ghorians are mentioned as turks. Pehaps ghorians were persianized turks.
6- The Tarikh-e-shershahi bit is confusing one. Its author Abas sherwani was asked by Mughal emperor Akbar to write history of sher shah suri. Abas Sherwani mentions that Sher Shah Suri's family was descended from royal family of ghor. Professor Qanungo challenges the claim of Abas sherwani , that sur tribe of afghans had royal lineage before their arrival to hind. Suris were considered inferior in status compared to Niazis and Lodhis(Prangis) in that period. And ibrahim suri migrated to hind due to poverty. I think it was again ghar (koh suileman) not ghor. Sher shah's grandfather had migrated from eastern fringes of koh suileman near gomal valley where suri tribe used to live before they were ousted by lohanis.
7- Pashtun nationalistic poet, khushal Khan khattak mentions Bahlol lodi, Sher Shah and Jalal ud din khilji as Pashtun rulers of hind in his poetry but he doesnt mention ghauri as pashtun king.
8- Ahmad shah abdali , in his poetry, speaks about Farid (sher shah), bahlol and hamid (lodi) as past rulers of pashtun in one of the couplet, he doesnt mention ghauri.
9- If Shahabudin ghauri was an afghan, why he installed turk government in india?. Why he didnt patronized his own afghan qaum if he really was an afghan?. There were large number of afghans in his army, but as hired mercenaries. His nobles and ministers were not afghans.
@save_ghenda @ghoul
 
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I was hasty in coming to the conclusion that Ghurids were Suri Pashtuns. My assertions were mostly based on Tarikh-e-ferishta, Suri surname of Ghori Kings , Tarikh-e-shershahi, pata khazana and the fact that language of ghor was different from khorasan. With little deeper research , i have come to different conclusion.

1- Matti tribes of Pashtuns are, perhaps partly descended from ghorids if Pashtun oral history is to be believed......Husband of Bibi Mato, Shah Hussian Ghori was a Persian prince from line of zuhak in 55th descent. The traditional pashtun history itself doesnt consider ghorids to be pashtuns.
2- In original Persian text of tarikh-e-ferishta , there is no mention of word afghan for ghurids.......In Professor John Dowson's english translation, word afghan is added to Suri rulers of ghor. Dowson's mistranslated version of tarikh-i-ferishta is known to the world.
3- Minhaj-ud-din, a native of ghor , author of "tabaqat-e-nasiri" is familiar with afghans but he doesnt mention any where that ghorids themeslves were Afghans
4- Pata khazana is either fabrication of alama habibi or he modified the dates of oldest poetry in original manuscript and claimed the poets to be of ghor. The original manuscript, by Muhammad hotak in 1729 might not have included amir kror suri part. According to H.G Raverty, the original abode of pashtuns is, the Ghar (not ghor) i.e Suleiman mountains . Ghar means mountain in pashto. If Amir kror suri or asad suri existed, they were most likely inhabitants of ghar not ghor.
5- B.Dorn gives reference of passage in text of janabi where ghorians are mentioned as turks. Pehaps ghorians were persianized turks.
6- The Tarikh-e-shershahi bit is confusing one. Its author Abas sherwani was asked by Mughal emperor Akbar to write history of sher shah suri. Abas Sherwani mentions that Sher Shah Suri's family was descended from royal family of ghor. Professor Qanungo challenges the claim of Abas sherwani , that sur tribe of afghans had royal lineage before their arrival to hind. Suris were considered inferior in status compared to Niazis and Lodhis(Prangis) in that period. And ibrahim suri migrated to hind due to poverty. I think it was again ghar (koh suileman) not ghor. Sher shah's grandfather had migrated from eastern fringes of koh suileman near gomal valley where suri tribe used to live before they were ousted by lohanis.
7- Pashtun nationalistic poet, khushal Khan khattak mentions Bahlol lodi, Sher Shah and Jalal ud din khilji as Pashtun rulers of hind in his poetry but he doesnt mention ghauri as pashtun king.
8- Ahmad shah abdali , in his poetry, speaks about Farid (sher shah), bahlol and hamid (lodi) as past rulers of pashtun in one of the couplet, he doesnt mention ghauri.
9- If Shahabudin ghauri was an afghan, why he installed turk government in india?. Why he didnt patronized his own afghan qaum if he really was an afghan?. There were large number of afghans in his army, but as hired mercenaries. His nobles and ministers were not afghans.
@save_ghenda @ghoul

Juzjani is the most reliable source since he accompanied Ghauri to India. Ghauri himself was of a Persian heritage indeed. And yes I agree, at least the military elite and nobles of Ghauri were predominantly Turkic. There appears to be a strong turkic presence in Ghaur. The Khiljis are said to have been looked down upon by the Turkic nobles of the Delhi sultanates for Turks considered Pashtuns to be inferior.

Also, Pashtuns are said to have fought on the side of Prithviraj Chauhan. Perhaps a good number of Pashtuns were hindu back then.

PS: As for the name "Suri". It is still found in Ghauri Farsibans as you once mentioned, and there is also said to be a Turkmen tribe by that name.
 
J

Also, Pashtuns are said to have fought on the side of Prithviraj Chauhan. Perhaps a good number of Pashtuns were hindu back then.

.
I dont know about that, but Afghans of Ismaili faith , rulers of Multan ,sided with Jaipal against Mahmud Ghaznavi. Afghans, even if they were muslims, did sided with Hindus, most notably with Rajputs, on some occasions. Mahmud Lodhi sided with Rana Sanga against Babur. Hakim Khan Suri joined Rana Pratap against Akbar.
Hakim Khan Sur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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