History of Afghans (Articles and Pictures)

[Yogijaat]

Here are exact words of the letter that political agent of south waziristan wrote to his wife, in which incident is mentioned.
"....A Mehsud Jirga was assembled in the residency garden. Nehru spoke in Urdu. The Mahsuds probably didnt understand much. But when he said that those present were all debauched by British robbery, it was too much for old kaka. Mir Badshah's father , who in he coarse way that mahsuds have, said 'Hindu, if the british pay us money. there's a good reason. Our private parts are of extraordinary size as you will find out to your cost before long. 'With that the old boy stumped out. The political agent tried to persuade nehru to end his tour after this but Bacha khan begged him to continue. Things only got worse however as their car was pelted with stones, injuring the two leaders with flying glass.
(Hunt and Harrison 1980:231).
The Pathan Unarmed: Opposition & Memory in the North West Frontier - Mukulika Banerjee - Google Books

very civilized comment made by him. No doubt afghanistan is going in the right direction.

 

[Samandri]

It is said that beside ethnic mughals, half of Babur's army consisted of Afghans like yousafzais, khesgis etc. The battle is known for introduction of new battle tactics and
artillary warfare into hindustan.
First Afghan-Mughal
war: An account of first battle of Panipat 1526

Battle of Panipat, 1526 - Afghans vs Mughals

In 1526 babur captured Kabul. For several years he tried to re-conquer his hereditary domain but failed, The deficit economy of mountainous plateau of Afghanistan forced babur’s attention towards India. The stories of riches of India and plunder picked up by his ancestor timur inflamed babur passion . moreover babur required glory and money to keep the afghan soldiers under his control. Otherwise they would desert mughal standards and join the rebellious chieftains, who from their hilly stronghold, were threatening babur’s shaky rule.

Babur decided to test the quality of ibrahim’s military responses by conducting frontier raids. In 1519 babur took the bajaur fort, plundered bhira and then returned to Kabul. In 1520 he led a plundering expedition upon Sialkot. He continued such raids till 1524.The inaction of ibrahim lodhi’s government encouraged babur to stake every thing towards decisive throw of dice. Babur crossed the Rubicon when he launched his main invasion in the winter of 1525. His force crossed the Indus over attock.

Initially the delhi court thought babur was leading yet another plundering expedition. But when they won Punjab , ibrahim realized the gravity of situation and set his military machine in motion.. ibrahim himself accompanied the army, which was under his general bahadur khan. Lethargy, indiscipline and indecisiveness dogged the lodhi army. After one day march , the lodhi force halted for two or four days. It was as if ibrahim didn’t know what to do, advance or retreat.

Ibrahim had more than one hundred thousand men and one thousand elephants. However it is improbable that he brought this whole army to fight the mughal invaders. It was impossible to move one thousands elephants simultaneously because each such animal daily required huge amounts of water and fodder. Moreover while the rajput ruler, rana sanga threatened the southern boundry of ibrahim’s domain, recalcitrant afghan chiefs created problems in the eastern parts. To guard against these two threats, ibrahim had to detached substantial number of troops and elephants.

One of the ibrahim’s commander daud khan lodhi advanced seven miles from the main army to test the mughal army’s strength. Several skirmishes occurred between the afghan and the mughal advance guards before the main battle was fought. Babur mobile cavlry took many afghan prisoners.

Thanks to his long experience of fighting in central Asia, babur was adept at using violence to terrorize his opponents. On march 1526 , babur deliberately killed all his afghan prisoners and made a pyramid with their skulls. On 12 April 1526 two opposing forces finally met at panipat.

Babur needed a quick victory, because he was far away from his base Kabul. The uzbkes were threatening to invade his domain. To provoke ibrahim into hasty action , as advised from deserters from the lodhi side, decide on night attack. The sally on the night of 19 april was made under command of mahdi khwaja. Since babur troops were not trained for night attacks, it was not decisive.

On 21 april babur decided to try his luck. Babur realized that since ibrahim is commanding bigger force, he might attempt to attack mughal flanks. So babur deployed his army with its right side protected by the suburb of the town named panipat. To protect the left side of his army , babur ordered his army to dig a ditch. At some places ditch was covered by mud to allow counter attack by small groups of two hundred cavalry each. These units were know as “braves”

Babur anticipated the mad onrush by ibrahim’s foot soldiers and might elephants . he insisted on constructing field fortifications. His men collected seven hundred carts. These carts carried guns as well as troops baggage. Ustad ali was ordered to join up these carts with ropes of raw hide. Babur admits in his memoirs that it is typical ottoman tactic for stopping an enemy cavalry charge. Ustad ali had witnessed battle of chaldiran fought near Tabriz between ottomans and safavids. Between every tow catrs in babur’s line. Six wooden tripods were set up. The matchlocks were to support their handguns on these tripods while firing. The matchlock men under ustaad quli supplanted by cannon in cart under Mustafa were in charge of securing front of mughal army.

!8 year old hamyaun commanded the right wing of the mughal line. The mughal left was under Muhammad mirza. The advanced guards were under khusrau kukaldus. Abdul aziz was in charge of reserve. The mughal centre was divided into two parts. The right hand of mughal centre was under chin timur and khalifa khaja commanded the left part of it. The most crucial component of mughal force was tulghama contingents. . they were the flanking parties. Their aim being to charge at enemy’s sides and thereby to turn their flanks. after this the two tulghama contingents were to join hands at the rear of enemy thus completely surrounding him. The Uzbeks of central Asia were adept at implementing this tactic.

Babur plan was to allow ibrahim attack first and then check it through prudent use of filed fortifactions, cannons and matchlocks. If this succeeded . the afghan attack would come to a halt. Babur then planned to throw his fresh tulghama parties against ibrahim;s exhausted troops to encircle and eliminate them.

When the order to advance was given , ibrahin’s troops moved forward and the troops on ibrahim;s left were able to reach mughal right. The reserve under abdul aziz strengthened the mughal’s right. Simultaneously babur ordered the braves to counter-attack, and ibrahim’s left wing came to a halt. Moments later, the lodhi right wing, with some elephants, clashed with mugahl left. There was close quarter hand to hand combat with ibrahim’s infantry, armed with swords. A combination of arrows loosened by croos0bow men , and the shots of matchlock and cannon, forced out elephants. Lodhi troops were confused, they were undecided whether to advance again or retreat, Babur realized that decisive moment has arrived. His ordered his centre to stand firm and right and left wings to advance and attack the lodhis. To add confusion, babur simultaneously launched his trump cards, the tulghama contingents. The turning parties, galloping forward at high speed, shouting “hai, hai”, discharged arrows towards the flank of enemies. At this point babur’s army looked like two horns of a crescent attempting to swallow the lodhi army. Troops on the right and left of ibrahim felt the pressure of tulghama parties and started retreating towards centre. The rain of arrows loosened on ibrahim;s massed troops by the mounted archers resulted in massive resulted in massive slaughter. The lodhi sioldiers tried to flee the battlefield but were slaughtered., Ibrahim, like paurava, possessed personal courage and he fought and died in the battlefield. Even his arch enemy babur paid respect to his dead body, touching it and crying out over it , ‘honour to your courage’.

Over seventy percent of ibrahim’s forces suffered casualties. About 35,000 soldiers on lodhi side were wounded and the 15,000 dead soldiers from the lodhi force lay scattered on battlefield. The battle lasted for six hours .

India's Historic Battles: From Alexander the Great to Kargil



Above depicts both moghul and afghan cavalryman in action.Behind is matchlockman with a protective mantlet.These and cannons were babur's ace card at panipat.The first picture depicts baburid cavalry,heavy and light.


Afghan foot archer

 

[Samandri]

Mahuy Suri

Mahuy Suri was native of Ghor who was appointed governor of Khorasan by Yezdegerd III, The sassanian emperor of Persia. The Suri tribe of the Afghans inhabited the mountains of Ghor east of Furrah and their principal cities were Ghore, Feruzi and Bamian.
Mahuy Suri declared himself King of Khorasan.After the Arab invasion he killed YazdegerdIII, who fled to Merv from the Arabic invasion. In some historical texts, Mahuy Suri is said to have been appointed king of Khorasan by Caliph Hazrat Ali after having murdered the Iranian Sassanian king Yazdegerd III.
Source: The Shah-Namah of Fardusi translation by Alexander Rogers LPP Publication Page 547

 

[Samandri]

Pictures of the day

Fakhr-e-Afghan Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Pandit Nehru.

 

[ShahidT]

@Samandri

from your blog :

"Abdul Ghaffar Khan opened the proceedings by telling the waziris that the great Nehru had heard of how they had been oppressed by the firangis and had decided to come and investigate their condition. They were poor and the new indian government was determined to give them schools, to teach them their religion , to build hospitals and to civilize them. The wazir spokesman replied more in grief than in anger that abdul ghaffar had got it all wrong. The utmanzai wazirs were oppressed by no one, nor did they need instruction in teaching of islam from a man whose son had married a parsi and whose niece (Dr.Khan sahib's daughter Marium) was married to a christian. This remark infuriated Dr.khan sahib who called them paid toadles of the political agent. This remark was too much for the jirga who leapt to their feet in protest. Smouldering with indignation the party then departed [to meet Mehsuds]. A Mehsud Jirga was assembled in the residency garden. Nehru spoke in Urdu. The Mahsuds probably didnt understand much. But when he said that those present were all debauched by British robbery, it was too much for old kaka. Mir Badshah's father , who in the coarse way that mahsuds have, said 'Hindu, if the british pay us money. there's a good reason. Our private parts are of extraordinary size as you will find out to your cost before long. 'With that the old boy stumped out. The political agent tried to persuade nehru to end his tour after this but Bacha khan begged him to continue. Things only got worse however as their car was pelted with stones, injuring the two leaders with flying glass. (Hunt and Harrison 1980:231)
The Pathan Unarmed: Opposition & Memory in the North West Frontier By Mukulika Banerjee

this shows how much of traitors this ghaffar khan brothers were. kafir hindu govt will teach pakhtuns about islam? then calling them toadie of british?? esp bacha khan pleading baniya to not cancel his failed tour. no doubt both nehru and gandhi had bisexual affairs with various men, as shown by their letter correspondence. i have sneaking suspicion this bachabaz khan also had affair with them, given their closeness. no wonder the turd chose to be buried/burned in afgaynistan, as no patriotic tribal Pakistani willing to give him janaza and dignity of burial here.

 

[Samandri]

@pehgaam e mohabbat
I think Bacha Khan was supporter of united india, rather than of azad pashtunistan before announcement of Partition. They thought they would rule in congress-dominated united india, they had not anticipated partition but hindus decieved them and in bacha khan's words, hindus fed them to the wolves. Bacha khan was caught off gaurd and came up with idea of azad pakhtunistan option but that was desperate and too late .There are not any speeches and literature of Bacha khan which indicate any thing that they were even interested in joining Afghanistan before 1947. Bacha khan was against partition of india like abdul kalam azad.
And their communication with Tribesmen indicate how much they were disconnected from traditional tribal pashtun society and it also shows why they never grew beyond peshawer valley. Dr. Khan Sahib's daughter was married to a sikh captain jaswant singh. While ghani khan (bacha khan's son) married a parsi, roshan begum. Perhaps it would be normal in liberal society but the pashtun masses frowned upon it. Note that bacha khan was also pelted with stones along with his pajama wearing buddy.

 

[DARIUS]

Another History of Afghanistan in making:

Afghanistan Boldly Raises Its Colors, as Never Before
By ROD NORDLAND SEPT. 13, 2014

KABUL, Afghanistan — To find a flag as big as the one hoisted over Kabul’s historic Wazir Akbar Khan hill on Wednesday, you would have to go pretty far — possibly as far as a Walmart parking lot somewhere in the Great Plains.

Flying from a specially erected flagpole more than 200 feet high — taller than the Statue of Liberty replica in Las Vegas — the black, red and green flag, at 97 by 65 feet, is big enough to drape over a Dreadnoughtus dinosaur (tail included). It is hundreds of square yards bigger than any other known Afghan banner.

Oddly, despite 13 years and more than half a trillion dollars of American investment in Afghanistan, when this country finally got its first supersized flag to fly over the capital last week, the donor was not from among the descendants of Betsy Ross.
Instead, the Afghan megaflag was personally presented by Sushma Swaraj,the new foreign minister of India. The half-million-dollar gift was partly underwritten by an Indian billionaire, Naveen Jindal, whose Flag Foundation of India was founded to encourage Indian homes to fly their own flags at a practically American rate.

Political pundits quickly noted the symbolism of India’s helping Afghanistan erect a flag big enough to be seen from the American surveillance blimp on the other side of the capital. The point would surely not be lost on Pakistan, which has always looked unfavorably at overtures between India and Afghanistan.

The Indian flag project is also seen as a subtle message to the Americans, who are bringing their combat mission in Afghanistan to a close this year without any guarantee yet of a future military role here. The bilateral security agreement that would allow that remains unsigned by President Hamid Karzai, and the inauguration of his successor is months overdue, hung up by a protracted election dispute.

“This will show Pakistan, and further weaken its role in Afghanistan,” said the political analyst Bashir Bezhan. “And for President Karzai, it would have a message to the West that his neighboring powers are behind him.”

Ms. Swaraj said at the flag-raising ceremony, “India will always be the first strategic partner of Afghanistan, and we are committed to assist Afghanistan in whatever way possible within our means.”

Flags have had a tattered history in Afghanistan, with a succession of different ones during the past 35 years of civil war and insurgency.

The Taliban, for instance, went counterintuitive, sticking with a plain white banner — until someone pointed out that that was for surrendering, and they added the Shahada verses to it in black.

Before the raising of the megaflag, a visitor could easily have driven across this sprawling capital of five million residents without seeing a single Afghan drapeau. Flagpoles are rare even in the government district.

“At least in the last 50 years, there has not been anything like this in Afghanistan,” Mr. Bezhan said.

A few years ago, there had been an Afghan flag just big enough to be seen from many parts of the city on the top of the mountain in its middle, Asmai Mountain, better known as TV Hill because of all its broadcasting towers. But the flag was gradually beaten to shreds in the wind and never replaced.
Then the Indian Embassy came up with the idea of a gift of the giant flag, made of windproof synthetic textiles, and Mr. Jindal was eager to help underwrite it. “There was no single monument of Afghanistan as a nation,” said Niteen Yeola, an Indian diplomat here. “We thought this would be a good symbol of unity.”

The new flag is flying over Wazir Akbar Khan hill, next to the empty Communist-era swimming pool once used by the Taliban for executions. The monument is being called the Menara Bayraq, or Flag Minaret.

The 15-ton flagpole is high enough to make the flag visible from nearly all quarters of the city. The pole was flown in from India in segments, then erected to be earthquake-proof by Indian engineers.

At the flag-raising, Mr. Karzai pushed a button to mechanically hoist it into place, while the Indian foreign minister and he cut a ribbon and passed out chocolates to assembled dignitaries.

India’s support for Afghanistan is more than symbolic. While more often a recipient than a donor country, India has budgeted about $2 billion in aid to Afghanistan through the war years — making Afghanistan one of its biggest foreign aid beneficiaries. None of that is direct military aid, and it is a pittance compared to the $89 billion in aid from the United States just through 2012. But some of that money has been spent on particularly high-profile projects, such as a huge, $238 million Parliament building, expected to open next year.

Flags may be a slightly harder sell. Even more than a decade of fighting alongside Americans has not done much to build a flag-waving culture here, even in the Afghan military.

“The Americans had flags everywhere, even on their vehicles,” said Hajji Zahair, who served in the Afghan National Army for five years in some of the worst parts of the country, and was wounded in fighting in Kandahar Province. “We would have maybe one on the base somewhere.”

Mr. Zahair, now a jobless veteran, had come to see the new flag for himself, and was very impressed. “I hope it serves as a symbol of unity for us and brings us together,” he said.

Afghanistan’s relative underflagging is just the sort of challenge appreciated by Mr. Jindal, the Indian steel magnate and politician who has dedicated himself to propagating flag displays back home.

In a way, though, Kabul’s giant new flag does have an American origin — via Mr. Jindal. He went there to earn his master’s degree in business administration at the University of Texas at Dallas, and was deeply impressed by how many American homes and businesses were adorned with the red, white and blue.

When he got home, he was outraged that Indian law strictly limited flag displays, and campaigned successfully to give everyone the right to fly India’s saffron, white and green whenever and wherever they wanted.

Fazal Muzhary and Jawad Sukhanyar contributed reporting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/w...raises-its-colors-like-never-before.html?_r=0

 

[Samandri]

Not a hero in my books but as i promised i would share material related to Afghans/Pashtuns from every corner, from every school of thought. Ali haider bangash from kohat won Victoria cross in second world war. The article about him is,
Ali Haider Bangash, recepient of Victoria Cross

Colonel C E Morris, commander of 6th Battalion, 13th Frontier Force Rifles, stands next to Ali Haidar (1913-1999), a Pashtun soldier of the regiment who won the VC on 9 April 1945 near Fusigano in Italy during 8th Indian Division's crossing of the River Senio. According to the 'London Gazette' of 3 July 1945:

'In Italy, during the crossing of the River Senio, near Fusignano, in daylight on 9th April 1945, a Company of the 13th Frontier Force Rifles were ordered to assault the enemy positions strongly dug in on the far bank. These positions had been prepared and improved over many months and were mainly on the steep flood banks, some 25 feet high.

Sepoy Ali Haidar was a member of the left-hand Section of the left-hand Platoon. As soon as the Platoon started to cross, it came under heavy and accurate machine gun fire from two enemy posts strongly dug in about 60 yards away. Sepoy Ali Haidar's Section suffered casualties and only 3 men, including himself, managed to get across. The remainder of the Company was temporarily held up.

Without orders, and on his own initiative, Sepoy Ali Haidar, leaving the other two to cover him, charged the nearest post which was about 30 yards away. He threw a grenade and almost at the same time the enemy threw one at him, wounding him severely in the back. In spite of this he kept on and the enemy post was destroyed and four of the enemy surrendered.

With utter disregard of his own wounds he continued and charged the next post in which the enemy had one Spandau and three automatics, which were still very active and preventing movement on both banks. He was again wounded, this time in the right leg and right arm. Although weakened by loss of blood, with great determination Sepoy Ali Haidar crawled closer and in a final effort raised himself from the ground, threw a grenade, and charged into the second enemy post. Two enemy were wounded and the remaining two surrendered.

Taking advantage of the outstanding success of Sepoy Ali Haidar's dauntless attacks, the rest of the Company charged across the river and carried out their task of making a bridgehead. Sepoy Ali Haidar was picked up and brought back from the second position seriously wounded. The conspicuous gallantry, initiative, and determination combined with a complete disregard for his own life shown by this very brave Sepoy in the face of heavy odds were an example to the whole Company.

His heroism had saved an ugly situation which would - but for his personal bravery - have caused the Battalion a large number of casualties at a critical time and seriously delayed the crossing of the river and the building of a bridge. With the rapid advance which it was possible to make the Battalion captured 3 officers and 217 other ranks and gained their objectives'.

Ali Haidar was invested with his VC by King George VI at Buckingham Palace on 30 October 1945.

 

[Kabira]

troll thread to insult indian leaders, and hindus too.

Seem like idea of using "Afghan" was right one. To many butt hurt Indians here

 

[Biplab Bijay]

Seem like idea of using "Afghan" was right one. To many butt hurt Indians here

You are right actually.

 

[Samandri]

Kandahar of the Arab Conquest


S. W. Helms

World Archaeology, Vol. 14, No.3, Islamic Archaeology (Feb., 1983), 342-354.


Old Kandahar is a large, impressive ruin field near Afghanistan's modern 'second' city, bearing the same name. For years the site has been central to many arguments about the most ancient geography and history of the region. It has been identified with an Alexandria/ Alexandropolis, referring to the conquest of Alexander the Great.

For the Islamic period the excavations on behalf of the Society for Afghan Studies have revealed some striking new evidence, particularly for the period of the Arab Conquest during the later 7th and early 8th century. This paper outlines some of these emerging new arguments and suggests some tentative additions to the long story of the toponymy of Central Asian cities.

I
Much of the early Islamic history of the eastern regions - as-Sind is shrouded in mystery and described in legends. An account, for example, quoted by Ferrier (1857), may be taken as an apocryphal reference to the fortunes of the Arab conquerors of Old Kandahar:

In the year of the Hegira 304 (AD 916), in the Caliphat of Moktader, in digging for the foundation of a tower at Kandahar, a subterranean cave was discovered, in which were a thousand Arab heads, all attached to the same chain, which had evidently remained in good preservation since the year Hegira 70 (AD 689) for a paper with this date upon it was found attached by a silken thread to the ears of the twenty-nine most important skulls, with their proper names.

Similarly, the only certain account of the Arab conquest of al-Qunduhar, which must be Old Kandahar, comes from al-Baladhuri (futuh al-buldan) who died in AD 892, mentally deranged after drinking the juice of the anacardia (baladhur), hence his name. This is quoted as an etiological legend (Enyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed.). According to al-Baladhuri the general 'Abbad ibn Ziyad raided the frontier of aI-Hind from Sijistan (Seistan) in the time of the Umayyad Caliph Mu'awiya' (AD 661-80) 'as far as the river Hindmand' (Murgotten 1924: 212) which probably refers to the Hilmand (the Erymandus of Pliny VI, 61,92; the Haetumant and so on). Ziyad 'crossed the desert until he came to al-Kunduhar' (Murgotten 1924: 212), travelling eastwards from 'Kish' (cf. al-Istakhri and ibn Hauqal below) across the semi-arid land between the Khash-rud and the Hilmand/ Arghandab confluence about the region of Bost.

AI-Qunduhar of Baladhuri is the earliest mentioned name that our city was to bear for most of its consequent Islamic history. Etymologically there is a problem here that is relevant throughout the city's most ancient history: that much can be read into a name, and nothing. In Murgotten's translation, 'Abbad ibn Ziyad saw at al-Qunduhar 'the high turbans of the natives, and had some made like them. [In consequence of this] they are called 'abbadiyah.' Yet the Arabic has been read in another way: that the city was renamed 'Abbadiya, after its conqueror (Rawlinson 1849:127; 1873:213; Rescher 1917-23; cf. at-Tabba 1959: 210).

Whether the city was renamed or merely continued as al-Qunduhar famed for its tall turbans, all that we can glean from this and other accounts of the Conquest is that the city did not then feature as an important centre. Bost, Herat, Ghazni and Kabul among others still known today are listed, but with the exception of Baladhuri, never al-Qunduhar. That name does not reappear until the Ghaznavid period and then only in poetry, some of which was written specifically for those Seljuk rulers during the early 11th and late 12th centuries (Wallbrecht in Fischer et al. 1976: 295ff.).

Figure 1: South-central Afghanistan. Click to Enlarge.

Still on the etymological side of the problem: how far back in the city's history can one take its name? The allegation that Kandahar (Pushtu) or Qandahar (Arabic and Farsi) comes somehow from Alexander the Great (via Iskandarabad for example) has been long rejected. That somehow one can make Kandahar out of

(Helms 1982) may be possible, but rather far-fetched at present. The stem Kand or Kund, as in many Central Asian city names (Samarkand, Tashkent, etc.) variously meaning fortress or simply place, can in the first place add little more than typifying a durable and common practice. Its source in Avestan literature

'fortress' in Iranian epics, or Old Iranian kan (to dig) kand(a), Avestan kanta, Sogdian kanth or Choresmian kath from katha, meaning perhaps 'fortress' merely underlines this while adding little of real applicable historical value (Vogelsang 1981 and pers. comm.).

Returning to early Islamic sources, Mas'udi's (died AD 956) note on Kandahar in the Indian Kingdom of Gandhara is perhaps still the best origin for our city's long-lived Islamic name. He says 'it was from this Kandahar that the name was carried to the settlement of the Gandharians on the banks of the Arghastan' which afterwards became famous as the modern Kandahar. This Indian Kandahar, according to al.Baladhurl (futuh al.buldan: 445) was taken by Hisham ibn 'Amr at-Taghlibi, the governor of Sind under the Abbasid al-Mansur. Hisham threw down the

'Budd' and built a mosque in its place, repeating perhaps an act that caused the Gandharians to flee westwards when the capital of Gandhara was captured by the Hephtalites, according to the Chinese pilgrim Sung-yun who visited the region about AD 520. Thus, the begging bowl of Buddha in the Wais shrine of Kandahar could be regarded as a relic of those times and the existence of a Buddhist Stupa and Vihara at the summit above Old Kandahar take on even more meaning for this period.

So far as the Conquest is concerned - to reiterate - Old Kandahar is not noted while other places are. Arachosia, the most ancient name known of the province now called Kandahar (and occasionally also Seistan), or ar-Rukhkhaj (see below), was taken by 'Abd ur-Rahman via several cities such as Bost (or Bust) which later became mints (under the Saffarids). It was not until the destruction of Bust by the Ghorid 'Ala ad-Din Jahan in AD 1150 that Kandahar again rose to importance, at least in name, as al-Qunduhar. Shams ad-Din II, the Kast ruler of Herat, is stated by Khwandamir to have besieged Kandahar about 1278, suggesting that by that time Kandahar was once again a capital city.

The subsequent history of the city is one of continual sieges and changes of government. It was conquered about AD 1383 by Timur (Sharifudin Ali 1723), who bestowed it upon his grandson Pir Muhammad. It was part of the Kingdom of Husain Baikhara of Herat and the name Kandahar first appears as a mint on his coins. Under HIusain, the Arghun chief Dhu 'I-Nun Beg obtained the governorship of Zamindawar and made Kandahar his capital. Babur drove Nun Beg's son Shah Beg Arghun out of the city in AD 1507 (Leyden 1921; Beveridge 1922), but Shah Beg retook it only to lose it again to Babur in 1522. An inscription commemorating this victory can still be seen above the Chihil Zina at the northern end of the Qaitul Ridge at Old Kandahar (Darmesteter 1890). Thereafter Kandahar remained in Mughal hands although always regarded by the Safawids as properly belonging to Khorasan. In 1535 the Persians unsuccessfully besieged the city. Kamran had succeeded Babur in Kabul and Kandahar, and his brother Humayan besieged Kandahar with the aid of a Persian army and after its fall made it over to his allies. But then, typically, he re-took the city for himself. Early in Akbar's reign Tahmasp Shah took Kandahar (1556) but Akbar re-took it in 1594. Then, finally, the Persians invested the city and took it from Jahangir in 1621 and, but for a short Mughal interval when Shah Jahan's army occupied the city in 1637, Kandahar remained in Persian hands from 1648 onwards under Shah Abbas II. There were two other major sieges, both unsuccessful and, according to the records, typical of Afghan conflicts and prodromic of the later British troubles in 1842. The city remained under the Safawi Monarchy until the rise of the Ghilzai tribe under Mir Wais, which resulted in the invasion of Persia. Mahmud (Ghilzai) became Shah of Persia and the city of Kandahar was ruled by his brother Husain - who cal1ed it Husainabad - until finally it was totally destroyed by the vengeance of the Persians under Nadir Shah in 1738 (Lockhart 1938). The population of the conquered city was forced to move to Nadir Shah's erstwhile siege camp to the east which was called Nadirabad. The final disposition of settlements is illustrated quite accurately in a contemporary manuscript page (Arne 1947).

After the events of 1738 this 'circum-urbation' continued with the foundation of what was to become the modern Kandahar. In about 1747 Ahmad Shah Durrani had laid out a typical 18th-century grid-iron town some kilometres to the north of Nadirabad which he called Ahmadshahi: 'ashraf 'ul-bilad or 'the foremost of cities'. Kandahar was the capital of Afghanistan until 1774, when Timur Shah moved the centre of government to Kabul. Since that time Kandahar has been the so-called second city of Afghanistan and the capital of the province bearing the same name: a fact that may be relevant in terms of a pattern for reconstructing the long sequence of names back as far as the Achaemenid period. The city, when it was important enough to be called thus, was either named after its most recent conqueror and retained that name for as long as he or his dynasty held power, or it bore a more general name, perhaps related to ethnic content, which was also the name of the province.

Kandahar often lay astride a boundary: from the earliest recorded history (Old Persian Harahuvatis/Arachosia and India), through the Greek-Mauryan period, to the Indo-Scythian/ Indo-Parthian-Kushan times, up to the Persian-Mughal conflicts of the 17th century onwards - up to even very recent history when the interests of Russia and America met symbolically at Kandahar, where the Russian concrete of the trunk road changes to American asphalt.

II
Excavations at Old Kandahar under the auspices of the Society for Afghan Studies began in 1974 and continued until 1978 (Whitehouse 1978; McNicoll 1978; Helms in prep., 1978, 1979a, 1979b, 1982) when the history of Afghanistan took another, predictable turn. The first two seasons were limited to specific tasks: the first a cut through the eastern fortifications, the second a series of unrelated sondages. Results from these two preliminary essays complement the subsequent work of three seasons, the cut by Whitehouse being the most useful for the earlier, pre-Islamic military architecture of the city. McNicoll's sondages uncovered a large amount of later Islamic material (Crowe 1978).

Figure 2 Old Kandahar, showing areas of excavation. Click to Enlarge.

Excavation strategy demanded extensive exploration in depth as well as selective clearance around some of the major architectural features still visible on the surface. Most of the information uncovered pertains to the early historical stages of the site: that is to say, even the most monumental remains -- with the exception of the Buddhist monument - belong to the pre-Achaemenid period through the Achaemenid/Greek era up to the Indo-Parthian domination of the region. The architecture of these periods dictated the shape of the city up to its final destruction in 1738. Thus sadly very little of the area belonging to the later history of the city was examined. Yet enough was done to indicate very broadly certain changes in the fortune of the city throughout its history. We can now say, quite confidently, that its floruit came early on, well before the advent of Islam. Indeed it seems that after about the 3rd century (AD) Kandahar became a lesser city, something that in retrospect appears to be indicated in the documentary history cited above.

Kandahar revived a little during the later Islamic period; its final form - no longer at our ruin field - earning the somewhat undeserved name 'the foremost of cities', cited as such by many European travellers, one of whom may have witnessed its splendour during the Mughal sieges of the middle of the 17th century (Tavernier 1676). At that time the city's importance - as so often before - lay in its geographical position: on the easiest road between (Mughal) India and (Safawid) Persia, at the crossroads also of the route north past Ghazni to the western spur of the Hindu Kush (Kabul) and the network of roads to Bactria and the Central Asian Steppes (Transoxiana) and the Indus Valley past Jalalabad. It is this position that can be discerned on the earliest map of the region, the Tabula Peutingeriana of the greater later Roman world.

There was probably always a settlement of one kind or another at the site of the ruin field; from its first foundation well before the eastward campaigns of the Achaemenids (Cyrus and particularly Darius about 520 BC) up to the triumph of Nadir Shah and beyond. For the Islamic period as for those preceding - we are dealing with certain geographical and environmental constants: the situation of Old Kandahar surrounded by well watered orchards and fields that made Kandahar the garden or oasis of Afghanistan's south, just as Jalalabad is the garden of the east. These constants made the region about Kandahar potentially prosperous and its capital - which for the most part was Old Kandahar - a vital possession and as often therefore a ruin field.

In surveying the Islamic history of the city, a history that represents nearly half the time of Kandahar's existence, one must recognize some serious limitations, of which two are paramount. The total destruction of much of the later levels at the site during the many sieges and subsequent reconstructions, especially since 1738, has left precious little evidence. Second, the evidence that has been recovered is still largely undigested. This preliminary account should therefore be regarded in this light. Only the very surface of some very interesting yet vexing questions can be presented at this time. For that reason I have limited myself to a survey of our evidence by setting its key discoveries against the necessarily cursory summary of known documentation, and limit myself further to the period up to the Ghaznavid dynasty. Kandahar's history thereafter is less problematical.

III
The later history of Kandahar may be divided somewhat arbitrarily into five broad sections: the very nebulous period between the clearly stratified deposits in the city and the first definitely Islamic layers, the Conquest period from about AD 650 onward, the period of Ghaznavid rule, the Mongols and finally the see-sawing politics following the conquest by Babur at the beginning of the 16th century.

The first period concerns roughly eight hundred years in terms of stratigraphy - there appears to be a 'gap'- and about the same amount in terms of documentary evidence. In various trenches the latest pre-Islamic layers belong to the beginning of the Sasanian dominance in the region (coins of Ardeshir and Shapur and Shapur I: up to ca. AD 250); the earliest dated Islamic ones to the Ghaznavid period, represented by a coin of Maudud (1041-8). On the documentary side we might cite Isidore of Charax' Parthian Stations, written towards the end of the 1st century (AD), as the best-known geographical source marking the (near-) end of the pre-Islamic occupation as excavated so far. The far end of the 'gap' may be represented by the various accounts of the Conquest (al-Baladhuri; Yaqut) written some years after the events in question: aI-Baladhuri in the 10th century and Yaqut in the 13th. This is the barest evidence in the strictest 'archaeological' and historical senses: and yet there is more, to close the 'gap'. There is also the striking phenomenon of toponymy. Isidore speaks of

(Isid. § 19), that is 'a city populated by Greeks, called Alexandropolis' [or Alexandria -- cf. Tarn 1951; Fischer 1967; Bernard 1974, among others] the capital of the province Arachosia near a river named Arachotos. In the Conquest stories we read variously of ar-rukhkhaj/-rukhkhadh (Ibn Rusta: 105) and ruhwadh (Muqaddasi: 50,292) = Arachosia = (among other spellings) Harahuvatis. At the very least, then, the region about Kandahar retained its name throughout: over 1,500 years. Whether the ruin field was a city - or even occupied is another matter. Al-Qunduhar, as we saw, appears only once in the records.

The only admissible evidence - in the strictest sense - concerning the ca. 800-year 'gap' to hand so far comes from several graves excavated by McNicoll (1978) which produced silver drachms of Kobad I current in the 6th century (MacDowall 1978: 51). These graves lay in area S which, for various reasons, we now regard as an extra-mural area, at least throughout the pre-Islamic history of Kandahar (Fig. 2). At this stage, then, all that can be said is that the evidence points to a drastic reduction in both the political importance and the population of the city sometime after the beginning of the Sasanian period. This is reflected in the apparent lack of a definite name for the settlement, even if one accepts the Indo-Parthian name

as a potential identity, even if we quote again the Islamic sources regarding the Gandharians about the 5th century.

Two additional and very tentative items of evidence might be noted. Ceramic finds from a deep sounding on the Citadel (area C) appear to narrow the 'gap'. The beginning is about the same as elsewhere at the site, but the end may be as early as the 9th century, that being the earliest date one might give to lustre wares of which one small example was found. A second indication of at least some continuity on the provincial level is a connection between Isidore's

(§ 19) in Arachosia and the Nestorian bishopric of Roukout during the 6th century (Chabot 1902: 343, 681). Altogether this is not much more than reiterating that although life continued in the countryside, at the ruin field very little has remained to give us a history.

Yet al-Qunduhar specifically and ar-rukhkhaj generally do feature in the accounts of the Islamic Conquest of Afghanistan from about AD 650 onwards: and as a not insignificant obstacle to progress east and north. The apocryphal story quoted in the beginning of this essay aside, that of ibn Ziyad; if al-Baladhuri was indeed speaking of our Kandahar, which is likely - notes a number of Muslim casualties and goes on to quote ibn Mufarrigh (Murgotten 1924: 213):

How many a footprint in the jungles and the land of India,
And tunics of the unburied slain
In Qunduhar. Yea, of these whose scroll was sealed
In Qunduhar, none brought back the news.

Figure 3: 7th-century Conquest of Persia. Click to Enlarge

From other campaigns of the 7th century we often read about the hard progress of the Islamic forces under the leadership of various governors of Seistan against local semi-autonomous enclaves, the best documented of which are the Shahis. For example 'Abd 'ur-Rahman ibn Samurah, after conquering Bust, went next to Khushshak, which is probably Kushk-i-Nakhud on the river of the same name, whose people capitulated. He goes on to ar-Rukhkhaj. Murgotten translates this section as 'He met with opposition, but overcame it and conquered the city' (my italics). The Arabic text (cf. at-Tabba 1959) unfortunately does not mention a 'city' as such; if it did we would have a definite name for our ruin field in the time of Uthman (ca. 644-56). 'Abd 'ur-Rahman then advances to Dhabulistan (or Zabulistan), whose inhabitants had broken a treaty, and thence to Kabul. This and other stories (i.e. Ratbil) give us a lively historical background of the region between Bost and Kabul, presumably along the road as it still runs today, which was then called tariq ar-rukhkhaj (the road of 'Arachosia') for at least its middle section about our ruin field.

But can our excavations add anything substantial to this history, having admitted to an embarrassing 'gap' in occupation on the urban sector of the site?

We were very fortunate in discovering a large hoard of coins sealed into the plaster of a miniature stupa. This structure was the devotional focus of the main shrine room in the Vihara which, with its still impressive Stupa, dominates the heights south of Old Kandahar. This area was ultimately incorporated into the city, probably long after Babur's conquest. The Buddhist monument became a gun-position then.

The hoard is still being studied (MacDowall in prep.), but several signal aspects can already be presented as definitive evidence regarding precisely the nebulous period of the so-called 'gap'. Moreover, this evidence is remarkably picturesque and poignant from a strictly political historical view. It is also opposite in rounding out the long confrontation and partial fusion of some of the world's great religions at Old Kandahar, which may have begun with Zarathustra, the Greek pantheon (Fraser 1979), the Buddha, the Nestorian Church and finally the confrontation and for a time coexistence of Gautama and Muhammad.

Over a hundred coins in the hoard represent what until now have been called 'hunnish rulers' of the 7th and 8th centuries (Goebl 1968), whose coinage copied later Sasanian types both in the style of the ruler's portrait and the depiction of the fire altar on the obverse side. We might now be able to add more. One coin of the Umayyad Caliphs was found stratified with the hoard. A second Umayyad coin appeared beneath a collapsed roof (with Buddhist paintings) in an annexe of the Vihara. In addition to this most useful evidence a Chinese coin fragment appeared in the hoard. This has been tentatively ascribed to the range of the Sui dynasty (580-612) to the T'ang dynasty (618-906). Altogether this numismatic evidence gives us a date about the late 7th to early 8th century, that is to the period of the Islamic Conquest of Persia and Afghanistan. The major currency - which includes the mysterious Napki Malik represents one of the semi-autonomous enclaves probably centred somewhere between Kabul and Bost. A similar currency is now known from the Italian excavations at Tepe Sardar (Ghazni) (MacDowall pers. com.).

Historically these rulers in conflict with the advance of Islam have been the Hindu Shahis who, in turn, were competing with Turkic entities, the Turki Shahis. These latter numbered among their kings individuals whose names carry a common root: Vrahitigin and Tigin Shah, for example. They were Buddhists who also venerated Hindu gods. Moreover they appear to be part of the almost timeless demographic pattern of Central Asia since according to al-Biruni they were Turks of Tibetan origin descendant over sixty generations from Kanik, Kanishka of the Kushan dynasty, who in turn were the (Lesser) Yueh Chih from the north-eastern Central Asian steppes. The same pattern repeated itself some centuries after the Islamic Conquest in the Mongol conquest beginning with Gengis Khan.

A little before this, however, about the beginning of the 8th century, central/southern Afghanistan became dependent on Zabul, presumably the Dhabulistan/Zabulistan quoted above. It is, therefore, our preliminary supposition that the hoard from Kandahar's Buddhist monument might belong to these very rulers of Zabulistan and that the settlement below the shrine survived, perhaps as a lesser town than before, for the time being.

Subsequent history of central/southern Afghanistan is represented in the Turki Shahis already noted above, who were succeeded by the Hindu Shahis ruling from Kabul. Yaqub took Kabul in 870 and more or less marked the beginning of at least general religious stability. Strong Islamic rulers established themselves at Ghazni after one Aluptegin took the fort there in 962. He was a Turkish slave and by name at least related to the Turki Shahis. He was succeeded by his general Sebuktegin (977-97) in a domain that was to become the Ghaznavid Empire.

Here we may be able to link this albeit vague chain of events and its series of political entities more directly to Kandahar. Maps of Western Asia retain the name of an Islamic city enticingly close to Kandahar up to the 18th century (Fischer 1967:191) and that city name is Tecniabad/Tiginabad/Takinabad: the city of Tigin or Takin. Might this not be a foundation or rather re-naming of a city controlled by the Turki Shahis? or a little before that by Turkic rulers, perhaps including those of Zabulistan? Islamic sources might provide further localization.

Figure 4: Islam Atlas - surat Sijistan.

The earliest geographical compilation referring to the landscape during the 9th and 10th centuries - that is, as close to the time under discussion as we can get - is an atlas of the Islamic world, based on various itineraries (cf. Miller 1926). There the name ar-rukhkhaj appears together with iqlim rukhkhaj - specifically 'region' or 'district' of 'Arachosia' - as well as the unequivocal identification of Bust -Banj(a)way-G(h)azna on a map of Seistan (surat Sijistan) (Fig. 4). Al-Qunduhar is not mentioned.

The 10th-century writer al-Istakhri (died 951) describes the route from Bost to Ghazna in al-masalik wa'l-mamalik as follows: Bost to Banjaway, the capital of ar-Rukhkhaj (my italics), four days and then one more day to Takin-abad.

If Banj(a)way is identified with the modern place Panjway (cf. Fischer 1967:

(?Old Iranian

)

= 'five rivers flow to Sarasvati', Sarasvati = Arghandab just as the name Panjab denotes such a system further east), some 20 kilometres west of Old Kandhar, Takin-abad/Tiginabad lies one march beyond, which is very close indeed to our ruin field, perhaps no more than 10 kilometres further east. I have taken roughly equal distances per day and this is not necessarily a hard rule since slightly longer marches can be derived from other itineraries. Thus Baihaqi, writing in the 11th century, gives the route from Ghazna to Herat: Ghazna to Tiginabad ten days, Tiginabad to Bost four days -- and now no mention of Banj(a)way.

Figure 5 illustrates how Old Kandahar is very nicely 'bracketed ' by the two itineraries. But given such basically inaccurate measurements, can one really make a definite identification?

Probably not: although our coin hoard has made the idea of Takin-abad/Tiginabad as an important southern Turkic city close to our ruin field more than likely. Furthermore, as I noted earlier, there is a remarkable conservatism in the various place-names of the immediate region about Old Kandahar; or rather, a striking thematic continuity.

Figure 5 Kandahar region (tariq ar-rukhkhaj); itineraries of al-Istakhri and Baihaqi. Click to Enlarge.

To conclude this preliminary survey of the early Islamic period at Old Kandahar, let us take this question of toponymy a step further. Marquart and De Groot (1915) suggested a relation between Banj(a)way and Takin-Abad in the dual ar-rukhkhajain in a verse by Abu'l-'Udafir (cf. Ibn Hurdadhbah and al-Mas'udi). Banj(a)way and Takin-abad/Tiginabad could have been twin cities or even twin capitals of the province or district of ar-Rukhkhaj. On the other hand they could represent cities on either side of a boundary: Zabulistan to the east and Seistan to the west. And, finally, one could advance the argument that this abundance of related names may all have applied to our ruin field at one time or another and when conditions changed have been transferred to lesser settlements nearby, the names transmitted less through political motivation than simply folk memory, In this way one might repeat another of Fischer's (1967) lists of names, all of which share the root 'white': Isidore's

'white India', the 18th-century 'white city' (Arne 1947), Ispingaj or 'white place' of al-Idrisi (ca, AD 1154) = Asfijai or Asfanjay (Atlas of Islam: Surat Sijistan) and even the Chinese Chih-p'an (AD 1267 -71: cf. Herrmann 1922), With Pottinger's (1817) Ispeentigh we might tighten the 'toponymical circle' about Old Kandahar and equate tigh with tigin.

References

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• Helms, S. W., ed., in prep. Excavations at Old Kandahar 1976-8. Society for Afghan Studies.

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[Samandri]

The Trade and Economy of the Rohilkhand

Economy of the Rohillas

The Trade of the Rohillas

The Rise of the Indo-Afghan Empire: C. 1710-1780 By Jos J. L. Gommans
http://historyofpashtuns.blogspot.com/2014/08/economy-of-rohillas.html

 

[Samandri]

Tughlaq dynasty and Afghans

Ghiyas al-Din Balban (1266—1286) is known to have established Afghan garrisons around Delhi and in many places along the Ganges River.
Afghans too made a marked progress during Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s reign, Malik ikhtiyar-ud-din Yal Afghan who had been noticed earlier in connection with nobility under Ala-ud-din khalji continued to hold the position under Muhammad bin Tughlaq. Malik Makh Afghan, his younger brother was sent by ghiyas-ud-din to the expedition against Warangal in A.D 1321 under the leadship of his son ulugh khan. Other notable Afghans of Muhammad bin tughlaq were Malik khattah Afghan, Jalhu Afghan, tughal-al-Afghan, Bahram Afghan, Mandi Afghan and last but the least Malik Shahu Lodhi. His successor Firuz Tughlaq continued to patronize the Afghans and prominent among them were Malik Afghan, Malik Daud Khan Afghan, the muqti of bihar, Malik Muhammad Shah Afghan, the muqti of tughluqpur, Malik Bali Afghan and Yasin, son of Malik Shah Afghan.
Essays on Medieval India by Raj Kumar

During Muhammad bin tughlaq reign, the lower grade officers came to be called Sadah. Sadah or hundred (centurian) was the term used in mongol military for one who commanded a hundred men.. But in india, the word sadah began to used as a territorial divisions , to signify a hundred villages. The sadah amirs were, however, not all Mongols. Afghans were also to be found among them. The mongol and Afghan sadah amirs behaved differently than much loyal Turkish and hindostani nobles.
Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526 ... By Satish Chandra
The emergence of large number of Afghan zamindars during the latter part of 14th century wa, in fact, made possible by the postion enjoyed by them as Sadah amirs.
The Muslims of Indian origin: during the Delhi sultanate : emergence, attitudes, and role, 1192-1526 A.D.

The Afghans continued to enjoy prominence under the Tughlaq Sultans as well. Some of the Afghans took advantage of imperial favour and endeavored to build up their military strength on the meager resources which they possessed.
The Afghan nobility and the Mughals: 1526-1707 by Rita Joshi

Being largely cut off from west asia after the rise of Mongols , the Turkish rulers had to rely increasingly on Afghans and Indian muslims for their armies. Thus armies of turk rulers was a mixed up, consisting of descendents of original Turkish soldiers, Afghans and Indian muslims supplemented by hindu contingents of the chiefs.
Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526 ...By Satish Chandra

In the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq, barani says in Tarikh-e-firoz shahi that there was rebellion at multan by body of Afghans headed by Malik Mall Afghan. Again Makh Afghan was one of the forign amirs who rebelled at Deogir. In 1376-1377 the fief of Bihar was given to Malik Bir Afghan (Tarikh-e-mubarak shahi.
Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North West ..., Volume 1 By IBBETSON, Maclagan

"An Afghan noble, malik Makh revolted against Tughluqs. Then they made Makh Afghan, brother of Malik Yak Afghan, one of the foreign amirs, their leader, and placed him on the throne. The money and treasure were distributed among the soldiers. The Mahratta country was apportioned among these foreign amirs, and several disaffected persons joined the Afghans. The foreign amirs of Dihui and Baroda left Man Deo and proceeded to Deogir, where the revolt had increased and had become established. The people of the country joined them.
The Sultan, on hearing of this revolt, made ready a large force and arrived at Deogir, where the rebels and traitors confronted him. He attacked them and defeated them. Most of the horsemen were slain in the action. Makh Afghan, their commander, who had received a royal canopy, and had called himself Sultan, escaped, with his confederates and his wives and children, to the fort of Dharagir, and there took refuge. Hasan Kangii, and the rebels of Bidar, and the brethren of Makh Afghan, fled before the royal forces to their own countries"
The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The ..., Volume 3 By Sir Henry Miers Elliot

In 1341 Malik Shahu Lodhi, an Afghan noble,who had considerable following of his own tribe, slew Malik Bihzad, governor of Multan. When this news reached Delhi, the Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq assembled his army and set out to crush him. He had hardly covered two or three stages, when he heard that his mother had died but sultan continued his march. When he reached Dipalpur, he learnt that Shahu had fled to afghanistan. The sultan thereupon return to his capital and issued orders for the wholesale arrest of Afghans in his empire.
Islamic Concept of Crime and Justice, Volume 1 By N. Hanif

During the invasion of India by Timur in 1398, Afghan groups fought on both sides. Malik Khidr Lodhi , Malik Baha al-Din Jilwani , Malik Yusuf Habib Sarwani and Malik habib Niazi joined Timur with 12,000 soldiers.

Bahmani Sultanate
Bahmani Sultanate was founded in 1 347 by Zafar Khan, an Afghan Officer in the service of Mohammad-bin-Tughlaq.
Against Muhammad bin Tuqhlaq ,the nobles of Deccan rose into rebellion who occupied the city of Daulatabad and one of them an Afghan chief—Ismail Mukh became the King of Deccan. He assumed the title Nasir-ud-din Shah. Nasir-ud-din Shah was an old man and hence he resigned from the post and the nobles nominated Hasan Gangu or Zafar Khan as the new chief under the title Abul Muzaffar Alauddin Bahman Shah.
History of Medieval India: From 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D.

It was a body of this Pathan cavalry which accompanied Allah-ood-deen to the Deccan in 1310, and established the Mahomedan power there; and when the first Bahmuny dynasty of the Deccan was founded by Hassan Gungoo, himself of Afghan descent, his victories over the Imperial troops sent to reduce him, were mainly attributable to the fidelity and bravery of the Afghan cavalry, which then constituted the main body of his army.
The People of India: A Series of Photographic Illustrations, with ..., Volume 3 By Meadows Taylor, Great Britain. India Office

Behram Lodi, the grandfather of Bahlul Lodi, came as a horse-dealer during the reign of Firoz Shah Tughlaq.

Tughlaq dynasty and Afghans | History of Pashtuns

 

[Samandri]

Sher Shah Suri Museum inside Rohtas fort


Dummies displaying the reign of Sher Shah Suri- He was very tall in height!




Wife of Sher Shah Suri

 

[Samandri]

Flourishing of Kashmir's shawl industry during Afghan rule

It was during Mughal rule, the Shawl industry first assumed an enormous international standing and increased output. It was during Afghan Muslim rule the Shawl industry in addition to other commodities and trades received newer customers still in the form of Iran, Turkistan and Russia as well as Afghanistan. Kashmiris as well as merchants from abroad could meet and trade with one another without being worried most of their profit would go to the state. In later Sikh and Hindu rule, in respect to the Shawl industry alone, foreign merchants largely traded not with Kashmiri shawl weavers but the State. By the 1900s, the Shawl industry in Kashmir was dead

During the close of 18th century, when Kashmir was under the afghans, the shawl industry thrived, with the market even extending even as far as turkey. In 1796 kashmiri shawl reached the hands of napoleon. His wife Josephine was immensely pleased and she set a new trend in fashion among women not only in paris but also in Europe and England. By 1800 AD the shawl trade between Kashmir and west was well established.
Arts and Crafts, Jammu and Kashmir: Land, People, Culture - D. N. Saraf



With the establishment of Afghan reign in Kashmir valley in 1753, the
shawl industry received a boast. It was during this period the Kashmiri shawls
were in demand in iran, Afghanistan and Russia. During sikh rule , the condition of silk weavers was not so good, because the heavy imposition of tax by the government. With the arrival of maharaja gulab singh 1846, conditions for the artisans and and of the shawl industry worsed. The impoded annual tax levied by maharaja on each shawl weaver was Rs.47.8.
Paintings and Lifestyles of Jammu Region: From 17th to 19th Century A.D. - Raj Kumar

During the mughal and Afghan rule, the shawl industries of Kashmir , were at their zenith and this factor contributed towards the growth of urban population in the valley.
Kashmir Under Maharaja Ranjit Singh - C. Baron V. Hugel, Annotated By D.C. Sharma

Flourishing of Kashmir's shawl industry during Afghan rule | History of Pashtuns