DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3909#0161
( 41 ')
conform to that ceremonial, but when they make death an opportunity for jokes and amusement
we cannot refuse attention to the circumstance by merely explaining it away on the ground
that they are savages. I have noticed the prevalence of caste among them, how proud; they
are of their Shin descent, how little (with the exception of the more devout Chilasis) they draw
upon: Scripture for their personal names, how they honour women and how they like the dog;
an animal deemed unclean by other Muhammadans. The Dards had no hesitation in eating with
me, but I should not be surprised to hear that they did not do so when Mr. Hay ward visited
them, for the Hinduized Mussulman servants that one takes on tours might have availed
themselves of their supposed superior knowledge of the faith to inform the natives that
they were making an improper concession to an infidel. A good many Dards, however, have
the impression that the English are Mussulmans—a belief that would not deter them from
killing or robbing a European traveller in some districts, if he had anything "worth taking."
Gouhar-Aman [called "Gorman" by the people] of Yasin used to say that as the Koran, the
word of God, was sold, there could be no objection to sell an expounder of the word of God, a
Mullah, who unfortunately fell into his hands. I did not meet any real Shin who was a
Mullah,* but I have no doubt that, especially in Hunza, they are using the services of Mullahs
in order to give a religious sanction to their predatory excursions. I have said that the Dards
were generally Shiahs—perhaps I ought not to include the Shiah Ilunzas among Dards as they
speak a non-Aryan language unlike any other that I knowf—and as a rule the Shiahs are
preyed upon by Sunnis. Shiah children are kidnapped by Sunnis as an act both religious and
profitable. Shiahs have to go through the markets of Bukhara denying their religion, for which
deception, by the way, they have the sanction of their own priests.} Can we, therefore, wonder,
that the Shiah Hurizas make the best of both worlds by preferring to kidnap Sunnis to their own
co-religionists ? A very curious fact is the attachment of Shiahs to their disfant priesthood.
We know how the Indian Shiahs look to Persia; how all expect the advent of their Messiah,
the Imam Mohdi ; how the appointment of Kazis (civil functionaries) is made through the
Mujtehid [a kind of high priest"] and is ratified by the ruling power, rather than emanate direct
from the secular authorities, as is the case with Sunnis. The well-known Sayad residing at
Bombay, Agbai Khan, has adherents even in Dardistan, and any command that may reach
them from him [generally a demand for money] is obeyed implicitly. Indeed, throughout
India and Central Asia:there are men, some of whom lead an apparently obscure life,, whose
importance for good or evil should not be under-rated by the Authorities.
What we know about the religion of the Siah-Posh Kaffirs [ whom I include in the
term " Dards " ] is very little. My informants were two Kafir lads, who lived for some weeks
,* I liave already related that a foreign Mullah had found his way to Ghilghit and that the people, desirous
that so holy a man should not leave them and solicitous about the reputation that their country had no shrine, killed
him in order to have some place for pilgrimage. Similar stories are, however, also told about shrines in Afghanistan.
My Sazlni speaks of shrines in Nagyr, Chilas and Yasin and says that in. Sunni Chilas there are many Mullahs
belonging. to all the. castes~-two of the most eminent being Krainins of Shatial, about 8 miles from Sazin. About
castes vide page 47.
t I refer to the Khajuna, a language also spoken in Nagyr and Yasin, whose inhabitants are Dards.
J In the interior of Kabul Hazara, on the other hand, I have been told that Pathan Sunni Merchants have
to pretend to be Shiahs, in order to escape being murdered.
conform to that ceremonial, but when they make death an opportunity for jokes and amusement
we cannot refuse attention to the circumstance by merely explaining it away on the ground
that they are savages. I have noticed the prevalence of caste among them, how proud; they
are of their Shin descent, how little (with the exception of the more devout Chilasis) they draw
upon: Scripture for their personal names, how they honour women and how they like the dog;
an animal deemed unclean by other Muhammadans. The Dards had no hesitation in eating with
me, but I should not be surprised to hear that they did not do so when Mr. Hay ward visited
them, for the Hinduized Mussulman servants that one takes on tours might have availed
themselves of their supposed superior knowledge of the faith to inform the natives that
they were making an improper concession to an infidel. A good many Dards, however, have
the impression that the English are Mussulmans—a belief that would not deter them from
killing or robbing a European traveller in some districts, if he had anything "worth taking."
Gouhar-Aman [called "Gorman" by the people] of Yasin used to say that as the Koran, the
word of God, was sold, there could be no objection to sell an expounder of the word of God, a
Mullah, who unfortunately fell into his hands. I did not meet any real Shin who was a
Mullah,* but I have no doubt that, especially in Hunza, they are using the services of Mullahs
in order to give a religious sanction to their predatory excursions. I have said that the Dards
were generally Shiahs—perhaps I ought not to include the Shiah Ilunzas among Dards as they
speak a non-Aryan language unlike any other that I knowf—and as a rule the Shiahs are
preyed upon by Sunnis. Shiah children are kidnapped by Sunnis as an act both religious and
profitable. Shiahs have to go through the markets of Bukhara denying their religion, for which
deception, by the way, they have the sanction of their own priests.} Can we, therefore, wonder,
that the Shiah Hurizas make the best of both worlds by preferring to kidnap Sunnis to their own
co-religionists ? A very curious fact is the attachment of Shiahs to their disfant priesthood.
We know how the Indian Shiahs look to Persia; how all expect the advent of their Messiah,
the Imam Mohdi ; how the appointment of Kazis (civil functionaries) is made through the
Mujtehid [a kind of high priest"] and is ratified by the ruling power, rather than emanate direct
from the secular authorities, as is the case with Sunnis. The well-known Sayad residing at
Bombay, Agbai Khan, has adherents even in Dardistan, and any command that may reach
them from him [generally a demand for money] is obeyed implicitly. Indeed, throughout
India and Central Asia:there are men, some of whom lead an apparently obscure life,, whose
importance for good or evil should not be under-rated by the Authorities.
What we know about the religion of the Siah-Posh Kaffirs [ whom I include in the
term " Dards " ] is very little. My informants were two Kafir lads, who lived for some weeks
,* I liave already related that a foreign Mullah had found his way to Ghilghit and that the people, desirous
that so holy a man should not leave them and solicitous about the reputation that their country had no shrine, killed
him in order to have some place for pilgrimage. Similar stories are, however, also told about shrines in Afghanistan.
My Sazlni speaks of shrines in Nagyr, Chilas and Yasin and says that in. Sunni Chilas there are many Mullahs
belonging. to all the. castes~-two of the most eminent being Krainins of Shatial, about 8 miles from Sazin. About
castes vide page 47.
t I refer to the Khajuna, a language also spoken in Nagyr and Yasin, whose inhabitants are Dards.
J In the interior of Kabul Hazara, on the other hand, I have been told that Pathan Sunni Merchants have
to pretend to be Shiahs, in order to escape being murdered.