DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3909#0162
42 )
in ray compound and whose religious notions had, no doubt, been affected on their way down
through Kashmir. That they go once a year to the top of a mountain as a religious exercise
and put a stone on to a cairn; that the number of Muharamadan heads hung up in front of
their doors indicates their position in the tribe; that they are said to sit on benches rather
than squat on the ground like other Asiatics; that they are reported to like all those who
wear a curl in front; that they are fair and have blue eyes; that they drink a portion of the
blood of a killed enemy—this and the few words which have been collected of their
language is very nearly all we have hitherto known about them. What I have been
able to ascertain regarding them, will be mentioned elsewhere.*
(A)-EORMS OF GOVERNMENT AMONG THE DARDS.
Chilas, which sends a tribute every year to Kashmir for the sake of larger return-
presents rather than as a sign of subjection, is said to be governed by a council of elders, in
which even women are admitted.fj When I visited Ghilghit, in 1866, it was practically without
a ruler, the invading troops of Kashmir barely holding their own within a few yards o*
the Ghilghit Fort—a remarkable construction which, according to the report of news-
papers, was blown up by accident last year, and of which the only record is the
drawing published in the Illustrated London News of the 12th February 1870.J There
is now a Thana-dar of Ghilghit, whose rule is probably not very different from that
of his rapacious colleagues in Kashmir. The Ghilghitis are kept quiet by the
presence of the Kashmir army, and by the fact that their chiefs are prisoners at Srinagar,
where other representatives of once reigning houses are also under surveillance, Mansur Ali
Khan, the supposed rightful Raja of Ghilghit is there; he is the son of Asghar Ali Khan, son of
Raja Khan, son of Gurtam Khan—but ^legitimate descent has little weight in countries that are
constantly disturbed by violence, except in Hunza, where the supreme right to rob is hereditary. $
The Ghilghitis, who are a little more settled than their neighbours to the West, North and
South, and who possess the most refined Dardu dialect and traditions, were constantly exposed
to marauding parties, and the late ruler of Yasin, Gouhar-Am&n, who had conquered Ghilo-hit
made it a practice to sell them into slavery on the pretext that they were Shiahs and infidels.
Yassin was lately ruled by Mir Wali, the supposed murderer of Mr, Hay ward, and is a
dependency of Chitral, a country which is ruled by Aman-ul-mulk. The Hunza people are under
Gbazan Khan, the son of Ghazanfai-, || and seem to delight in plundering their Kirghiz
* Since writing the above a third Kafir from Katar has entered my service and I have derived some detailed
information from him and others regarding the languages and customs of this mysterious race, which will be em-
bodied in my next volume.
t I have heard this denied by a man from Sazin, but state it on the authority of two Chilasis who were
formerly in my service.
X My Sazini says that only a portion of the Fort was blown up.
§ Vide Chapter "Modern History of Dardistan " for details of the contending dynasties of that region.
|| Major Montgomerie remarks "the coins have the world Gujanfar on them, the name, I suppose, of some
emblematic animal. I was however unable to find out its meaning."
The word is _>«5^«, Ghazanfar [which means in Arabic: lion, hero] and is the name of the former ruler of
HuDzawhoae name is on the coins.
in ray compound and whose religious notions had, no doubt, been affected on their way down
through Kashmir. That they go once a year to the top of a mountain as a religious exercise
and put a stone on to a cairn; that the number of Muharamadan heads hung up in front of
their doors indicates their position in the tribe; that they are said to sit on benches rather
than squat on the ground like other Asiatics; that they are reported to like all those who
wear a curl in front; that they are fair and have blue eyes; that they drink a portion of the
blood of a killed enemy—this and the few words which have been collected of their
language is very nearly all we have hitherto known about them. What I have been
able to ascertain regarding them, will be mentioned elsewhere.*
(A)-EORMS OF GOVERNMENT AMONG THE DARDS.
Chilas, which sends a tribute every year to Kashmir for the sake of larger return-
presents rather than as a sign of subjection, is said to be governed by a council of elders, in
which even women are admitted.fj When I visited Ghilghit, in 1866, it was practically without
a ruler, the invading troops of Kashmir barely holding their own within a few yards o*
the Ghilghit Fort—a remarkable construction which, according to the report of news-
papers, was blown up by accident last year, and of which the only record is the
drawing published in the Illustrated London News of the 12th February 1870.J There
is now a Thana-dar of Ghilghit, whose rule is probably not very different from that
of his rapacious colleagues in Kashmir. The Ghilghitis are kept quiet by the
presence of the Kashmir army, and by the fact that their chiefs are prisoners at Srinagar,
where other representatives of once reigning houses are also under surveillance, Mansur Ali
Khan, the supposed rightful Raja of Ghilghit is there; he is the son of Asghar Ali Khan, son of
Raja Khan, son of Gurtam Khan—but ^legitimate descent has little weight in countries that are
constantly disturbed by violence, except in Hunza, where the supreme right to rob is hereditary. $
The Ghilghitis, who are a little more settled than their neighbours to the West, North and
South, and who possess the most refined Dardu dialect and traditions, were constantly exposed
to marauding parties, and the late ruler of Yasin, Gouhar-Am&n, who had conquered Ghilo-hit
made it a practice to sell them into slavery on the pretext that they were Shiahs and infidels.
Yassin was lately ruled by Mir Wali, the supposed murderer of Mr, Hay ward, and is a
dependency of Chitral, a country which is ruled by Aman-ul-mulk. The Hunza people are under
Gbazan Khan, the son of Ghazanfai-, || and seem to delight in plundering their Kirghiz
* Since writing the above a third Kafir from Katar has entered my service and I have derived some detailed
information from him and others regarding the languages and customs of this mysterious race, which will be em-
bodied in my next volume.
t I have heard this denied by a man from Sazin, but state it on the authority of two Chilasis who were
formerly in my service.
X My Sazini says that only a portion of the Fort was blown up.
§ Vide Chapter "Modern History of Dardistan " for details of the contending dynasties of that region.
|| Major Montgomerie remarks "the coins have the world Gujanfar on them, the name, I suppose, of some
emblematic animal. I was however unable to find out its meaning."
The word is _>«5^«, Ghazanfar [which means in Arabic: lion, hero] and is the name of the former ruler of
HuDzawhoae name is on the coins.