Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
tribe located in the Khattak territory, which consists of Karak, Nowshera,
Kohat
Kohat ( ps, کوهاټ; ur, ) is a city that serves as the capital of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is regarded as a centre of the Bangash tribe of Pashtuns, who have lived in the region since the late 15th centur ...
districts of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
.
History
Khushal Khan Khattak
A warrior poet by the name of
Khushal Khan Khattak
Khošāl Khān Khaṭak (1613 – 25 February 1689; Pashto: خوشال خان خټک), also known as Khushal Baba ( ps, خوشال بابا), was a Pashtun poet, chief, and warrior. Khushal Khan served the Mughal Empire protecting them fr ...
(1613–1690) was once the chief of this tribe, and his contributions to
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...
literature are considered as classic texts. His life and times are one of the most chronicled and discussed subjects in
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
history, as he was active on the political, social and intellectual fora of his times. He was a most voluminous writer, and composed no less than three hundred and sixty literary works, both in the
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...
and
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
languages.
His poetry revolves around concepts of Pakhtunwali; Honour, Justice, Bravery and Nationalism and his works have been translated into numerous languages, English and
According to Nimatullah's 1620 work ''History of The Afghans'', the Khattaks are amongst the oldest of the Afghan tribes.Deportation by the Assyrians, Makhzan-i Afghani, page 37: http://www.wdl.org/en/item/3034/?ql=eng&i=gcu&view_type=gallery
The Sattagudai ( grc, Σατταγύδαι) were a people mentioned by Herodotus in connection to people under the influence of the Achaemenid Empire.
Herodotus, Book 3, 91.
The Histories of Herodotus, George Rawlinson, Translation 1858–1860. (In this and the two succeeding passages the historian is giving a list of the Achaemenian satrapies and their peoples.)
Herodotus, without assigning a name to the satrapy, tells us that Darius' yth Satrapy was inhabited by four tribes, the Sattagudai, the Gandarioi, the Dadikai, and the Aparutai."The Pathans 550 B.C.-A.D. 1957" printed St Martin's Press 1958 by MacMillan and Company Limited""The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957 By Sir Olaf Caroe" /ref>
The addition of the Aparutai/Aparidai correspondence helps to buttress the case for finding in Herodotus traces of names which carry through to the present day. Bellew has gone further and identified the Sattagudai with the famous Khatak tribe.
"The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957" printed St Martin's Press 1958 by MacMillan and Company Limited"
Sattagudai
Numerous historians identify the Khattak with the Sattagudai.Guardians of the Khaibar Pass: the social organisation and history of the Afridis of Pakistan David M. Hart Page 7.The races of Afghanistan being a brief account of the principal nations, By Henry Walter Bellew - 2004 - 124 pages - Page 85.An inquiry into the ethnography of Afghanistan: prepared and presented to the Ninth international congress of Orientalists, London, September, 1891 - The Oriental university institute, 1891 - 208 pages - pages 107,108,122.A glossary of the tribes and castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province: Based on the census report for the Punjab, 1883 - Horace Arthur Rose, Sir Denzil Ibbetson, Sir Edward Maclagan - Printed by the superintendent, Government printing, Punjab, 1914 - Page 217.Qabila: tribal profiles and tribe-state relations in Morocco and on the Afghanistan-Pakistan Frontier - By David M. Hart - - 2001 - 254 pages - Page 152.Afghanistan of the Afghans - Bhavana Books & Prints, 2000 - 272 pages - Ikbal Ali Shah (Sirdar.) - Page 95.
Sir
Olaf Caroe
Sir Olaf Kirkpatrick Kruuse Caroe, (15 November 1892 – 23 November 1981) was an administrator in British India, working for the Indian Civil Service and the Indian Political Service. He served as the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India ...
, The Pathans 550BC 1957AD:
:"Let us now refer to the third passage cited, in which Herodotus, without assigning a name to the satrapy, tells us that Darius' yth
Satrapy was inhabited by four tribes, the Sattagudai, the Gandarioi, the Dadikai, and the Aparutai.
Bellew has gone further and identified the Sattagudai with the famous Khatak tribe, and the Dadikai with an obscure branch of Kakars whom he calls Dadi."
Khattaks and Shetaks
Sir Olaf Caroe, The Pathans 550BC 1957AD:
:"Neither Khataks nor Shitaks appear by name until the period of publication of genealogies under the Mughals, and the time of Akbar's dealings with the Khataks for the protection of the highway to Peshawar. Babur indeed in his memoirs mentions the Karranis (Karlanis) whom he encountered in 1505 around Bannu along with the Niazis and Isakhel. It is probable that this reference of his is to Khattaks or Shitaks, or both, for both are Karlani tribes, and the other Karlanis who live in that area, Wazirs and Bangash, Babur mentions by name when he comes to them."
It is thus clear that Babur & other
Mughals
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
in their descriptions identify Khattaks & Shetaks together without any differentiation.
In Pashtun history
Sir Olaf Caroe, The Pathans 550BC 1957AD:
Theory of Israelite descent
Khattak tribe has oral traditions and legendary history of descent from the
Israelites
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
.
Khushal expresses that the Khattak reputation for fierceness and valor stems from the fact that Khattaks and Afghans have been nursed by the Lioness's (King Saul's wife) milk.
One of the first progenitors of the modern tribe is Manal. Manal is considered to be a modification of Manas from the word
Manasseh
Manasseh () is both a given name and a surname. Its variants include Manasses and Manasse.
Notable people with the name include:
Surname
* Ezekiel Saleh Manasseh (died 1944), Singaporean rice and opium merchant and hotelier
* Jacob Manasseh (die ...
. In his book ''The Armies of India'', A.C. Lovett declares the Khattaks to be a widely enlisted tribe, who also lay claim to the Pashtun
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
descent.
Theory of descent from the Greeks
After the creation of Pakistan, some Pakistani scholars, suggested a Greek descent for the Khattaks. However, from the Histories of Herodotus, Herodotus, Book 3, 91., it is clear that a tribe by the name of SattaGydae (or Sattagudai) were already settled in the area around current day Ghor in Afghanistan and paid as tribute coinage and materials to the Greeks when they subjugated these areas:
"The Sattagudai and the Gandarioi and the Dadikai and the Aparutai, who were all reckoned together paid 170 talents."
Later Bellew, Caroe and other historians both Pashtun and Western through their works identified the Sattagudai with the famous Khatak & Shitak tribes. "The Pathans 550 B.C.-A.D. 1957" printed St Martin's Press 1958 by MacMillan and Company Limited"
Though all Afghan DNA including Khattak DNA has minor contributions from haplogroups more common to the Greeks, these are minor enough to rule out a direct lineage. Together with works from Herodotus and more recent historians, the theory of Khattak descent from the Greeks is unfounded.
Afridi and Khattak history
Sir Olaf Caroe, "The Pathans 550BC - 1957AD" :
:"The Afridis and Khataks lumped together as Karlanis, can be held to reflect a knowledge that they represented a more aboriginal stock, which only later absorbed the characteristics of the invaders. In other words, it is not surprising that in looking for a prototype in the oldest recorded history bearing on this region we hit on the ancestor of the Pakhtun."
Molding and amalgamation
Sir Olaf Caroe, "The Pathans 550BC - 1957AD" :
:"This is not to assert that the ethnic or linguistic stock can be traced through to tribes of similar names today. The case would be rather that these were sub-stratum agglomerations of people who, through contact with later-comers, modified their language and were assimilated to later cultures, but retained in the more inaccessible places sufficient of their older inspirations to boast their original names. The theory does at least give a starting-point to Pathan history & the stock belief in the Bani Israel."
Notables
*
Khushal Khan Khattak
Khošāl Khān Khaṭak (1613 – 25 February 1689; Pashto: خوشال خان خټک), also known as Khushal Baba ( ps, خوشال بابا), was a Pashtun poet, chief, and warrior. Khushal Khan served the Mughal Empire protecting them fr ...
(1603-1689), A Pashtun tribal leader, poet, warrior who had organised tribes to fight against the
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...
* Sami al Haq - (1937-2018), Regarded as the "Father of the Taliban"
*
Pervez Khattak
Pervez Khan Khattak ( ur, ; ps, پروېز خان خټک; born 1 January 1950) is a Pakistani politician and a member of PTI who served as the Defence Minister of Pakistan from 20 August 2018 until the dissolution of National Assembly on 3 ...
, (1950) 22nd Chief Minister of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
and current
Minister of Defence
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
Akora Khattak
Akora Khattak ( ps, اکوړه خټک , Urdu: اکوڑہ خٹک ) or Sarai Akora is a town in Jehangira tehsil of Nowshera District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It sits beside the Kabul River, which merges with the Indus River ...
Khudai Khidmatgar
Khudai Khidmatgar ( ps, خداۍ خدمتګار; literally "servants of God") was a predominantly Pashtun nonviolent resistance movement known for its activism against the British Raj in colonial India; it was based in the country's North-West ...
, former President of Awami National Party
* Ghulam Faruque Khan (1899–1990) was a dynamic bureaucrat, politician, and industrialist of Pakistan. He belonged to the village Shaidu (Khan Khel) in Nowshera District. His contribution to Pakistan's industrial development he is sometimes described as "The Goliath who Industrialized Pakistan".
* Pareshan Khattak, (b. 10 December 1931 - d. 16 April 2009) from Karak
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
. His real name was Ghamay jan khattak "Pashto" پښتو" غمے جان خټک", he was a former Vice-Chancellor, Pashto poet and writer and former Chairman University Grants Commission of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
. His books titled “Pukhtana Kochay,” “Dozakhi Pakhto,” “Drana Pukhtana,”
See also
*
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...
*
Pashtun culture
Pashtun culture ( ps, پښتون کلتور ) is based on Pashtunwali, as well as speaking of the Pashto language and wearing Pashtun dress. Culture is native to the native Pashtun belt of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Pashtunwali and Islam are the ...
*
Zazi
The Zazi ( ps, ځاځي; plur. ځاځی), also spelled Zazai, or Jaji, is a Karlani Afghan tribe. They are found in Paktia and Khost provinces in the Loya Paktia region of southeastern Afghanistan, as well as Kurram Valley of Pakistan, but als ...
