Gakhars - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Gakhars are an ancient warrior clan

Clan

A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...

who have predominantly resided in what is present day northern Punjab and South-Western Kashmir, Pakistan. In particular in the cities of Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...

, Jhelum

Jhelum District

Jhelum District is in the Punjab province of Pakistan. According the 1998 census the district had a population of 936,957, of which 31.48% were urban. Jhelum is known for providing a large number of soldiers to the British and later to the Pakistan armed forces due to which it is also known as...

and regions of Gilgit

Gilgit Valley

Gilgit Valley is located in Gilgit, Pakistan. The Gilgit River flows here. 375 km of road connect it to Chitral via the Shandur Pass ....

, Baltistan

Baltistan

Baltistan , also known as بلتیول བལིུལ་ in the Balti language, is a region in northern Pakistan which forms Gilgit-Baltistan, bordering the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China. In addition, a part of Baltistan also falls into Jammu and Kashmir of India. It is situated in the Karakoram mountains...

, Chitral

Chitral

Chitral or Chetrar , translated as field in the native language Khowar, is the capital of the Chitral District, situated on the western bank of the Kunar River , in Pakistan. The town is at the foot of Tirich Mir, the highest peak of the Hindu Kush, high...

, Khanpur (NWFP) and Mirpur, Pakistan. They gradually developed into a feudal system over time oppressing and raiding their neighbors. The
The 1893-94 Gazetteer of the Rawalpindi District also notes that;

"from the moment where oral traditions give way to more authentic historical records, the history of the Potohar becomes that of the Gakhar clan. The Gakhars became prominent at the time of the early Muslim era and have more or less maintained their rule over the city of Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi

and parts of Hazara

Hazara Division

On the dissolution of West Pakistan in 1970, Hazara District and the two tribal agencies were merged to form the new Hazara Division with its capital at Abbottabad...

and Jhelum

Jhelum District

districts, independent of the sovereign powers at Delhi

Delhi

Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

and Agra

Agra

Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...

, until being defeated at the beginning of the nineteenth century by the Sikh

Sikh

A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...

s."

Early history

Early sources which describe the Gakhars are Ferishta's history, completed in 1606, and the Kaygawharnāma of 1725, written by Rāyzāda Dunīchand Bālī.

TheKaygawharnām claims the Gakhars were the people of Sassanian Persian nobles who, with their knights, went beyond the northeast frontier

Frontier

A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...

of the Sassanian empire, seeking lands in China, Tibet and Kashmir.Gakhar Mandi (Gujranwala District

Gujranwala District

Gujranwala District is a district in Punjab, Pakistan.- History :The village of Asarur which has been identified as the location of Taki, an ancient town, visited by the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang contains immense ruins of Buddhist origin...

) is the last post of Gakhars. Gakhars therefore use the ancient royal Persian title "Kay

Kay

The name Kay \kay\ is found both as a surname and as a given name. In English-speaking countries it is usually a girl's name, often a short form of Katherine or one of its variants; but it is also used as a first name in its own right, and as a boy's name. As an English name it is pronounced kay...

or "Kayani as did the Sassanian aristocracy as they claim connection with the semi-mythological Kayani Kings of ancient Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. Eventually after centuries of wandering, the Gakhars joined forces with the Mahmud of Ghazni

Mahmud of Ghazni

Mahmud of Ghazni , actually ', was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty who ruled from 997 until his death in 1030 in the eastern Iranian lands. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which covered most of today's Iran,...

in his invasion of 1008 and were rewarded with the region of Potohar, which has since been the territory of the clan.

Most likely the Kaygawharnāma records many years of wandering - from the fall of the Sassanian Empire possibly as late as 682 AD which is when Ferishta records that the Raja

Raja

Raja is an Indian term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...

of Lahore

Lahore

Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...

submitted to terms from the Gakhars predominately Hindus till now. "This treaty included the cession of certain territories in perpetuity to the Gakhars... that they should protect the Indian frontier from the Muslim invasions." Despite forced conversion

Forced conversion

A forced conversion is the religious conversion or acceptance of a philosophy against the will of the subject, often with the threatened consequence of earthly penalties or harm. These consequences range from job loss and social isolation to incarceration, torture or death...

in 1204, according to Ferishta, the Gakhars maintained a largely successful resistance to the Muslim kingdoms that followed before the coming of Babur

Babur

Babur was a Muslim conqueror from Central Asia who, following a series of setbacks, finally succeeded in laying the basis for the Mughal dynasty of South Asia. He was a direct descendant of Timur through his father, and a descendant also of Genghis Khan through his mother...

Medieval Gakhars and Babur

In his Baburnama
Baburnama
Bāburnāma is the name given to the memoirs of Ẓahīr ud-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur , founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great-great-grandson of Timur...

, Babur noted that

Up to this time, around 1519, the Gakhars and Janjua Rajputs had engaged in an endless battle for sovereignty over the Salt Range.

However, the alliance of Raja Sahib Khan (Janjua overlord) and Malik Bir Khan Gakhar, saw a period of peace between the two tribes (both being visionary princes, and with a legendary friendship of treating each other as half brothers). This was later abruptly ended upon the ascension of Hathi Khan Gakhar as the leader of the Gakhar tribe, who assassinated Malik Hast Janjua's father, thereby reawakening the old feud between the two clans.

Concerning the Gakhar clan, Babur goes on to say;

"At that time (1519), the chieftains of the peoples on the mountainsides were two cousins, Tatar Khan and Hati "Elephant" Gakhar. Their strongholds were the ravines and cliffs. Tatar's seat was Pharwala, which is way below the snow-covered mountains. Hati, whose territory was adjacent to the mountains, had gained dominance over Kalinjar, which belonged to Babu Khan of Bisut. Tatar Khan had seen Dawlat Khan and owed him total allegiance; Hati, however, had not seen him and maintained a rebellious attitude towards him. With the advice and agreement of the Hindustan Begs

Baig

- History & Origins:The name Baig originates from a Turkic clan called Barlas . They played a pivotal role in Turko-Persian empires in Central Asia, Middle East and South Asia....

, Tatar had gone and camped at a distance as though to lay siege to Hati. While we were in Bhera, Hati seized upon some pretext to make a surprise attack on Tatar, kill him, and lay hands on his territory, his wives, and everything he had."

Babur also gives an account of his attack on Hati Gakhar at the fortress of Pharwala

Pharwala

Pharwala is a historic fort located about 40 km from Rawalpindi in Punjab, Pakistan. It is naturally defended by one side by a small Himalayan range and the other by the Swaan River. It is a Gakhar fort built in the 15th century on the ruins of a 10th century Hindu Shahi Fort...

;

The medieval Gakhars and Humayun

Humayun

Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun was the second Mughal Emperor who ruled present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of northern India from 1530–1540 and again from 1555–1556. Like his father, Babur, he lost his kingdom early, but with Persian aid, he eventually regained an even larger one...

, Babur's son, ruled from 1530–1540. Humayun lost his Indian territories to the Afghan

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

Sultan, Sher Shah Suri

Sher Shah Suri

Sher Shah Suri , birth name Farid Khan, also known as Sher Khan , was the founder of the short-lived Sur Empire in northern India, with its capital at Delhi, before its demise in the hands of the resurgent Mughal Empire...

, and, with Persian aid, regained them fifteen years later.

According to the Akbarnama

Akbarnama

The ' , which literally means Book of Akbar, is the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor , commissioned by Akbar himself and written in Persian by his court historian and biographer, Abul Fazl who was one of the nine jewels in Akbar's court...

, Sher Shah Suri started a genocidal war against Sultan Sarang

Sultan Sarang

Sultan Sarang was a chief of the Gakhar tribe which resided in the Pothohar region in Northern Punjab, modern day Pakistan. He was born in Pharwala fort and his father was a Gakhar chief Tatar Khan...

Khan Gakhar who remained loyal to Humayun, building the massive Rohtas Fort

Rohtas Fort

Rohtas Fort is a garrison fort built by the great Afghan king Sher Shah Suri. This fort is about 4 km in circumference and the first example of the successful amalgamation of Pashtun and Hindu architecture in the Indian Subcontinent.-Name of fort:...

in 1541-43 (designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997) in an effort to crush the Gakhars, to whom the fort was finally surrendered ten years after Sher Suri's death. Sultan Sarang built Rawat Fort

Rawat Fort

Rawat Fort is located in Pothohar Pakistan. The fort was built in early 16th century by Gakhars, a tribe of the Pothohar plateau. It is 17 km east of Rawalpindi on Grand Trunk Road....

nearby and is buried there with many of his sons.

"From thence he (Sher Shah Suri) advanced as far as Khushab and was for some days in Bhera. He sent a summons to Sultan Sarang Ghakkar and Sultan Adam who were the leading landholders in that neighbourhood, but as they had been clients of his Majesty Giti-sitani Firdusmakani, and had prospered by the favour of that exalted family they did not listen to his overtures. he advanced as far as Hathiapur in the Ghakkar territory and sent a large force against them. The Ghakhars fought bravely and defeated the Afghans so much that many of them were captured and sold. Sher Khan (Sher Shah Suri) wanted to march against them in person. He consulted his followers and they advised that as this tribe had strong mountains and remote heartlands they should be dealt with by degrees and by policy. the proper course was to leave a large army in that neighbourhood which could both watch the royal army and devastate the country of the Ghakkars. It was also desirable that a strong fort should be built for the carrying out of these two objectives. In consequence of this advice he laid the foundations of the Fort of Rohtas and having left a large force there he marched back and came to Agra".

"The brief account of this affair is that Sultān Sārang

Sultan Sarang

waged brave war with Sher Khān, but at last he and his son Kamāl Khān were made prisoners. Sārang was put to death and Kamāl Khān was imprisoned in Gwāliār fort. But in spite of such disaster their country could not be conquered and the clan was governed by Sultān Adam, the brother of Sultān Sārang. When Sher Khān died and Salīm Khān's turn arrived, he too made great efforts to take the country, but was unsuccessful. One of the wonderful things was that Salīm Khān ordered that all the prisoners in Gwāliār fort should be put to death, and that for this purpose a pit should be dug under the prison and filled with gunpowder and set on fire. There was an explosion, the building was destroyed and the prisoners were blown to pieces; Kamāl Khān was inside, but fate sheltered him from this calamity. In the corner where he was, not a breath of the fire reached him. When Salīm Khān heard of this Divine protection he took an oath (of fidelity) from him and released him. From that time Sultān Adam, his uncle, was in full possession of the country while Kamāl Khān passed his days in frustration."

Medieval Gakhars and Akbar

Jalaludin Muhammad Akbar, also known as Akbar the Great

Akbar the Great

Akbar , also known as Shahanshah Akbar-e-Azam or Akbar the Great , was the third Mughal Emperor. He was of Timurid descent; the son of Emperor Humayun, and the grandson of the Mughal Emperor Zaheeruddin Muhammad Babur, the ruler who founded the Mughal dynasty in India...

, was the son of Humayun

Humayun

whom he succeeded as ruler of the Mughal Empire

Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire ,‎ or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...

from 1556 to 1605. He was the grandson of Mughal conqueror Babur who founded the Mughal dynasty. The Akbarnama
Akbarnama
The ' , which literally means Book of Akbar, is the official chronicle of the reign of Akbar, the third Mughal Emperor , commissioned by Akbar himself and written in Persian by his court historian and biographer, Abul Fazl who was one of the nine jewels in Akbar's court...

written by Abul Fazl

Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak

Shaikh Abu al-Fazl ibn Mubarak also known as Abu'l-Fazl, Abu'l Fadl and Abu'l-Fadl 'Allami was the vizier of the great Mughal emperor Akbar, and author of the Akbarnama, the official history of Akbar's reign in three volumes, and a Persian translation of the Bible...

is the main source but also the records of European travellers such as "The Commentary of Father Monserrate S.J. on His Journey to the Court of Akbar".

The first act of homage by the Gakhars to Akbar was the capture and surrendering of the traitor Mirza Kamran, brother of Humayun

Humayun

who had joined with the Afghans. This is recorded in Akbarnama. The Akbarnama also records the growing popularity of Kamal Khan in the Imperial Court.

The Akbarnama also records the falling out of favour of Sultan Adam and his overthrow.

In order to further cement his relations with the Gakhars and use them as an ally against the tubulent Afghans, Akbar in accordance with his well-known policy, contracted matrimonial alliances with them. Prince Salim was married to a daughter of Sayd Khan, a brother of Kamal Khan. Sayd Khan had fought under the Mughal General Zayn Khan against the Afghans in Swat and Bajaur. Later Aurangzeb also honoured the Gakhar chief Allah Kuli Khan (1681–1705) by marrying one of his daughters to his son prince Muhammad Akbar. Thus two Gakhar women found their way into the Imperial harem.

Akbars policy of pacification and reconciliation had its desired effect and we find the Gakhars leading a peaceful and uneventful life during the major part of the Mughal rule. They seem to have only reluctantly accepted Mughal rule however as a celebrated Gakhar warrior-chief, Mukarrab Khan, sided with Nadir Shah and took part in the Battle of Karnal

Battle of Karnal

The Battle of Karnal , was a decisive victory for Nader Shah the emperor of Persia during his invasion of India. Shah's forces defeated the army of Muhammad Shah, the Mughal emperor in little more than three hours thus paving the way for the Persian sack of Delhi...

(1739), which showed up the crumbling fabric of the Mughal empire. As a reward for his services, he was confirmed in his possession of the fort of Pharwala and on his return to Kabul, Nader Shah

Nader Shah

Nāder Shāh Afshār ruled as Shah of Iran and was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty. Because of his military genius, some historians have described him as the Napoleon of Persia or the Second Alexander...

conferred upon him, as a mark of further favour, the title of Nawab

Nawab

A Nawab or Nawaab is an honorific title given to Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. It is the Muslim equivalent of the term "maharaja" that was granted to Hindu rulers....

(this seems to have been a personal title as no later Gakhar chief ever used it). In his days the Gakhar power was greater than it had perhaps ever been before. He defeated the Yusafzai Afghans and Jang Kuli Khan of Khattak, and captured Gujrat, overrunning the Chib country as far north as Bhimber. He was finally defeated by the Sikhs at Gujrat in 1765 and had to surrender the whole of his possessions up to the Jehlum.

Early history

Medieval Gakhars and Babur

The medieval Gakhars and Humayun

Medieval Gakhars and Akbar

Further reading