Pathan : Pashtu-speaking tribes of south-eastern Afghanistan & north-western Pakistan. The Pathāns on the frontiers of India belong to various tribes like the Waziris & the Afridis (q.v.). Many of them are astute money-lenders who come to India & thrive by lending money at exorbitant rates of interest. Out of political & economic considerations Aurangzeb had to follow a forward policy on his NW frontier, where the turbulent Muslim tribes had all along proved a source of great anxiety to the Mughal Empire. The scanty produce of the fields of that region forced upon the growing numbers of the hardy Afghan clans living there the habits of highway robbery & of blackmailing the rich cities of the north-western passes open & the valleys at their foot safe, the govt. of Aurangzeb first tries to win over these hillmen by payments of money. But “even political pensions were not always effective in securing obedience”. Troubles began in early 1667 AD when the Yūsufzāīs rose in arms under one of their leaders names Bhāgū. A large number of them crossed the Indus above Attock & invaded the Hazarā district, while other bands began to ravage the western Peshāwar & Attock districts…. But in 1672 the Afridis rose in revolt against the Mughals under their chieftain Akmal Khan, who crowned himself king & summoned all the Pathāns to organise themselves in a sort of national war. In the month of May 1672…the Mughals lost everything. This victory increased the prestige & resources of Akmal Khan & lured more recruits to his side so that “the whole of the Pathān land from Attock to Qandahar” rose in arms.” ― “While the principal Indian powers were falling one by one before the growing Brit supremacy, Central India remained steeped in utter confusion & anarchy due to the turbulence & nefarious activities of predatory hordes like the Pindaris & the Pathāns. In Rājputāna it was also partly due to the feudal rivalries among its different states, & partly to the ravages associated with the Maratha penetration into it during the second half of the 18th century. The continuance of this state of things over a wide area could not be tolerated by the English at a time when they were trying to establish their paramountcy over India. So after the close of the Nepal war, Lord Hastings turned to deal with disturbed regions, particularly because the Pindaris had recently carried their raids into Brit territory & were also enlisted as mercenaries in the armies of the hostile Maratha chiefs. There is no doubt that by the year 1823 the greater part of India, extending from the Sutlej to the Brahmaputra & from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, fell under Brit control. But there were beyond the western & eastern limits already reached by the Brit arms, powers whose activities had been a source of great anxiety to the Mughuls & whose subjugation was indispensably necessary for the rising Brit power before it could establish an all-India Empire on a firm & secure basis. This was proved by the subsequent conflicts of the English with the Sikhs, the Sindhis, the Pathān & Baloch tribes of the NW frontier, & the Afghans beyond the Khyber Pass, & with the Burmese & the Assamese to the east of the Brahmaputra. [Advanced History of India, R.C. Majumdar et al, pp.487, 716, 723]
... the gnarled and stumbling rise The dead and wounded heaped. But from the rear The main tremendous onset of the North Came in a dark and undulating surge Regardless of the check,—a mingled mass, Pathan and Mogul and the Rajput clans, All clamorous with the brazen throats of war And spitting smoke and fire. The bullets rang Upon the rocks, but in their place unhurt, Sheltered by tree and rock... at last In slow and ordered ranks the foot came on, An iron resolution in their tread, Page 299 Hushed and deliberate. Far in the van, Tall and large-limbed, a formidable array, The Pathan infantry; a chosen force, Lower in crest, strong-framed, the Rajputs marched; The chivalry of Agra led the rear. Then Baji first broke silence, "Lo, the surge! That was but spray of death we first... The Rajput battle, desperate victory Turned suddenly into entire defeat, Not headlong, but with strong discouragement, Sullen, convinced, rejecting the emprise. As they retired, the brilliant Pathan van Assumed the attempt. "Exhaust," the generals cried, Page 302 "Exhaust the stubborn mountaineers; for now Fatigued with difficult effort and success They hardly stand, weary, unstrung ...
... the storm. 37 Shivaji goes back to Raigurh to bring reinforcements?, leaving Baji and his fifty men to guard the pass. Presently the enemy is sighted in the distance - ...a mingled mass. Pathan and Mogul and the Rajput clans, All clamorous with the brazen throats of war And spitting smoke and fiire. 38 But the determined group of defensive Marathas hurls back wave upon wave of... merciless expense of valiant men. 39 And so Sri Aurobindo describes the vicissitudes of this modern Thermopylae with remorseless particularity, with the suspense mounting moment by moment. The Pathan infantry, "a formidable array"; the "hero sons" of Rajasthan who are the "playmate of death"; the chivalrous sons of Agra - they all come, one horde after another, with the stem determination to... Sri Aurobindo, Baji Prabhou has indeed found a minstrel worthy of his imperishable sacrifice; but the poet has carefully refrained from diminishing the stature or the heroism of Baji's antagonists: Pathan, or Rajput, or Mogul, the enemy is brave, even as the defending Maratha is, but Baji out-tops them all and his fifty men feel charged by his own sovereign strength of purpose. Sri Aurobindo seems ...
... * Dada recounted today the story of a brave Pathan. 'The Pathans ruled our country at one time. The Pathans are extremely courageous and obstinate. A Pathan sardar lived in a village. His ancestors had come to settle in this village a few generations earlier. A long time had gone by and now there were only a few Pathan families that lived there. Some were farmers while others... come to fight the Pathan at that very spot. Accordingly the Pathan made all the necessary arrangements. He had only three months in hand. Who could say what the outcome of the fight would be? He could be killed too. So he quickly married off his daughter. Then he settled all the property matters. Everything that needed to be done before death, he did. The Pathan sardar loved his... sardar. Page 84 The Moghul sardar turned up at the appointed hour. The Pathan sardar called out: "So, let's start the fight!" "No, I won't fight," the Moghul replied. "Why don't you want to fight?" the Pathan asked. "My wife told me not to," he answered. The Pathan sardar was furious: "Then lower your moustache, you fool, and get out." So the Moghul ...
... day Sudhir reached his cousin’s shop at about the same time. Soon the Pathan arrived and demanded money. Sudhir, who was seated, got up and approached the Pathan with his hand in his pocket. He told him, “You want money? Here, take it.” In a flash he brought out his hand from his pocket and slapped the Pathan fiercely. The Pathan fell down stunned. He was utterly surprised and could not believe his... “Now that you are here, you will no longer need them.” (M) 1920-1930 – Calcutta The Pathan Sudhir had just been released from jail. He was jobless and did not know how he would earn his bread. One day he visited the shop of his cousin brother and they started chatting. Suddenly a gigantic Pathan entered the shop. Thrusting a huge palm in front of Sudhir’s cousin, he ordered, “Give me!”... Sudhir got angry with his cousin. “Why are you tolerating this fellow?” he said, “You are so many Bengalees here; he is only one Pathan. Can’t you tackle him together? At least go to the police.” The cousin replied “Once an owner of a shop here tried to stop him. The Pathan threatened him with a drawn knife. Since then no one has bothered him. The ruffian has warned us “Go to the police at the cost of ...
... Prabhou." Then Shivaji rides off, leaving the slender band of heroes in the gorge. The Moguls immediately begin their assault and, though often hurled back, thrust on, a mingled mass, Pathan and Mogul and the Rajput clans, All clamorous with the brazen throats of war And spitting smoke and fire. The bullets rang Upon the rocks, but in their place unhurt, Sheltered by... surprised the Rajput's throat, and down As falls an upright poplar, with his hands Outspread, dying, he clutched Mahratta ground. The Rajput batde reeled back, and in their place the Pathan infantry advanced, trying to exhaust the mountaineers; and though even they could not make much headway, Baji's men felt themselves hard put to it because of their ever diminishing ammunition. But ...
... did not all manifest themselves with any power before the Mahomedan invasions, but they must have been already there in their beginning and they increased rapidly under the conditions created by the Pathan and the Mogul empires. These later imperial systems however brilliant and powerful, suffered still more than their predecessors from the evils of centralisation owing to their autocratic character... fact too often forgotten—the Mussulman domination ceased very rapidly to be a foreign rule. The vast mass of the Mussulmans in the country were and are Indians by race, only a very small admixture of Pathan, Turkish and Mogul blood took place, and even the foreign kings and nobles became almost immediately wholly Indian in mind, life and interest. If the race had really like certain European countries... never ceased to throw up great rulers, statesmen, soldiers, administrators. Its political genius was not in the decadence sufficient, not coherent enough or swift in vision and action, to withstand the Pathan, Mogul and European, but it was strong to survive and await every opportunity of revival, made a bid for empire under Rana Sanga, created the great kingdom of Vijayanagara, held its own for centuries ...
... in 1988-89). The second plan involved the most troublesome and feared population of the subcontinent, the Pathan (Pashtuns) tribesmen of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). It had become known that agents of the King of Afghanistan were arousing the Pathan (Pashtuns) tribes of NWFP seeking their support for the expansion of his kingdom to Peshawar and the banks of River Indus,... happened to stumble upon the plan by chance. The invasion was planned meticulously with considerable strategic and tactical insight. According to Operation Gulmarg, as described by Major Kalkat, every Pathan tribe was required to enlist at least one Lashkar of 1,000 tribesmen. These Lashkars were to be concentrated at Baftnu, Wana, Peshawar, Kohat, Thal and Nowshera by the first week of September 1947 ...
... Rishi, like a Seer from the Upanishad age. As they stood side by side, Gurudev's gracefulness was much in evidence in contrast to the Pathan politician's stiff bearing. Poupee and I went to our respective persons. Poupee stood on a small stool, garlanded the tall Pathan and went to her side of the wing. While I . . . I stood before Gurudev with upraised arms and did not have enough reach to slip the... Master-Mashai finished instructing me when a car brought the two leaders. They got down and walked up to the platform. The Poet was Page 69 tall enough (six feet or so), but the Pathan leader topped him by almost a head. Badshah Khan was very, very tall and spare. But Rabindranath, although in his seventies and slightly stooping, was a beautiful person. What with his flowing, white ...
... again possible because the Mussulman domination ceased very rapidly to be a foreign rule. The vast mass of the Mussulmans in the country were, and are, Indians by race; only a very small admixture of Pathan, Turkish and Mogul blood took place, and even the foreign kings and nobles became almost immediately wholly Indian in mind, life and interest. If the race had really, like certain European countries... field, it never ceased to throw up great rulers, statesmen, soldiers, and administrators. Its political genius then was not sufficient, coherent enough, or swift in vision and action, to withstand the Pathan, Mogul and European. But it was strong enough to survive and await every opportunity for revival; it made a bid for an empire under Rana Sanga, created the great kingdom of Vijayanagara, and held its ...
... ancient Persian monarchy or the monarchies of western and central Asia or the Roman imperial government or later European autocracies: it was of an altogether different type from the system of the Pathan or the Mogul emperors. The Indian king exercised supreme administrative and judicial power, was in possession of all the military forces of the kingdom and with his Council alone responsible for peace ...
... nsaha@klyuniv.ernet.in Dr. Anil S. Kane Vice-Chancellor MS University of Baroda Shastri Bridge Road Vadodara-390002 Gujarat Vc.msu@Jwbdq.lwbbs.net Dr. A.M. Pathan Vice-Chancellor Karnataka University Pavate Nagar Dharwad-580003 Karnataka karuni@bgl.vsnl.net.in Page 413 Prof. D. L. Sharma Rector ...
... Page 136 that when efforts are being made to make non-violence the method of solving all problems. Disciple : But the insistence on non-violence has succeeded in disarming the Pathan of the Frontier. It seems, Gandhi objected to armed volunteers keeping guard over him while he was in the Frontier province. Sri Aurobindo : And what were they expected to do in case there ...
... which no detail of history now survives, afterwards the long effort at empire-building, the colonisation of Ceylon and the Archipelago, the vivid struggles that attended the rise and decline of the Pathan and Mogul dynasties, the Hindu struggle for survival in the south, the wonderful record of Rajput heroism and the great upheaval of national life in Maharashtra penetrating to the lowest strata of ...
... larger needs and tendencies, brought into the field of life. Therefore the old States had to dissolve and disappear, in India into the huge bureaucratic empires of the Gupta and the Maurya to which the Pathan, the Moghul and the Englishman succeeded, in the West into the vast military and commercial expansions achieved by Alexander, by the Carthaginian oligarchy and by the Roman republic and empire. The ...
... head". But that would be a very short-sighted human view of the Divine's multi-dimensional work. I am reminded, however, of a narrative poem by Tagore about Guru Govind Singh. The Sikh Guru adopted a Pathan boy whose father he had killed in a flare of temper. He brought him up well-versed in all Shastras and proficient in the art of warfare. Every morning and evening the old valorous Guru used to play ...
... sources of its strength. We in Pakistan have lost sight of the importance of these things. And without them you're like a straw being thrown about in the ocean. You're a Sindhi, a Baluch, a Punjabi, a Pathan. Pakistan's binding force has always been Islam. Without it, Pakistan would fall." The contradictions However, many writers and thinkers in Pakistan themselves questioned ...
... and soundness rare in the history of human cultures. A very important point that must be noted is that the vast mass of Muslims in India was, and is, Indian by race. Only a very small admixture of Pathan, Turkish and Mogul blood took place; and even the foreign kings and nobles became almost immediately wholly Indian in mind, life and interest. It was in the early part of the 14th century when Sadr-Al-Din ...
... Panjab is counting the distinction between martial and non-martial races. Sri Aurobindo : That was introduced by the British to keep down India by depriving her of military races except the Pathans, Gurkhas, Panjabees etc. But every part of India had its empire in the past. The whole of India can have military equipment and training in a short time. Disciple : The problem is of the Muslims ...
... India into martial races, like those of the Punjab, and non-martial races. SRI AUROBINDO: That division was made by the British Government purposely to conquer and keep India down. They got the Pathans, Gurkhas and Punjabis to enter the army and make up the bulk of it. But every part of India had its empire in the past. AlI India can have military training and equipment in a short time. NIRODBARAN: ...
... she does not defend Italy, but England should be the last nation to raise a cry. SRI AUROBINDO: Quite so. England was the only country that defended air-bombing because she wanted to kill the Pathans! DR. BECHARLAL: Has European civilisation today nothing good in it? SRI AUROBINDO: It has lowered the moral tone of humanity. No doubt, it has brought in hygiene, sanitation, etc. But even the ...
... were the first revolutionary group and wanted to drive out the English. PURANI: It's good he protested against demilitarisation. SRI AUROBINDO: Has Gandhi succeeded in disarming the Frontier Pathans? PURANI: When he went there, he objected to armed volunteers keeping guard over him. SRI AUROBINDO: But what should they do in case of attack? Simply stand by? PURANI: No, they have to die ...
... Mahmood Khan Achakzai, who heads the Pashtoon Khwa Milli Awami Party in Baluchistan. "Pakistan is heading towards destruction because of its colonial ways," he said. "It just can't go on like this. We Pathans did not surrender to the British; we certainly won't surrender to the ISI. You can't make slaves of us," he said. Ditto Sindh. "We've no rights any more," says Page 106 Syed ...
... originally made up of two distinct and geographically unconnected parts termed West and East Pakistan. West Pakistan was made up of a number of races including the Punjabis (the most numerous), Sindhis, Pathans, Balochis, Mohajirs (Muslim refugees from India) and others. East Pakistan, on the other hand, was much more homogeneous and had an overwhelming Bengali-speaking population. The Roots ...
... the lowest of his servants. Sri Chaitanya was moved by these words, and clasped the king in a loving embrace, which brought tears of joy to Prataparudra's eyes. The Raja, who was a terror to the Pathans and whose physical Page 218 strength and iron contact was dreaded even by wrestlers, melted at his touch. For the Chariot Festival of Jagannath, about two hundred Bengali disciples ...
... Italy, but England should be the last nation to speak against it. Sri Aurobindo : Quite so. England was the only country that defended air-bombing because the English wanted to kill the Pathans. Disciple : Has European civilisation nothing good in it? Sri Aurobindo : It has lowered the moral tone of humanity. Of course, it has brought hygiene, sanitation etc. Even nine ...
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