Slave-trade of Chitral in 19th century

[Mian Babban]

Prior to the 19th century, Chitral was a centre for slave trade in the region.. [Britannica]


From Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal , 1865 ;

""The females of Kash-kar (old name of Chitral) are remarkable for their beauty, which is said to surpass that of the Siah-posh women, who are so much celebrated for their good looks. A great many people are yearly sold into slavery ; and a boy or a girl can, generally, be purchased for one hundred rupees. The more comely of the females fetch high prices, varying from five hundred to one thousand rupees. Two or three hundred slaves are sent annually into Turkestan , by the Darwan Pass of Badakhshan, and constitute one of the chief exports from the country".


From Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1908 ;

"The practice of selling Kho women, proverbial for their beauty, in Peshawar, Kabul, and Badakhshan, was formerly recognized as a legitimate source of revenue, and made Chitral a great resort of slave-dealers. Of recent years, however, the market for slaves has become circumscribed, and the system is now limited to the sale of girl children to supply the harems of Kabul, Badakhshan, and a few other territories."


From Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, 1869 ;

 

[Dushmann]

Interesting information.
.
What is the meaning of 'Kafirs' with 'blue eyes, red skin and lighter hair' mentioned in that screenshot of book? Were the people of Chitral not Muslim? Or the slaves sold were not local people ;but in that case why would they talk about beauty of women of Chitral?

Was Chitral Pashtun ruled princely state? But wikipedia mentions 98% of population spoke a different language called 'Khowar', less than 2% spoke Pashto.

.
Btw im going to copy paste this to some other place.

 

[Mian Babban]

Interesting information.
.
What is the meaning of 'Kafirs' with 'blue eyes, red skin and lighter hair' mentioned in that screenshot of book?

'Kafirs' were present-day Nuristanis

Were the people of Chitral not Muslim?

The Kho people of Chitral (whose language is called Khowar) were Muslims. They were selling their children into slavery out of their own will unlike Kafirs who were captured in raids. It was major source of revenue generation for Mehtr of Chitral. Even today , a very large number of Chitralis marry off their girls to men from far flung areas of Pakistan (particularly Punjab) in exchange of money (some say they are trafficked). Its a major issue in Chitral, according to reports only 10 % of marriages of Chitrali girls with outsiders are genuine.

[URL='https://tribune.com.pk/story/357246/alarming-trend-chitrali-women-trafficked-forced-into-prostitution/']Chitrali women trafficked, forced into prostitution - The Express Tribune [/URL]
https://www.dawn.com/news/704893
https://www.dawn.com/news/704893

 

[doppelgängerr]

Prior to the 19th century, Chitral was a centre for slave trade in the region.. [Britannica]


From Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal , 1865 ;

""The females of Kash-kar (old name of Chitral) are remarkable for their beauty, which is said to surpass that of the Siah-posh women, who are so much celebrated for their good looks. A great many people are yearly sold into slavery ; and a boy or a girl can, generally, be purchased for one hundred rupees. The more comely of the females fetch high prices, varying from five hundred to one thousand rupees. Two or three hundred slaves are sent annually into Turkestan , by the Darwan Pass of Badakhshan, and constitute one of the chief exports from the country".


From Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1908 ;

"The practice of selling Kho women, proverbial for their beauty, in Peshawar, Kabul, and Badakhshan, was formerly recognized as a legitimate source of revenue, and made Chitral a great resort of slave-dealers. Of recent years, however, the market for slaves has become circumscribed, and the system is now limited to the sale of girl children to supply the harems of Kabul, Badakhshan, and a few other territories."


From Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, 1869 ;

This is all bakwas now a days girls must visit to magistrate with family with written approval that she is going to marry outsider with her will even some locals search bus stop and if they find stranger with chitrali girl they were questioned even upon suspicion they force the person to divorce.
I did all the research because I want to marry Kalash girl from that area, check the dawn article below.
Getting a bride from Chitral not easy for outsiders now
https://www.dawn.com/news/1249658

 

[Mian Babban]

This is all bakwas now a days girls must visit to magistrate with family with written approval that she is going to marry outsider with her will even some locals search bus stop and if they find stranger with chitrali girl they were questioned even upon suspicion they force the person to divorce.
I did all the research because I want to marry Kalash girl from that area, check the dawn article below.
Getting a bride from Chitral not easy for outsiders now
https://www.dawn.com/news/1249658

Slavery is nowadays abolished genius, the information is related to 19th century (You are in history section in case you have not noticed)

 

[Dushmann]

So was the ruler of Chitral a native Chitrali or Pashtun or Turk?

Wikipedia has this:

The ruling family of Chitral traces its descent from the son of a Khorasan Prince, Baba Ayub Mirza who was also a disciple of the saint Shah Shams.[6] Ayub Mirza was the grandson of Shah Abu'l Ghazi Sultan Mirza Husayn Bayqarah, the great grandson of Emperor Timurlane. Baba Ayub Mirza arrived in Chitral and married the daughter of the ruler Shah Raees, a supposed descendant of Alexander the Great. The grandson of this marriage founded the present Katoor dynasty.

Who were the slavers of this slave market of Chitral? Their own tribal leaders or people of other tribes?

.
.
Picture of supposedly present ceremonial Mehtr of Chitral royal family:

Why is that guy in picture is wearing Turkish hat and people behind him are wearing the kind of hat pashtuns wear.?

 

[doppelgängerr]

So was the ruler of Chitral a native Chitrali or Pashtun or Turk?

Wikipedia has this:


Who were the slavers of this slave market of Chitral? Their own tribal leaders or people of other tribes?

.
.
Picture of supposedly present ceremonial Mehtr of Chitral royal family:

Why is that guy in picture is wearing Turkish hat and people behind him are wearing the kind of hat pashtuns wear.?

Because Old Mehtr originally from Turkey even word Mehtr is Turkish word.

 

[Dushmann]

Kho people

Kalash people

Nuristanis

It seems all three are similar, separated by religion and modern national boundaries.

 

[doppelgängerr]

Kho people

Kalash people

Nuristanis

It seems all three are similar, separated by religion and modern national boundaries.

No Kalash people came with Alexander.

 

[Mian Babban]

So was the ruler of Chitral a native Chitrali or Pashtun or Turk?

Wikipedia has this:


Who were the slavers of this slave market of Chitral? Their own tribal leaders or people of other tribes?

.
.
Picture of supposedly present ceremonial Mehtr of Chitral royal family:

Why is that guy in picture is wearing Turkish hat and people behind him are wearing the kind of hat pashtuns wear.?

They dont have any medieval recorded sources , so their Mehtrs' claim of descent from Timur should be taken with a grain of salt. Also Europeans mistranslated Sikandar-i-Zulqarnain into Alexander the great. There is a 16th century Pashtun source Tazkirat-ul-Abrar, which says that people of Pich, Kunar, Laghman and Badakhshan claim descent from Sikandar-i-Zulqarnain, the Persian Achaemenid king (identified as Cyrus the great). Europeans heard legends about Sikandar from the mouths of the villagers of these areas and assumed they were talking about Alexander the Macedonian.

The cap they are wearing, is called Chitrali cap. Pashtuns call it Pakol. It is worn by all ethnicities of Hindu kush range.

 

[doppelgängerr]

They dont have any medieval recorded sources , so their Mehtrs' claim of descent from Timur should be taken with a grain of salt. Also Europeans mistranslated Sikandar-i-Zulqarnain into Alexander the great. There is a 16th century Pashtun source Tazkirat-ul-Abrar, which says that people of Pich, Kunar, Laghman and Badakhshan claim descent from Sikandar-i-Zulqarnain, the Persian Achaemenid king (identified as Cyrus the great). Europeans heard legends about Sikandar from the mouths of the villagers of these areas and assumed they were talking about Alexander the Macedonian.

The cap they are wearing, is called Chitrali cap. Pashtuns call it Pakol. It is worn by all ethnicities of Hindu kush range.

Not possible since even today Kalash's are Animist same as Alexander.

 

[Mian Babban]

Kho people

Kalash people

Nuristanis

It seems all three are similar, separated by religion and modern national boundaries.

Kalash or Siah-Posh Kafirs are same people as Nuristanis. They ended up in Chitral after Durand line treaty but their valleys were actually part of Kafiristan which is nowadays Nuristan. Kalash live adjacent to Nuristan province of Afghanistan.

Kho are distinct from them but related.

 

[doppelgängerr]

Siah-Posh Kafirs

Isn't Kalash name enough, Why emphasis on Kafir?

Kitni nafrat bari hai iss lafz mien.

 

[django]

Interesting information.
.
What is the meaning of 'Kafirs' with 'blue eyes, red skin and lighter hair' mentioned in that screenshot of book? Were the people of Chitral not Muslim? Or the slaves sold were not local people ;but in that case why would they talk about beauty of women of Chitral?

Was Chitral Pashtun ruled princely state? But wikipedia mentions 98% of population spoke a different language called 'Khowar', less than 2% spoke Pashto.

.
Btw im going to copy paste this to some other place.

'Kafirs' were present-day Nuristanis


The Kho people of Chitral (whose language is called Khowar) were Muslims. They were selling their children into slavery out of their own will unlike Kafirs who were captured in raids. It was major source of revenue generation for Mehtr of Chitral. Even today , a very large number of Chitralis marry off their girls to men from far flung areas of Pakistan (particularly Punjab) in exchange of money (some say they are trafficked). Its a major issue in Chitral, according to reports only 10 % of marriages of Chitrali girls with outsiders are genuine.
https://www.dawn.com/news/704893
Chitrali women trafficked, forced into prostitution - The Express Tribune
https://www.dawn.com/news/704893

This is a major issue and quite a sad state of affairs, even mussalis with a bit of overseas acquired wealth have started to purchase Greek/Italian/Balkan looking beauties from the remote mountains of Chitral.I have seen this with my own eyes.Kudos

I did all the research because I want to marry Kalash girl from that area, check the dawn article below.
Getting a bride from Chitral not easy for outsiders now
https://www.dawn.com/news/1249658

If you are lucky enough make sure she is like this beauty. 15:21

 

[Pakistani E]

No Kalash people came with Alexander.

Kalasha, Nuristanis etc have zilch to do with Alexander. It's a myth spread by foreigners and some locals alike, look at the DNA tests done on them and you will see. They are remnants of an older wave of people.