A CRITICAL REVIEW OF JADOON DESCENT

According to some writers, Jadoon tribe is supposed to be a branch of Yusafzai, Kakar, non- Afghan, etc. Let us critically examine their views in the light of authentic historical records and prevailing genealogies of Afghan tribes.
Are Jadoons a branch of Yusufzai Tribe?
The reason for this misunderstanding is that the Jadoons became annoyed and aggrieved with their ancestral Panni tribe. Whatever the cause might be, after their separation from Pannis they associated themselves with the Yusufzais and remained with them in all their migrations and exodus. They fought courageously alongside Yusufzais in all their battles against other tribes. In this connection, Raverty says:
“Panni (Parnai) son of Danaey had eighteen sons. The sons of Panni were the progenitors of as many branches or sub-tribes, but the descendants of some increased greatly and those of others never became numerous as to send out branches. Some of the latter, indeed, appear to have died in their own country, or decreased in number that, lately, they have not been mentioned otherwise than under the general name of Panni. The descendants of Jzadoon on the other hand, respecting whom likewise very erroneous statements had been made by persons who knew nothing about their descent, who are now settled near the west bank of Indus above Attock and in Dharamtaur, rapidly increased and, in time, separated, or

were separated by some means or other, from the parent stock. They subsequently joined the Khas’hies (Yusufzais, etc.) in their migrations and continued alliance with them. The Jadoons had been “ham-sayahs” of the Khas’hies during all their vicissitudes and wanderings, from the time they were obliged to leave the south-western part of the Afghanistan moved northwards, and finally settled for a time in the mountain tracts dependent on Kabul. They accompanied them from thence eastwards (Peshawar Valley) and after Dilazak Afghan had been expelled by Khas’his from all their lands north of the river Kabul, and when the newly conquered land was apportioned, the Jzaduns were assigned the tract of the country in which they at present dwell, in the eastern part of the Samah, near Aba’Sin. Since that time, having greatly increased, they spread further east on the other side of great river and hold lands in the Kohistan of Dharamtaur, and are said to number near upon ten thousand families”.
Hence, they have been considered by some writers to be a branch of the Yusufzais.
COLONEL C. Mac Gregar in his “Gazetteer Vol-I p. 603 writes
“The Jadoons who occupy the Orash Plain are not Afghans but their customs assimilate them”.

It is quite interesting to note that his statement is self contradictory as at another place in the same book on page 16 of Vol-II, he writes, “Jadoons are Pathans, but are not Yusufzais, like those around them”.
Some other writers suppose them to be a branch of Kakar tribe. Hayat Khan Kathar in his book “ Hai’ at Afghani”, not knowing the descent of Jadoons, or, taking his accounts from Elphinston, turned them into a branch of Kakar, and those who copied from English version thereof followed the suit.
Bellew, on the other hand declares them a Gakhar clan of the Punjab. He asserts that Kakar Afghan and Gakhar of the Punjab are the one and the same tribe, perhaps”?. This also appears to be quite incorrect, irresponsible and loose statement.
These writers have confounded Kakar Afghan with Gakhar and apparently did not know the difference between them.
On the other hand Pannis are generally, but erroneously, supposed to be Kakars. In this context Raverty says that Elphinston, whose accounts of Afghan tribe are generally believed to be correct, has made the terrible error of turning the Pannis into Kakars.

With reference to Raverty, one British Revenue Settlement Officer says that Jadoons belong to a splendid Hindu line”. “But this assertion has also been contradicted by Sir Danzil Ibbetson and Raverty by saying, ”It is almost certain that the Jadoons are not of Indian origin; though it has been suggested that in

the name is preserved the name of Jadu or Yadu, the founder of the Rajput Yadubansi dynasty, many of whose descendants are supposed to have migrated from Gujrat of India some 1100 years before Christ, and afterwards supposed to be found in the hills of Kabul and Qandhar. This analogy is also incorrectly derived by confounding and inter mixing the words Jadu and Yadu with Jadoons. But this has been questioned by Sir Olaf Caroe, who asserts that they are the descendants of Ghurghusht the third son of Qais Abdur Rashid, the common ancestor of the Afghan”.
Similarly, another English Settlement Officer in the Punjab, in his report to the Government by way of showing the extent of his information regarding the Afghan tribes of Pannis of which Jadoons are a division, states that they are an inferior race of Pathans.
Not only Jadoons, but even other Afghan tribes were measured with this rod while determining their descent.

For Instance, Bellew, with reference to Captain Plowden considers the Dilazak Afghan to be “Rajputs” and thinks their name Dilazaks points to their original religion as Budhist, Saki being the name of which the disciples of Sakimuni were formerly in Yusufzai country. Some assert them from Arab descent. Major H. James-Church, Missionary Intelligencer, 1854, considers them the same race as that which peopled the Punjab. However, the authority for this opinion is unknown. On the other hand, all the Afghan writers as well as the Mughal monarchs, Babar and Jahangir and many other writers including Abu-al Fazal have cosidered them as Afghans. We may safely conclude that had the Dilazaks been either scythians, Rajputs, Arabs etc., Khan Kaju, the Chief of Yusufzai and Mandar tribes, and Khushal Khan Khattak, who were themselves Afghans, would not have styled them as Afghans. There is a clan of Panni called Khajazak. They are descended from Khajazak, son of Panni, under the name Khajakzai’s. They had also been turned into Kakars by some irresponsible writers. Similarly, Mac Gregar in his book “Central Asia Part-I” terms Niazis as Luhanis (Nuhani), which is as impossible as “Mohmand Yusafzai” while Mohmand is a distinct tribe from Yusufzai.

The same author in the above mentioned book on page-158, part-I, Vol.3, refers to Tarkheli tribe as “Ghabri Swati”, but on page-185 in the same book he says that they are said to be the same race as the Utmanzais of Yusufzai. In a report to Govt. by Lt.H.B. Lumsdon, in 1851, he styles the “Shaikh Rahim Kar (alias Kaka Sahib) by the strange name of “Shaikh Rahum Rao”, thus making a Hindu of him.

Ibrahim, known by his nick or by-name Sarahban, had two sons Sharf-ud-Din and Kahir-ud- Din, who were known among the Afghans by their nick-names of Sharkahbun (progenitor of Tarin, Sherani, etc. tribes) and Kharshabun (progenitor of Kansi, Khalils, Mohmand, Yusafzais, etc. tribes). But Mr. Bellew changes them into Sharjyun and Khrishjun, the Solar or Royal race of the Rajput Hindus. Similarly, in case of the Sherani tribe, one of Sharkhbun’s sons, to whom Bellew writes “Sheorani” and is ultimately changed into a Hindu name of “Shivaram”, Panni tribe and most of its sub-branches or sub-tribes either are asserted to be a branch of Kakar or are linked with non-Afghan tribes. Similar is the case of Yusufzais. Census Report 1961 of District Mardan says that the origin of the Yusufazai tribe is not very clear. On the other hand Yusufzais claim their descent from Kharshabun, son of Sarahban, son of Qais Abdur Rashid, who is called by all Pathans as their common ancestor (Real & spiritual).

To sum up, it may be amply infered from the above mentioned views of certain writers that Jadoons were not an exception regarding the confusion prevailing about their origin as many other Pathan tribes faced similar treatment. These are the specimen of the loose and inaccurate manner in which Jadoon history has been distorted by following the statements of a single author without comparing all contemporary writers. These writers, who appear to have no special knowledge of the subject, seem to be unaware of these facts, and hence, Jadoons are first turned into Kakar Afghan and the same Kakars are re-transformed into Ghakhars of the Punjab. Some considered them to be a celebrated branch of Hindu. Utter confusion was created by rash and crude statements respecting the descent of people of whom the writers often knew nothing about. So, all sort of mistakes have been made concerning different clans of Afghan tribes, and they have been either turned into Ghakars or Rajputs, etc.
To make the discussion more meaningful, comprehensive and elucidative, it seems pertinent to give views of some prominent writers regarding the descent of Jadoons.

1. As already been mentioned, the Jadoons are descended from Panni. The genealogical table of the tribe, as given in the “Tarikh-e-Khan Jahani- wa-Mukhazan-e-Afghani, by Kawaja Niamatullah Harvi, written in round about 1612 A.D, is reproduced (in appendix No.1). This book was written in the reign of Mughal emperor Jahangir in which Jadoon tribe is referred to as a branch of the Panni Afghan. It contains genealogical tables of almost all the Afghan tribes. Hence, it carries an extraordinary significance from genealogical point of view. A unique feature, which distinguishes it from all other books on the topic, is its authenticity regarding the genealogy of the Afghan tribes. Research scholars consider this work as one of the oldest and most comprehensive one on Afghans.

2. The distinguished critic of Afghan history, Mr. H.J.Raverty, has, after thorough and profound study of Afghan history, derived conclusion that Jadoons are Afghans and descended from Panni tribe.
   
3. Commenting on the ethnology of the people of
   

Hazara, the Gazetteer of Hazara District states,

“Of all the genuine Pathan tribes the most numerous ones are the Jadoons, who occupy the Mangal tract, Rash and Rajoia Plains with the villages on these fringes, and Bagra and neighbouring villages at the eastern end of Haripur plain. They are the same tribe as the Gaduns of the Yusufzai border, and descended from Jzadun of Parnai (Panni) tribe”.

4. Similarly District Gazetteers of Loralai and of Zhob, 1907, while reporting on the Panni tribe read:
   “The Parnis or Pannies were originally a nomad tribe of Ghurghusht Afghans. The Safis, a branch of the tribe, are in considerable numbers near Ghazni and an other large section now known as the Gaduns reside in the Peshawar District to the east of Yusufzai country”.
   
5. Sir Olaf Caroe, in his famous book “The Pathans” under the genealogical table of Ghurghusht, mentions that Jadoons descended form Panni tribe.
   
6. District Census Report Hazara 1961 states that the most important Pathan tribes in the Hazara are Jadoons. They have descended form Jadoon, son of Panni Afghan.
   
7. In the book entitled “Report on the Settlement of Peshawar District, by Major H.R James, 1868, part-II, Appendix-D” on page 133, Jadoons are shown in the genealogical table as the descendants from Panni Afghan.
   
8. “Fateh-ul-Ansab” (PMSS) by Syed Mehmood Shah of Gandaf mentions that the Jadoons have descended from Panni tribe.
   
9. Ziring, The author of “Pakistan: The Enigma of Political Development” on page 149 and on page 14 of the Year Book of the NWFP 1954, writes as under:
   
   “The “NWFP is demographically divided between sedentary and tribal people. Although the Pathans are numerically superior, the region is also the home for the Awans, Gujars, etc. The Pathans, divided into numerous distinctive tribal units the major ones in the mountain ranges, are the Yusufzai’s of Malakand Agency, the Mohmands and Afridis of the Khyber Agency and Kohat Pass, the Orakzais of Tirah, the Wazirs of Narth & South Waziristan, and the Bhittanis and Shiranis of D.I.Khan. In the settled areas of the province are the Yusufzais of Mardan, the Khalils, Muhamands, Muhammad-zais, Daudzais, Khatlak, and Banghash of Kohat, the Marwats and Wazirs of Bannu and the Gandapurs, Kundis and Minakhail of Dera Ismail Khan. Some of the important minor tribes are the Jadoons of Hazara and Swabi, the Shinwaris and Mullagories of the Khyber and Babars and Dawars.”
   10.A book entitled, “Afghanan” by Muhammad Asif Fitrat published in Persian from Kabul in 1372 H (1953 AD) on its page 305 mentions Jadoons (Gaduns) as descendants of the Afghan tribe.
   
   11.To further crystalize the descent of Jadoon tribe, an extract from the book “A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and NWFP Vol.II” is reproduced here under:
   
   “Panni, a sept of the Kakar Pathans, but settled among the Utmanzais in Peshawar. Raverty, however, says that they are not Kakars, but a collateral tribe, being descended form Panni, one of the four sons of Danai. Panni had eighteen sons who founded as many tribes, viz-a-viz Musa, Langa, Sanga, Sot, Morghazania, Jadun, Safai, Shorn, Ali, Mandu, Marghstan, Dipal, Yusai, Qasim, Khajzak, Lawran (Lone), Umar, Janta and Khatania.”
   The Jadun, Safai, Musa Khel, Ali Khel, and the descendants of Dilpal are still numerous.
   
   To conclude this lengthy discussion and investigations, it may undoubtedly be said that the Jadoons truly and certainly have descended from Panni Afghan.