[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [Twilight of the Sultanate](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963) › c19.s3 # Twilight of the Sultanate c19.s3: Appendix C: Origin of the Lodīs Twilight of the Sultanate c19.s3 - **Language:** English ### Appendix C: Origin of the Lodīs ### [c19.s3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.2) LODI IN THE Afghan tongue signifies the great, the grown up, the elder.¹ According to Muslim chronicles², in the eighteenth generation from Adam was born Ibrāhīm, the beloved friend of God. His son Yaqūb had twelve sons who together were the progenitors of the tribes known as the Israelites. One of the descendants of Yaqūb, in the seventh generation after him, was Talut or Saul. Talut had two sons, one of whom was named Irmiya or Jeremiah. Irmiya had a son named Afghan, who is supposed to have given the name to the Afghan people.³ Qais, a descendant of Afghan, in the thirty-fifth generation from him, with many of his kinsmen or Bani Israel had settled in Ghor. They repaired to the Prophet's standard on an invitation from Khalik bin Walīd one of Prophet Muhammad's companions, and were converted to Islam. Qais was given the name of 'Abdur Rashīd and with the help of his kinsmen, the Bani Israel, waged many wars on the Prophet's behalf. The Prophet was so pleased with Qais that he called him Malik (king) and Pehtan (keel or rudder of a ship) for showing his people the path of true religion. This explains how the Afghans and Pathans (changed from Pehtan) came into being and how they all love the title of Malik. ### [c19.s3.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.3) ¹ Olaf Caroe, \*The Pathans\*, 17, 440 n. 24. ### [c19.s3.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.4) ² Ni'āmatulla's \*Makhzan-i-Afghānī\* and \*Tārīkh-i-Guzīda\*. ### [c19.s3.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.5) ³ One of the several legends current among the Afghans about the origin of the word Afghan is that the mother of Afghan experienced great pains before his birth. After delivery she exclaimed with relief, "Afghan" i.e. "I am free". Another version is that while in pain she was crying "\*Fighān, Fighān\*" which in Persian means "Alas, Woe". Bellew, \*Journal of a Political Mission to Afghanistan in 1857\*, 56-57. ### [c19.s3.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.6) The story proceeds. Qais \*alias\* 'Abdur Rashīd \*alias\* Pehtan married a daughter of Khalid who bore him three sons named Sarban, Bātan and Ghurghust. One of the daughters of Bātan was Bibi Matto, who fell in love with Shāh Husain, a prince of Ghor, and their intimacy reached a stage where her pregnancy could not be concealed. A marriage was the only course open, but the offspring, a boy, was given the name of Ghilzāi—meaning in the Afghan language a son “born of theft”.⁴ Bībī Matto’s next son was Ibrāhīm. Observing marks of intelligence and wisdom on his great-grandson Ibrāhīm, Qais addressed him as Loi-dey (Lōdī)—that is Ibrāhīm is great. Siani, one of the sons of Ibrāhīm, had two sons Pranki and Ism'ail. Bahlūl, the founder of the Afghan empire in Delhi, was eight generations removed from Pranki and was a member of the Sahūkhel tribe of the Lodīs. The Sūrs and Nūhānīs descended from Ism'aīl's two sons Sūr and Nūh.⁵ Thus the Ghilzāīs (Ghaljīs), Lodīs, Sūrs, Nūhānīs and Niazīs were common descendants of Bībī Matto and had close family ties.⁶ ### [c19.s3.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.7) ⁴ Caroe, 16 and 440 n. 23. ### [c19.s3.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.8) ⁵ Raverty, J.A.S.B., 1875, 33-37. ### [c19.s3.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.9) ⁶ \*Ency. of Islam\*, 151-52; Dorn, II, 49-50. ### [c19.s3.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.10) The erudite Abul Fazl believing in this tradition writes: “The Afghans consider themselves the descendants of the Israelites and declare their progenitor to be Afghan”,⁷ but “some claim the Afghans to be Copts (i. e. native Egyptian Christians) and state that when the Israelites came to Egypt from Jerusalem, this people wandered into Hindustan.”⁸ Ferishta also lends support to this versions.⁹ ### [c19.s3.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.11) ⁷ افغان خود را از بنی اسرایل شمرد و افغان نام بزرگ بیارند (Afghan considered himself a Bani Israel, and the Afghans earned great renown.) Āīn. Lith. Ed., 189-91. ### [c19.s3.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.12) ⁸ Jarret, II, 402-3. ### [c19.s3.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.13) ⁹ Ferishta, I, 17. ### [c19.s3.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.14) Thus the ancestry of the Lodīs and all other Afghan tribes is traced to the legendary Qais of the Bani Israel, to Egyptians, to Persians, etc. and “there is no matter more earnestly debated wherever Pathans assemble than that of the origins of this people”.¹⁰ ### [c19.s3.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.15) ¹⁰ Caroe, 3. ### [c19.s3.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.16) Now, the geneological account of the traditions is more or less mythical. It is “a curious accretion to Biblical history”, although from the time of Talut (Saul) new elements have been introduced in all probability to add an aureole to the Afghan people by tracing its pedigree to the great Jewish monarch. Writing in the time of Jahāngīr, when the Afghans in India had lost all hopes of recovering their power, it was natural for Ni‘āmatulla, or for that matter any Afghan chronicler, to look back with pride to the glories won by his race in the remote past. Besides, it was a widespread practice among the Muslims of putting forward an imposing geneology, tracing descent from Adam and claiming connection with the Prophet. ### [c19.s3.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.17) But the belief in their Jewish origin is widespread among the Afghans even to this day.¹¹ Raverty firmly believed in the story of Qais,¹² and Bellew defends it by saying that the Afghan claim of an Israelitish origin is based not only on an ancient tradition but also on close physiognomic resemblance with the Jews. Besides laws, customs and moral characteristics of the two are peculiarly akin.¹³ Longworth Dames controverts most of these arguments of physiognomic resemblance and customs.¹⁴ Sir Wolseley Haig also thinks that people have been deceived because of physiognomic resemblance.¹⁵ Another important fact may be noted here. As compared with Egypt or Israel, the Sulaiman ranges in Afghanistan are neither a very hospitable country nor are they situated very close to Egypt or Israel, and although the possibility of some refugees migrating to Afghanistan cannot be ruled out, yet large scale migrations as a precursor of a race are not a probability. ### [c19.s3.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.18) ¹¹ Caroe, 9-4. ### [c19.s3.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.19) ¹² Raverty, "Who were the Pathan Sultans of Delhi?" \*J.A.S.B.\*, 1875, 33-75. ### [c19.s3.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.20) ¹³ H. W. Bellew, \*Journal of a political Mission to Afghanistan in 1857\*, 46 ff. Bellew also notes that these very characteristics are common to both the Rajputs and the Afghans and even thought that Sarban, a progenitor of the Afghan race, was a corruption of Sūryabans (Solar race) from which many Rajputs claim descent. Bellew, \*Races of Afghanistan\*, 23-24. Also Cf. Caroe, 85-88. ### [c19.s3.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.21) ¹⁴ \*Ency. of Islam\*, I, 149-53. ### [c19.s3.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.22) ¹⁵ \*Encyclopaedia Britannica\*, XIV Ed., I, 287. ### [c19.s3.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.23) As we proceed from the mythical to the historical accounts we find that "Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier of Pakistan have seen perhaps more invasions (and migrations) than any other country in Asia, or indeed the world''.¹⁶ Between 550 B.C. and the fourth century A. D., Achaemenian (Iranian), Macedonian (in the wake of Alexander), Mauryan (Indian), Saka, Indo-Parthian, Kushān and Sassanian (all Iranian) dynasties invaded and ruled over eastern Afghanistan.¹⁷ And all the invaders, with the single exception of Alexander, had enrolled Iranians either from the central country itself or from nomadic peoples dwelling on the fringe of the Iranian world. Influence of Iranian language on Pakhtu is palpable and Olaf Caroe gives many words common in Pakhtu and Persian.¹⁸ Similarly N. B. Roy mentions many place names in Afghanistan which can be traced to as far back as the \*Zenda Vesta\* itself.¹⁹ In view of this Ibn Battūta's statement that "\*Kabul\* is inhabited by a people from Persia called Afghans",²⁰ gathers special significance. The Moorish traveller was a great observer and a great inquirer and he must have written after ascertaining what he saw. Even after the fourth century many more invasions of Afghanistan followed. The White Huns \*alias\* Ephthalite or Haytal (Turkish), Sassanian (Iranian), Kabul Shāhī and Zunbil (Turco-Iranian), Safavid (Iranian Muslim) and Hindu Shāhiya (Indian) ruled it by turns from the fifth to the eleventh centuries.²¹ ### [c19.s3.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.24) ¹⁶ Caroe, 25. ### [c19.s3.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.25) ¹⁷ \*Ibid.\*, 459-60. ### [c19.s3.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.26) ¹⁸ \*Ibid.\*, 66. ### [c19.s3.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.27) ¹⁹ N.B. Roy, \*Ni'āmatulla's History of the Afghans\*, 19-20. Olaf Caroe also says "The origins of Pakhtu-pashtu go further back into an older Iranian past." 69. ### [c19.s3.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.28) ²⁰ Lee, \*Travels of Ibn Battuta\*, 98. ### [c19.s3.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.29) ²¹ Caroe, 460. ### [c19.s3.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.30) In view of the facts given above it may be submitted that the Afghans have not descended from a single race. "A postulate that a group of peoples, so diversified as the Afghans and Pathans ... represent a pure and unsullied stream issuing from a single Hebrew source ... must carry its own refutation."²² They sprang from the mixture of many races including Jewish as their tradition avers, but more particularly from the Iranian, Ephthalite or Turkish, and Indian stocks. Just as in the case of Indian Christians and Muslims the origin of their name may be Jewish or Arabic, but the people are of the Indian nationality, even so in the case of Afghan and Lodī the name may be of Jewish origin but the people themselves sprang from the Iranian, Turkish and Hindu stocks the impress of whose language and culture is clearly visible in them.²³ Of all Afghan tribes the Ghaljīs and Lodīs were probably the most numerous, and possibly the most valiant.²⁴ ### [c19.s3.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.31) ²² Caroe, 25. ### [c19.s3.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.32) ²³ This view is also shared by Longworth Dames in the \*Encyclopaedia of Islam\*, I, 149-53. ### [c19.s3.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.33) ²⁴ Caroe, 18-19. ### [c19.s3.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.34) A word may here be said about the Pathans who live particularly in eastern Afghanistan and the country of Roh. Roh is an Indian (southern Punjabī) word for mountain, used by the Punjabīs and Jāts of Multan "seeing the Western-Mountain-Wall of the Sulaimans from their plains".²⁵ The Sulaiman ranges extend northwards from the Bugti country in Sindh up to Ghaznī in the west and Peshawar in the east. According to the geneology discussed above, the word Pehtan (used by the Prophet for Qais) changed into Pathan in course of time. But the Durrānīs believe that while they are pure Afghans, the Ghaljīs, Yūsufzaīs, Kākars, Afrīdīs, etc. are Pathans, that the Pathans are Afghans only by adoption and that they have not descended from Qais.²⁶ It is significant that neither Ibn Battūta nor Bābur mention the word Pathan. Bābur gives names of many Pathan tribes, but nowhere does he mention Pathans, Pakhtuns or Pashtuns. He calls the people only Afghan and their language Afghānī.²⁷ But his negative evidence does not prove that the Pathans are not Afghans. Both Bellew and Longworth Dames consider the two terms as appellations of a common people.²⁸ There is thus no racial difference as such between the two, but the word Afghan is applied to the people of Afghanistan proper while Pathan is commonly applied to the dwellers of Roh. ### [c19.s3.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.35) ²⁵ Elphinstone, \*Afghanistan\*, 152. Caroe, 4 and 439 n. 4. ### [c19.s3.36](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.36) ²⁶ Bellew, 62. ### [c19.s3.37](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.37) ²⁷ Caroe, 155. ### [c19.s3.38](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.38) ²⁸ Bellew, 65; \*Encyclopaedia of Islam\*, I, 149. ### [c19.s3.39](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.39) Another question which needs clarification is as to when the Afghans converted to Islam. The probable earliest reference to the existence of Afghans (Abgan) is in the third century Sassanian inscription. The Afghans are first referred to within India by the Indian astronomer Varaha Mihir. He calls them Vokkana in his \*Brahat-Samhita\* written in the sixth century. Hiuen-Tsang also mentions a people whom he calls A-po-Kien in the northern part of the Sulaiman mountains who can be no other than Afghans.²⁹ Then occurred the Muslim invasions of Afghanistan, first under the Arabs in the seventh century, and later by the Saffarid dynasty in the ninth. Some conversions must have taken place, and Ibn Haukal writes that the Buddhists, Jews and Muslims each lived in a separate area of the city of Kabul.³⁰ Furthermore Alberunī, always a keen student, designated the Afghans of "the mountains to the west of India ... extending up to the valley of Sindh" as Hindus.³¹ ### [c19.s3.40](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.40) ²⁹ Caroe, 112. ### [c19.s3.41](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.41) ³⁰ Sykes, \*History of Afghanistan\*, 159. ### [c19.s3.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.42) ³¹ Alberunī, Sachau, 208, 317. ### [c19.s3.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.43) He calls Peshawar by its Hindu name Parushawar, and gives a large number of references to Gandhara—the Peshawar Valley—and talks of Indian Kings in Afghanistan, but their capital in his time was Vaihind.³² Thus the accounts of Ibn Haukal (ninth century), 'Utbī and Alberunī (eleventh century) leave no doubt that the Eastern Afghanistan had not been Islamised till the end of the tenth century. Mahmūd Ghaznī had to fight against the infidel Afghans in the Sulaiman mountains.³³ In the battle between Muhammad Ghorī and Prithvirāj "the Afghans are represented as fighting on both sides which probably indicates that they were not yet completely converted to Islam".³⁴ In view of these facts the story of the conversion of Qais and his companions as early as the days of the Prophet stands discredited.³⁵ ### [c19.s3.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.44) ³² \*Ibid\*, 317. ### [c19.s3.45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.45) ³³ Raverty, \*Tabqāt-i-Nāsirī\*, English trs., 74 and n. ### [c19.s3.46](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.46) ³⁴ \*Encyclopaedia of Islam\*, I, 151. ### [c19.s3.47](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.47) ³⁵ Caroe, 9. ### [c19.s3.48](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.48) It will thus be seen that in the eleventh century when Alberunī wrote the Afghan tribes were established in eastern Afghanistan where they are to this day. They were not yet converted, and they were impatient of control.³⁶ Tall and fair, strongly built and warlike, they lived in penury, tending their sheep and at times supplementing their income by plunder. Their warlike character attracted the notice of conquerors to India who freely enrolled them in their armies. From the eleventh century onwards, the Afghans started coming into India as soldiers of fortune in the armies of various conquerors beginning from Mahmūd of Ghaznī. Mahmūd led many Afghan contingents into India and Muhammad Ghorī in his last expedition brought ten thousand Afghan horsemen with him.³⁷ One of his commanders-in-chief was Malik Mahmūd Lodī, and "the ascendancy of the Lodīs dates from this time".³⁸ In the time of Iltutmish, Jalāluddīn of Khawarizm, fleeing before Chingīz Khan, brought many Afghan soldiers with him. Some of them returned to their homeland, but many others under their leader Malik Khan took service under Iltutmish.³⁹ Balban employed three thousand Afghan horse and foot in the campaign against the Mewātīs,⁴⁰ and appointed a large number of Afghan officers and men for garrisoning outposts. The Afghans must have by this time got accustomed to the adventure of soldiering in India, and there is reason to believe that they joined in large numbers in the various Mongol invasions during the time of the Khaljī monarchs—Jalāluddīn and 'Alāuddīn. Muhammad Tughlaq perhaps for the first time appointed an Afghan as the governor of Daulatabad,⁴¹ and Fīrōz Tughlaq appointed Malik Bīr Afghan as the governor of Bihar.⁴² ### [c19.s3.49](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.49) ³⁶ Caroe, 113. ### [c19.s3.50](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.50) ³⁷ \*Makhzan\*, N. B. Roy's trs., 11. ### [c19.s3.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.51) ³⁸ \*Ibid.\*, 12, 13. ### [c19.s3.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.52) ³⁹ Caroe, 135. ### [c19.s3.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.53) ⁴⁰ Tab. Nas., 315. ### [c19.s3.54](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.54) ⁴¹ T.F.S. (B), 514. ### [c19.s3.55](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.55) ⁴² T.M.S., 133. ### [c19.s3.56](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.56) On his way to India, Tīmūr attacked the Afghan tribes of Lodīs and Sheranīs and was able to call upon them to furnish him with contingents.⁴³ In response to this, says Ni'āmatulla, Malik Khizr Lodī, Malik Bahāuddīn Jalwānī, Malik Yūsuf Sarwānī and Malik Habīb Niyāzī with twelve thousand men from Roh joined him in the invasion of India.⁴⁴ According to the same authority Malik Khizr and Malik Bahāuddīn died in a battle in the Siwaliks. ### [c19.s3.57](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.57) ⁴³ Caroe, 137. ### [c19.s3.58](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.58) ⁴⁴ \*Ni'āmatulla's History of the Afghans\*, 14. N. B. Roy doubts the veracity of this statement (n. 1, 14) because according to the \*Mulfūzāt-i-Tīmūrī\*, Tīmūr is said to have punished the Afghans. There is nothing wrong with Ni'āmatulla's statement. The invaders used to force the Afghans into submission first, as was done by Mahmūd of Ghaznī, and then ask them to provide contingents. Bābur who also enrolled Afghan levies, gives an interesting picture of how the Afghans, always difficult to deal with, made their submission when forced into it. Tribesmen made captive and suing for mercy appeared with grass in their teeth, exclaiming "I am your ox". (Caroe, 156). Raverty gives another explanation of the ox. He says that the "bulls" refer to the Afghans' hairy face and the long curly hair hanging down their back. Tab. Nas., English Trs., 852 n. ### [c19.s3.59](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.59) Saiyyad Khizr Khan, because of his unpopularity as Tīmūr's nominee in India, always needed outside help for maintaining his position and power, and during his administration many Afghans rose to the rank of nobles of high position. One such was Sultan Shāh Lodī. During the time of Khizr Khan and his successors a large number of iqt'ās were held by the Afghans. Malik Allahadād Lodī was the governor of Sambhal,⁴⁵ Qutb Khan Afghan of Rapri and the Auhadīs of Bayana. In fact during this period and after, the history of the Afghans lay in India and not in their homeland,⁴⁶ and they constantly used to "exchange visits between Roh and Hindustan".⁴⁷ The Sultanate of Delhi was thus already dominated by the Afghans when Bahlūl Lodī finally seized power, so much so that, according to Erskine, Bahlūl Lodī “was raised to the throne by a confederacy of six or seven great Afghan chiefs”.⁴⁸ ### [c19.s3.60](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.60) ⁴⁵ T.M.S., 239. ### [c19.s3.61](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.61) ⁴⁶ Caroe, 136. ### [c19.s3.62](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.62) ⁴⁷ Ni'āmatulla's \*Afghans\*, 15. ### [c19.s3.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3.63) ⁴⁸ Erskine, \*Babur and Humayun\*, I, 405. ## Cites (1) - [Bṛhatsaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.samhita.rsi.brhatsamhita) — Varāhamihira, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.lal-1963.c19.s3) · Pramāṇa