Journal of Asian Civilizations | (Founded by Late Prof. Dr. Ahmad Hassan Dani in 1978 as | Journal of Central Asia) Editor Ghani-ur-Rahman (PhD) Vol. 39, No. 2 December 2016Journal of Asian Civilizations 3 The Dilazaks: A Forgotten Afghan Tribe Abdur Rahman Shakirullah Abstract The Dilazaks the very first Afghan tribe to enter the Peshawar Valley held a dominant position in their new home for a long time and were the most powerful of all the Afghans. This is why, when the YaisufzailMandanr much depressed, poverty, stricken and fatigued requested them for a piece of land where they could reside in peace, the Dilazaks, showing great generosity, assigned the Dodba to them and gave them even more lands afterwards. But the Yasufzais gradually secured their position and in the end drove their benefactors out of the Peshawar valley. The other section of the Dilazaks was driven out likewise by the Ghoriakhel. The Dilazaks then lost their power scattered by Mughal forces shortly afterwards. They have now almost been forgotten. The Dilaziks grossly mistaken by some early writers for ancestors of the Sikhs of the Panjab, or Rajpats (See Raverty 1976: 35n) were undoubtedly an Afghan tribe. Zahir ad-Din Babur (1987: 376) who knew them well, just as he knew many other Afghan tribes and also records their names for the first time, calls them Dilazak Afghans, as do some other Afghan writers. When Khan Kaju stopped his men from attacking the fugitive Dilazaks at the Indus crossing, he loudly shouted, “stop comrades, let their ladies get across, after all they are Afghans like us.” (Khwaju 1977:206). The Dilazaks consider themselves Karlarnis (Kararani or Karrani) and, according to the genealogical tables given by the Makhzdn-i- Afghani (1978:801), Karlarni was the fourth son of Qais ‘Abd ar- Rashid, the so- called progenitor of the Afghan race. What does the name Dilazak mean, we do not know, just as we do not know the meaning of Ghurghasht, Betani, Sarbanri ~ names of the other three sons of Qais, or of Kharshbiin and Sharkhbiin, the sons of Sarbarni, But there is no doubt that these are all non- Muslim names. When Yasufzai and Mandanrs (Khashi) were expelled from Afghanistan after the mass slaughter of their chiefs and notables in about Vol. 39, No, 2, December 2016 47The Dilazaks: A Forgotten Afghan Tribe AD 1480 or 1485 by Mirza Ulugh Beg, the king of Kabul, the Dilazaks were very powerful and possessed half of Bajaur, Tirah, a great part of Nangrahar (Nagarahdra), the entire plain of Peshawar except for Hashtnagar and the adjoining territories to the north, which were under the control of Sultn, Awais, of Swat, whose governor named Mir Handa (or Hinda) b. Arzu (or Azru), a brave and celebrated chief, of the tribe of Dodal, ruled over Sher Khanai,Baz Dara, Barmol, Sangio, Hisar Balol, fort Baigham, and Hashtnagar then inhabited by Shalmanis, from the provincial capital called “fort of Hashtnagar” (Mu’azzam Shah 1977:118) (present Bala Hisar), the ruins of which can still be seen from a distance near Charsada on the right bank of the Jindai. Where did the Dilazaks come from is nowhere recorded, In bygone times, it seems, they had been forced by the forward pressure of other tribes to remove into Nangrahir. Of the Afghan tribes, the Dilaziks, according to the Akhiind (1960: 110) were the first to appear in Nangrahar. When did it precisely happen the Akhund has nothing to say. But careful analysis of the details he has given regarding the Budini, it is possible to work out an approximate date. Akhtnd Darweza (1960: 107) tells us that he had heard from the most elderly and the most pious of the age that the country of Nangrahar in ancient times, was in the possession of a non- Muslim people called “Budni” who had several tribes, and that they missed no opportunity in creating troubles for the Muslims or hurting them. Raverty (1976: 51) maintains that the tribe which predominated over the Nangraharis, as the Akhind styles the Tajik inhabitants of that part, called Budni, appears to have been a clan of those Turkish tribes which, before the Afghans pushed as for north as the southern face of the Spin Ghar range, ruled it from very early times. But we know it from Herodotus that they were not Turks. Herodotus (1973: 278, 306, 309, 310, 315) writes this name as “Budini” and it appears to be the correct form in view of the following facts: 1, Some people in Ballichistan still call themselves Budini. They are undoubtedly remnants of a tribe of the same name. 2. Between Bannu and D.I.Khan there is a tomb in the Pezu Gap on. top of a hill, ascribed to Shaikh Budin, a highly venerated saint in the surrounding districts. 3. A section of the tribe seems to have migrated to lower Sind, The Vol, 39, No. 2, December 2016 48