Dardistan in 1866, 1886 and 1893 / Being an account of the history, religions, customs, legends, fables, and songs of Gilgit, Chilas, Kandia (Gabrial), Dasin, Chitral, Hunsa, Nagyr, and other parts of the Hindukush, as also a supplement to the second edition of the Hunza and Nagyr handbook and an epitome of part III of the author's "The languages and races of Dardistan"

by G. W. Leitner

Introduction. (Juin, 1893.)

Chilás has already been referred to in my “rough Chronological Sketch of the History of Dardistan from 1800 to 1892.”[88] I now propose to republish “the History of the Wars of the Dard tribes with Kashmir” beginning with the account given to me by a Sazîni Dard in 1866 of the first war with the Chilásis.[89] Its importance at the present moment, consists in the fact that these wars with the Dards were almost all provoked by Kashmir, as they, practically, now are by ourselves. The attack on peaceful and pious Nagyr was excused by the usual calumnies that precede and justify annexation, till their exposure comes too late either to prevent aggression or to punish their authors, who, if soldiers, obtain honours, and if writers, an evanescent popularity. Now that the manuscripts of the Hunza Library have been sold by auction, that its fairies have been silenced, that its ancient weapons have been destroyed, that its language and religion have been assimilated to those of its neighbours, a living chapter has disappeared of the most ancient traditions of mankind safe in their mountain recesses for ages, till English and Russian subalterns wanted promotion at the expense of the safety of their respective Asiatic Empires. In 1866, I already pointed out that the Legends and Customs of the Dards were gradually vanishing before the incidental inroads of Orthodox Sunni Muhammadanism and that their preservation was a duty of the civilized world. Now we have simply killed them outright as also a number of interesting Aryan republics, like Chilás and other picturesque and peaceful autonomies. In 1875, Mr. Drew reported that the abhorrence of the Shin race to the cow, which probably marked the almost pre-historical separation of the Dáradas, the lowest of the twice-born, from the Brahmins of Kashmir, was ceasing, and in 1886 I saw a son of the excellent Raja of Nagyr in European garb all except the head-dress. Now that his country is practically annexed, its Chief is called “patriarchal,” just as the Chilásis are now patted on the back “as brave and by no means quarrelsome” by journals which a few months ago termed them “raiders,” “kidnappers”, “robbers” and “slave-dealers,” etc., forgetting that there exist the annual reports of our Deputy Commissioners of Abbottabad speaking of them since 1856 as a peaceable people. No doubt before that date, the Sunni Chilásis raided Shiah Astor, just as the Astoris raided what they could.[90]

The following account, it will be seen, and my own notes, do not, in the least, palliate the shortcomings of the Dards, but I maintain that there were no raids since 1856, and that in 1866 six Kashmir Sepoys, (not 6,000, as alleged by a recent writer) kept the Astor-Bunji road in a state of perfect safety; there were, no doubt, small detachments of troops at these places themselves, not to protect the road against the puritanical peasantry of Chilás, but as Depôts for the then War with all the united Dard tribes except Chilás. Yet we are told by a recent writer, ignorant of Dard Languages and History, that we took Chilás in order to protect Kashmir from raids (which had ceased for 42 years), that we spend less on the safety of the frontier than Kashmir, that the Nagyr Raja was a slave-dealer, etc., etc. Fortunately, we have official and other reports written before the passions of the moment obscured historical truth, and these Reports will long bear witness against the vandalism and folly by which our Northern Barrier of India was broken down and a military road was constructed for an invader to the heart of the Panjab. This road is the one from Abbottabad to Hunza, of which I obtained the particulars in 1866 (when I was sent on a linguistic Mission by the Panjab Government to Kashmir and Chilás), but which, for obvious reasons, I did not publish. Now that the Indian papers constantly urge and discuss its construction, I have no hesitation in giving the details of this, as I have of other roads and as now ought to be done of the various means of communication throughout what was once called, and what should, and could, for ever have remained, the “neutral zone” between the British and the Russian spheres of influence or interference. The first part of the projected road is to Chilás, and extends, roughly speaking, for 125 miles, namely Abbottabad to Mansehra 16 miles; Mansehra to Juba 10 miles; thence to Balakôt 12 miles; Kawaie 12, Jared 12, Kaghan 12, Naran 14, Batakundi 6, Burawaie 6, Sehri 5, Lulusar (where there is a fine lake 11,000 feet over the sea level) 5, Chilás 15. (For details see elsewhere.) Of this 15 miles are on independent territory, so that there was no occasion for the precipitate subjugation of an inoffensive population, whose sense of security is so great that they abandon their houses entirely unprotected during the hottest part of the summer when they leave with their families for the cooler surrounding hills. In another Dard republic, full of Arabic Scholars, Kandiá, there are no forts, and weapons may not be carried. Major Abbott, from whom Abbottabad so deservedly takes its name, reporting to the Lahore Board of Administration in July 1855, when the Maharaja of Kashmir had misinformed him of the successful conclusion of his campaign against Chilás and had asked the British Government, “whether he was to hold it with garrison, or to punish the people by burning their villages and then to retreat,” gave as his opinion that the latter course would exasperate the Chilásis into renewing their incursions, and that on the other hand “the possession of Chilás by Jummoo would altogether destroy the hopes of the Syuds of Kaghan. And as the odium of this very unpopular expedition has been carefully attributed to the British Government by the Maharaja’s Ministers, so much of advantage may possibly be derived from it.” I must now allow my Sazîni and other Dards to give an account of Wars which not only include the struggles for the conquest of Chilás, but detail the expeditions to Hunzá-Nagyr, the massacre of women and children at Yasin, the Dareyl and other conflicts, all interspersed with characteristic anecdotes and the names of men and places that have, or may yet, come to the front.