The expedition having come to an end, he went back to his former life, and never again took the field. He was then already seventy years of age, and thenceforth until his death in January, 1877, he did his best to hold in check the wild spirits of the border.
During his residence in Saidu Mandz the Akhund married a woman of a neighbouring village; she bore him two sons and a daughter. The elder of the sons was Abdul Manan, alias Mian Gul, who, after the death of the Akhund, became involved in a struggle for supremacy in Swat with the Khan of Dir, and in 1883, aided by the chief of Bajaur and the name of his father, he established himself for a brief period before his death. The younger son, Abdul Khalik, was, as his father before him, an ascetic and a hermit, but he had no influence whatever, and was unknown beyond the boundaries of his own valley.
“No Border Pontiff has yet arisen,” writes the author of Across the Border, “who can successfully fill the chair of his eminence Abdul Ghafur, the Akhund of Swat.”
The Akozais, the inhabitants of Swat, are separated into five divisions:
1. Baizai. 2. Ranizai. 3. Khadakzai. 4. Abazai. 5. Khwazozai.
Divisions of the Akozais
The Baizais inhabit the country on the left bank of the Swat River from the borders of Kohistan as far as and including Thana; the division contains three sub-divisions, and of these certain sections live beyond the limits of the Swat Valley, in the Ghurban, Kana, Puran and Chakesar Valleys, the drainage of which finds its way into the Indus. In addition to the Baizai there are also the Sam, or lowland, Baizai, who occupy the land from our border to the foot of the hills below the Morah Pass. The villages in this territory formerly belonged to the Baizai maliks, and were occupied by their tenants and servants, but have now become independent.
The Ranizais occupy the left bank of the Swat River from the district of the most southerly sub-division of the Baizais at Thana to the Utman Khel boundary, which is about three miles above the junction of the Swat with the Panjkora. To the north their territory extends to the river, and includes the islands between the different channels, while the southern boundary is formed by the watershed of the hills on that side. The importance of the division lies mainly in their possession of the Malakand and Shakot Passes; the Digar Pass, which is further to the west, also leads into the Ranizai country, but the pass itself is partly in the hands of the Utman Khels.
Formerly the whole of the country from the hills to the British border, now held by the Sam Ranizais, belonged to the Ranizai division, as the people known as Sam Ranizais, and who are now independent, were originally servants and tenants of the Ranizais.
The Ranizais contain five sub-divisions, and their principal village is Aladand, at the mouth of the Shakot Pass.