Ethnographical Field-Research on the History and Culture of Nager: Some Preliminary

Remarks on the Process of Settlement

Author(s): Jürgen Frembgen
Source: Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1/2 (1986), pp. 22-34
Published by: Harrassowitz Verlag
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41927519
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 Ethnographical Field-Research on the History and
Culture of Nager: Some Preliminary Remarks on the
Process of Settlement*

by
Jürgen Frembgen

St. Augustin

Introduction

Apart from a few notes in the books of G. W. Leitner, J. Biddulph

and D. L. R. Lorimer, Nager (North Pakistan) and its culture has
not yet evoked a scientific or popular interest up to this day,
although it has founded in the past a ritual kingship like Chitral,
Hunza and Gilgit. Merely climbers, glaciologists and in a certain
extent linguists visited Nager for a few days. In the popular books
of travels - perhaps better called "tourist-literature" - written
about Hunza the Nagerkuts are almost exclusively burdened with
negative prejudices.1 For the anthropologist the nearly unknown
culture of the Nagerkuts is a very important and interesting field
of study.
In 1981 I got to know the Hunza-Valley and could implement a
short survey in Nager. As a member of the "Pak-German-Study-
Group for Anthropological Research in Northern Areas" I con-
ducted fieldwork in 1982, 1983 and 1984 respectively for some
months mainly in the villages of Upper-Nager between Hopar and
Hakuchar.2

* Paper presented on 24th Sept. 1983 during the "International Conference

on Archaeology, Ethnology, History, Art, Linguistics, Languages, Folk-
lore and Social Condition of Northern Areas of Pakistan", Gilgit, Pakistan
24. -30. 9. 1983. This article was revised for publication.
1 Frembgen 1983.
2 Here I have to mention the hospitality and cooperation of my friends in
Nager: beside Mir Shaukat Ali Khan, the late king of Nager, I want to

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 ETHNOGRAPHICAL FIELD-RESEARCH 23

The Nagerkuts live as farmers in the harsh mountain region of

the Karakoram cultivating terraced and artificially irrigated fields
and using alpine pastures for animal husbandry. Beside the indo-
aryan Shina (from the so-called dardic stock) they speak predomi-
nantly Burushaski, an ancient and detached language, common
with the inhabitants of Hunza and Yasin (s. sketches). Until 1972
Nager formed a semi-independant kingdom with its own administ-
ration, tax-system, corvée-labour, etc.

Notes on the Process of Settlement in Upper-Nager

A first impression is the complex social structure, i. e. the stratifi-

cation as a sign of the traditional social organisation, and above all
the heterogenity in the composition of the population. In Nager
there are in comparison with Hunza more Shina-speaking groups
integrated in the Burusho-society, i. e. in the population of the real
Burushaski-speaking Nagerkuts. Further I have to mention the
importance of Baltistan which is the original home of many Nager-
clans. In addition to that later immigrants came from different
parts of North Pakistan.3 We have to realize that kinship groups
consist of patri-clans and -lineages (both called "room" in
Burushaski) living in extended families with patrilocal residence.
The lineages can trace their genealogical ties up to the ancestor
who founded the descent group whereas within the scope of the
clan this is at the best possible in an incomplete or fictive manner.
The degree of identification with a lineage depends on the size and
complexity of the clan as well as on the social structure in the
respective village.
In the following chapters I will report shortly upon some oral
traditions on the process of settlement in Upper-Nager. There are
only a few absolute data and mostly we must be content with a so-

thank especially Ghulam Nabi, my interpreter and informant, and Raja

Karim Khan, who himself is deeply interested in the history of his native
area.

3 Here "North Pakistan" is used as a purely geographical term. Nowadays

this mountainous area belongs to the provinces of the "Northern Areas"
and of the "North- West Frontier Province" (NWFP) within the islamic
state of Pakistan.

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24 JÜRGEN FREMBGEN

called "relative chronology" especially for the time before 1800.

Here we touch the problem of the reliability of oral literature:
generally only a mirage of reality can be achieved and a recon-
struction of the past remains always fragmentary. Considering
this estimation I want to quote a statement of A. Goldenweiser
which should be applied to the present article, too:
. . . the ethnologist, in the absence of better evidence . . . follows the lead of
tradition until further data, of higher evidential value, serve to confirm or
to refute his preliminary conjectures or hypotheses (Goldenweiser 1915,
p. 764).

In my opinion we cannot find an absolute historical truth, especial-

ly in the field of oral traditions there are many possibilities of
distortions. In the sense of E. E. Evans-Pritchard I think that
"truthfulness in the reconstruction of the past is always a matter
of degree". Nevertheless, the oral traditions, particularly
genealogical lists, historical tales, and place-names, can tell us
something about migrations and the later incorporation of immi-
grants, refugees, and slaves. In comparison, written testimonies
like the travel-literature since 1873 are generally worthless, with
the remarkable exception of indigenous documents (deeds of gift;
letters on the exemption from taxes and corvée-labour; different
manuscripts).

1. The Origin of the Clans

It is very interesting that many important clans claim to have

come from Gor (Shinaki-area) via Gilgit. Sometimes the areas of
the recent NWFP, Kabul and Iran are mentioned as starting-
points for the migrations to Gor. According to local oral traditions
these clans were the first settling in Nager. Only a few examples
should be quoted here: Borosh who is always mentioned as the
first settler in Nager migrated with his family to Hopar and found-
ed the quarter of Boroshal. By the way Borosh was the brother of
Diram (s. Diramiting/Hunza). Most probably the Gashakuts were
the first clan in Uyum Nager. Gashak came from Gor, too. As the
first inhabitants (Bur. "Gamúyo"), in German "Ureinwohner",
they are connected with the fertility of the soil. Later the
Haraikuts got the right of the first sowing and superseded the
Gashakuts at the Thamo Bo-festival to an assistant position.

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 ETHNOGRAPHICAL FIELD-RESEARCH 25

Further Goshot migrated to Hopar (quarter: Goshoshal), his sons

founded the clans of the Goshotkuts, Gotkuts and Sailoting. Also
Musharkuts, Konjokuts and Hakalkuts came from Gor as well as
further relatives of the mentioned clans and of the Shin-caste with-

in the last 200 years. The areas of Gor and Chilas as the original
home of the oldest Burushaski-speaking clans of Nager refer to the
hypothesis of K. Jettmar that the inhabitants of a part of Bolor
could have lived in the mentioned area and were probably the
ancestors of the Burusho.4 Nevertheless, we don't know anything
about the language of the people of Bolor and of the first settlers in
Nager.
As a date for the immigration of the first clans now living in
Nager, in my opinion, the centuries at the turn of first to second
millennium A. D. can be estimated. The shortage of land and wa-
ter and the population-increase were mentioned as explanation for
leaving Gor and other areas. Could this have been a consequence
of the Shin-migration from the south? The successors of later im-
migrants point sometimes to the fact that they had to flee from
cruel kings with whom they had quarrels.
Before taking land in Nager the ancestors carefully tested the
soil and settled where it was good with regard to water resources.
In this respect the conditions were apparently favourable in
Hopar, but the next downward areas of the recent Uyum Nager
and Sumaiyar had enough water supply, too. The founders of clans
and villages are often connected by name with the construction of
canals. If a family leaves its original home the brothers mostly
separated and migrated to different areas.
As already mentioned some clans came from Baltistan via
Shigar and Hispar. Above all the villages of Sumaiyar and Hispar
were settled in an early period by people from Baltistan. Since the
16th century, Balti and Shina-speaking Dards came as servants in
the bridal parties of different princesses from Baltistan: and that
the Galsiringkuts (Shaiyar), Kasirkuts (Uyum Nager, Askurdas),
Kangkongkuts (Uyum Nager), Malikuts (Uyum Nager) and in-
habitants of Tsaia (= village in Uyum Nager). Further some clans
claim to have migrated to Nager at the time of Tham Kamal Khan
with a group of saints from Kashmir via Baltistan and Hispar. For

4 Jettmar 1975, p. 298- 300; Jettmar 1980, p. 119.

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26 JÜRGEN FREMBGEN

example Abul Hasan, the ancestor of the Kashmiriting is well-

known as the companion of Sangali (Saghe Ali). Both were disci-
ples of Saiyid Shah Buria and later Sangali got the mehtar-ship in
the 17th century from the Rais-rulers in Chitral as documented by
Mirza Mohammad Ghufran and D. L. R. Lorimer.5 Later immi-
grants above all refugees and royal servants came mostly in the
19th century for example from Punyal (Jarukuts/Askurdas),
Haramosh (Shashukuts/Shaiyar; Pharatkuts/Nilt), Bagrot (May-
uti/Nilt), Guhjal (Bangiating resp. Guits/Uyum Nager), Hunza
(Majoting/Uyum Nager), Chitral (Asuarting/Tongdas; Abuzar-
kuts/Uyum Nager) and Badakhshan (Badakhshikuts/Uyum
Nager).

2. Genealogical Lists of the Kings

The kings of Nager had an interest to transmit historical informa-

tions for demonstrating their legal rule. So the genealogical list
and panegyric poetry which were recited by special singers
(Thamo gharing etasho) at the royal court are part of an official
tradition. Considering their accurate transmission they are trust-
worthy to a certain degree, nevertheless, some unimportant kings
resp. unlegal usurpers are omitted, i. e. facts which do not main-
tain the tradition. Because the genealogies of the clans throw some
light on those of the ruling dynasty of Nager and vice versa it is
important to compare the genealogies reported by M. M. Pal,
which seems to be the most exact one, J. Biddulph and Hashmatul-
lah Khan6 with those stated by numerous informants during my
fieldwork in Nager as supplementary information. After equaliz-
ing these variants which only slightly differ, one can in my opinion
draw up an approximate genealogical list completed by informa-
tions concerning the reigns of the different kings and further bio-
graphical data by which the period until nearly 1800 becomes evi-
dent. So one can get a sociologically characterised measurement of
time by the data of the genealogical lists and the foundations of

5 Müller-Stellrecht 1980, p. 212.

6 Müller-Stellrecht 1979, p. 303 (genealogy No. 4 by Pal); Biddulph 1880,
p. 135; Hashmatullah Khan 1939, Part 6, p. 9 (unpublished translation in
English).

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 ETHNOGRAPHICAL FIELD-RESEARCH 27

villages. Mythological tales and legends finally show how the olden
times gain a form in the historical awareness of the Nagerkuts.7
The present Mir Shaukat Ali Khan ruled as Tham (king) of
Nager from 1940 to 1972. His father Mohammad Ali Khan, the real
heir of the throne and oldest son of Sikandar Khan, died already in
1922. Sikandar Khan ruled from 1905 to 1940 being installed by the
British officers of the Gilgit Agency, but hold power already since
1892 due to a serious disease of his father Tham Zafar Khan. He
had fought in 1891 on the British side during the Hunza/Nager-
Campaign against his brother Azur Khan II. (Uzr Khan). This son
of Tham Zafar Khan ruled from 1882 until the British conquest and
killed two of his rival brothers (Gauritham and Ding Malik). The
heir of Zafar Khan, his oldest son Mohammad Khan, usurped the
power of the small state in 1880 yet during the lifetime of his
father and was displaced by Azur Khan II. Zafar Khan was prob-
ably the Tham ruling for the longest period in Nager namely from
1839 to 1880 and (only officially) from 1882 to 1904. When he was a
small child and could not yet rule after the death of his father Alif
Khan there was a struggle for power. Habbi Khan (Habib Khan),
the younger brother of Azur Khan I., usurped the throne by the
help of the Musharkuts. But after nearly four years he was killed
by Wazir Holo (Qhutayating). It is said that Rahim Khan (a son of
Alif Khan) and even Tahir Shah (the later king of Gilgit) ruled for a
short time after the death of Habbi Khan. For Alif Khan (ruling
approximately from 1805 to 1833) and his father Azur Khan I.
(about 1780-1802) we should estimate a ruling-period of nearly 20
or 30 years. According to the statements of some informants Hab-
bi Khan had ruled for three years after the death of his brother
Azur Khan I. Babur, the father of Azur Khan I., is said to have
ruled only for ten or twenty years (about 1765-1780). Before him
Firduz Shah, the second son of Kamal Khan, should have been
king for about three years (about 1762-1765) after being sent back
from Gilgit. His brother Rahim Shah ruled approximately in
Nager since 1720. For Kamal Khan who is very famous for pro-
moting Islam in Nager numerous informants estimate a ruling-
period of nearly 60 years (about 1660-1720). The genealogical list
gives the following names for the kings between Kamal Khan and

7 Frembgen forthcoming.

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28 JÜRGEN FREMBGEN

the founder of the dynasty, Moghlot: Alidad, the father of Kamal

Khan; Dad (Dawat, Dod, Daud Khan); Dala Shah, the brother of
Sahib Khan, who had both to flee to Baltistan; Shah and his
brother Niko and finally Moghlot (approximately 14th/15th century
or earlier).

3. Different Periods of Settlement in Upper-Nager

3.1 I. Period: Before Moghlot

According to corresponding statements by numerous informants

some families of the recent clans already lived in Hopar and Uyum
Nager before the time of Moghlot. Hopar which is still now con-
sisting of five separated clan-quarters was first settled by Borosh-
kuts, the next were Hakalkuts and Goshotkuts. There are legends
telling of an earlier population in Hopar whose original home was
Baltistan and which was annihilated by a catastrophe with land-
slides and the advances of a glacier with the exception of an old
wife and her granddaughter. The latter married Borosh, the
founder of the mentioned clan. The first clans in Uyum Nager
were the Gashakuts, Konjokuts and Chakhoting. The settlement
of Sumaiyar-khay and Hispar by people from Baltistan might have
taken place in different steps before Moghlot, too. Istakh, the
ancestor of the different clans of Sumaiyar, is considered as a son
of the dynasty of Skardu (Baltistan). Probably he is identical with
Istak Singeh, the Makpon-ruler mentioned by Biddulph8 or a
member of the Amacha from Shigar. Before Moghlot Nager be-
longed to the dominion of the Rais-dynasty (Chitral, Gilgit), prob-
ably Istakh was a sort of local tributary governor. But generally
oral testimonies concerning the period before Moghlot bear strong
mythological traits.

3.2 II. Period: Moghlot and his Sons

One of the few clans with a high status, the Musharkuts, migrated
to Nager together with Moghlot who was a descendant of the
Trakhanating of Gilgit. In songs of praise it is mentioned that
Muko, the grandson of Mushar, and foster-father as well as later

8 Biddulph 1880, genealogy after p. 144.

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 ETHNOGRAPHICAL FIELD-RESEARCH 29

Wazir of Niko (son of Moghlot), built a big fortified village, the

Muko-kot or Nager-khan where the kings of Nager resided until
1894. Already a little bit earlier two smaller "khán" (Bur. "for-
tified village")9 were constructed in the area of the recent Uyum
Nager namely the Shah-khan and the Niko-khan. Legends are
existing telling about the enmity between these two sons of Mogh-
lot. Generally informants point to the fact that the inhabitants of
the khan fought against each other and tried to take women by
force. The Haraikuts, as the Rono of Gilgit are called in Nager,
ostensibly came from Kashmir with Dala Shah (son of Shah) after
his flight to Baltistan. Dala Shah married a princess from Balti-
stan, probably Haba Khatun, whose sister Shah Khatun went to
Hunza, and together with the engaged couple Balti and Shina-
speaking Dards came from this area. - In these first two periods
of settlement in Uyum Nager, Hopar and Sumaiyar the arriving
clans occupied already a territory where they built houses and
stables even when they had to live in winter in the Nager-khan
especially since the reign of Tham Kamal Khan. Every clan had an
own "biáak" (assembling place) and later their own religious build-
ings like masjid and matam-sarai in the clan-quarters. In many
cases this pattern was preserved until recently.

3.3 III. Period: Kamal Khan and the Settlement

of the Nagerkhan

Under the reign of the kings following Moghlot, especially in the

time of Kamal Khan and Rahim Shah, many clans from different
parts of North Pakistan migrated to Nager. There was already an
expulsion of some lineages from Hopar to Uyum Nager where new
waste areas were cultivated.
So Tham Kamal Khan gave the order to enlarge the Nager-khan
and to build the first mosque which is still visible today (a wooden
inscription gives the year 1128 A. H. = 1715 A.D.). The reign of
this king is connected with the islamization of Nager. It seems that
about 1700 the menace from outside was growing, the relations to
Hunza were becoming more hostile. Consequently the Tham or-
dered that all clans of the main village had to settle in the fortified

9 This"khán" should be differentiated from the personal title "Xáan" which

is written in the simplified form of "Khan", too.

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30 JÜRGEN FREMBGEN

Nager-khan. So the older settled areas of Uyum Nager which

today consists of 30 small villages and hamlets were left by their
inhabitants and only used as "summer- villages". When the British
had pacified Nager Mir Sikandar Khan could repeal the mentioned
order and even allow the expulsion of some people into small farm-
steads which are lying scattered in the fields.

3.4 IV. Period: The Expansion of Settlement under Azur Khan I.

and Alif Khan

Under the reign of Tham Azur Khan I. and later in the time of his
son Alif Khan there was a remarkable population-increase in the
first decades of the 19th century amongst other things evoked by
the immigration of kinship groups and the foundation of new vil-
lages was becoming necessary. The hard work of colonization was
not always voluntary done but sometimes rather a form of punish-
ment by the king. Azur Khan I. made propaganda for settling in
Nager by sending letters outside the valley. By the way the arri-
val of new farmers meant a considerable increase in taxes for the
Tham. In Uyum Nager the khan of Thol and the little hamlet of
Manal-guts-das were built; in Sumaiyar the fortified villages of
Jator-khan, Rashphari and Dalto were settled. Further Azur
Khan I. ordered the extension of the famous Istakh-canal from
Sumaiyar down the valley which made it possible to found the new
village of Askurdas. Maltash-khan as the oldest part of Askurdas
was first settled by Musharkuts, Potikuts and Boroshkuts. Most of
the 17 descent groups now living in Askurdas came from Uyum
Nager during the reign of Tham Zafar Khan. The khan of Shaiyar
was built under the reign of Tham Alif Khan and also settled
predominantly by farmers from Uyum Nager. Today the popula-
tion of Shaiyar consists of 11 kinship groups. Like in Askurdas and
other newly founded villages it is inhabited by lineages which
separated from their clans to find a sufficient subsistence.

3.5 V. Period: The Expansion of Settlement under Zafar Khan

and Sikandar Khan

In the time of Tham Zafar Khan many farmers from Hopar and
Uyum Nager settled in the lower villages. Raja Azur Khan II.
allowed the expulsion of Boroshkuts from Hopar to Uyum Nager

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 ETHNOGRAPHICAL FIELD-RESEARCH 31

and Chalt because his foster-father Ajdaro and whose son Moham-
mad Shah, the later commanding officer in the Hunza/Nager-Cam-
paign of 1891, were adopted by this clan. After the conquest of
Nager by the combined British/Dogra-forces and during the fol-
lowing period of pacification it was Sikandar Khan who allowed the
people to leave the Nager-khan and to return to their original clan-
quarters in Uyum Nager. A second important reason was the fact
that the khan was threatened of demolition due to its position on a
cliff which collapsed during the next years. Further the hamlets of
Shahman and Payalokushal were settled in the area of this main
village. In Askurdas and Shaiyar farmsteads were built for the
first time outside the khan but still in an compact way as a quarter
and sometimes as detached houses only in the time of Mir Shaukat
Ali Khan. Farmers from Hopar, Uyum Nager and Askurdas mi-
grated to the small unfortified hamlet of Hakuchar which is situ-
ated between Shaiyar and Pheker. It was first settled during the
reign of Tham Zafar Khan and always threatened by attacks from
the Hunzukuts. Shortly after the battle of Nilt in 1891 Sikandar
Khan ordered the building of canals in Lower-Nager and the con-
struction of the new villages of Sikandarabad, Tongdas, Hupai
(near Thol) and Chalt (some parts). In the area of Sumaiyar a part
of the population could leave the overcrowded "Urdorf' of Sumaiy-
ar-khay and the village-fortresses of Jator-khan, Rashphari and
Dalto to build the new unfortified hamlets of Top-khan, Raisman,
Boshat, Yal and Phut-khay. By the way it is an interesting excep-
tion that the people of Sumaiyar who are descendants from Balti
accepted only three small groups from outside as settlers in their
village namely the Saitoting, coming from the Sai-valley in the
time of Moghlot, Konjokuts and Bericho (both from Uyum Nager)
acting above all as Baldakuyo, i.e. load-carriers. The arrival of
new settlers in the lower villages was mostly welcomed by the old
residents because the strangers had to undertake defensive tasks
and inferior services.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biddulph, J. Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh Calcutta (Repr. Karachi 1977) 1880
Frembgen, J. Die Nagerkuò im Licht der populären Reiseliteratur. Ein Bei-
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32 JÜRGEN FREMBGEN

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schichtsbewußtsein der muslimischen Nagerkuts in Nordpakistan Ms.
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Jettmar, K. Die Religionen des Hindukusch Stuttgart 1975
- Bolor - Zum Stand des Problems in: Zentralasiatische Studien 14:
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Müller- Stellrecht, I. Materialien zur Ethnographie von Dardistan (Pakistan).
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Hunza 1979
- Teil II. Gilgit, Teil III. Chitral und Yasin Graz 1980

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