Central Asian Studies Series Identity, History and Trans-Nationality in Central Asia The Mountain Communities of Pamir

27 Growing Up in the North Caucasus Edited by Dagikhudo Dagiev and Society, family, religion and education Irina !vfolodikova and Alan Watt Carole Faucher

28 Soviet Oriental ism and the Creation of Central Asian Nations AIFid K. Busranov

29 Soviet Nation-Building in Central Asia The making of the Kazakh and Uzbek nations Grigol Ubiria

30 The Afghan-Central Asia Borderland The State and Local Leaders Suzanne Levi-Sanchez

31 Kyrgyzstan - Regime Security and Foreign Policy Kemel Toktomushev

32 Legal Pluralism in Central Asia Local jurisdiction and customary practices Mahabat Sadyrbek

33 Identity, History and Trans-Nationality in Central Asia The Mountain Communities of Pamir Edited by Dagikhudo Dagiev and Carole Faucher

For more information about this series, please visit: https:/lwww.routledge. I~ ~~o~;~~n~~~up comlasianstudieslserieslCAS LONDON AND NEW YORK r First published 20 19 Contents by Routledge 2 Pa rk Square, Mi lton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OXl44RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York. NY 10017 R outledge is an imprint of th e Tuy/or & Francis Group, an i11/'orma husiness © 2019 selection and editori al matter, Dagikhudo Dagiev and Carole Fa uch er; individual chapters, the contributors The ri ght of Dagikhudo Dagiev and Carole Faucher to be id entified as the authors or the edito 1·i al material. and or th e authors fo r their indi vi dual chapters, has been asse rt ed in accordance with sections 77 and 78 or th e Copy right, Designs and Patents Act 1988. List offigures lX All rights reserved. No part of th is book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, List of tables Xl or other mea ns, now kn own or herearter invented , in cluding Notes on contributors Xlll photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system. without permission in writing from the pL1bli hers. Abbreviations xv Trademark 11 01ice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademark s. and are used only ror id entifica tion and 1 Introduction: locating Pamiri communities in Central Asia exp lanation without intent to infringe. CA ROLE FAUCHER AND DAGIKHUDO DAGIEV British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record fo r this book is avai lable rrom the British Lib rary PARTl Lihrary of Congress Catalogi11 g-in-Publicatio11 Data A catalog record has been requested forth is book Identity formation, borders and political transformations 9

ISBN: 978 -0-8153-5755 -1 (hbk) 2 Geography, ethnicity and cultural heritage in interplay in the ISBN: 978-1-351-12426-3 (ebk) context of the Tajik Pam iri identity 11 Typeset in Times New Roman by codeMantra SUNATULLOJONBOBOEV

3 Pamiri ethnic identity and its evolution in post-Soviet Tajikistan 23 DAG IKH UDO DAGJEV

4 The Wakhi language: marginalisation and endangerment 45 SH IR A L I GULOMALlEV

5 The Ta.iiks of China: identity in the age of transition 61 AM t ER SA I DULA

PART2 Archaeology, myths, intellectual and cultural heritage 77

MI X jJ Paper from 6 A BadakhshanT origin for Zoroaster 79 re sponsible sources Printed and bound in Great Britain by F SC YUSUFSHO Y/\QUBOV AND D AG IKf-I UDO DAG I EV www.'*1.Dfll FSC" C013056 TJ In ternational Ltd , Padstow, Cornwall v1u Contents 7 The Silk Road castles and temples: ancient Wakhan in legends and history 91 List of figures ABDULMAMAD TLOLIEV

8 Nasir-i Khusraw's intellectual contribution: the meaning of pleasure and pain in his philosophy 106 GHULAM ABBAS HUNZAI

9 Religious identity in the Pamirs: the institutionalisation of the lsma'TII Da'wa in Shughnan 123 DANIEL BEBEN 3.1 This 1866 map of Khujand portends the detailed 10 Forgotten figures of Badakhshan - Sayyid Munir al-Din topographic and ethnographic work that Russian Badakhshani and Sayyid Haydar Shah Mubarakshahzada 143 academics would produce in the aftermath ofTurkestan's absorption into the Russian empire 27 MUZAFFAR ZOOLSllOEV 3.2 Map showing the Wakhan Corridor, which prevented the Russian empire having a border with the British Empire. PART3 Map courtesy Russell Harris 28 Social cohesion, interactions and globalisation 173 3.3 Map courtesy Russell Harris 30 4.1 Map of Wakhi Speakers. The Wakhi speakers indicated by 11 Blessed people in a barren land: the Bartangi and their success gray colour. Prepared by Gulomaliev 45 Map courtesy Russell Harris 62 catalyser Barakat 175 5.1 5.2 Map courtesy Russell Harris 69 TEFANIE KICHER E R 6.1 Map courtesy of Russell Harris 84 7.1 An arrow loop, the Namadgut Fortress(© lloliev) 97 12 Promoting peace and pluralism in the rural, mountainous JO.I Sayyid Munir al-Din Badakhshani (1882-1957). Courtesy region of Chitral, Pakistan 193 of F. M. H unzai 145 MIR AFZAL TAJIK. AL I NAWAB AND ABDUL WALi KllAN 10.2 Genealogical table of Sayyid Munir according to information provided by A. Shokhumorov (1992), A. V. 13 A 'shift' in values: the educational role of parents in the StanishevskiT (n.d.) and A. Muboraksho (1992) 147 Gorno-Badakhshan region 210 10.3 Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah's letter of NAZI RA SODATSAYROVA recommendation for Sayyid Munir. This document is preserved in the collection of Dr. Faquir Muhammad 14 Project identity: the discursive formation of Pamiri identity in Hunzai, who kindly agreed to share it for the purposes of this research 151 the age of the internet 227 10.4 A photocopy ofSayyid Munir's edition of Kitab-i A LISI-IQ QURBON I EV Khayrkhwah-i Muwahhid Wahdat. Courtesy of F. M. Hunzai 152 10.5 A photocopy of a page from Wajh al-Din of Nasir-i 15 Religious education and self-identification Khusraw copied by Sayyid Munir (lt is dated 27 Dhu al- among Tajik Pamiri youth 249 Qa'da 1342/June 6, 1924. Courte y S. Saidibroimov 152 CAROLE FAU HER 10.6 Pages from Fida' i Khurasani's Hidayat al-Mu'minin a/-Ta!ibin copied by Sayyid Munir. Dated: April 1924. Courtesy S. Saidibroimov 153 Bibliography 265 Index 293 122 Ghulam Abbas Hunzai 8 Abdullah Jan ha made a huge effort to reconstruct the history or Ismaili da 'wa in Gilgit-Baltistan in his book. 9 Religious identity in the Pamirs 9 The term pir is referred to a 'spiritual director' or 'spiritual guide'. 10 For further in formation on this, see S. H. Nasr ed. (1991), Islamic Spirituality ( Mun(feslalions). New York: Crossroad Publishing Company. The institutionalisation of the I I Dr. Azizullah Najib Hunzai has done a commendable research on ceremony 1 of Charagh-Rmvshan, in 2009. He compared ten manuscripts and identified the Isma'Ili Da'wa in Shughnan Sufi, lthna'ashri and Jsmaili elements carefully. According to his findings, this ceremony is the outcome of lsmaili, Sufi and lthna'ashri interface in the Central A ia. Daniel Behen 12 A ll ama Nasir a l-Din Hunzai has authored a book explain ing the ta'wil or the symbol of li ght ritually enacted in the Charagh -Rawshan ceremony. A llama Na­ sir al -Din has also strengthened the tradition ofNasi r-i Khusraw in the North­ ern Areas of Pakistan, cul turall y, intellectuall y and spiritually through writing poetry, promoting spiritual music and translating some of Nasir's books into One of the most conspicuous aspects of the culture and identity of the Pa­ Urdu. 13 Muqarnus is an Annual, dedicated to visual cultures or the Islamic world. miri peoples today is the prevalence of Jsma'TIT ShT'ism within the region. 14 Nasir's work, Jami' al-Hikmatayn is based on this theme. Yet the prominence of Jsma'Tlism in the Pamirs in the present day is matched 15 Nasir's leanings towards a meditative study of nature and more practical ap­ eg ually by the uncertainty that surrounds the question of the date and cir­ proach lo life makes his world view closer to that of Aristotle than to that of cumstances of its introduction. While both scholarship and the oral tradi­ Plato who is Jess concerned with nature and more interested in the world of tions of the Parniri peoples ascribe a foundational role in the introduction ideas. 16 The human body and its extern al senses function only as a medium to the actual and spread of lsma'Tlism in the region to the 11 th-century lsma'TIT poet, phi­ experience of the sensory pleasure wh ich occurs at the level or rational soul. losopher and missionary (dii 'l) Na$ir-i Khusraw, the subsequent history of 17 In the 17th chapter of Zad al-!vlusafirin, Nasir's theory of Divine writing and the Isma'TITmission or da 'wa in the region in the centuries foJlowing his death speech contains crucial aspects of his epistemology. remains almost entirely obscure (Beben, 2017a). Alongside Na~ir-i Khusraw, 18 The term 'ta 'wit' refer to a process whereby the inner meaning of the Qu'ran and the lsma'TITs of Shughnan also rn.aintain oral traditions concerning the role internal purpose of creation is accessed. ofa legendary figure by the name of Shah Khamush, who, along with several companions, is likewise credited with a later role in the establishment or re-establishment of the Isma'TIT da 'wa in the region (Gross, 2013). By con­ trast with Na$ir-i Khusraw, whose historical role as a representative of the lsma'TIT da 'iva is well-attested, the figure of Shah Khamush and his historical identity is fa r more ambiguous. A closer examination of the evidence reveals a much more diverse and equivocal array of narratives connected with this individual that circulated in the past, in comparison with those that are re­ flected in public memory today. Alongside the scholarship on Na$ir-i Khusraw, a number of studies have examined the role of the Isma'TIT religious leadership (known as the pzrs) in the more recent history of the Badakhshan region. In particular, recent studies have highlighted the critical role the plrs performed in the political life of the community in the tumultuous period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the Badakhshan region was partitioned between the British and Russian Empires (Elnazarov and Aksakolov, 2011; Iloliev, 2013; Khariukov, 1995; Khodzhibekov, 2015; Mastibekov, 2014; Shokhumorov, 2008). In part owing to the more extensive documentation available from this period in the colonial archives, this phase in the history of the Pamiri Isma'TIT community has received a far greater level of attention in compari­ son with earlier periods. Consequently, there remains a vast gap in the cur­ rent historiography on Isma'Tlism in the Pamirs, as the period between the 124 Daniel Behen R eligious identity in the Pamirs 125 career of Na$ir-i K husraw and the introduction of Russian colonial rule in history of the lsma'TIT tradition in the region, as references to Na$ir-i Khus­ the late 19th century remains almost entirely unexplored. Yet much of the raw's da'iva efforts in Badak hshan and subsequent references to lsma'TIT scholarship on the history of the plrs in Badakhshan is nonetheless marked activity in Badakhshan in the medieval period are often applied anachro­ by an implicit or explicit attempt to project the image of the institutional nisticall y in scholarship to the present-day understanding of that term, and structures found in the colonial-era documentation back into the distant not to the more limited sense it held in previous times. past, even to the time of Na$ir-i Khusraw himself, imagining it to have Judging from his own works, the period of Na~ir-i Khusraw's exile in remained relatively unperturbed by external forces in the interim. While Badakhshan and of his da 'wa career there appears to have been concen­ the Jack of attention given to earlier periods may be justified in part by the trated primarily in and around the Yumgan district, with no mention of scantiness of the sources, nonetheless the assumptions offered in the current any visits to the Pamiri districts. Following the career of Na~ir-i K husraw, literature of a more or less direct continuity between Na$ir-i Khusraw and there are no further references to Isma'TIT activity in the Badakhshan re­ the institutional structures recorded in colonial-era documentation is un­ gion for several centuries, and it is not until the J4th century at the earliest warranted and merits a closer examination of the evidence. that references to a n fsma'TIT presence in Badakhshan begin to appear in ln this chapter, 1 will examine the earliest available evidence directly at­ lsma'TIT sources; moreover, subsequent references to lsma'TIT activity in the te ting to the presence of the Isma'TIT da\va in the Pamiri districts, focusing region in both 1sma'TIT and non-Isma'TIT sources likewise refer only generi­ particularly on the Shughnan region. I offer here two primary arguments cally to Badakhshan a nd not to the Pamiri districts (Beben, 2015:233-255). regarding the nature of this process. First, I will explore a series of devel­ Among the more precise references to Isma'TIT activity in this period is the opments that occurred between the 17th and 19th centuries that enabled a account of the early 16th-century lsma'TIT uprising against the Ti mu rid rul­ dramatic expansion of the da'iva in the Shughnan region and in the neigh­ ers of Badakhshan given in the Torikh-i Rashid! of MuJ:iammad .lj.aydar bouring Pamiri districts. While this expansion may not mark the origin itself Dughlat, who describes the revolt as being centred in the town of Ragh, in of lsma'Tli sm in this region, I argue that it does mark a significant change present-day Afghan Badakhshan (Dughlat, l 283Sh./2004:346-347). It must in the status of the da 'wa there. This change entailed the cementing of a be emphasised that the Pamiri districts were largely outside the purview close relationship between the plrs and the political authorities of Shughnan, of the Central Asian sources of the late medieval period, and it is entirely which led to the enduring institutionalisation of the authority of the da'wa possible that an earlier lsma'Tl'f presence there may have gone un recorded. in the region. Hence, rather than the archaic institution it has often been Yet fu rther inquiries into this area remain purely speculative, pending the portrayed to be, I argue here that the institutionalised status of the plrship in availability of additiona l sources. Shughnan found in colonial-era o urces can be dated to no earlier than the The earliest known direct reference to lsma'TIT activity in Shughnan ap­ 18th century. Second, 1 demonstrate that this process of institutionalisation pears only in the 17th century, found in the Baf:ir al- asrar of Mal~mud b. was accompanied by a sh ift in the narrative traditions associated with Shah AmTr ValT BalkhT. The Ba/:lr al-asriir was completed in 1050/1640, having Kha.mush and his companions that discursively transformed them and their been commissioned by Nadr M ub arnmad Khan, the Uzbek ruler of Balkh, historical role in the introduction of Isma'Tlism in the region. and relates a number of campaigns by the Khan to extend his authority into the eastern reaches of the Balkh region. BalkhT relates that for a period of 40 years the territory of Shahdara (sic: Shakhdara) of the Rushan region (sic) Origins of the Isma'ill tradition in Shughnan was engulfed by the forces of'ShJ'ism and innovation' (tashayyu' va ibtada'), One issue that has served as an obstacle towards a better understanding of which had been carried thence from Darvaz (BalkhT:276b). According to the hi story of lsma'Tlism in Shughnan concerns the terminology connected BalkhT, all traces of this movement were extirpated by Nadr MulJammad with the territory of Badakhshan itself. In contemporary parlance, the ter­ Khan in a campaign la unched in Shawwal 1044 (March- April 1635), and the ritorie of Shughnan and neighbouring Rushan a re considered an integral region was restored to Sunni Islam (tajdld-i shi'C(ir-i ahl-i sunnat vajama'at part of the Badakhshan region. Yet historically this was not always the case. dar an mamlakat dii'ir va so'ir gardld); he notes, however, that the sect per­ The sources from the pre-Mongol era employ the name Badakhshan to refer sisted in the regions of Chitrar and Bashghur, which remained beyond the 2 to only one among a series of independent kingdoms within the territory of remit of the Khan. present-day Badakhshan (Moezzi, 2012). While in the Mongol era the term As seen from the accounts in the Tarlkh-i Rashid! and the Ba/:lr al-asrar, Badakhshan appears to have gradually extended to cover the bulk of the the lsma'TITs of Badakhshan appear in the Central Asian sources of the l6th territory of present-day southern or Afghan Badakhshan, the more north­ and the 17th century a lm ost solely within the context of revolts against 3 erly Pamiri districts remained politically, culturally and terminological ly Timurid and Uzbek rule. In this regard, the lsma'TITs may be reckoned as autonomous. T his is an important di tinction to make when considering the one a mong a series of messianic insurgent movements in the mountainous 126 Daniel Behen Religious identity in the Pamirs 127 regions of the Indo-Central Asian borderlands that resisted the central­ his eight sons, establishing an enduring appanage system that remained in ising impulses of early-modern empires, including the so-called 'Kafirs' place down to the end of the 19th century (1bid.:7a- 7b). Mir Yarl Beg was (Bartol'd, 1973:21 - 22) and the Rawshaniyya of the Hindu Kush region (An­ succeeded in Fay9abad by his oldest son, Shah Sulayman Beg, who success­ dreyev, 2000; Arlinghaus, 1993), and the Nurbakhshiyya of Kashmir and fully fended off an invasion led by the dynasty's long-standing opponent, Baltistan (Bashir, 2003) who, Ii ke the lsma'T!Ts , were subject to repression Mai) mud BT, the ruler of neighbouring Qunduz. Following Su layman Beg's by f;laydar Dughlat. Beginning in the 18th century, however, a series of po­ death in 1125/1713- 1714 the region entered a period of fratricidal conflict litical developments in Central Asia and the Badakhshan region took place between YarT Beg's remaining sons, from which his sixth son Oiya' al-Din that permitted a dramatic shift in the scope and status of the Isma'TIT da\va, emerged victorious in 113011717-1718. Oiya' al-Din ruled in Fay9abad until which enabled it to move from a primarily oppositional role to a politically his death in 114811735- 1736 and was succeeded in that position by his son and socially institutionalised one. Mirza Nu bat, who ruled until his own death in 116111748. The remit of their authority, however, was much reduced in comparison with YarT Beg Khan, and Fay9abad remained but one of a series of competing power centres Badakhshan in the 17th and 18th centuries throughout Badakhshan. Before discussing further the evidence for lsma'TIT activity in this period, Upon Mirza Nubat's death in 1161/1748 control over Faygabad came un­ it will be necessary to outline some of the more general political history of der the control of Mir Sultan Shah, the grandson of YarT Beg's second son, Badakhshan in this era, in order to provide the context fo r understand ing Mir Yusuf 'AIT, whose lineage had been one of the chief rivals of the line of the shift that occurred in the status of the da 'iva in the second half of the Oiya' al-DTn (lbid.:28a). Mir Sultan Shah subsequently became embroiled in 18th century. For the history of Badakhshan in the 17th and 18th centuries, a series of conflicts with neighbouring powers. Among these were a series we are largely dependent upon a single source: the Tarlkh-i Badakhshan. of conflicts fought with the rulers of Shughnan, which I will discuss further The Tarikh-i Badakhshiin as known in its published editions is a work in below. MTr Sultan Shah also fought a series of campaigns against the region two parts: an original portion completed in 1223/1809, whose authorship of Ragh, a semi-independent principality located between Badakhshan and is disputed (Bezhan, 2008), and a continuation penned by Fag! 'AlT Bek the independent Pamiri principality of Darvaz that is also mentioned in the Surkh-Afsar in 1325/1907, which continues the narrative down to the co­ Tiirlkh-i Rashid! as the centre of an Isma'llT uprising in the early 16th cen­ lonial partition of Badakhshan and the annexation of the northern Pamiri tury. The rulers of Ragh had alternated between Darvaz and Badakhshan districts to the Russian Empire. The narrative of the Tarikh-i Badakhshan in their allegiance and payment of tribute. The ruler of Ragh in the time of begins in 1068/1657- 1658, in which year it is related that the people of the MTr Sultan Shah, Shah Yadgar, had previously submitted tribute to Darvaz city of Yaftal, having tired of the oppressive ru~e of the Qataghanid Uzbeks, but desired to switch his allegiance to Fay9abad (lbid.:40a- 42a). This move rose up in revolt and solicited MTr YarT Beg Khan, a NaqshbandT shaykh angered the Darvaz Shahs, who launched a punitive expedition against Shah of the DahbTdT lineage, to travel from Samarqand and become their leader Yadgar. MTr Sultan Shah in turn assembled an army in support of his new (Badakhshl and Surkh-Afsar, 1997:lb- 2a). Despite periodic challenges to ally and succeeded in expelling the forces of Darvaz from Ragh, after which hi rule, both internal and external, YarT Beg Khan remained the ruler of Shah Yadgar is said to have remained a loyal subject to Fay9abad, at least Badakhshan for the next 50 years, until his death in 1118/1706- 1707, and for a time. Nonetheless, this incident marks the beginning of a long series of he obtained a patent confirming his rule in Badakhshan from the Uzbek increasingly assertive interventions by the rulers of Darvaz and Shughnan ruler Subbanqu!T Khan (BadakhshT and Surkh-Afsar, 1997:5b). Among the into the politics of Badakhshan. accomplishments attributed to him is his capture of the khirqa-yi mubarak The Tarikh-i Badak.hshan first addresses the presence of the Isma'llls (Grigor ev, 2007; McChesney, 1991:222-231), a cloak reputed to have be­ in its account of a campaign led by Mir Sultan Shah in 116511751-1752 longed to the Prophet Mubammad that YarT Beg Khan seized from a group against Chitrar, another independent principality to the south of of rival DahbTdT shaykhs who were traveling with the cloak to India (Bada­ Badakhshan along the border with the Indian subcontinent (Ibid.:43b- khshTand Surkh-Afsar, 1997:6a- 7a). Yarl Beg had a shrine built for the cloak 45b). In sharp contrast with the narratives of other military campaigns, in the town of Juzjan, later renamed Faygabad ('blessed abode') in reference the account of the Chitrar campaign is cast in explicitly religious terms. to the cloak's pre ence there. Declaring that 'If God is ju t he will grant me victory',4 Mir Sultan Shah Yarl Beg Khans long reign is portrayed in the Tarikh-i Badakhshan as launched his campaign against the 'false, abominable Shl'T Isma'llls (ah/-i a sort of mythic golden age of unified rule in contrast with the fratricide sh/'a-yi shan/'a-y i bafi/a-yi isma'lliyya) who reside throughout the realms and fragmentation that characterised the reign of his descendants. Upon of Badakhshan and Chitrar'. The Chitrar campaign concluded with a re­ his death in 1118/1706- 1707, YarT Beg Khan divided his kingdom among sounding victory for MTr Sultan Shah, after which he travelled personally 128 Daniel Beben Religious identity in the Parnirs 129 to Chitrar to bask in his success. It is related that he retained 3,000 slaves Darvaz, Chitrar and elsewhere, also adopted the earlier Badakhshani tra­ for his personal retinue and took 15,000 captives in total. The campaign dition of a claim to descent from Alexander the Great, stretching their im­ is marked as one of the crowning achievements of MTr Sultan Shah's reign agined origins even further back into antiquity.7 But while some scholars and was followed by successful campaigns against Kulab and elsewhere have displayed a tendency to accept uncritically this claim to a primordial (Ibid.:46b- 47a). Jn the following years Badakhshan became the destina­ past, in fact textual and epigraphic evidence attesting to the presence of an tion for a number of prominent scholars, poets, and administrators who organised polity in Shughnan in the early-modern period becomes available travel led from India and elsewhere to serve in MTr Sultan Shah's court only from the late 17th century onwards.8 (lbid.:49a- 53a; Papas, 2004). It is almost certainly not a coincidence that a renewed process of state for­ Before long, however, the fate of the kingdom of Badakhshan would mation in Shughnan occurred following the establishment of the YarT-Beg meet with a devastating reversal, as it was subjected and rendered tribu­ kingdom in neighbouring Badakhshan. Despite the claims by these rulers tary by the rapidly expanding Afghan Durrani Empire under AIJmad Shah of Shughnan to archaic origins, comparative studies on the process of state (Grevemeyer, 1982:56- 64). The curtailment of MTr Sultan Shah's authority formation in mountainous regions show such formations to be notoriously that accompanied this invasion was crowned by_ A]Jmad Shah's capture of unstable, and generally dependent upon state formation in neighbouring the khirqa-yi mubarak and its removal to Kabul.) This development clearly low-land regions, with whom highland rulers often simultaneously hold marked a demoralising blow to Mir Sultan Shah, with the loss of the khirqa both a conflictual and symbiotic relationship.9 Highland states often also symbolising the sharp reduction in his authority. This humiliation was fol ­ adopt a sort of mimicry of the cultural and political traditions of their more lowed by a devastating defeat at the hands of Qubad Khan, the ruler of Qun­ powerful lowland neighbours, who in turn rely upon the highland rulers duz. After his death, Mfr Sultan Shah's attenuated realm was inherited by as clients for policing their borders and securing trade routes, and occa­ his son, MTr Mu]Jammad Shah. MTr Mu]Jammad Shah also suffered a series sionally as providers of military Jabour. Such a client relationship between of humiliating defeats at the hands of Qubad Khan and was even held as a Badakhshan and the Pamiri districts appears to have been established early prisoner in Qunduz for a time (BadakhshT and Surkh-Afsar, 1997:62a- 65b). on during the reign ofMTr YarT Beg, of whom the Tadhkira-y i Muqlm Khan! But most importantly for our discussion, MTr MulJammad Shah's reign also relates that he recruited a body of mountaineer troops (jama'Ta z gharcha-y i saw the rise of a much more assertive kingdom of Shughnan to his north, to kuhistiinl), most likely referring to ShughnanTs or DarvazTs, for use in his which I will now turn. campaign against Ma]Jmud BT of Qunduz (Munshi, 1380 Sh./2001 :225). Hence, the emergence of this new hill-state in Shughnan may be considered as a classic case of'secondary state formation', spurred by the consolidation The rise of the Shughnan hill-state of political authority in Badakhshan under the Yarids, whose kingdom was As noted above, references to Shughnan in the medieval ources are ex­ the first independent polity to have been established in Badakhshan since traordinarily sparse. The few references available from Arabic geographical the Timurid annexation in the mid-l 5th century. sources in the pre-Mongol era sparingly describe Shughnan only as an inde­ The relationship between the rulers ofShughnan and Badakhshan in this pendent kingdom to the north of Badakhshan.6 Among the latest references period perfectly illustrates the dualistic nature of the relationship between to the presence of an independent kingdom in Shughnan is found in the highland and lowland authorities; while the client relationship between the work of Al-BTrunT, who in his Kitab ta/:lq!q ma Ii' I-Hind (c. 1030) mentions Yarid dynasty and Shughnan facilitated the process of state formation in the the presence of a kingdom of the "Shughnan Shah" bordering on the realm latter, in subsequent decades the rulers of Shughnan became more powerful of Kashmir (al-B!runT, 1910:206). In the wake of the Mongol conquests, and posed an increasingly potent threat to Badakhshani authorities. Shugh­ however, there are no further references to an independent polity in the re­ nan first makes an appearance in the TarTkh-i Badak.hshan during the rule gion until after the establishment of the YarT Beg kingdom in Badakhshan, of MTr Sultan Shah, when its rulers (not yet named) are said to have formed when a Shughnan 'hill-state' once again appears in the sources. A number an alliance with the rulers of neighbouring Darvaz (BadakhshT and Surkh­ of observers have been misled by the claims of this new polity to archaic Afsar, 1997:29b- 30a). Darvaz in this period, according to the TiirTkh-i Bada­ origins. As I will discuss further below, the rulers of Shughnan in this pe­ khshiin, was ruled by a confederation of brothers, all sons of a certain Shah riod traced their lineage back to a legendary figure by the name of Shah GharTbullah.10 Together the forces of Shughnan and Darvaz launched an Khamush, for whom dates have been proposed ranging from the 12th to attack against MTr Sultan Shah in 1162/1749. MTr Sultan Shah suffered a dev­ the 16th century. Nineteenth century travel accounts report that the rulers astating defeat at the hands of the Darvaz and Shughnan Shahs, who took a of Shughnan, along with the Yarid dynasty and the rulers of neighbouring large portion of his army, along with his brother, MTrza Burhan al-DTn , into 130 Daniel Beben Religious identity in the Pamirs 131 captivity. MTr Sultan Shah was forced to send a peace delegation to Darvaz indeterminate time in the past and to have established a tradition of sacred in order to plead for the release of his brother and the other captives. T he kingship in Shughnan.13 A shrine belonging to this figure is also found in the narrative of this delegation provides some insight into the nature of the reli­ town of Muminobod in the neighbouring Khatlon province in southern Ta­ gious environment in the Pamiri districts in this period, and hence merits a jikistan. The most detailed biographical narrative of Shah Kha.mush is found more detailed analysis (Ibid.:31 a- 32b). in Fae;!! 'AIT Bek Surkh-Afsar's appendix to the Tiirzkh-i Badakhshan. Surkh­ The delegation was headed by a certain Mulla 'Azim Akhiind Mufti, who Afsar, who claims to have taken his account of this figure from a source appears to have been a high-ranking religious official of Badakhshan. Ar­ titled Kitiib-i . 'hajarat al-siidiit, describes him as a sayyid descended from riving in Darvaz, Mulla 'A?:im Akhund displayed great respect to Tughma tJusayn b. 'AIT (BadakhshT and Surkh-Afsar, 1997:118a-126b). The account Shah, ruler of Qal'a-yi Khumb, the capital of the region. Tughma Shah re­ makes no mention of Shah Khamush having any connection with Shi' ism or turned the display of respect and invited Mulla 'Azim Akhund to join him Isma'Tlism, but rather describes him as a disciple of the renowned }:lanbalT in a gathering of notables and 'u/ama in his court. During this gathering, Sufi shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir JTlanT (d. 561/1166) and a spiritual (uvaysl) disciple a religious debate arose among the assembled. Mulla 'A?:im Akhand was to Junayd Baghdad! (d. 298/910), and hence situates him firmly within the invited to join the discussion and showed remarkable talent in his debate Sunni Sufi tradition. Yet, as we will see, other sources from the 19th and with the Shah's scholars. His performance greatly impressed Tughma Shah, 20th centuries also refer to this figure as a bearer of the Isma'TIJ da'1va. As I who invited Mulla 'Azim Akhund to return the following day and every day will outline below, the shifting narratives connected with this figure attest to thereafter. Finally, having developed a strong rapport with Tughma Shah, the expanding influence of the da 'wa in this period and the intertwining of Mulla 'Azim Akhund entreated him to release MTrza Burhan al-Din and the lsma'Tlism with more archaic indigenous institutions and traditions. other captives, after which the delegation returned successfully to Fayc;labad. What may be the earliest reference to the figure of Shah Khamush is This account is important for our discussion for what it reveals regarding found in the 16th-century Persian tadhkira of l:::lasan NitharT Bukhari, the the religious environment in Darvaz and Shughnan in the mid-18th century, Mudhakkir-i al:zbiib (completed 974/J 566- 1567). In his account of Sulayman a period for which little information is otherwise available. The account Shah, the Timurid governor of Badakhshan, NitharT mentions that he is a from the Tiirlkh-i Badakhshan shows the rulers of Darvaz in this period to ayyid on his father's side, whose lineage can be traced back to a certain be adherents of Sunni Islam, but also portrays them as relatively nai"ve and MTr Khamush (NitharT Bukhari, 1377 Sh./1999:64). No further information inexperienced in matters of the faith , and easily impressed by Mulla 'A?:im is given regarding this MTr Khamush and it is unclear ifit refers to the same Akhilnd's di play of religious knowledge. Broadly speaking, the inhabitants figure found in the later Badakhshani sources; however, the correspondence of Da rvaz and Shughnan throughout the text are depicted as being brave of the names and geographic context, along with the emphasis on his sayyid and daring in their military prowess, but of a demonstrably lower level of lineage, indicates that the same individual is intended. If this is the ea e, cultural development, illustrating a common motif in writings about high­ this suggests that the descent claim advanced by the rulers of Shughnan may land peoples among their neighbours. 11 The narrative of the delegation in its emulate an earlier genealogical tradition of sacred kingship connected with broad outlines invites a comparison with conversion narratives found in ac­ Shah Khamush in the Badakhshan region dating back to Timurid times. 14 counts from earlier periods, which typically employ the motif of the courtly Narratives regarding Shah Khamush are found in two additional local debate found in the Tarlkh-i Badakhshiin. 11 While the narrative in this text histories from the early 20th century. 15 The first of these is a work titled is undoubtedly constructed so as to demonstrate the intellectual prowess Tiirlkh-i Shughniin, written in 1912 by Sayyid }:laydar Shah, son of Mubarak of Mir Sultan Shah's court over that of his rivals in Darvaz and Shughnan, Shah of Parshinev, at the request of the Russian scholar Aleksandr Se­ it nonetheless provides a window into the relatively more recent process of menov.16 The second is a history written in 1930 by two schoolteachers in lslamisation in these regions in comparison with Badakhshan, as well as the Khorugh, Qurban Mul)ammadzada (Akhund Sulayman) and MuI:iabbat possible receptivity of these regions to external religious influences, factors Shahzada (Shah Fitur), titled Tarlkh-i Badakhshan (not to be confused with which would play a critical role in the spread of the Isma'TIT da\va in these the earlier text by the sarne name discussed above). 17 Despite its name, the regions in subsequent decades. work is in fact a local history of Shughnan from the early 19th century to the establishment of Soviet power. While the details of these two accounts can­ not be considered at length here, it suffices to state that although their nar­ The legendary traditions of Shah Khamush in Shughnan ratives differ in some significant ways, in their broad outlines both sources As noted briefly above, the rulers ofShughnan from the 18th to the early 20th concur in recounting the coming of Shah Khamush from Iran, his overthrow century traced their lineage to a figure known as Shah Khamush, who is said of the oppressive fire-worshipping kings who ruled at Qal'a-yi Bar-Panj to have come to Badakhshan from Tran with several companions at some (the pre-Soviet capital of Shughnan) and his establishment on the throne 132 Daniel Beben Religious identity in the Pamirs J33 of Shughnan. Significantly, neither mentions any connection between Shah a very different account is given by Ney Elias, who travelled through the Khamush and lsma'Tlism. region a decade later: European travel accounts from Badakhshan from the late l9th century present a more diverse array of narratives concerning Shah Khamush and The family of the Shighni Mirs trace their origin to a certain Shah-i his confessional identity. T. E. Gordon, who travelled through Badakhshan K hamosh, a Darwesh and Sayed of Bok hara, who appears to have first in 1876, relates the following account: converted the people to Sunni Mohammadism, in his capacity of Pir, and then to have become Mir over them. Long afterwards the people According to Shighni accounts, the family of the Shah of Shighnan became Shiah, though the family of the Mirs remained Sunni till the originally came from Persia, and the first arrival from that country (said last. When Shah-i Khamosh lived I have not been able to ascertain, and to have been between 500 and 700 years ago) was the Shah-i-Khamosh, there are no written histories in the country. who was a Syud and a Fakir. The country was at that time in the hands (Elias, 1886:47) of the Zardushtis (ancient Guebers - fire-worshippers), a powerful and learned race. The Shah-i-Khamosh commenced to teach these people Elias' account would seem to most closely correspond with what the his­ the Koran. There were already at this time Musulmans in the neigh­ torical record suggests: that Shah Khamush, to whatever degree he may be bouring country of Darvaz, and many of them flocked into Shighnan as associated with a historical figure, was probably not in his earliest narrative followers of the Shah-i-Khamosh. In about ten years he had converted incarnation seen as a purveyor of lsma'Tlism , and that the influence of the large numbers of the people, and a religious war commenced, which Isma'TIT da 'wa came to be felt in Shughnan only in later time ·. As further ended in this leader wresting the kingdom from Kahakah, the ruler of attestation to this, it may be noted that the earliest historical account of the Shighnan and Roshan under the Zardushtis, the seat of whose govern­ [sma'TIT da'wa in Badakhshan, the Silk-i guhar-rlz (discussed further below), ment was then at Balk h. After this the teaching of the people continued, makes no reference whatsoever to Shah Kharnosh or his companions, nor and in ten years more all had been converted to the Shiah form of the are any references to them found in earlier lsma'TIT literature produced in Muhammadan faith. Badakhshan or elsewhere. Taken as a whole, the variations in the reports (Gordon, 1876:141) found in accounts from the 19th and early 20th centuries suggest that the oral narratives connected with Shah Khamush and his companions under­ The testimony of Gordon's informants concerning the arrival of the fol ­ went a dramatic alteration in this period, in effect transforming them into lowers of Shah Khamush into Shughnan from Darvaz and the ensuing 're­ Jsma'Tl"f da '"is, and hence nativising and legitimating the da'iva in the Shugh­ ligious war' with the Zardushtis' of Balkh demonstrates several curious nan region by discursively intertwining it with a local tradition of sacred parallels with the report by Mal)mud BalkhT (cited above) on the coming kingship. This process has reached its fruition in Shughnan today, as oral of the lsma'TIT 'heretics' to Shughnan from Darvaz in the 17th century and traditions there almost univ.ersally celebrate the figure of Shah Khamush the subsequent conflict with Nadr Mu[Jammad Khan, the Uzbek ruler of and his companions as purveyors of the da'iva. 19 Below I wil l attempt, in­ Balkh. These parallels may indicate an intertwining between the memory sofar as the evidence will permit, to outline the historical process by which of these events with the narrative traditions surrounding Shah Khamush. As this intertwining of the Isma'TIT da'iva and the ruling class of Shughnan may lloliev has demonstrated in several studies (2008b; 2015), the term Qahqa­ have occurred. hah (or Kahakah in Gordon's rendition) frequently appears in Jsma'TIT con­ version narratives from Wakhan and elsewhere in the Pamirs as a generic Shah VanjI and the lsma'Ili Da'wa in Shughnan title for an oppressive ruler who is defeated in a contest with a sa.int or holy man.18 lloliev suggests that the etymology of this term may be traced to the As noted above, the reduction of Badakhshani authority at the hands of Turko-Mongol term Qaghan (or Khan), which in the case of Gordon's nar­ the Afghans provided a ripe opportunity for the rulers of Shughnan to ex­ rative further suggests a link with the figure of the Chinggisid Uzbek ruler pand their own authority. This shift became most apparent beginning with Nadr Mubammad Khan. the figure of Shah VanjT, the first ruler of Shughnan mentioned by name in Gordon's account is echoed nearly verbatim in the work of Henry Trot­ the Tarlkh-i Badakhshan, who appears during the reign of MTr Mul)ammad ter, who likewise describes Shah Khamush as 'a Mohametan of the Shiah Shah and whose rule in Shughnan covered roughly the final two decades faith' (Trotter, 1878:216). Trotter also records that the shrine of Shah of the 18th century. Following MTr Mubammad Shah's humiliation at the Khamush was located in the vicinity of the fortress of Qal'a-yi Bar-Panj, hand of Qubad Khan, Shah VanjT took the opportunity to launch a devas­ which served as the capital of Shughnan down to the early Soviet era. Yet tating campaign against Badakhshan, capturing the city of Fayc;!abad itself 134 Daniel Beben R eligious identity in the Pamirs 135 for some time (BadakhshT and Surkh-Afsar, 1997:65b- 67a). Although the was the head of the da 'wa in Badakhshan in his day. This section of the ShughnanTs were eventually repelled, Shah VanjT and his successors con­ text contains a wealth of previously untapped information on the history tinue to appear as thorns in the side of the rulers of Badakhshan throughout of the da 'wa in the 18th century. Most importantly for our purposes, the the remainder of the narrative of the Tarikh-i Badakhshan. Silk-i guhar-rl.z reports that Khwaja Mubammad $alil) appointed his chief The power of Shah VanjT and the Shughnan Shahs in tb is period also prof­ deputy, Khwaja Salman, as the "khalffa of Shughnan and of Shah Vanjl," ited from a close relationship with another emerging power on their northern suggesting a position as a sort of spiritual tutor to the latter (Silk-i guhar-r"iz, and western borders: the Khanate of Khoqand (Levi, 2007). The Khoqandi 108). The text adds that both Shah VanjI and the Shah of Darvaz pledged ruler 'Alim Khan (r. 1799- 1811) employed a large number of troops drawn their fealty to Khwaja Salman, and all their territories became subject to from the mountainous regions surrounding the Ferghana valley in his army, his da 'wa. Khwaja Mubammad $ali.l) also appointed another of his deputies, echoing the earlier practice of the use of Pamiri military labour by the rulers Khwaja Badal, as khalifa to the valleys of Shakhdara and Gharan in Shugh­ of Badakhshan. According to the Tarikh-i Shahrukhl, 'Alim Khan formed nan, where previously there was no community of believers (a:;/an dar iinjii two special military units composed entirely of mountaineer troops (known mu'min nabuda) (Ibid.:] 12- 113). under the title Cha/cha), one comprised of soldiers from Qarategin and the The explicit reference by the Silk-i guhar-r"iz to the previous lack of an Vakhsh valley, and another of troops drawn from Darvaz, Rushan, Shugh­ established Isma'TlT presence in the Shakhdara region is striking when con­ nan and Chitrar (KhuqandT, 1885:42- 43). As outsiders to the Uzbek tribal sidering the reference noted above in the Ba/:lr al-asrar, which testifies to the system, these units were renowned for their personal fealty to 'Alim Khan history of an lsma'TIT-led revolt in the region approximately 150 years prior, and played a decisive role in several of his campaigns against Bukhara and along with its suppression by Uzbek authorities. These earlier events receive in the Qazaq Steppe. A later ruler of Khoqand, Mubammad Khudayar no mention in the Silk-i guhar-rlz, which instead casts Khwaja Sal man's and Khan (r. 1845-1858), also brokered the marriage of one of his sons to the Khwaja Badal's mission as marking the introduction of the da 'i-va into the re­ daughter of the ruler of Shughnan.20 gion, suggesting the lack of an institutional continuity within the da'wa with lt is with the ruler Shah VanjT as well that we find the first signs of a re­ earlier efforts in the region. The primary difference between the mission of lationship developing between the rulers of Shughnan and the lsma'TIT Khwaja Salman and Khwaja Badal, and previous da 'wa efforts in Shughnan, da'wa. The Tarlkh-i Shughniin reports that although he himself was not an was its lasting success, which was predicated upon cooperation with the po­ lsma'TlI, Shah VanjT nonetheless purified the land of all those who opposed litical authorities of the region. Consequently, the rel ationship established the lsma'TIT faith and compelled the fire-worshippers of Shughnan to flee between Shah VanjT and the pl.rs marked a significant step in the institu­ to Yarkand, after which he ruled the territory of Shughnan with complete tionalisation of the lsma'TlT da\va in Shughnan. As many comparative cases justice.21 A more complete account of the relationship between Shah VanjT have demonstrated, for example in Europe during the era of the Protestant and the Isma'TIT da'wa is given in an earlier text titled the Silk-i guhar-rlz, Reformation (Boettcher, 2004), religious conversion and patronage of new which was authored c. 1835 in the town of Munjan (in present-day Afghan religious forces often accompanies new assertions of political autonomy and Badakhshan) by a representative of a family of lsma'TlT plrs who traced their centralisation. Hence, it is likely th at the rulers of Shughnan in this period lineage to a legendary da'/ by the name of Sayyid Suhrab Vall (depicted saw an opportunity in the spiritual and intellectual resources of the lsma'TIT anachronistically in the text as a disciple of Na$ir-i Khusraw).22 While the da '1va to bolster their own claims to authority and autonomy apart from the Silk-i guhar-r"iz has been known to scholarship since the early 20th century, neighbouring Sunni-ruled states. This opening in Shughnan al so came at a at least by name, its significance as a source for the history of the Isma'TIT time that new political and economic resources were accruing to the Jsma'TIT da 'wa in the Badakhshan region - in fact the earliest known narrative source imamate in Iran, hence further bolstering the capacity of the da'1va to extend to exist on the subject - has only recently come to be appreciated. The core its influence into new regions (Beben, 2017b). of this text presents a hagiographical narrative of the life of Na$ir-i Khusraw and his coming to Badakhshan; consequently, due to its 'legendary' nature Crisis and migration the text was widely derided by Soviet scholars as containing merely a col­ lection of fantastical stories without historical value. While the value of the Finally, it should be mentioned that the process of the institutionalisation text as a hagiographical work in its own right has now come to be better of the Isma'TIT da 'wa in the Shughnan region was also facilitated by another, appreciated (Iloliev, 2008a:27- 46), there are also a number of other valua­ much more adverse series of developments that began in the 19th century, ble elements of the work that have remained overlooked. in particular, in a namely the heightened persecution and forced migration of many lsma'LJTs later section of the work the author presents a series of narratives about the from Badakhshan into Shughnan in this period. Afghan authority over career of his grandfather, Khwaja Mubammad $alil), who by his account Badakhshan remained largely indirect down to the 1820s, and hence did not 136 Daniel Beben Religious identity in the Pamirs 137

result in any of the widespread persecutions of Isma'llTs that are attested in plrs in the Shughnan region came to be further institutionalised in the late later periods. To the contrary, the curtailment of Badakhshani authority at J9th century under the colonial supervision of Tsarist Russia, as Russian of­ the hands of the Afghans appears to have provided the space, at least for a ficials working in the region developed a particularly close relationship with time, for a significant expansion of lsma'TIT activity in the region in the late some of the plrs and relied upon them as intermediaries in their administra­ 18th century. This situation changed quite dramatically in the second quar­ tion of the region. 23 The pTrs of the line of Khwaja Badal and other families ter of the 19th century, beginning with the invasion ofBadakhshan by Murad from Munjan remained major landholders in Shakhdara down to the Soviet Beg, the ruler of neighbouring Qunduz, in 1829 (Noelle, 1997:80-85). Murad era (Bakhramov, 1957). Reportedly, some elders in the Shakhdara region Beg singled out Isma'TITs, as well as Hazaras and other Shi'! corn munities, as still spoke the Munj!Persian dialect as late as the 1920s (D'iakov, 1975, 172). targets for slave raids. Conseq uently, the establishment of the relationship In conclusion, it may be noted that the rise of the Shughnan hill-state and between the da\va and the rulers of Shughnan over the previous half century its subsequent patronage of the Jsma'JIT da'wa can be considered within the proved to be remarkably fortuitous, as the remote valleys of Shughnan and context of a larger pattern of political decentralisation that marked the his­ the surrounding districts provided a zone of refuge for lsma'TlTs fleeing from tory of Central Asia and the eastern Islamic world in the 18th century. These Afghan territory. Subsequent incursions by Afghans, Bukharans and others developments have been more broadly described within the framework of further facilitated the flight and resettlement of lsma'TIT populations from a general economic and political crisis, or 'decline'; and indeed, from the the southern regions of Badakhshan into northern highland areas in the perspective of metropoles such as lsfahan, Delhi or Bukhara, such a de­ Pamirs. These developments were noted by the British explorer John Wood, scription for this period is doubtlessly warranted.24 Yet from the perspective who travelled through Badakhshan a decade after Murad Beg's conquest: of previously margina lised forces such as the hill-state of Shughnan, or the lsma'IIT da'wa , this same process of decentralisation also provided a unique The last Tartar invaders were Suni Mohamedans, all of whom conceive opportunity for growth and expansion, the legacy of which is the enduring themselves bound to wage interminable war with the other sect, for the prevalence of lsma'llism among the Pamiri peoples down to the present day. purpose of converting them to the orthodox belief; and of this privilege it is well known they have never ceased to avail themselves. What has been the result? Shiahism, extirpated in the open country, has sought Notes and found refuge in the most inaccessible depths of the neighbouring 1 I am grateful to Jo-Ann Gross, Shaftolu Ghulamadov, and the editors for their mountains, in cold and hungry glens, that can only be entered during helpful feedback on this chapter. the summer months. Accordingly we find that in the open valley of the 2 Bashghur here most li kely refers to the territory of Bolorin the eastern Pamirs, Kokcha the inhabitants are Suni , though every Tajik hill-state around which borders on Chitrar and is atte ted as a center or Isma'Tli activity in later sources; on this region, see Abaeva, 1975, pp. 158- 168. it is of the opposite creed. Nor can the people of the vallies have been 3 Among other references to possible Isma'TJT activity in this period, Haff;:-:-i Tanlsh long of their present belief, since Murad Beg, in his chapoivs or forays reports that shortly after his conquest or Badakh ban in 1584, the Uzbek ruler has more than once accused certain districts of an inclination to lapse 'Abdullah Khan also faced an uprising against his rule by Shn rebels who were into heretical opinions, and ... marched off all the inhabitants to the said to have been harassing the Sunni population of the region (akthar az vilayat-i slave-market of Bok hara. Badakhshan-ra .. .. dar wkht-i r;/.abf va /:lf!a-yi tasarn~fi ta1 va 'if-i qi:ilbashiyya va firaq-i yaghiyya-i wvbashiyya ast); see l~Iafi;:-:-i Tanlsh, f. 239a. On this incident (Wood, 1872:192) see also Burton, 1997, p. 54. ~Jafl;:-: -i Tanlsh's reference to these insurgents as "qizilbash" may indicate a Safavid connection with the rebels, but more likely Consequently, the 19th century witnessed a protracted process of m igration it is intended simply as a generic term of derision for ShT'as. A short time later, of [sma'TITs from the region of Afghan Badakhshan into Shughnan and the the Jesuit priest Benedict de Goes traveled through Badakhshan on a mi ssion to more remote northern valleys of what is today Tajik Badakhshan in an ef­ make contact with reputed Christian communities in China and found the re­ gion lo be in a state of turmoil on account of an insurgency against "Abdulahan" fort to escape persecution from the Afghan authorities. Many of the leading led by a group be de cribes a the "Calcia." See Goes, 1866, pp. 559- 561. Goes' families of religious officials in the Shughnan region trace their origins to reference to the "Calcia" is among the earliest attestations of the term Ghalcha, towns in Afghan Badakhshan. ln the early 20th century one of the descend­ an exonym employed in reference to the Pamiri peoples. a nts of Khwaja Badal, Sayyid Al) mad, the plr of Shakhdara and one of the 4 Mir Sultan Shah ada-yi an ncumJd ki agar ayzad bar /:zaqq za/ar manasib-i l:za/-i most powerful lsma'TIT religious leaders of Badakhshan in this period, was man bi-ayand kha//a-yi mu/k-i Ch. itrar-ra bi khl:-i tasakhir iivaram. 5 The events surrounding the capture of the khirqa by the Afghans are elab­ interviewed by the Rus ian ethnographer AlekseT BobrinskoT, who noted orated upon by the 20th-century chronicler Fayo Mul:iammad Katib H azara, that Sayyid Al)mad's ancestors had migrated to Shakhdara from the town of who relates in his Siriij al-Lavarikh that its capture by Al:imad Shah occurred Munjan in Afghan Badakhshan (BobrinskoT, 1902, 11). The authority of the in 1182/1768- 1769; see Katib Hazara, 2013, p. 42. There is a discrepancy here 138 Daniel Beben Religious identity in the Pamirs 139 between the Siraj al-ravarlkh and the 1arlkh-i Badakhshan, as the latter reports places, in Daftary, 2007, p. 452. However, while this presentation does reflect that Mfr Sultan Shah died in 1179/1765- 1766. some of the present-day oral traditions among the Pa mi ri lsma'TIT community, it 6 For instance, see lbn 1-Jawqal, 1873, p. 349; al-Ya'qubT, 1892, p. 292. See further is entirely unsupported in the written so urces that Daftary cites here, including Bosworth, 1996, pp. 495- 496. the Tarlkh-i Shughnan and the Tarllch-i Badakhshan. 7 On these traditions see Abashin, 2003, pp. 61 - 86. On the earlier Mongol-era 20 A brief account of the marriage and or Mul)amrnad Khudayar Khan's diplo­ Badakhshani tradition connected with Alexander the Great see Beben , 2015, pp. matic embassy to Shugbnan, which mention the claims of the Shughnan Shah to 101 - 11 3. descent from Alexander the Great, is given in MaI:tzun-i GharTb, ff. 612b- 614a. 8 On the hi story or Shughnan in this period see El'chibekov, 1984; lskandarov, l am grateful to Yasemin Gencer for her assistance in obtaining scans from thi s 1996, pp. 67- 89; Ka.landarov, 2004, pp. 28- 126; Odilbekova, 1975. manuscript. 9 For an overview or this phenomenon see Scott, 2009, pp. 111 - 116. 21 Shoh Vanjihon jame'i mardumon, ki az ghalri ma:habi ismoill budand, onhoro 10 On Darvaz in this period see also Ki liakov, 1945, pp. 98- 100. firor karda, vale khud ismoill nabuda, va otashparaslon az Shughnon firor kard 11 One may compare the presentation found in the Tarlkh-i Badakhshan with ba Yarkand rC(fiaand va Shoh Vanjikhon ba adolati tamom bo mardumi Shughnon. the observations of the 7th-century Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang, who guzaron karda: Muboraksbohzoda, 1992, p. 9; Haydar Shah, 191 6, p. 7. writes of the inhabitants of Shughnan: "The people are rustic and bold by cus­ 22 On this text see further Beben, 2015, pp. 344- 402. l have cited here an unpub­ tom, being cruel in slaughtering and making theft their profession. They do not lished typescript edition of the text produced by Qudratbek Elchibekov, which know about ritual and righteousness and make no distinction between good and is housed at the library of the Institute of I maili Studies. The figure of Sayyid ev il. They hold wrong ideas about future calamity and happiness, and they fe ar Subrab may in fact be associated with a historical figure who actually Jived in the disasters in their present life." See Xuanzang, 1996, p. 33 . l 5th century, who is associated with a text from this period ti tied the $abiji11 al­ 12 On the theme or the 'court debate' in conversion narratives see DeWeese, 1994, nazirTn. . A separate st udy on thi s text and the figure ofSayyid Suhrab is currently pp. 167- 179. in preparation. 13 On the narrative traditions concerning Shah Kha.mush see also Gross, 2013, pp. 23 The rel ation ship between the p!rs and the Russian colonial stale, as well as the 164- 192. consequential strengthening of the plrs' a uthority, finds its parallels in si milar 14 Archeological studies on the reputed shrine of Shah Khamush (located in the rel ation ships with sacred lineages established by other coloni al states, most no­ town of Muminobod in the Kha lion province of present-day Tajikistan) suggest tably the British Empire in India. For a comparative Ludy ofthi phenomenon that this structure also dates lo the Timurid era; see Ghoibov, 2001. Thomas ee Ansari, 1992. Wei ford has demonstrated that local allegiances to Timurid aLtthority persisted 24 For recent debates over the question of'decline' in 18th-cen tury Central Asia see in the Badakhshan region long after the Uzbek conquest at the end of the 16th Levi , 2012; cf. Ron Sela, 2011, pp. 11 7- 140. century; see Welsford , 2013 , pp. 189- 192. The longevity ofTimurid-era traditions in the region may also be refl ected in the persistence of the kingship narratives connected with Shah Khamush and their adoption by the ru ler. ofShughnan. Bibliography: 15 A sl ightly earlier source that has not been available to me is a poem written by Sayyid Farrukh Shah b. Yusuf 'AIT Khan in Shughnan in 129011873, outl ining th e Abaeva, T. G. (1975). Granitsy drevnego Bolora. In A. N. Zelinski! (ed.), Strany i genealogy of the rulers or Shughnan. A summary of its contents is provided in narody Vostoka (vol. 16, pp. 158- 168). Moscow: Nauka. El'ch ibekov, 1973. For the manuscript of th e work see BerLel's and Bakoev, 1967, Abashin, S. (2003). Le culte d'lskandar Zu-1-Qarnayn chez les montagna rds d'Asie p. 89 (MS 196213). central e. Cahiers d'Asie Centrale. 11112 , 61 - 86 . 16 This work ha s been published in two versions. The first is a Russian translation Andreyev, S. (2000). The Rawshaniyya: A Sufi Movement on the Mughal Tribal by Semenov titled lstoriia Shugnana (1916). The second is a Cyrillic-script Tajiki Periphery. [n L. Lewisohn & D. Morgan (eds.), The Heritage o/Sujism (vol. 3, pp. edition published by Nazardod Jonboboev and Ato Mirkhoja as Ta'rikhi mulki Shughnon (1992). The autograph manuscript of the work is held in the Semenov 290- 318). Oxford: Oneworld. archives in the Institute of Hi story, Archeology, and Ethnography of the Acad­ Ansari, S. F. D. (1992). Sufi Saints and State Power: The Pirs of Sine/, 1843- 1947. emy of Science of Tajikistan; see Dodkhudoeva and Dodkhudoeva, 1999, p. 44. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 17 Mul:tammadzada and Shahzada, 1973. For the unique manuscript of the work Arlinghaus, J. (1993). Va rieties of Islamic Expression in the Mughal Province of Ka­ see Bertel 's and Bakoev, 1967, p. 37 (MS 196111). bul in the l6th Cen tury. ln A. L. Dallapiccola & S. Zingel-Ave Lallemant (eds.), 18 While some scholars (Scott, 1984) have pointed to the references lo 'Zardushtis' Islam and Indian Regions (pp. 7- 29). Sluttgard: Steiner. or 'fire-worshipping' kings in narratives such as these as evidence for the 'sur­ BadakhshT, S. M. , & Surkh-Alsar, F. A. B. (1997). 1arlkh-i Badakhshan (ed. & trans. vival ' or Zoroastrianism in the greater Badakhshan region until recent limes, A. N . Boldyrev). Leningrad: fz . Leninagradskogo Unive rsiteta. it would seem rather that this terminology was employed simply as a motif by Bakhramov, Z. (1957). Zemel'nye otnosheniia v Shugnane v kontse XIX - nachale Isma'TlTs of the region in reference to Sunni Muslim rulers who repressed the XX vv. (1895- 1920 gg.) Ocherki po istorii Tadzhikistana (pp. 47- 85). Stalinabad: da' 1va, in effect equating opposition to the da'wa with unbelief. 19 Jn one common formu lation, Nasir-i Kbusraw is credited with the initial in­ Pcdagogicbeski'f institut. im. T.G. Shevchenko. troduction of Isma'Tli sm in the form or the Fatirnid da 'wa into the Badakhshan BalkhT, M.A. V. Babr al-asrar/T manaqib al-akhyar. MS London, fndia Office, no. region , while Shah Khamush and hi s companions are credited with the intro­ 1496. duction of the later Ni za rT di pensation into the region , in effect 'updating' the Bartol'd, V. V. (1973). Kafiristan v XVI v. fn his Sochineniia (vol. 8, pp. 21- 22). Mos­ tradition established by Nasir-i Khusraw. This claim is advanced, among other cow: Nauka. 140 Daniel Beben Religious identity in the Pamirs 141 Bashir, S. (2003). Messianic Hopes and Mystical Vis ions: The Niirbakhshlya bet1veen Gordon, T. E. (1876). The Roo/o/the World; being the narrative of a journey over the Medieval and Modern Islam. Columbia: University of South Ca rolina Press. high plateau of Tibet to the Russian}i'ontier and the Oxus sources on Pamir. Edin­ Beben, D. (2015). The L egendary Biographies of Niisir-i Khusraiv: Memory and burgh: Edmonston and Douglas. Textuali:ation in Early Modern Persian fsma'Tlism . Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana Grevemeyer, J.-H. (1982). Herrs chaji, Raub und Gegenseitigkei1: Die politische Un iversity. Geschichte Badakhshans, 1500- 1883. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. Beben, D. (20 \7a) . Islam isation on the Iranian Periphery: Nasir-i Khusraw and Grigor'ev, S. E. (2007). Sviatye relikvii lslama i Afganistan: Khirka proroka Ismailism in Badakhshan. ln A. C. S. Peacock (ed.), !s/amisation: Comparative Mukhammada po materialam Afganskikh istoricheskikh istochnikov. In S. Ab­ Perspectives from J-!istory (pp. 317- 335). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Pres . dullo (ed.), Sujizm v lrane i Tsentral'noi A:ii (pp. 263- 268). Almaty: Daik. Beben, D. (20l7b). The Fatimid Legacy and the Foundation or the Modern NizarT Gross, J.-A. (2013). Foundational Legends, Shrines, and lsmifTIT Identity in Imamate. In F. Daftary & S. Jiwa (eds.), The Fatimid Caliphate: Diversify of Tra­ Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. In M. Cormack (ed.), Muslims and Others in Sa­ ditions (pp. 192- 216). London: I. B. Tauris. cred Space (pp. 164- 192). Oxford: Oxford University Pre s. Bertel 's, A. , & Bakoev, M. (1967). Alji1vit nyi katalog rukopisei obnaruzhennykh v Hafi?:-i TanTsh. SharaFniimah-i shiihl. British Museum MS Or. 3497. Gorno-Badakhshanskoi Oblasti: Ekspeditsie[ 1959- 1963. Moscow: Nauka. Haidarshoh M ubora kshohzoda, S. (1992). Ta'rikhi mulki Shuglm on (ed. N. Jonboboev Bezhan, F. (2008). The Enigmatic Authorship or Tiirikh-i Badakhshan. East and & A. Mirkhoja). Khorogh: Pomir. West, 58, 107- 121. Haydar Shah, S. (1916). Tar!kh-i Shughnan (trans. A. A. Semenov as lstoriia Shug­ al-BTriinT, A. R. (1910). Kitab Labq!q mii li'l-Hind (trans. E. C. Sachau). London: nana). Tashkent. Kegan Paul. lbn Hawqal , A.-Q. (1873). Kitab al-masiilik 1va'/- mamiilik (ed. M. J. d. Goeje). Le iden: BobrinskoI, A. A. (1902) . Sekta lsmai/'ia v bukharskikh predelakh Srednei A:ii. Brill. Moscow. lloliev, A. (2008a). The lsmii'l/£-Sufi Sage o.f Pamir: Mubiirak-i Wakhanl and 1he Boettcher, S. R. (2004). Confessional ization: Reformation, Religion , Absolutism, Esoteric Tradition of the Pamiri Muslims. Amherst: Cambria Press. and Modernity. History Compass. 2, 1- 10. lloliev, A. (2008b). Popular Culture and Religious Metaphor: Saints and Shrines in Bosworth, C. E. (1996). Shughnan. In Encyc/opcedia of/slam, Second Edition (vol. 9, Wakhan Region of Tajikistan. Central Asian Survey, 27(1), 59- 73. pp. 495- 496). Leiden : Bri ll l.loliev, A. (2013). Pirship in Badakhshan: The Role and Significance of the Institute D'iakov, A. M. (1975). Kratkaia kharakteristika etnicheskogo sost.ava naseleniia of the Religious Masters (Pirs) in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Wakhan and Gorno-BadakhshanskoI avtonomnoi oblasti v pervoT chetverti XX veka. ln A. Shughnan. Journal o/ShJ'a Islamic Studies, 6(2), 155- 176. N. Ze lin sk ii (ed.), Strany i narody Vostoka (vol. 16, pp. 169- 173). Moscow: Nauka. lloliev, A. (2015). King of Men: 'A li ibn Abi Talib in Pamiri Folktales. Journal of Daftary, F. (2007). The Ismii'l//s: Their History and Doctrin es (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Shi'a Islamic Studies, 8(3), 307- 323 . Cambrid ge University Press . lskandarov, B. I. (1996). lstoriia Pamira. Khorog: Meros. DeWeese, D. (1994). lslami:ation and Native Religion in th e Go lden Horde: Buba Kalandarov, T. S. (2004). Shugnantsy: istoriko-etnograjicheskoe issledovanie. Mos­ Tiikles and Conversion to Islam in Historical and Epic Tradition. University Park: cow: lnstitut Etnologii i Antropologii RAN. Pennsylvania State Uni versity Pre s. Katib Hazarah, F. M. (2013). Siraj al-raviir!kh (trans. R. D . McChesney). Leiden: Dodkhudoeva, L. , & Dodkhudoeva, L. (1999). Manuscrits orientaux du Tadjik­ Brill. istan: La collection Semenov. Cahiers d'Asie Centrale, 7, 39- 55. Khariukov, L. N. (1995). Anglo-Russkoe sopernichestvo v Tsentra/'nor Azii i /smail­ Diighlat, M. M. l ~I. (1283 Sh./2004). Tiir!kh-i Rashlcll (ed. A. G. Fard). Tehran: izm. Moscow: Moscow University. MTrath-i maktiib. Khodzhibekov, E. (2015). fsmai/itskie dukhovnye nastavniki (piry) i ikh rot' v El 'chibekov, K. (1973). Novye materialy po istorii Shugnana. l zves1iia Akademiia obshchestvenno-politicheskor i ku/'turno{ zhi:ni Shugnana (vtoraia polovina XI X - Nauk Tadzhikskor SSR: Or. obshches cvennykh nauk, 72(2), 3- 1!. 30-e gody XX vv.). Du hanbe: Bukhoro. El'ch ibekov, K. (1984). Genealogiia Shugnanskikh praviteleT XVIll-XlX vv. ln Pa­ KhiiqandT, M. N. M. (1885). Tiirikh-i Slwhrukhl(ed . N. N. Pantusov). Kazan. mirovedenie (vo l. I, pp. 55- 60) . Dushanbe: Donish. Kisliakov, N. A. (1945). Istoriia Karategina, Darvaza i Badakhshana. In B. G. Elias, N. (1886). Report o/a Mission to Chin ese Turkestan and Badakhslwn in 1885- Gafurov (ed.), Materialy po is!Orii Tadzhikov i Tad:hikistana (pp. 71 - 11 3). Stalin­ 86. Calcutta. abad: Gosizdat. Elnazarov, H. , & Aksakolov, S. (20 11). The Nizari lsmailis of Central Asia in Mod­ Lev i, S. C. (2007). The Ferghana Valley at the Crossroads of World History: The ern Times. In F. Daftary (ed.), A Modem History of the lsmai/is: Continuity and Rise of Khoqand, 1709- 1822. Journal of Global History. 2, 213- 232. Change in a Muslim Community (pp. 45- 76). London: I.B. Tauris. Levi, S. C. (20 12). Early Modern Central Asia in World History. History Compass, Ghoibov, G. (2001). Mazori Shohi Khomiish. In H. Kamol (ed.), Chahordah mazor 10/11 , 866- 878 . (pp. 124- 136). Du hanbe. Mal;ziin-i GharTb. Farghii.nah khiinlari tarTkhi. MS TY 2048, Istanbul University Goes. B. (1866). The Journey of Benedict Goes to Cathay. ln H. Yule (ed.), Cathay Library. and th e Way Thither: Being a Collection o.f Medieval Notices of China (vo l. 2, pp. Mastibekov, 0 . (20 14). L eadership and Authority in Central Asia: An Ismaili Commu­ 529- 596). London: Hakluyt Society. nity in Tajikistan. London: Routledge. 142 Daniel Beben McChesney, R . D . (199 1). Wcuzfin Central Asia: Four Hundred Years in the History of a Muslim Shrin e, 1480- 1889. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 10 Forgotten figures of Moezzi, M . (2012). Bada khsha n: A Familiar Name, an Unfamili ar Land. Revie 1v of the Facul!y of Divinily of Doku::. Eylul Un iversit, 36(2), 115- 129. Badakhshan - Sayyid Munir Mul1ammadzada, Q. , & Sha.hzad a, M. (1973). Tarrkh-i Badakhshan (ed. A . A. Egan i). Moscow: Nauka. al-Din Badakhshani and Sayyid Munshi, M. Y. (1380 Sh./2001 ). Tadlrk.ira-y i Muqtm-Khanr(ed. F. Oarrafan). Tehran: Haydar Shah Mubarakshahzada Mlra.t h-i maktub. Nitharl Bukhari, H. K. (1377 Sh./1999). Mudhakkir al-a/:ibab (ed. N . M. Haravl). Muzaffar Zoolshoev Tehra n: Nashr-i markaz. Noelle, C. (1997). State and Tribe in Nineteenlh-Cenwry Afghanis/an: The R eign of Amir Dost Muhammad Khan (1826 - 1863). Richmond: C urzon Press. Odilbekova. R. (1975). Materialy k istorii Shugnana (konets XVllf-XlX v.). lzve. tiia Alwdemiia Nauk Tad::.hikskoi SSR: Ot. obshchestvennykh nauk, I. 3- 17. Introduction Papa , A. (2004). Soufis du Badakhsha n: Un renouvea u confrerique entre l'lnde et This article concerns the biographies of Sayyid Munir al -Din Badakhshani J'Asie centrale. Cahiers d'Asie Centrale, 11/1 2, 87- 102. and Sayyid Haydar Shah Mubarakshahzada, public and religious figures Scott, D. A. (1984). Zoroastrian Traces a long the Upper Amu Darya (Ox us). Journal of!he Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1, 217- 228. active in Badakhshan during the first decades of the 20th century, whose Scott, J. C. (2009). The A r! of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland roles and legai:;ies have been largely ignored by historians and experts of Southeast Asia . New Haven: Yale University Press. religion. Despite the lack of sufficient historical data containing detailed Sela, R. (20 11). The Legendary Biographies of Tamerlane: Islam and Heroic Apocry ­ information about their life and activities, it has been possible to collect pha in Central Asia. New York: Cambridge University Pre s. fragmentary information by conducting interviews with the older genera­ Shokhumorov, A. (2008). Ra::.delen ie Badakhshana i sud 'by lsmai/izma. Moscow: tion in Badakhshan, as well as to find shards of useful d ata in archives and RossiTskaia Akademiia Nauk, lnstilut Vostokovedeniia. published sources covering the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th S ilk-i guhar-rl::. (ed. Q. Elchibekov). Dushanbe. centuries, and thereby attempt to construct their biographies. Trotter, H . (1878). On the Geographica l Results of the Mis ion to Kashgha r, under For reasons that are mainly political and ideological, the personal.ities Sir T. Douglas Forsyth in 1873- 74. Journal of !h e Royal Geographical Society of of Sayyid Munir and Sayyid Haydar Shah have largely remained unknown London. 48, 173 - 234. until the break-up of the USSR (1991). Those few sources that do cover their Wel sford, T. (2013). Four Types of Loyally in Early Modern Central Asia: The Tftqiiy­ Timilrid Takeover of Greater Mii Warii al-Nahr. 1598- 1605. Leiden: Brill. lives and activities contain contradictory information, and almost half of Wood, J. (1872). A Journey to th e Source of tir e River Oxu · (2nd ed.). London: J. the oral sources collected in Badakhshan depict the two figures in a nega­ Murray. tive light. This can be explained not only by the ideology of the Soviet state Xua nzang. (1996). The Great Tung Dynasty R ecord 0/1/ze Western Regions (trans. L. which marginalised and suppressed the role of religion and its representa­ Rongxi). Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhi t Translation & Research. tives but is also due to the religious stance the two men adopted against the al-Ya'qObl. (1892). Kitiib al-buldiin (ed. M. J. d. Goeje). Leiden: Brill. established religious authorities of the time, the pirs,1 and their willingness to introduce changes into religious rites through the introduction of the Panjebhai movement2 in Soviet Badakhshan during the early 1920s. Panjebhai voluntary associations initially spread among the Jsmailis of South Asia (or British India) in the second half of the 19th century. In So­ viet Badakhshan, however, the Panjebhai groups spread during the early 1920s a nd their introduction coincided, or was associated, with the visit of the high-profile Ismaili emissary from Bombay, Pir Sabzali Ramzan Ali (d. 1938) in 1923. During those years, the advocates of the movement in Bada­ khshan introduced changes to both the religious and social life of believ­ ers. For instance, they sought to introduce widespread religious education and attempted to simplify some religious rites. However, the introduction of certain initiatives (such as the introduction of the new panj rasbih Ali-i