Australian National University THESES SIS/LIBRARY TELEPHONE: +61 2 6125 4631 R.G. MENZIES LIBRARY BUILDING NO:2 FACSIMILE: +61 2 6125 4063 THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY EMAIL: [email protected] CANBERRA ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA USE OF THESES This copy is supplied for purposes of private study and research only. Passages from the thesis may not be copied or closely paraphrased without the written consent of the author. J.P. SINGH UBKROI Social organization of the Tajiks of Andarab valley, Afghanistan PRECIS of a thesis submitted for the degree of Ph.D. in the Australian National University, Canberra 1964 The thesis is a description of the social organization of the Persian-speaking peasantry and part-pastoralists of a highland district in the central Hindu Kush of Afghanistan. Andarab district, with an estimated population of 33,000 souls, constitutes a geographical as well as governmental entity, and, as the people are orthodox Muslims, it is also a small segment of the cosmopolitan Islamic fraternity. The thesis falls into two parts, which are separated by a state­ ment of the methods of fieldwork (Chapter III) employed in the prevailing political and local circumstances. The first part (Chapter II) attempts a comprehensive report of xAdarab. After an account of the geographical, ecological and demographic background, it describes the division of the population into individual autocephalous households, either simple or polygynous, and grouped into village communities on the basis of patrilocal domicile. The factors of socio-economic stratification are specified. An examination of the boundaries of the four "electoral wards" into which Andarab is divided, suggests that a system of competitive oppositions is the main theme in political activity. The second part of the thesis presents exploratory material on the local community, the Afghan state, and Islam. Chapter IV suggests that, in the absence of corporate estates and succession by descent, the dynamic of the individual's life-career in his local community derives from the cycle of domestic development and his position vis-a-vis his coparceners as well as other kin relations. The Koranic rules of marriage and inheritance are given, and followed by an examination of their characteristic patterns among clusters of close collateral agnates, which are the only factional groups within the local community. An illustrative case of a matrilater- al cross-cousin marriage within one village, shows that competitive opposition comes to a head over questions of marriage bestowal and bridewealth. Chapter V describes the system of local government; and the careers in Andarab of two successive deputy commissioners, with refer­ ence to their policies in dealing with the departmental personnel within the district secretariat, and also the circle of native inter­ mediaries through whom the business of administration must be carried on. Chapter VI deals briefly with the rites through which the local community is integrated in to cosmopolitan Islam. The main element in these rites mf Muslimhood is the congregational one, and the seclusion of women rigidly excludes them from participation in it. It is suggested that the function of purdah is to define the particularist side of local citizenship, while the communal and universalist side is enjoined on the men by the periodic congregational rites. J. P. SINGH UBEROI SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE TAJIKS OF ANDARAB VALLEY, AFGHANISTAN Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Australian National University, Canberra 1964 y This thesis is my own original work, based upon fieldwork carried out in Afghanistan in 1959-61, with the kind support of the Royal Anthropological Institute, London (supplemented by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, New York); and the Australian National University, Canberra. J- P. iMieioi TABLE OF CONTENTS Afghanistan 1 Anda rab 9 1. Physical geography 11 2. Agriculture and pastoral ecology 17 3. The population and demography 24 4. Social organization 29 5* The village community 37 6. The community of Andarab district 45 7. The grades of society 60 8. Commercial life 70 The field situation 78 1. Method of fieldwork 79 2. Categories of social structure 86 Family, kinship and community 90 1. Introduction 90 2. Inheritance and marriage rules 97 3# The kinship terminology 116 4. Agnatic clusters of households 124 5# An illustrative case 137 The Afghan state 149 1# The district secretariat 152 2. Administration and politics 170 Islam 181 1. The rites of Muslimhood 182 Bibliography of references cited 195 LIST OF MAPS facing The central Hindu Kush Andarab (physical) Andarab (village headmanship & electoral wards) LIST OF DIAGRAMS facing p. 1. Approximate distribution of the population by age and marital status 25 2. Schematic socio-economic strata 62 3. Andarabi social organization 86 k. Marriage prohibitions 106 5* The closest forms of contemporaneous marriages 110 6. Marriages within one agnatic cluster 112 7. Terms of kinship in common use 117 8. Categories of affinal kin 120 9« Agnatic cousinhood 122 10. Household composition & development with one agnatic cluster 129 11. Illustrative case of mother*s brother*s daughter marriage 138 12. The district secretariat 152 13. Effective circle of district administration and politics 170 LIST OF TABLES facing p. Ownership of irrigated (abi) land 66 First cousin marriage rates 95 Terms of kinship in common use 116 CHAPTER I AFGHANISTAN The population of the kingdom of Afghanistan is variously estimated at between six million and fifteen million, the current estimate of the Kabul government being the latter, higher figure. The true figure, which may be closer to nine or ten million, can only be determined when a full-scale population census can be undertaken. The geographical distrib ution of the population, and its sub-divisions in terms of ethnic and linguistic categories, and socio-economic strata, can only be assessed provisionally until that time* In broad and general terms, the dominant people of Afghanistan are the Pashto-speaking Afghans, settled as well as nomadic. The number of Pashto-speakers in the country may be between one- third and one-half of the total population. The original homeland and main strength of these people lies to the east and south. They are traditionally divided into various tribal groups, each with its own chiefs*. The different tribes have similar customs, a common tribal code (Pashtunwali), and an inclusive consciousness*. The two million people in the country who live by pastoral nomadism are Afghans mainly* The second most important element in the population are the Persian-speakers (Farsiwans) or Tajiks* The native Persian-speakers in different parts of the country number perhaps one-<|uarter to one-third of the total population. They are everywhere settled cultivators, artisans, and traders etc,, and have been so from the earliest times* They do not possess any tribal system, and have no over-all consciousness as Farsiwans or Tajiks. Their social organization is every­ where based upon their village, locality or region* It is surmised that "until the Afghan tribes began their northward movement from the Sulayman mountains around the tenth century A.D., and the Uzbeks established themselves in Afghan Turkistan around the sixteenth century, the Tajiks constituted the chief population of Afghanistan*”^ The other ethnic and linguistic groups to be found are the Uzbeks and Turkmen in the north (Afghan Turkistan) , the Hazaras in the centre (Hazarajat), the Nuristanis (former Kafirs) in the north-east (Nuristan), and the Baluchis in the south-west (Afghan Baluchistan). There are some still smaller communities of diverse origin, among whom are; the few Jews, Hindus, and Sikhs, of long domicile. The exact boundaries of Afghanistan were not fixed until almost the close of the nineteenth century, when the direct control of the Kabul government was finally established over all parts of the country. Afghanistan achieved final independ­ ence in its external affairs in 1919# after the Third Anglo- Afghan War. Although inter-tribal turbulence, accompanied by dynastic struggles in the capital, continued almost into the present day, the general structure of the kingdom can be said to have persisted since its inception in 17^7 A.D., when 1 D.N. Wilber, ed., Afghanistan (New Haven, Conn., 1956), p.46. 3 Ahmad Shah Durrâni was proclaimed shah of all the Afghans* The ruling power in the land today are the Muhammadzai section of the Durrani Afghans ; and their supremacy over the other sections of the Durrani tribe is dated from the reign of Dost Muhammad (Amir of Afghanistan, 1834-63)* The royal Court as well as the government of Kabul at the present day is composed and constituted by the Muhammadzais• They control the civil administration of the country, and the command of the Army* They possess a good deal of land, and not only in their original homeland, but its extent is not sufficient to make them overwhelmingly rich* Every Muhammadzai is entitled to the honorific of Sardâr (ruler)* The foundations of the Muhammadzai power have up to the present rested upon: (l) their leadership of the Durrani tribe; (2) the support which theycan elicit from the other Afghan tribes, who are powerful in their own right; (3) the acquiescence of the rest of the country, and general satisfaction with their rule, A further limitation on the Kabul government is imposed by the necessity to reckon with the religious establishment, who have hitherto constituted an independent power in the land, respons­ ible directly to the people* The administration of Afghanistan is integrated and strongly centralized in intention, but prevailing circumstances, such as the tribal system and the general poverty of communications, allow the different regions to enjoy a measure of autonomy* The country is divided k administratively into seven major (governors') provinces, and nine minor (chief* commissioners*) provinces* The provinces are further subdivided into divisions, and finally into districts.