Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

Kohat Kohat ( ps, کوهاټ; ur, ) is a city that serves as the capital of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is regarded as a centre of the Bangash tribe of Pashtuns, who have lived in the region since the late 15th century ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Khushal Khan Khattak Khošāl Khān Khaṭak (1613 – 25 February 1689; Pashto: خوشال خان خټک), also known as Khushal Baba ( ps, خوشال بابا), was a Pashtun poet, chief, and warrior. Khushal Khan served the Mughal Empire protecting them fr ...

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically r ...

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Older references

According to Nimatullah's 1620 work ''History of The Afghans'', the Khattaks are amongst the oldest of the Afghan tribes.Deportation by the Assyrians, Makhzan-i Afghani, page 37: http://www.wdl.org/en/item/3034/?ql=eng&i=gcu&view_type=gallery The Sattagudai ( grc, Σατταγύδαι) were a people mentioned by Herodotus in connection to people under the influence of the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...

. Herodotus, Book 3, 91. The Histories of Herodotus, George Rawlinson, Translation 1858–1860. (In this and the two succeeding passages the historian is giving a list of the Achaemenian satrapies and their peoples.) Herodotus, without assigning a name to the satrapy, tells us that Darius' yth Satrapy was inhabited by four tribes, the Sattagudai, the Gandarioi, the Dadikai, and the Aparutai."The Pathans 550 B.C.-A.D. 1957" printed St Martin's Press 1958 by MacMillan and Company Limited""The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957 By Sir Olaf Caroe"
/ref> The addition of the Aparutai/Aparidai correspondence helps to buttress the case for finding in Herodotus traces of names which carry through to the present day. Bellew has gone further and identified the Sattagudai with the famous Khatak tribe. "The Pathans 55O B.C.-A.D. 1957" printed St Martin's Press 1958 by MacMillan and Company Limited"

Sattagudai

Numerous historians identify the Khattak with the Sattagudai.Guardians of the Khaibar Pass: the social organisation and history of the Afridis of Pakistan David M. Hart Page 7.The races of Afghanistan being a brief account of the principal nations, By Henry Walter Bellew - 2004 - 124 pages - Page 85.An inquiry into the ethnography of Afghanistan: prepared and presented to the Ninth international congress of Orientalists, London, September, 1891 - The Oriental university institute, 1891 - 208 pages - pages 107,108,122.A glossary of the tribes and castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province: Based on the census report for the Punjab, 1883 - Horace Arthur Rose, Sir Denzil Ibbetson, Sir Edward Maclagan - Printed by the superintendent, Government printing, Punjab, 1914 - Page 217.Qabila: tribal profiles and tribe-state relations in Morocco and on the Afghanistan-Pakistan Frontier - By David M. Hart - - 2001 - 254 pages - Page 152.Afghanistan of the Afghans - Bhavana Books & Prints, 2000 - 272 pages - Ikbal Ali Shah (Sirdar.) - Page 95. Sir

Olaf Caroe Sir Olaf Kirkpatrick Kruuse Caroe, (15 November 1892 – 23 November 1981) was an administrator in British India, working for the Indian Civil Service and the Indian Political Service. He served as the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India ...

, The Pathans 550BC 1957AD: :"Let us now refer to the third passage cited, in which Herodotus, without assigning a name to the satrapy, tells us that Darius' yth Satrapy was inhabited by four tribes, the Sattagudai, the Gandarioi, the Dadikai, and the Aparutai. Bellew has gone further and identified the Sattagudai with the famous Khatak tribe, and the Dadikai with an obscure branch of Kakars whom he calls Dadi."

Khattaks and Shetaks

Sir Olaf Caroe, The Pathans 550BC 1957AD: :"Neither Khataks nor Shitaks appear by name until the period of publication of genealogies under the Mughals, and the time of Akbar's dealings with the Khataks for the protection of the highway to Peshawar. Babur indeed in his memoirs mentions the Karranis (Karlanis) whom he encountered in 1505 around Bannu along with the Niazis and Isakhel. It is probable that this reference of his is to Khattaks or Shitaks, or both, for both are Karlani tribes, and the other Karlanis who live in that area, Wazirs and Bangash, Babur mentions by name when he comes to them." It is thus clear that

Babur Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through hi ...

& other

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

in their descriptions identify Khattaks & Shetaks together without any differentiation.

In Pashtun history

Sir Olaf Caroe, The Pathans 550BC 1957AD:

Theory of Israelite descent

Khattak tribe has oral traditions and legendary history of descent from the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

. Khushal expresses that the Khattak reputation for fierceness and valor stems from the fact that Khattaks and Afghans have been nursed by the Lioness's (King Saul's wife) milk. One of the first progenitors of the modern tribe is Manal. Manal is considered to be a modification of Manas from the word Manasseh. In his book ''The Armies of India'', A.C. Lovett declares the Khattaks to be a widely enlisted tribe, who also lay claim to the Pashtun

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent.

Theory of descent from the Greeks

After the creation of Pakistan, some Pakistani scholars, suggested a Greek descent for the Khattaks. However, from the Histories of Herodotus, Herodotus, Book 3, 91., it is clear that a tribe by the name of SattaGydae (or Sattagudai) were already settled in the area around current day Ghor in Afghanistan and paid as tribute coinage and materials to the Greeks when they subjugated these areas: "The Sattagudai and the Gandarioi and the Dadikai and the Aparutai, who were all reckoned together paid 170 talents." Later Bellew, Caroe and other historians both Pashtun and Western through their works identified the Sattagudai with the famous Khatak & Shitak tribes. "The Pathans 550 B.C.-A.D. 1957" printed St Martin's Press 1958 by MacMillan and Company Limited" Though all Afghan DNA including Khattak DNA has minor contributions from haplogroups more common to the Greeks, these are minor enough to rule out a direct lineage. Together with works from Herodotus and more recent historians, the theory of Khattak descent from the Greeks is unfounded.

Afridi and Khattak history

Sir Olaf Caroe, "The Pathans 550BC - 1957AD" : :"The Afridis and Khataks lumped together as Karlanis, can be held to reflect a knowledge that they represented a more aboriginal stock, which only later absorbed the characteristics of the invaders. In other words, it is not surprising that in looking for a prototype in the oldest recorded history bearing on this region we hit on the ancestor of the Pakhtun."

Molding and amalgamation

Sir Olaf Caroe, "The Pathans 550BC - 1957AD" : :"This is not to assert that the ethnic or linguistic stock can be traced through to tribes of similar names today. The case would be rather that these were sub-stratum agglomerations of people who, through contact with later-comers, modified their language and were assimilated to later cultures, but retained in the more inaccessible places sufficient of their older inspirations to boast their original names. The theory does at least give a starting-point to Pathan history & the stock belief in the Bani Israel."

Notables

*

Khushal Khan Khattak Khošāl Khān Khaṭak (1613 – 25 February 1689; Pashto: خوشال خان خټک), also known as Khushal Baba ( ps, خوشال بابا), was a Pashtun poet, chief, and warrior. Khushal Khan served the Mughal Empire protecting them fr ...

(1603-1689), A Pashtun tribal leader, poet, warrior who had organised tribes to fight against the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

* Sami al Haq - (1937-2018), Regarded as the "Father of the Taliban" *

Pervez Khattak Pervez Khan Khattak ( ur, ; ps, پروېز خان خټک; born 1 January 1950) is a Pakistani politician and a member of PTI who served as the Defence Minister of Pakistan from 20 August 2018 until the dissolution of National Assembly on 3 ...

, (1950) 22nd Chief Minister of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and current

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

of Pakistan *

Ajmal Khattak Ajmal Khattak ( ps, اجمل خټک) (15 September 1925 – 7 February 2010) was a Pashtun politician, writer, poet, Khudai Khidmatgar, former President of Awami National Party and close friend of the late Khan Wali Khan.From Khudai Khidmatga ...

, (1925-2010) in Akora Khattak was a Pakistani politician, writer, Pashto poet, Khudai Khidmatgar, former President of

Awami National Party The Awami National Party (ANP; ur, , ps, اولسي ملي ګوند; lit. ''People's National Party'') is a Pashtun nationalist, secular and leftist political party in Pakistan. The party was founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986 and its cur ...

*

Ghulam Faruque Khan Ghulam Faruque Khan Khattak HPk, CIE, OBE (7 October 1899 – 29 April 1992) was a Pakistani politician and businessman who was the founder of Ghulam Faruque Group. As a politician, he became Governor of East Pakistan and Federal Minister fo ...

(1899–1990) was a dynamic bureaucrat, politician, and industrialist of Pakistan. He belonged to the village Shaidu (Khan Khel) in Nowshera District. His contribution to Pakistan's industrial development he is sometimes described as "The Goliath who Industrialized Pakistan". *

Pareshan Khattak Pareshan Khattak ( ur, پری شان خٹک), (10 December 1932 – 16 April 2009) real name Gahami Jan Khattak, former Vice-Chancellor, Pashto language, Pashto poet and writer and former Chairman University Grants Commission. Born in Karak, Paki ...

, (b. 10 December 1931 - d. 16 April 2009) from Karak

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. His real name was Ghamay jan khattak "Pashto" پښتو" غمے جان خټک", he was a former Vice-Chancellor, Pashto poet and writer and former Chairman University Grants Commission of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. His books titled “Pukhtana Kochay,” “Dozakhi Pakhto,” “Drana Pukhtana,”

History

Khushal Khan Khattak

Older references

Sattagudai

Khattaks and Shetaks

In Pashtun history

Theory of Israelite descent

Theory of descent from the Greeks

Afridi and Khattak history

Molding and amalgamation

Notables

See also

References

Further reading