Kasi (Pashtun tribe)

Kasi is a tribe of Pashtuns which is primarily concentrated in and around Quetta city. It is also spelled as Kansi. They belong to the Saraban division of Pashtuns. It is numerically a very small tribe, they only numbered 1064 souls in 1901 AD ("Quetta-Pishin Gazetteer, 1901, p-73). They were once very numerous and held entire Quetta and Mastung districts. A large number of them migrated to India during the times of Lodi Sultans. Shaikh Jamaluddin Kasi was a noble of Sher Shah Sur who later joined a Sufi order. Tatar Khan Kasi was a high ranking noble of Islam Shah Sur and governed Rohtas fort in Punjab. [1]

The Kasi tribe is divided into eight sections, namely, Achozai, Ahmad Khanzai, Akazai, Badazai, Mirzai ,Shinwari and Samungli. [2]

According to Ain-i-Akbari of Abu Fazal (written around 1590 AD), Shal & Mastung was dependency of Kandahar in later half of sixteenth century. Shal had mud fort at that time and its lands were assessed at four and half tumans in money, 940 sheep and 780 kharwars in grain. The Kasi Afghans and Baluchs of Shal- Mastung had to furnish 1,000 horse and 1,000 foot.

In the reign of Shahjahan (1628-1655) Rajo and Zangi, Rind chiefs raided Shal by way of the Bolan. They were defeated by the Kasis after a severe engagement about three miles south of Quetta. Since then the small stream of Zangi Lora was given its name, as the action took place at its source when Zangi, the Rind chief, was killed. [3]

The leading families of Kasis are known as Arbabs. In 18th century Ahmad Shah Abdali conferred the office of Arbab upon Muhammad Thalib Kasi. Mir Mahabat Khan (ruler of Kalat) killed him when he was at village Katir. The Kasi Arbab was engaged in collecting the revenue at the time and was quite unprepared for the attack. News of the occurrence immediately was despatched to Kandahar, and Ahmed Shah Durrani summoned Mahabat Khan to Kandahar to explain how he came to slay the Shah's representative in Shal. [4]

Arbab Karam Khan Kasi became deputy Prime Minister of Kalat state in early 20th century. A road in Quetta is named after him.[5]

Kasi facts The Pashtun family tree North India Pashtun Khwaja Ni’mat Allah described the tribal structure and origin of Pashtun Society in his early seventeenth century work the Makbzan-I Afghani. Although it contains information on the ethnogenesis of the Pashtuns, scholars believe[who?] that this genealogy should not be read as a sound historical source that indicates how the Pashtuns came into being as a distinct ethnic group but instead taken as a source of information, from the seventeenth century or earlier, on how the Pashtuns saw themselves as a group. Ni’mat Allah differentiates between four main groups of Pashtuns – descendants of the three sons of the putative ancestor of all Pashtuns, Qays Abdul Al-Rashid Pathan, together with a fourth group. According to traditional genealogies, Qays himself is descended from the Jewish king Sarul (Saul). The allegedly Jewish ancestry of the Pashtuns was a subject always hotly debated in Pashtun tea houses. Of Qay's three sons: Sarban, Bitan and Ghurghusht, although there are many variants of these names, Sarban, at least in the eyes of Ni’mat Allah, was the most important. The eldest son's descendants, via his son Sharkhbun, are mainly found in South Afghanistan, and in the Peshawar Valley through his other son Kharshbun. Those in the west include the Abdalis, who since the mid-eighteenth century have been known as the Durranis. Tribes in the east include the Yousfzay, north of Peshawar along with many others. Genealogy of Pathan tribes, from The Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. XIX, Pg 207 If Ni’mat Allah is correct, there are historical connections between the descendants of Sharkhbun and Kharshbun. In this context, the spread of another group, namely the offspring of a man called Kasi, is also important. Kasi was another descendant of Kharshbun, the son of Sarban. Kasi’s descendants include the Shinwaris, who today live in the Jalalabad area, west of Peshawar and two other tribes who live far to the south in the Quetta region, southeast of Qandahar – the Kasis themselves and the Kateers. The Pata Khazana[1] (Hidden Treasure) is a biography of Pashtun poets from the earliest times to those of its author Mohammad Hotak. Written in Kandahar, Afghanistan between 1728–1729 AD, the earliest poet mentioned is Amir Krorr, who died in 771 AD. Lieutenant General Sir Georage Macmunn observes: "This race (Semitic) claims that it is descended from Saul by a grandson Afghana, said to have been Solomon’s Commander-in-Chief, through one Kish or Kasi, eighteenth in descent from the first King of Israel. There is no direct evidence in support of this claim.

• Pata Khazana (in Persian language) - Archived
• Willem Vogelsang (2002). The Afghans. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-19841-3.
• Nagendra Kr Singh (1 September 2002). International encyclopaedia of Islamic dynasties. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. ISBN 978-81-261-0403-1.
• Kamma, Freerk C.; Kooijman, Simon. Romawa Forja: Child of the Fire. Brill Archive. pp. 35–36.

• www.khyber.org