I do not propose to do more in this place than give the roughest outline of this subject, as sketched in 1866 and 1872, and now rapidly brought up to date. My reason is to prevent those falsifications of History which are inevitable when a conqueror annexes a new country and the vilest in it naturally becomes his first friends, and fabricate their family tree. Therefore, with all its errors, which subsequent enquiries have corrected, there is an element of actuality in the following accounts gathered from Dards in 1866, the value of which will become apparent when I write the history of the events that are drawing Dardistan into the devastating range of European influences and politics:

GENEALOGY OF THE GILGIT, YASIN, CHITRAL, NAGYR, HUNZA, AND OTHER DYNASTIES SINCE 1800.

I.—GILGIT

II.—YASIN DYNASTY.

It is said that both the Yasin and the Chitral dynasties are descended from a common ancestor “KathÔr.” The Gilgitis call the YasÎnis “PoryalÉ” and the Chitralis “KatorÉ.”

Khushwakt(?) died 1800(?) from whom the present dynasty derives the name of “Khushwaktia.” [A Raja of that name and dignity often met me at Srinagar in 1886.]

He had two sons Suleyman Shah and Malik AmÁn Shah. The former died about 1829 and left four sons and a daughter whom he married to Ghazanfar, the Rajah of Hunza. The names of the sons are Azmat Shah the eldest, Ahmad Shah, RahÎm Khan and Zarmast Khan.

Malik AmÁn Shah was the father of seven or, as some say, of ten sons, the most famous of whom was Gauhar Aman, surnamed “Adam farosh” (the man-seller) the third son. The names of the sons are: Khuda AmÁn Duda AmÁn, Gauhar AmÁn, KhalÎl AmÁn, Akhar AmÁn (who was killed by his nephew Malik AmÁn, eldest son of his brother Gauhar AmÁn): Isa Bahadur (son of Malik AmÁn Shah by a concubine), Gulsher, Mahter Sakhi, Bahadur Khan (who was murdered) and Mir AmÁn(?) of Mistuch(?)

Gauhar AmÁn left seven sons: Malik AmÁn (also called MÎr Kammu? now in TangÎr?) Bahadur AmÁn, murdered by Lochan Singh, Mir Vali (who killed Hayward), Mir GhÁzi, Pahlwan (who killed Mir Vali), Khan DaurÁn and ShajÁyat Khan. [The Khushwaktia Dynasty has since been dispossessed by the kindred dynasty of ChitrÁl in 1884.]

III.—CHITRAL OR “SHAH KATHORIA” DYNASTY.

Shah Kathor, the son of Shah Afzal, (who died about 1800) was a soldier of fortune who dispossessed the former ruler, whose grandson Vigne saw in the service of Ahmad Shah, the independent ruler of Little Tibet in 1835. Cunningham considers that the name of KathÔr is a title that has been borne by the rulers of ChitrÁl for 2,000 years.

Shah Kathor had a brother, Sarbaland Khan, whose descendants do not concern us, and four sons and a daughter married to Gauhar AmÁn of Yasin. The names of the sons were: Shah Afzal (who died in 1858), Tajammul Shah who was killed in 1865 by his nephew Adam-khor—or man-eater—(so called from his murderous disposition; his real name was Muhtarim Shah), Ghazab Shah (who died a natural death) and Afrasiab (who was killed). The murdered Tajammul Shah left two sons namely Malik Shah (who revenged his father’s death by killing Adam KhÔr), and Sayad Ali Shah.

Shah Afzal left AmÁn-ul-Mulk, his eldest son, the present ruler of ChitrÁl [1872] Adam-khÔr (who usurped the rule for a time); KohkÁn Beg, ruler of Drus; a daughter whom he married to Rahmat-ulla-Khan, chief of DÎr; Muhammad Ali Beg; Yadgar Beg; Bahadur Khan; and another daughter whom Gauhar-AmÁn married as well as Shah Afzal’s sister and had Pahlwan by her.

AmÁn-ul-Mulk married a daughter of the late Ghazan Khan, chief of DÎr, by whom he had Sardar (his eldest son), also called Nizam-ul-Mulk. AmÁn-ul-Mulk’s other sons are Murad and others whose names will be found elsewhere. One of his daughters is married to Jehandar Shah, the former ruler of BadakhshÁn and the other to the son of the present Chief, MÎr Mahmud Shah. [Full details are given elsewhere of the Yasin-ChitrÁl house.]

IV.—The names of the principal chiefs of the ChilÂsis and of the Yaghistanis (the independent Hill tribes of DarÊl, HÔdÛr, TangÌr, etc.) have already been given in my “history” of their “Wars with Kashmir.” Just as in ChilÂs and KandiÁ, the administration is in the hands of a Board of Elders. The Maharaja of Kashmir only obtains tribute from three villages in Chilaz, viz., the villages of ChilÁs, Takk and Bundar.

V.—Nagyr,[82]

[is tributary to Ahmad Shah of Little Tibet about the beginning of this century, but soon throws off this allegiance to Ahmad Shah under Alif Khan.](?)

[See “Historical Legend of the Origin of Gilgit,” pages 9 to 16. The Nagyr-Hunza Rajas or Thams similarly claim a divine origin and account for it through the two fairy-brothers who disappeared at Gilgit. See note on page 111.]

[“Nagyr,” which Col. Biddulph very properly writes “Nager” (like “PamÈr”) is now spelt “Nagar,” so as to confound it with the Indian “Nagar” for “town,” from which it is quite different.]

VI.—Hunza

VII.—Badakhshan

Yusuf Ali Khan had seven sons: Mirza KalÁn, surnamed Mir Jan; Hazrat JÁn; Ismail Khan; Akbar Khan; Umr Khan, Sultan Shah; Abdurrahim Khan (by a concubine).

Saad-ulla Khan had two sons: Baba Khan and Mahmud Khan (by a concubine).

VIII.—Dir

The connection of Little Tibet with the Dard countries had ceased before 1800.