Karlan (The fourth son of Qais Abdur Rashid)

Karlan Ormur Baraki  

Karlan is said to be the fourth and adobpted son of Qais Abdur Rasheed. According to geneology trees, they are descendants of Karlan; however, the origin of Karlan is disputed in itself.

All descendents of the Karlani tribes have their own geneology trees marked from Karlan onwards. The dispute is only confined to where to place their head, i.e., Karlan in the existing trees. According to H.A. Rose, the Karlan's were not only of disputed origin, but they were also disciples of Pir Roshan, widely regarded as a heretic by other tribal groups. Today, these tribes straddle the Afghanistan-Pakistan belt and have visible cultural differences with their neighbouring tribes. Since the exact origin of Karlani's has been a debate for many decades.

According to a narration by H.A. Rose, Abdullah, son of Urmar adopted Karlan. The baby Karlan was found by Abdullah's brother Zikria. Since Abdullah was child-less, Zikria exchanged the baby for a steel cooking pot (Karai).

According to Khattak sources (Muhammad Afzal Khan), Honai was the blood-father of Karlan, but was later adopted by his brother Urmar. H.A. Rose however, claims that the Khattak's have mistaken this Honai with another who was son of Syed Gisu Daraz, a sufi of Chishtia order.

Karlani (کرلاڼي‎) is a pashtun tribal confederacy. The others being Sarbani, Bettani and Gharghashti . They primarily inhabit the FATA region of North West Pakistan and certain parts of eastern Afghanistan.In the 16th century the Karlani founded the Karrani dynasty, the last dynasty to rule the Bengal Sultanate.

The legend of Karlani in the folklore says:

"In his infancy he became an orphan and after losing his family he alone survived and was adopted by the Ormur Tribe. The tribe gave him shelter & protection & raised him like their own son. When he reached a marriageable age, the chief of the Ormur tribe made Karlan his son in law." But actually He is not the son of Ghurghusht nor Ormur.

Karlan had two sons named Kodi and Kaki, then Kodi had two sons named Dilazak and (Shamak Khan) Orakzai from whom the first branch of Karlani tribes descend.

About the Karlani tribes, after explaining family trees of the other tribes' origins, Sir Olaf Caroe writes in his acclaimed book The Pathans: "And thus end the genealogies of the three sons of Qais. But where are such famous tribes as the Afridis, Khattaks, Orakzais. Where are the Bangash; above all where are the Wazirs and Mahsuds. What of the Khaibar, and Waziristan, and the hills of Kohat."

Sir Olaf was greatly impressed by Pashtun culture during his tenure with the British government in British India. But he was especially intrigued by the Karlani tribes. These were the tribes that were not subjected to rule by foreigners, these are the ones that refer to themselves by tribe rather than by race. For example "Mu Bangash, Mung Afridi, Mizh Wazir, Mizh Mahsud (We Bangash, We Afridi, We Wazir/Mahsud) etc. Instead of " Mung Pukhtana' (We Pathans). They speak the harder dialect of Pashto. (Although the dialects differ by region even among themselves). They predominantly inhabit the hills and are occasionally called hill tribes.

Karlani Tribes

·      Afridi (Adam Khel, Qambar Khel, Zaha Khel, Malakdin Khel, Kamar Khel, Aka Khel,   Kuki Khel ,Sipah)

·         Rodbari  (Wazir Khel, Ktwal)

·         Bangash

·         Orakzai (Mamozai, Ziamankhta)

·         Mahsud (Bahlolzai , Shaman Khel)

·         Wazir (Ahmadzai, Darweshke, Utmanzia)

·         Sherzad (Wazir)

·         Dawar  (Settled in Mir Ali, Miranshah North Waziristan)

·         Banusi

·         Dilazak

·         Khattak

·         Khogyani

·         Mangal

·         Tirahi

·         Ormar

·         Muqbil

·         Tanoli

·         Turi

·         Utmankhel

·         Wardak

·         Zadran

·         Zazi

Karlani Tribes / Family Tree

*******************

Posted in: History