1973 faction and conversion in a plural society--religious alignments in the hindu kush by canfield...

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ATE UE



NTHROPOLOGIC L P PERS

MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

NO. 5

FACTION AND CONVERSION IN PLURAL SOCIETY

RELIGIOUS ALIGNMENTS IN THE HINDU KUSH

BY

ROBERT LEROY CANFIELD

ANN ARBOR

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 1973



973 Robert LeRoy Canfield



PREF CE

T H I S s a part ia l report of field work done between O ctober 1966 and June

1968. That time was the climactic period of almost te n years of experi-

ence in Afghanistan. During th e previous years the re when working as an edu-

cationalist

I

acquired some skill in A fghan Persian which served me well when

I

returned to d o ethnological research. I do not learn languages easily and there-

fore was particularly fortu nate to have spent much m ore time o n language stu dy

than most anthropo logists can give t o it. My proficiency therefore was fairly

good at th e beginning of field wo rk and it of course improved with furt he r

practice; toward the end of my field work I was able to understand almost

everything said between third parties.

The research was carried o n witho ut an inte rpreter bu t I had some diffi-

culty understanding the Hazara dialects of Persian Hazaragi. This difficulty was

most pronounced in my few interviews with older wom en. The dialect of the

younger women posed less difficulty and tha t of most men hardly an y.

As I

learned much of the language from Hazaras my Persian probably bears traces of

Hazaragi that I do not distinguish from standard Afghan Persian.

My

research strategy was dictated by the o ppo rtunities that fell to m e.

My family lived in Kabul and I carried on field wo rk by making treks in to dif-

ferent areas of Bamian. During times when was in Kabul I interviewed a num -

ber of persons from Bamian and many of these interviews turn ed out to be

especially valuable.

When in th e field 1 carried littl e more than a sleeping bag and several cans

of fly spray which were prized by my hosts. I was therefore closely dependen t

on local resources. I

w s invited t o stay w ith local officials in

the

different sub-

stations of government and at first

I

did so. Gradually however I became more

dependent on local hospitality and eventually hardly saw the officials. Most of

my local hosts were friends or relatives of friends 1 had know n in Kabul. As

they were distributed in a num ber of neighborhoods their hospitality enabled

me to see most of the valleys of eastern Bamian and of course most o f

all

to

learn a great deal abou t their way of life. After a few mon ths on e person of-

fered a room in his house as a permanent place to stay

and I

used it

s

a

pied a

tene

iii



iv

FACTION

AND

CONVERSION IN A PLURAL SOCIETY

For m y second year in Bamian, I shifted th e focus of my research t o the

mark et in th e center of the Bamian basin. There I stayed in tea shops, and spent

many long evenings discussing local affairs and problems. From th e market I

made journeys on f oo t into the south ern highlands and other portions of the

Tagaw plain. 1 also visited regions to the n or th a nd west.

1 ofte n travelled to Bamian by bus o r tru ck because o n th e way I could

meet people from diverse localities and backgrounds. Amid the dust an d noise,

the crush, the arguments and the long delays, there were superb opp ortunities to

observe and befriend people which n o oth er means of tran sport could provide.

During the course of th e research and the w riting of this report

I

have in-

curred many obligations. A training grant from the Foreign Area Fellowship

Program sup ported the tw o years of field work , and with a supplem entary grant

from th e Center for Near East an d North African Studies sup por ted a year of

da ta sortin g and writing. Many persons in Afghanistan assisted th e research. A

number of Bamian residents gave much time to explaining their economic cir-

cumstances and customs. Some explained in detail the kinds of problems they

had . Ab ou t a dozen persons repeatedly gave me their time in long, intensive

interviews. Three persons-two Hazaras and a Tajik-travelled with me at differ-

en t times and helped me unde rstand what

I

saw and heard. Th e government

officials were also cooperative. Th e research, of course, cou ld no t have been

possible without the gracious permission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and

the Ministry of Interior. T o all th e persons and agencies who made the research

possible I

am

sincerely grateful.

Th e con tribu tion of three scholars t o the study of Hazaras deserves special

acknowledgment in view of the few citations to their work in the text

Elizabeth

Bacon, Klaus Ferd inand, and H. F. Schurm ann. Dr. Bacon was the first anthro -

pologist t o do serious ethnographic work in central Afghanistan. Her field stu dy

of the Hazaras was hamp ered by awkward field circumstances and inte rru pte d by

the advent o f World War 11, bu t the material she gathered an d the research she

has done on Hazara affinities with o the r Mongol groups are basic resources on

Hazara culture (see he r 1951t1, 19 5 b , 195 8, and Hudson and Bacon, 1941).

Aware o limitations in her Hazara material, she only used it schematically to

support

a

broad argument, but generally her data are substantiated by mine.

Ferdinand h as made two valuable stud ies of society in centr al Afghanistan, an

ethnographic sketch of Hazara culture (1959), and an accou nt of co ntemp orary

relations between the Hazaras and the Afghan nomads (1962). Schurm ann

' f h e arguments develop ed by Dr. Bacon from her Hazara data also anticipated s om e subse-

quent

theoretical

develop men ts. In her mo st ambitious work ( 1 9 5 8 ) she distinguished aeg-

m en tu y lineage structure (which she called tribal ~ en eo lo gi ce l rganizat ion or obok f rom

clan structures, and sugessted h ow it m ay be related t o other forms o f kinship organization.

lm she stressed the im portance o f distlngulshing the names o f groups from their actual

composi t ion (cf . Sahlins 19 650) .



PREFACE

1962)

studied an isolated group o f Mongols in western A fghanistan w ho appare nt-

ly have close affinities with th e Hazaras. His atte m pt t o relate the cu lture o f these

Mongols to oth er ethnic groups, thoug h it suffers from an inadequate conception

of th e nature of e thnicity and culture change , is meritoriou s for its extensive cov-

erage of much relevant literature.

I owe a special deb t t o my instructors a t The U niversity of Michigan for

teaching me m ost of the anthropology 1 know and fo r patiently guiding my work

on this study. The deb t is perhap s greatest to Professor William Schorger who

has counselled me through my e ntire doctoral program. By comm ent ing in detail

on two drafts of this manuscript, he has taught me mu ch abou t how t o explain

myself. Professor Eric Wolf also read bo th dra fts and made several necessary

theoretical suggestions. Professor Aram Y engoyan saved me fro m some serious

omissions. My debt t o Professors Wolf an d Marshall Sahlins is only partia lly evi-

dent in the references to their w ork.

To Irma Morose I owe thank s for typing this and m ost of ano ther version

of the thesis, and to Penny Ry an for preparing some of the maps. My deb t to

my wife surpasses words. She has supported a nd encouraged me during seven

years of work on the doctor s degree. Th e least of her contr ibut ions to this

thesis has been th e typing of one full draf t and portions of ano ther. T o her, and

to my pa rents,

I

dedicate this work.



TABLE

OF

CONTENTS

Page

PREFACE iii

IST OF TABLES vii

IST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

viii

THE PROBLEM AND THE ISSUES

I CULTURAL ECOLOGY 7

SOCIAL SYSTEM I : TERRITORIAL GROUPS

33

IV SOCIAL SYSTEM : THE KINSHLP NETWORK

65

V SOCIAL SYSTEM : COMMUNITY FISSION 83

VI HISTORY AN D POLITICAL PROCESSES 9 3

VII CONCLUSION 3

APPENDIX

I :

PUBLIC CEREMONIES 2

BIBLIOGRAPHY 35



viii FACTION AND CONVERSION IN A PLURAL SOCIETY

LIST OF FIGURES

Page

1 Th e east central region of Afghanistan

x

2 Locational map of Barnian 6

3 The distribution of sects in Labmushak

7

Changqol. Ikad an d Kanaj

31

Relationships of the inhabitan ts of a house in Rezaga

4

Kinship relations of members o f Ali Jam qawm

46

Descent groups in Labmushak

9

Th e descendants of Baba Dargan 61

9 The affinal connections of the m embers of Rezaka qawm

ommunity 67

1

Th e historic centers of power in Bamian history

9

1

1 Th e general locatio n of sects in Afghanistan

116

LIST

OF

TABLES

Ecologic zones in Bamian basin

6

2 Kinship terms of reference

48

3

Examples of marriage frequencies within and outside qawm

communities

49

4 Relative distance of qawm communities related through marriage

toRezakaqawrncommunity 68



THE PROBLEM AND THE ISSUES

THE SETTING

The Spatial Setting

HIS stud y att em pts t o explain why three Islamic sects are distributed in a regu-

lar way across th e landscape of Barnian, Afghanistan, and why th e village

comm unities of Shibar, its eastern p art, have internally divided in to o pposing re-

ligious sects.

Afghanistan, like most of the countries of the Middle East and Soviet Cen-

tral Asia, is a plural society , com posed of several eth nic group s interre lating

through the market and dom inated by one of the m Furnival,

1948 ,

the

Afghans =P ush tuns=P atha ns). It is also plural in a religious sense, for it is pri-

marily made up of three muslim sects-Sunnis, Imamis, an d Ismailis-one of

which, the Sunnis, predominates. Sunnis control the ruling institu tion and th e

strategic

geographical

regions of Afghanistan. In its sou thern and eastern parts,

Afghan and Tajik Sunnis prepo nderate and in the n or th, Uzbe k, Afghan, Tajik,

and Hazara Day Zainat) Sunnis are pre em ine nt. The most numerous rural Imami

groups are the Hazara-Sayyed lmamis dwelling in the inaccessible m ou nta in

massif of cen tral Afghanistan, the Hazarajat, and the Tajik Imarnis of Herat

Province. The Ismaili sects1 follow the con tour s of the Hindu Kush Mountain

range from its southern extrem ity in Besud northeastw ard i nt o the Parnirs, even

into Russian Central Asia and Northern Pakistan.

Shibar, the eastern portion of Barnian, is part of the band of Ismaili-

occupied territories. Shibar forms one of the more passable saddles over the

great mountainous divide which parts the waters of Central Asia from those of

Sou th Asia. T o the north of Shibar the moun tain range is called th e Hindu

'Th e Ismaills are hme referred t o as sects,

In

the plural, becauw the Ismallis toward the

southern end o f their territorier pay respect t o a different Saint than thore o f th e northern

end (th ose called

in

the ethn om aph lc l iterature. Mountain Tajiks )

m

becaure in certun

minor

rerpectr their beliefs and practices

re

dlfferent, the southern type having renounced

some years rgo the veneration o f Saints.



FACTION AND CO NVERSION IN A PLU RA L SOCIETY

Kush; t o its sou th and w est, the Koh-i-Baba. East of the Shibar saddle is the

Ghorband valley, whose waters, flowing east , join the Panjshir River in Koh-

Daman and eventually the Kabul-Indus. Gh orband is a forty-mile-long defile,

bounded by steep mounta in slopes, whose rivulets water a fertile alluvial plain.

Ghorband has one major tributa ry valley, the Turughman or Turkrnan) valley,

whose waters come off the ridge overlooking Shibar from th e sou th . West of

the Shibar saddle is the Barnian valley, whose waters, th e Bamian R iver and its

tributaries, are the extrem e sou thern sources of the Qunduz-Oxus River that

eventually debouches in to the Aral Sea. North o f Shibar is the southern ex-

tremity of the region do minated by the town of Duab-i-Mezarin and th e city of

Doshi. This region lies at th e south ern end of th e greater Turkestan region pre-

sided over by th e cities of Baghlan, Qun duz, an d Khanaba d, and furth er west,

by Tashqurghan formerly Khulm), Mazar-i-Sharif, and Balkh. The Baghlan-

Qunduz-Khanabad region is washed by waters o riginating in B amian, joined

further down i.e., to the no rth) by those of Sayghan, Kamard, and Andarab.

Sou th of Shibar, over the ridge that cons titutes th e eastern en d of the Koh-i-Baba

mountain , the land drains in tw o directions, eastward and w estward. The valley

of this ridge is the upper source of the Turughman f iv er , a tributary o f Ghor-

band. Th e valley west of it is Besud, whose waters are the upp er sources o f the

Helmand River flowing southw est in to the expansive Hamun-i-Helmand saline

lake.

Shibar, therefore, lies near th e sources of th ree g reat rivers of Central and

South Asia, the Helmand, the Kabul-Indus and the Qunduz-Oxus. It also lies in

a region marginal to th e cen ters of political influence within Afghanistan. Ad-

ministratively, the Bamian valley t o the west of Shibar is now assigned to

Bamian Province which includes the valleys of Sayghan and Kamard and the

town of Duab-i-Mezarin to the north and the districts of Yak Awlang and Day

Kundi t o the west and southw est; the region surrounding Doshi due no rth of

Shibar belongs t o the Province of Baghlan; the valley of G horband to its east, to

the Province of Parwan; and the valley of Besud to it s sou th, t o the Province of

Maydan. Shibar itself is assigned t o Bamian. This greater area, com posed of the

valleys surrounding

Shibar-i.e., Bamian, Doshi, Ghorband , and Besud--are here

referred t o as the east-central region of Afghanistan. The highland ridge formed

by the Shibar plateau, and the highlands of the Hindu Kush imm ediately north

and east of it, are here called the southern Hindu Kush highlands.

This study is directly concerned with only a segment of the east-central

region, the Bamian segment, of which Shibar forms the eastern ridge, bu t it a p

pears t o be representative of social conditions in the en tire region. Society in the

hibar

highlands is generally characteristic o f its ad jacen t highlands, and society

in the Bamian valley is more or less similar to the lowlands of Doshi, Gh orband ,

and

Besud.

Differences in the relationship of these areas to broader political

influences

w ll

be explained later.



THE PROBLEM

AND

TH E ISSUES

Th e Cultural Setting

The popu lations of east-central Afghanistan are culturally divided i nt o a

num ber of distinct group s by several overlapping criteria: relation t o th e govern-

men t, ecologic adap tation s, patrilineal desc ent, and religious sect.

The criteria of relationship t o the government and o f ecological adap tation

are the bases on which non-peasant and peasant pop ulatio ns are distinguished.

Of the non-peasants, who are no t the concern o f this stud y, there are tw o kinds,

government officials an d nomads. Th e officials are appoin ted t o government

service by the ruling institu tion in Kabul. Th e capital for Bamian Province, which

includes territories west a nd n or th as well as the valley itself, has been established

at the tow n o f Bamian in th e hear t o f the valley. It is responsible for several sub-

districts (wuluswalis), each of which may also have one or several rural stations

(alaqadaris). Almost all government appo intees at these installations are out -

siders, bu t some local residents, usually rath er p rom inen t person s, have been ap -

pointed for lower echelon positions. A few teachers, all bu t on e of them for the

primary grades, and several clerks were appoin tees from among th e local residents

in 1968 . Besides those appoin ted from Kabul a num ber of local residents are

hired with governm ent fun ds by th e provincial officials to d o menial tasks:

guarding store roo ms , caring for governm ent-owned groves of trees, and th e like.

Generally even these positions co nfer some prestige upo n a local resident, as it

provides him with some personal acquaintance with government officials and of

course a small cash salary.

The nomads are primarily adap ted t o a pastoral subsistence. Most of th e

pastoral nomads move through G horban d and Bamian du ring the spring on their

way to their summer pastures further west in central Afghanistan, and retrace

their route in th e fall on the way t o winter pastures in the eastern provinces of

Afghanistan. A few families of the smaller tribes move in to the mo un tain s of

Bamian and Ghorban d during the summ er where t he sum mer vegetation can sup-

port small numbers of their flocks as well as those owned by the local peasants.

A very few nomad families encamp fo r the summ er mo nths o n lands of th e local

peasants, usually in the b ette r lowland regions, because throu gh giving loans th ey

have acquired m ore or less perm anent liens on the peasants pro pertie s an d in-

comes. In rare cases nomad families have permanently settled o n these land s

themselves (Ferdinan d, 19 59 ,

1962 . All

of these nom ads belong to th e Afghan

ethnic group and t o th e Sunni sect.

The peasant agricultural popu lations, who are the subject of this st ud y, are

culturally grouped by patrilineal descent and Islamic sect. By patrilineal descent

Besides the Afghan n om ads there are a few families o f Jats w h o co m e into th e area durlng

summer. Ll tt le i s known about this e thn ic group, even by mo st residents of A fghanistan

(see Batai llard, 18 43 , 18 75 ; Bray, 19 25 ; Burton, 185 1 18 98 ; Gr ierson , 1889 ) .



4

FACTION AND CON VERSION IN A

PLUR L

OCIETY

they are grouped into several eth nic types: Tajiks, Afghans, Hazaras, Sayyeds,

Afshars, Afghans, an d ~ r a b s . ~f these groups the most populous are the Tajiks

and Hazaras. Sayyeds exist also n fair numbe rs, bu t ex cep t for their claim of

descent from the Prophet, they are generally indistinguishable from Hazaras.

Physically, the Hazaras are typically distinguishable from the Afghans and Tajiks

by their Mongoloid features. Th e Imami Sayyeds, Afshars and Arabs, having in-

termarried with the Hazaras, com mo nly have Mongol features. Nevertheless, con-

trary to com mon belief, phen otype did no t always seem t o me a clearly distin-

guishable criterion of ethnic ide ntity . Some Hazaras, especially those from the

chiefly families, do n o t have clearly defined Mongoloid features. Instead, some

have heavy beards and lack the typical Mongolian eyefolds an d high ch eek bones.

Conversely, some persons calling themselves Tajik have rathe r strong Mongo-

loid features. I consequently do ub t tha t the relationship between ph enotype

and ethn ic ide ntity is very close.

Religiously, the peasant populations are divided in to Sunnis, Imamis, and

Ismailis. Dogmatic differences no t being a conce rn of this stu dy , their theologi-

cal orientations need only be briefly m e n t i ~ n e d . ~unnism, the early leaders of

which were called the Califs of the Muslim com mu nity , is usually considered the

orth od ox sect. The Imamis and Ismaihs are Shiite groups who broke from the

orthodox (Sunni) Muslim com mu nity after the death of the four th Calif, Ali.

They recognize

li

and his descendants, whom they call Imams, as the only

legitimate successor of the Prophet. There have been several kinds of Shiites.

The lmamis are those who recognize twelve Imams, the last of whom has disap

peared bu t is t o reappear before the final judgm ent. Th e Imamis are sometimes

called 'Twelvers'* and in Afghanistan are known by the Arabic equ ivalent,

Athna Asharia.

The Ismailis recognize the first six Imams b ut differ with the

Imarnis over the subsequent line of succession. Subsequent to the six th Imam ,

they follow a different line that continues t o the present d ay , the present Imam

being the Agha Khan.

Persons d o no t readily iden tify themselves as members of one sect o r

ano ther. Instead, their sectarian mem bership is typically expressed in terms of

their allegiance to a Saint whose sectarian loyalties are generally known . The

Sunni populations of

Bamian venerate different Sunni Saints, all of w hom reside

outside the east-central region. The Imamis venerate tw o Imami autho rities , one

in Yak Awlang and the o the r in Kabul. The Ismailis pay respect t o a Sayyed re-

siding in th e highlands near Doshi.

There is a close correlation between ethnicity and sect affiliation. The

ethnic categories 'Taj ik and Afghan imply the sectarian category Sunni ;

he

cultu ral features o f them groups ore described in the literature See Schurrnann

1962)

and Wilbur

1956)

for a description of these groups Fo r more detail on the Hatara s m e

p c o n

1951a, 19516,

m d

1958)

and Ferdinand

1959).

See Gib b at 81

1954

for m ore detail



THE PRO LEM AND THE

SSUES

Afshar implies Imarni ; and Hazara and Sayyed imply eithe r lrnami

or Ismaili religious affilia tion. This correlation between eth nic ity and sect

identity is so close tha t when inform ants men tioned instances of Hazaras con-

verting to Sunnism, they spoke of the m as having become Tajik. Th e Arabs,

who live primarily by smithing, are an exception to this rule, for they belong to

the sects of th e comm unities in which they dwell.

There is a close correlation betw een spatial location, eth nicity , an d

sect affiliation. Th e strategic lowland centers are populated by t he Sunn i eth nic

groups and th e highlands by the Imami or Ismaili groups. Of th e S unn i groups in

th e strategic lowland s, th e Tajiks are the mo st nume rous. In Bamian, Tajiks live

on t he cen tral lowland plain and in valleys of Jalmish, Ghan dak , Sayghan, and

Kam and, which are no rth o f th e central valley. There are only a few Afghan vil-

lages in Bamian; they are located only in th e lowlands, ofte n o n the fringe of the

Tajik populations . Th e officials assigned to government offices in th e strategic

lowland centers of th e region are almost entirely Sun nis; the few

Irnarnis in gov-

ernm ent hold only low-echelon positions. Th e lowlands, then , are controlled by

Sunnis: Sunn i Tajiks, Sunni Afghans, and Sunni officials. Th e highlands are in-

habited by th e Imami or Ismaili Hazara-Sayyed populations. A few Afshar com-

munities, always Imamis, dwell among th e Imami Hazara-Sayyed com mu nities,

sometimes on th e fringes of the lowlands, where the Hazara an d Tajik lands

meet. Th e highlands are therefor e occupied by the Imami and Ismaili ethn ic

groups: Hazaras, Sayyeds, an d Afshars.

THE PROBLEM

The distribution o f the religious sects in Bamian is the p roblem . Sunnis

occupy the central valley of Bamian, Imamis the southern and western highlands,

and a mix ture of lmam is and Ismailis the highlands of Sh ibar and Kalu (see

Fig. 2).

Th e most complex aspect of th e problem is the mixture of sects in Shibar

and Kalu, where sectarian lines cross-cut the num erous highland valleys an d

glens, forming among the popu lations a kind of chessboard of co ntrasting re-

ligious allegiances in which adjacent villages often belong t o co ntr ary sects. Even

more remarkably, in Shibar (but no t K alu) the dividing line between th e sects

sometimes cuts through hamlet groups consisting of closely related agnatic kins-

men.

The valley of Labmushak in Shibar (Fig. 3 furnishes an example of the

sectarian chessboard and the fractured hamlet groups. People in Labm ushak are

grouped in a num ber of small hamlets, each com posed of closely re lated agnates

and their families. Generally the members of each hamle t belong t o th e same

sect. For exam ple, inha bitan ts of Jura qol, Pesh Zyar and Qalaay-Mullah are all



F CTION

ND

CONVERSION

IN

PLUR L SOCIETY



THE PROBLEM ND THE ISSUES



8

FACTION AND CONVERSION IN

A

PLUR AL SOCIETY

Ismailis while th e populations o f Tagaw Khana a nd Digu are entire ly Im amis.

However at three locations-Rezaka Upper Maam ad an d Ekhtyaar-w here sec-

tarian allegiances have cu t through their kinship and territorial g roupings the

distribu tion of sects is less regular. This pa ttern o f social seg mentatio n in which

some hamlets are broken and o thers no t exists in many valleys throug hou t the

highlands of Shibar. And in most valleys of Shibar bo th sects are represented.

These religious differences are the overriding criteria of social segmentation

in Afghanistan. The break between Ismailis and Imamis in Labmu shak even

where it cuts through hamlet groups represents the most significant cleavage in

their society. Thu s the inhab itants o f this valley are actually divided in to func-

tioning groups that bear no apparent resemblance to their spatial arrangement or

kinship connections.

The exten t of sect group separation in Labm ushak is indicated b y the fol-

lowing facts:

1.

They d o not interm arry. Marriages are consum mated betwe en m embers

of the same sects.

2.

The Ismailis and Imamis reckon themselves t o belong t o diffe rent patri-

lineages even though some of them obviously-in c m the broken ham-

lets-are closely related . A wom an of Rezaka for exam ple denied hav-

ing any kinship ties

with

a neighboring family who had converted t o the

contrary sect.

3.

The y d o not graze their sheep and goats in the same flock s; each flock is

composed of animals owned by sect brothers.

4 Each sect group patronizes different water-powered flour mills. Six are

Ismaili mills and three are Imami.

5. They patronize different occupationa l specialists. Th e Ismailis of

Labmushak patronize two Ismaili brick masons one

in

Juraqol and the

othe r in an adjacent valley. The Irnamis use th e services of a brick mason

residing in another valley. Thus an Imami in Tagaw Khana makes a

45

minute walk to reach an Imami brick mason rather than patronize the

Ismaili brick mason in nearby Juraq ol. Similarly tw o Arab ironsmiths

reside in the valley one in Pesh Zyar serving Ismailis the o th er in

Katyalaw serving

Imarnis.

6

Borrowing lend ing buying and

selling

of p etty am oun ts of goods seldom

cross sectarian

lines

lsmailis trade w ith Ismailis within and outsid e the

valley and Imamis likewise trade only with Imamis. Trade with othe r

internally broken valleys is carried on in parallel lines bu t within the

sects. Residents of Labmushak for example exchange their surplus

alfalfa for pears produced in another valley Alawlab bu t as Alawlab is

also divided the transactions are carried on between sect bre thren in the

two valleys. When farmers search for extr a straw or a loan o f wheat



THE PRO LEM AND THE ISSUES

until harvest, they first contac t mem bers of their ow n sect. When they

have t o move further afield in search of goods, they may buy outside

sectarian lines, bu t t hey stay overnight with mem bers of their own sect.

7. Conversation between members o f the t w o sects is sho rt, to th e poin t,

and sometim es strained by att em pts t o veil information in vapid gen-

eralities. Som etime s remarks are down right hostile. Members of dif-

ferent sects, when passing on the m ountain pathways, d o not usually

greet each othe r.

This pattern o f isolation between the sects in Labm ushak has no t always

been so severe. Th e degree of interactio n has ebbed and flowed irregularly.

There have been times when mem bers of th e tw o sects have spoken m ore freely;

sometimes they have helped each othe r in comm on tasks and participated in

major social events. Th ere have occasionally been large weddin g feasts which

everyone in th e area at te nd ed , as mu st have been th e practice in fo rmer times.

But when tensions develop the groups separate. A

few years ago some Im ami and

Ismaili families were grazing their livestock together and relations between them

seemed to be improving, bu t a bitt er ar gume nt arose because an especially

pietistic l mam i elder, wh o was sponsoring a wedding feast, refused t o acce pt an

Ismaili person s gift of a lamb for his feast. This incident led to the severance of

all social interactio n between th e t w o groups.

Th e chessboard of co ntrary religious alignments shows th at individuals o r

groups have converted t o one o r the oth er sect and have remained in their ho m e

com munit y alongside kinsmen adhering to th e original sect. Nevertheless mos t

people initially deny th at conversion is possible. I was told th e following, fo r

example

If a man changes from o ne sect t o ano ther , he does not change fro m

Imami to Sunni or fro m Sunni to Imami; he becomes an infidel but not

anyt hing else.

If my bro the r became Imam i my f ath er and I would be furious , and

th e others also would not let him in to their houses.

person can t change his religion. Never. Th e judge wo uld be un-

happy-no on e could ever d o this-and his Saint and his mullah would no t

accept it. People would reproach him for it; they would call him an

apostate.

It is not really feasible t o change from one sect t o ano the r. person

cannot really get free from his sect. Suppo se yo ur Saint should say some-

thin8 unfriendly t o you, would n ot b e nice to y ou o r should not be cour-

teous to you; then you would have t o go. If he looked badly toward yo u

and refused t o allow you to come see him, then you would be ou t. The n



FACTION AND CONVERSION IN A PLURA L SOCIETY

suppose one day you have to find a friend. You couldn't find a friend

in

a

whole year. If you fight with everyb ody , then in a single day y ou can be-

come the enemy of everyone.

The problem may no w be stated in four qu estions:

1. What conditions favor the distribution of th e Su nni groups

in

the low-

lands, the Imamis in the highlands, and the Ismailis in on ly the highlands

of the southern Hindu K ush, of which Shibar is a part?

2. What conditions could have allowed com munities t o factionalize along

sect lines in Shibar, but no t elsewhere in Bamian?

3. How can religious conversion have taken place when conversion is said

to be impossible?

4. What conditions induce these groups t o form ulate their factional differ-

ences-if the y have t o factionalize-as religious differences? Why are the

factio ns conceived as religious sects?

THE ISSUES

These questions are relatively unfamiliar t o anth ropo logists and the solutions

to be offered must be considered provisional. Nevertheless, the ethnographic ma-

terial in this study is presented t o supp ort a mo re general thesis: that the sects of

Bamian are political interest groups whose fo rm an d distribution are controlled

by their social, cultural, and geographic contexts . The argum ent impinges on

three issues of broad conce rn.

Th e Geography of Discrete Social Units

It is not unusual that religious sects are distributed in a regular way in

Bamian, for th roughou t the Middle East o rth od ox Islam prevails at the political

and economic centers while various forms of heresy persist in the mounta ins

(Coon, 1951 Planhol, 1959). Nevertheless, anthropolog ists have given little at-

tention t o the social processes bringing abo ut such a patte rn. Leach roughly tied

the political structures of Kachin-Shan society t o geographical con tex ts bu t as his

problem was somewhat different ('h o w far it can be maintained tha t a single type

of social structure prevails throug hou t the Kachin area [1 95 4:3]

,

he did not

develop a clear-cut model of the relation between Kachin-Shan societies or

omw

guml o

political structure s and their geographic con text s. Barth (1956 has

shown tha t the distribu tion of ethnic groups in Swat is regulated by the locations

of specific ecologic niches exploited by different eth nic groups, and b y the rela-

tive power balance between the groups com peting within the same niche. Other



THE PROBLEM ND THE ISSUES

11

authors (Sahlins, 19 64 ; Harding, 19 67 ; Irons, 19 69 ; Wolf, 195 6, 1 96 6; Y. Cohen,

1969) have stressed that the social structure of groups should be related t o their

political as well s

ecologic contexts.

Planhol(1959), a hum an geographer, has pointed ou t that in the Middle

East religious minorities typically dwell in mo un tain or desert refuges apa rt from

the great trade rou tes, or, if in the cities, maintain their isolation by econ om ic

specialization. This stu dy similarly takes the view tha t religious he ter od ox y in

inaccessible rural areas of the Middle East is a boundary-m aintaining device of

interest groups dwelling in th e m arginal territories .

The facto r of geographic marginality requires some explanatio n. The

ability of a polity t o impinge on ot her groups is limited by three facto rs: its rela-

tive power, its distance from the oth er groups, and the kinds of contro ls it seeks

to impose on them. Th e first of these requires no explanation. Th e secon d, the

effect of d istance, is no t t o be und erstoo d as linear distance, bu t effective dis-

tance. Th e effective distance of a society from its neighbors is a consequence o f

its technological capabilities for crossing space and th e costs and gains of eco-

nomic exchange with its neighbors. As an exam ple of the technological factors

in effective distance, China s ability to c on trol Tibet has increased as her tech-

nology has developed, from an earlier system of com munication and transp ort

based on oxcarts, riverboats, and camel caravans t o a system based on railroads,

aircraft, radios, and telephones. As an example of the econom ic facto rs in effec-

tive distance, some peasant com munities of

Chma s north ern frontier once were

tied m ore closely to the societies to their nor th than to certain m uch closer co m -

munities to the so uth. Thls was because camel tra nsp ort across the Mongolian

steppes was cheaper than oxcar t transport south war d to the city , and con sequ ent-

ly the peasants found it more pro fitable to sell grain t o Mongol pastoralists 8

miles to the north than to urban Chinese m erchants scarcely one tent h of tha t

distance to the so uth (Lattimo re, 1956).

The third limit on a society s reach across space is the kind and degree of

influence it attem pts to exert on its neighbors. Lattimore (19 56) has pointed

ou t that a society can reach ou t comparatively farther by con quest than it can

administratively o r economically integra te marginally held territories in to th e

central socio-economic system (see also Bailey, 1957).

These limitations on the range of a society s influence across space stablish

its political and econom ic frontiers. The interest groups at its frontiers therefor e

may retain a degree of auton om y from i t, formulated as contrastive social identi-

ties (Canfield, in press).

The Cu ltural Identity of Discrete Social Units

But why is the functional autonomy of marginal interest groups formulated

as contras ting sectarian identities? Recen t work on eth nic groups provides some



12

F CTION ND CONVERSION IN A PLUR L SOCIETY

clues. Barth (19696 ) has suggested th at th e ascription of ethn ic differences

should be analytically distinguished fro m t he social processes suppo rting such

distinctions. Th e emphasis on ascription as the critical feature o f ethn ic discrete-

ness enables the social analyst t o specify ho w groups m aintain con tinu ity even

though their cultural inventories change, ho w they can interact wi tho ut violating

their boundaries, and how persons can seep throug h their boundaries w ithout

disrupting the categorical distinctiveness of th e groups. Th e present approach

differs from

Barth's treatm ent of ethn ic groups in th at i t takes sectarian identity

rather than ethnicity as the basic, mos t general social ide nti ty in Bamian (cf.

Barth, 1969 b: 13 , 17). It is curious, in fact, th at Barth, tho ugh citing tribe, caste,

language group, region, an d sta te (1969b :34) does no t include religion as a possi-

ble basis of ethnic ascription. Thls study argues th at tactical considerations

have made sectarian id entity the primary basis of gro up categorization in Bamian,

and in Afghanistan as a whole.

What factors elevate one ascribed distinction above ano ther ? T w o proposi-

tions appear to answer this question. First, the categories of gro up iden tity are

defined in the sphere of intergroup relations. Barbara Ward (196 5, 196 6) has

pointed o ut th at there is a correspondence between a group's c onc eptio n of the

identities of oth er societies and its concep tions of its own iden tity: the members

of a group tend t o see themselves in terms th at are compleme ntary t o t he diag-

nostic features of neighboring groups. An thropom orphically speaking, a society

is constantly asking questions abo ut its identity in relation t o its neighbors:

Who are we? What shall we be know n by-as friend s, kin sm en, trading

partners, or enemies of ou r neighbors? How are we different from them?

Th e sets of answers t o such questions invoked by each society result in the

mosaics of different social groups on the landscape, the discrete gro ups of per-

sons who feel they belong together vis-a-vis oth er groups. Through such means

oth er groups are identified as outsiders, whether they are ensconced across the

valley, over the m ountain, or beyond the sea. By 'tie wi ng space through a

screen of symbols each group sees its social position among the spatially juxta-

posed comm unities o n the face of the land and maintains a structural pose con-

sistent with that co ntex t

(Geertz, 19 65 ; Sahlins, 1964).

The second proposition is that the categories of grou p ide nti ty are general-

ly controlled by the terms a dom inant group uses to identify itself. Th e interest

groups within its spheres of influence must conform to such requirements, either

by

ascribing

to themselves an ide ntity indicating their adherence t o the dominant

group, or

by

ascribing to themselves a differen t, complementarily op pos ite iden-

tity so as to pose themselves against it.

The Kau Sai exemplify the first stance, the Berbers of th e Maghrib and t he

Hausa of Ibadan , the second. The people of Kau

Sai

have several conscious

models, or cultural conceptions, of what Chinese society is, one of which, their

immediate m odel (i.e., their conception of themselves), is const ructed after



TH E PROBLEM

AND THE

SSUES

3

their conception of Chinese literati society. Their conce ption of literati society

acts for them as their m easure of wha t is truly Chinese, and wherever it

is

relevant, it is, and has bee n, used as a

correct ive for their immed iate m odel

[i.e., of themselves]

and so for their actual structure

(Ward,

9 6 5 :

135;

emphasis adde d).

The Kau Sai have identified with Chineseness an d therefo re in co nst ruc tin g

their model o f their ow n cultural iden tity have shaped an image, albeit imperfect-

ly, tha t sought t o approximate their conc eptio n of Chinese literati society.

Th e Berbers of Algeria an d the Hausa of Ibada n have form ula ted th eir cul-

tural identit ies so as to contrast with, rather than conform to, the identities of

their neighbors. They, o f course, are no t s o domin ated by neighboring societies

as the Kau Sai are by C hinese literati society. Ra the r than being eager to be iden-

tified with neighboring groups, they are careful t o maintain their distinct cu ltural

identities as walls partitioning their groups from those arou nd the m. T o main-

tain such discreteness they have had t o adjust the categories by w hich the y re-

main apart from t he others.

Several times, for instance, the m ountain-dwelling Berbers have reform u-

lated their religious identities in ord er t o remain distinct fr om th e polities con -

trolling the lowland cente rs of power. These Berbers have almos t always been

religious heretics-viewing th em of course from th e perspective of the ir neighbors.

When th e Roman s wh o controlled the province o f Ifriqiya became Christianized,

the highland Berbers (whom they never fully subjugated) also becam e

Christians-

but Donatist and Arian heretics, so as t o remain distinct from the c hurch of R om e

When Islam sw ept t he area th e Berbers became M uslims, bu t s oo n expressed their

dissent from the inequ alities of A rab Muslim rule by beco ming Kh arijite heretics.

Even after this, their internecin e divisions led t o th e for ma tio n of sectarian d iffer-

ences am ong themselves.

The clearest indication tha t religious doctrin e little concern ed th em

fundamentally is given by t he fact that on e party espoused the cause of the

Shiis, no t on ly tha t of t he Idrisids of Fas , bu t even of tho se wh o had c om e

under the influence

of

th e Persian o utloo k and saw in t he

imam

an incarna-

tion of the Divinity. Th us it came abou t that alongside th e Kharidjis (Sufris

and Ibadis) there were th e Fatimid s [Ismailis] (Basset and Pellat,

1960:

178).

The Hausa of lbadan furnish a similar exam ple, b u t in an urban co nt ex t.

When changes o n the national level threaten ed t o abolish th e eth nic distin ction s

which had set them apart from the Yoruba groups and t o undermine their m o n o p

oly

of

a lucrative trade n etwo rk, they converted t o an unco mm on sect of Islam

A.

Cohen, 1969 .



14

FACTION AND CONVERSION IN A PLUR AL SOCIETY

The factors, then , t ha t generally elevate certa in ascriptive categories above

others are inherent in the overarching socio-political context.

A

group tha t iden-

tifies with a neighboring grou p ascribes t o itself an ide nt ity similar t o th at of its

neighbor.

A

grou p tha t endeavors to remain distinct from its neighbors ascribes

to itself a plainly contrary ide ntity .

Th e Crossing of D iscrete Social Boundaries

Where such a bou ndary exists, how c ou ld an individual slip across it?

There have been few an thropo logical studies of boundary crossing (see Ba rrett,

1968; Barth, 19690;A Cohen , 1 96 9; Haaland, 196 9; Sangree, 1 966). In the

societies studied , the categorical distinctions between group s have n o t been in-

tensified by profound hostilities such as exist between sect groups in Bamian.

The issue in this study is how conversion can take place between m utually hostile

groups. T o deal with such an issue a distinction m ust b e made, already implicit

in the oth er studies of bound ary crossing, between the tactical a nd symbolic as-

pects of behavior. Tactical aspects of behavior are those resulting from the

actor's rational assessment of the risks and oppo rtun ities involved in his be-

havior. A person manages and manipulates situations so as to achieve con-

sciously conceived objectives.

s

Symbolic or communicative asp ects of behavior are those in dicating the

actor's rel ation sh p t o the cultural ideals and categories of his society. In this

sense all human social behavior, as it takes place within cu lturally conceived

frameworks of meaning, is symbolic.

A socially accepted system of ideas

is

imminent

in

every overt process

of social interac tion , a system of ideas which in a qu ite literal sense informs

it (Geertz,

965:203 .

For human s, social action is comm unicative ac tion. Th us, a person's conform ity

to the standards of his society symbolizes

his

willingness to remain in fellowship

with its other conforming members. His studied deviance from such standards,

on the other ha nd , symbolizes his dissent from it , his unwillingness to remain in

accord

with

it. Seen in this light, hum an behavior is a language of fellowship and

conformity, and o f dissent and resistance.

Neither the tactical no r the symbolic aspect of human behavior neces-

sarily portrays th e emotional sentiments of the actors. Their feelings are subject

to the structural demand s of their society n the sense that social con form ity re-

quires that animosities, if there be a ny , must e checked or veiled in order to

'see

llrnd (1967:212);

Bmtth

(1959); Bennett ( 196 .



THE PRO LEM

AND

THE ISSUES

preserve social interaction an d an appearance of s o l i d a r i t ~ . ~ersonal feelings of

hostility of course sometimes d o come to the surface. When they d o the func-

tional bonds tha t hold persons together can be broken and even the pretense of

unity among com mun ity memb ers can be discarded. In such cases new p atter ns

of behavior will appea r and new conce ptions of their identities will be formu -

lated.

It is in such a con text tha t persons cross the bound aries between mutually

hostile groups. We shall argue tha t religious conversion is an op tion t o defeate d

disputants in Shibar but not elsewhere in Barnian because ecological and political

constraints on Shlbar society allow a disputant to w ithdraw from his kinsmen

with out leaving his vital resource irrigated land .

6 ~ f . ennett 19690:291-292) on water f i lht s be tween persons w ho otherwise cooperate

in eco no mic activities.



CUL TUR L ECOLOGY

TOPOGRAPHY

AND

CLIMATE

Topography and Population Distribution

AMIAN has been referred t o as a valley as it is the region th rough which a

B river flows. Topographically however it has the appearance of a basin

though a crack to t he n ortheast allows drainage to flow outside. It is shaped like

an oblong bowl th e bo tto m of which is an alluvial valley while its rim irregular

in height and thickness is form ed by mo untain ridges and plateaus. Fro m rim t o

rim it measures abou t 6 0 miles from east t o west and 20 miles from no rth t o

sou th bu t its central alluvial floo r lcnown as Tagaw is hardly te n and one-half

miles long and a t its widest p oint barely a mile broad.

The norther n rim o f the bowl is a row o f immense sheer cliffs rising in

places over 30 0 feet above the valley floor. Fro m east t o west these cliffs become

shallower and in places less ab rupt. Behind th em ascends the Koh-i-Khoja Ghar

mountain which at th e Sang-i-chaspan Peak stretches t o ab ou t 13 0 00 feet al-

most 6 00 0 feet above the basin floor. Little water flows in to the basin fro m this

northern ridge; instead the bulk of the m oisture fr om these peaks drains no rth-

ward into Ghandak a nd Sayghan. The southern ridge of the bowl ascends more

gradually bu t at its highest point reaches nearly 17 0 00 feet. This is th e Shah

Foladi mountain range. Flowing northward off Shah Foladi int o the Bamian val-

ley a num ber of streams water fertile highland valleys before disgorging on to th e

plain. The

hah Foladi and Koh-i-Khoja Ghar ridges run parallel t o each oth er to

form respectively the sou thern and northern rims of the basin. They are joined

together at either end by the undulating plateaus

o

Qarghanatu on the west and

Shibar on the east. Th e Qarghanatu plateau is the watershed between the Bamian

and Band-i-Amir rivers. Shibar of course is the watershed between Bamian and

Ghorband. The eastward-flowing waters of Tagaw at their confluence w ith a

smaller stream from Shibar veers to the nor th and-surging with great force

through Shekari Gorge an immense cleft in the nor the rn ridge of the basin

sometimes as narrow as 50 feet-disgorges o n to the plain of Afghan Turkestan



1 8


whence it flows in to the Q und uz river. The eastern half of Bamian gives the ap-

pearance of e xtr em e ruggedness, cliffs rising

in

man y places qu ite perpendicular

to th e valley floor, gorges often pi nc hn g the valleys in to isolated , elongated seg-

men ts of cultivation alongside the pa th of the river. Th e und ulatio ns, however,

o f the western half become m ilder, bu t rise higher th an the eastern plateau.

The settled populations are entirely distributed alongside the rivers and

streams of the basin. The most p opu lous region is th e Tagaw plain itself.

Tagaw's expansive western e nd , where the m ou ths of th e Foladi, Sokh tda ra, and

Kakrak rivers converge, is th e political nave of th e basin. This area is known as

the markaz, the center, or as Bamian in its narrow est sense, for fro m this

area the entire province has been nam ed. Extensive archaeological rema ins wit-

ness to its ancient political importance; even today the present provincial head-

quarters of the A fghan government are situated on a plateau overlooking the

markaz. The eastern en d of Tagaw and an expansive tributary valley, Paymuri,

form anothe r population node where the remains of Shahr-i-Zohak, The Red

City, also testify to the historic importance of t h s location. Most of the other

tributary valleys of Tagaw are economically and socially less closely lin ked to

Tagaw because they are essentially cut off from it by the convoluted terrain.

These valleys, situated hi h among the rugged plateaus surr oundin g Tagaw, pro-

vide sanctuary for additional populations w hich, taken altog ether, exceed the

number dwelling on Tagaw.

Bamian's populations are spatially divided in to tw o groups, those associ-

ated with Tagaw and those associated with th e isolated highland valleys. The

populations of Tagaw are spatially clustered; those in th e highlands are pocketed

in relatively small groups. Each village and ter rito ry is named , and since terri-

torial location is closely associated with social ide nti ty, one's home territo ry

usually defines one's social identity.

Climate

Statistics on temperature and precipitation have only recently been syste-

matically recorded . Gen erally, the plain of Tagaw, being somew hat higher than

Kab ul, is

a

few degrees colder. The British in 18 40 recorded a Feb ruary tempera-

ture of -10 to -12 degrees (Fa hrenhe it) for several nights at t he m arkaz (Govern-

men

t

of India, 19 10 :

1 1 .

During one May day in 1967 temperatures on the plain

ranged from a low of 37 degrees to a high of 72 degrees (Fahrenheit). Ju ly-

August

is

the warmest time of th e year: temperatures rise t o 9 0 degrees or more

in the sun , but shade is always com forta ble.

Summer precipitation is light, most of it falling on the eastern p lateaus

where the final dregs o f moisture in the monsoon w inds from S outh Asia are

squeezed out of th e atmosphere. The western plateau, owing to the dryness of

the summer winds reaching it, is comparatively arid.



CULTURAL ECOLOGY

19

Winter w inds pass from the oth er direction across the basin depositing most

of the basin's precipitation in th e form o f snow .

As

a result o f Tagaw's locatio n

on th e southern (and warmer) side of Koh-i-Khoja Ghar an d t he sheltering affects

of th e ab rupt cliffs overlooking Tagaw, it has a considerably mor e temp erate cli-

mate in winter, though still cold, than its moun taino us perimeters, where the

snow descends in great quantities. Tagaw an d some o f its tribut ary valleys often

get no m ore than a foo t or tw o of snow in win ter; the highland plateaus are gen-

erally blanketed with de ep snow , tons o f it heaved b y powerful winds i nt o im-

mense drifts. Consequen tly, th e inhabita nts of the peripheral plateaus are forced

to stay indoors several weeks during winter. Due t o th e extrem e temperatures,

the animals are kept inside the houses on the ground floor while t he peo ple hiber-

nate in small groups around kitchen fires on the second story. Hum an transp ort

in winter is extrem ely difficult, furth er thwa rted by the wolves prowling close

among the hum an ha bita tions. Massive piles of fuel bushes reveal th e severity of

this environment. Farmers frequently sp end 5 0 t o 6 0 half-days a year collecting

for fuel th e bushes tha t grow o n t he barren crags an d rock slides presiding over

their fields. Fo r nearly as man y days of summer the wo men are occupied with

preparing dun g cakes for w inter fuel.

The Bamian basin o n a whole, therefo re, presents an image of geographic

isolation. Until recen tly, since a government sn ow plow has begun t o ke ep the

Shibar pass open fo r transport mos t o f winter, all th e passes int o Bamian were

practically closed during cold seasons. Th e journal of Charles

Masson 1842,

vol. II:459-6 4) describes the perils of crossing the s no wb ou nd passes o f Bamian

in winter.

There is a differential, however, in the degree t o which t he populations of

Bamian are isolated. Bamian's strategic locatio n along the main trade r ou tes be-

tween India and Balkh have enabled the peop le at Bamian's central nave on

Tagaw t o retain conta ct, even in winter, with the outside world through the per-

sistent flow o f caravans over its passes and in to its milder low lands , where all

paths converge. In contrast , the severity of winters on th e surround ing plateaus

of the basin still isolate the local inhabitants from one anot her an d the outside

world for several weeks, even f or as long as three m on ths , of t he year. This isola-

tion is greatest in th e eastern fla nk of th e Koh-i-Baba, notab ly in Kalu an d Shibar

where th e snows are especially ex tensive and w here the valleys d o no t directly

lead int o the Tagaw plain. The word

koh band , mountain bound, describes the

social as well as geographic implications of life in such mountain communities,

for it con no tes social backwardness an d religious conservatism an d prudishness.

People of Shibar report tha t until

10

t o 12 years ago they frow ned on association

with urbanites and were ext remel y critical of life in Kabul. This point of view

contr asts with that of th e inhabitan ts of Tagaw who have for centu ries been in

regular con tact w ith the populations of Kabul and Ko h-Daman and have identi-

fied with urban cen ters outside Bamian. This has been especially true o f the



2

FACTION AND CONVERSION IN A PLU RA L SOCIETY

populations dwelling near th e marka z, where the trade rou te between Kabul and

Afghan Turk estan has long been an im por tant source of eco nom ic gain.

ECONOMIC ADAPTAT IONS

Economic Activities

Th ree kinds of economic activities are carried on in t he basin, usually in

com bination: agriculture, animal husba ndry, and commerce. Cultivation of the

soil is the most im po rta nt. Grain crops for subsistence are raised through out the

basin; a few cash crops are raised on the Tagaw. Th e subsistence grain crops are

wheat, barley, and fava bean (baqoli). Wheat is grow n wherever possible, and

barley where the land is worn ou t or has only a shor t growing season. Fava bean,

though n ot a grain in the botanical sense, functions as an alternative t o wheat and

barley, for it is raised on irrigated soil in rota tion with wheat in places where the

growing season is long and surface water abu nda nt, and it is ground u p in to flou r

and mixed (usually) with wheat and (sometimes) barley flour.

Crop raising for cash is a relatively new developm ent in Bam ian. Th e cash

crops are mainly potato es and trees. Pota toes are raised by a few families on the

markaz, bu t the practice seems t o be spreading upwards int o the lower regions of

Foladi valley. Presumably the cultivation of pota toes will spread even further up

the warmer tributaries of the Tagaw plain.

Poplar trees are raised f or sale as roofing beams fo r the adobe brick struc-

tures used in many places in Afghanistan. Large groves of poplar trees exist on

Tagaw, own ed by the rich an d the Afghan governm ent, and small groves are

found in warmer parts of the highlands, usually o n m ountain slopes to o rugged

and rocky for plowing. In the highest valleys trees are relatively scarce. Poplar

trees have only been cultivated for a few years. Elderly persons remember when

trees were practically non-existent in many parts of the basin. But th e deman d

for building materials in Kabul has made poplar trees increasingly profitable.

A few oth er prod ucts of Bamian are produced for cash. Eggs are sold by a

few peasants to merchants on the markaz and shipped t o Kabul. On th e

Qarghanatu plateau small amounts of peas, which grow acce ptably in dry re-

gions, are raised fo r cash. dried form of yogurt (qu rut) is also sold to markaz

merchants by the peasants of the western portion of Bamian.

Husbandry o f sheep and goats is carried on mainly as a supplement t o cul-

tivation. It is most feasible for the populations dwelling near enough to the high-

land pastures to bring their flocks hom e from pasture each night. Most of the

highland populations keep

flo ks

in numbers conson ant with local con ditions of

Vi cb

Fa

L Vavllov

and Buklnich 1919 .



CULTURAL E OLOGY 2 1

pasturage and capability for protection in winter. They are limited in th e amo un t

of grazing stock they can keep by the severe winters, requiring the livestock to be

kept indoors for several mo nths of the year. They are also limited in their right

to graze their flocks because in the last cen tury a concession o f mounta in grazing

rights was given by the ruler of Kabul to the

Pushtun nom ads who assisted him in

conquering this territory . Even so, the abundance of wild grasses blanketing the

mou ntain slopes in summ er, thou gh mainly consumed by the Pushtun nomads, is

sufficient to enable the sedentary inhabitants of the basin t o keep a few sheep

and goats of their own, usually n o more than

1 sheep and goats per househ old.

The flocks in Qarghanatu and F olad i, however, are generally larger tha n those

further east because pasturage on the western plateaus is more abundant.

The importance of flock grazing among th e highlanders is indicated by th e

summer migrations of their families to the grassy elevated glens of th e mo untain s.

These mountain quarters are known as their aylaq or sarqol). During summ er

the women a nd children move up in to these aylaq lands t o facilitate t he grazing

of flocks on the m ountain pastures while the men spend m ost of their time on

the irrigated lands below. The men visit the aylaq once o r twice a week depend-

ing on i ts accessibility.

Comm erce is an importa nt activity fo r some of the wealthier families dwell-

ing on the Tagaw plain, mainly those aroun d the markaz. On th e markaz there is

a small market consisting o f tw o rows of buildings on either side of the main

road, which is the focus of th e influx of manu factured goods from Kabul and salt

from Khanabad. It is also the center fo r the exp ort of locally produced agricul-

tural products t o Kabul and

Charikar to the east, and Pul-i-Khumri, Khanabad,

and Mazar-i-Sharif t o the north. The main prod ucts shipped o ut are wheat, dried

yogurt

quru t), eggs, pota toes, an d trees.

The merchants o f this mark et are mostly from families locally resident a t

the markaz. Such families, besides having a mem ber in charge of cultivating

family lands, will have some members occupied in activities relating t o the com-

mercial market. These persons are owners of trucks o r buses running t o the ur-

ban cen ters, or drivers of vehicles moving in and ou t of the m arket, or shippers

to the urban markets where usually other family mem bers are responsible for

marketing their products), o r shop ow ners vending the manufactured products

brought in from the outside.

Environm ental Variables Affecting Agriculture

The crops of Barnian are p lanted in com binations according to the specific

agricultural possibilities of each tillable trac t o f land. The following environmen-

tal variables affect the productive capacity o f a piece of land : its altitude, its

shading, the am oun t of surface water available to it, and the a mo un t o f precipi-

tation on it. The first two of these variables affect its growing season,

and

the

second two affect the mode of agricultural production.



FACTION AND CONVERSION IN A PLURAL SOCIETY

Altitude The irregular top ograp hy of mos t of Bamian. is especially significant

for agriculture, because the altitude of p lots an d th e am ou nt of their exposure to

the sun vary widely enough t o effect a mu ltiplicity of ecological zones within

small area (see Por ter , 1 965 ). Th e lower a cultivated t rac t of lan d is, the more it

benefits from warmer tem pera tures a nd fr om a longer growing season. Thus, the

farmers of lowland p lots have more c ertain yields and usually m ore latitude in the

choice of crops than is possible fo r the highland farm ers.

Among the highlands there is often a great deal of variation in th e altitude

of the alluvial floors within a single valley. The gradual rise in an alluvial floor

places each cultivated plot in th e valley at a slightly d ifferent a ltitude . In the dis-

tance of a mile a plain may ascend s much s 15 00 feet, an d thu s compress the

seasonal variations affected by altitud e in to a very sh or t space.

Shade

Mountain ridges of ten shade differen t po rtio ns of a valley unevenly

with th e result th at some cultivated lands, shaded early or late in the day (some-

times bo th early and late), have noticeably sho rter growing seasons th an those

more exposed to the sunlight. This shading of th e cultivated plains by the m oun-

tains and cliffs materially a ffects the growing seasons of the plots because of the

generally

high altitudes in Bamian. This effect is indeed mu ch more apparen t in

the highlands where the contrast in the temperature of directly sunlit areas and

shaded areas is grea test, an d where a greater percentage of the alluvial lands are

shaded. Moreover, it is mo re prono unced in the eastern portion of the basin than

the western because the sof ter convolutions o f the western plateaus are seldom

abr upt enough t o shade th e cultivated valleys.

Th e positions of a valley with respect t o th e sun of course affects the de-

gree to which its steep slopes will actually shade it. Since the sun traverses the

sky from east t o west, a valley running east and west (such as Tagaw an d a few

smaller valleys, e.g., Bu lola, Kamard, and Sayghan) gets more sun , mo re warm th,

and as a result a longer growing season than a highly walled valley running n orth

and south . Most of the valleys on the sout h and southeast of the basin are o f

the

latter type and there fore are more susceptible to shading.

Availability

o

surface water The am oun t and seasonal patterns of the rivers

draining a valley determine, of co urse, how m uch water can be used for irrigation

in a valley. Generally Bamian waters, supplied by the extensive snows o f Koh-i-

Baba and its spurs, is abundant. Th e Foladi River, Tagaw s biggest tribu tary,

issues from giant moraine lakes situated high on the Shah Foladi mo unta in.

These resources, joined by o ther rivers disgorging on the Tagaw plain, are more

than enough to ensure Tagaw-long and comparatively wide as it is-with plenty

of water for irrigation in sum mer when it is most needed. A few highland areas,

in fact, notably Kalu, suffer from an over-abundance of water, for despite the

rather steep decline of t he irngable plain, an abundance of m oun tain springs keeps

its

soils, even in the higher glens, rather too moist for optimal cultivation.



CULTURAL E OLOGY

23

The ex ceptions to this general pattern of sufficient water o ccur in certain

portions of the basin am ong the highest, narrowest valleys aro und the fringe of

the basin, where th e snows immediately above them may m elt away before the

summ er hea t is spent. It is in these small, nar row , highest valleys tha t water is

used by turns an d where spring water, if available, is dam med u p for use when

the vital stream has diminished t o a trickle. Such com mu nities obviously suffer

disadvantages in the practice of irrigation agricu lture.

Am oun t an d periods of precipitation. The a mo unt of precipitation o n a piece

of land is, of course, a critical factor determ ining whe ther t he land can b e pr ofit-

ably cultivated withou t irrigation. Winter snowfall brings t o the soil th e fertilizing

benefits of nitrogen , while spring rains, in ad ditio n, provide timely mo isture for

summe r growth. The eastern plateaus are the m ost favored regions of the basin

in this respect, as they draw heavy snows in winter a nd the greatest am ou nt of

rain, slight thoug h it som etimes is, in summer. Th e western margin of the basin

toward Qarghanatu differs from the eastern in th at it generally gets almost n o

rain in summer, though a lot of sno w in winter. The result is a reduc tion in the

feasibility o f the Q arghanatu highlands fo r dry-land agriculture.

The benefits of rainfall, which is favorable for dry-land cu ltivatio n, there-

fore, may be considered in comp leme ntary distribution w ith the be nefits of low

altitude. In the low altitudes of Tagaw, where th e climate is mildest, th e ad-

vantages of irrigation agriculture are grea test; in th e high a ltitudes of Shib ar

where the clim ate is mo re severe, the advantages of d ry-land agriculture are

greatest. Th e greatest con trast, therefore, in the agricultural adap tatio ns o f

Bamian s settled po pula tions is between Tagaw and Shibar. Th e social correlates

o f this ecological contrast are one of the central concerns of this study.

Types of Agricultural Land

There are three typ es of agricultural land in Bamian: irrigated land, rainfall

land, and cold spring-watered land. Irrigated land (obi) exists alongside the courses

of rivers an d streams. The enti re Tagaw, being flat and well wa tered, is irrigated.

The valleys marginal t o t he Tagaw, more irregular in fo rm , are irrigated wherever

alluvial fills allow. The irrigation d itch es Guys that supply these lands are all

relatively small. Each appears to have been built by t he local com m un ity using

it. Although large-scale canal works (nahar) seem never to have existed in the

basin, there are evidences t ha t these smaller ditches have been in existence since

ancient times. They typically fan out from the natural water sources, staying

above the gently sloping plains on to which they eventually are released. From

the air the irrigation system therefore somewhat resembles a great centipede, its

myriad legs (the ditches) fanning ou t from its body (the n atural strea m) a t suc-

cessively lower levels down each irrigated valley (see Fig. 3 . As the legs represent

specific elevations at which the w ater is being held above th e plain, they outlin e



4


the c onto urs of the hills dem arcating th e edges of th e plain. Where the hills are

steep the legs cluster together one above an oth er aro und the edge of the plain;

where hills slope more gently th e legs fan o u t more w idely. And of course where

the

h ll s are to o abr upt there may be n o legs at all. Usually the land between the

legs is irrigated, bu t sometimes on the e dges of the plains the re are patches of un-

cultivable land below the ditches due t o th e steepness o f the slope; eventually the

water lines reach th e more gen tly sloping plateaus w hich they were built t o serve.

All th e alluvial plains of the basin are irrigated ex ce pt fo r a few on the southern

edge of Koh-i-Khoja Gha r wh ere th e absence of a year-round flow o water and

the frequency of flash floods com bine t o prevent cu ltivation.

Th e edges of the irrigated z on e may be gradually c reeping higher, for a few

square yards of new land seem t o be open ed t o irrigation each year. Because the

only lands available for exte ndin g irrigation cultivation are th e rugged stee p banks

of th e hill above the alluvial floors, only small am ou nts o f new la nd , with great

effort, can be brought under cultivation each year. Opening u p new irrigated

land involves no t only new c onstruction or th e exten sion o f a canal, b u t also the

clearing of land t o be irrigated. Work on a ditch requires group help, bu t the

clearing of each plot t o be irrigated is the responsibility of the individual owner.

Some land receives enough rainfall t o be cultivable wit ho ut irrigation.

Rainfall lands

(lalmi) often also receive heavy snowfalls in winter and are conse-

que ntly kep t relatively fertile. Being very high, they have relatively sho rt grow-

ing seasons and their crops are som etimes ruined by unseasonably early frosts.

In Qarghanatu there are some poorly watered, problematic rainfall lands; but the

best rainfall lands are in Shibar where rainfall, particularly on its highest slopes,

is plentiful enough t o ensure regular crops. Rainfall land , therefo re, is especially

valuable in Shibar.

Within S hibar, there is a continuum in the relative impor tanc e o f rainfall

agriculture. Th e higher

(i.e., th e more easterly) lands receive the m ost rainfall.

They are rolling slopes, less steep and rocky than lower dow n tow ard the center

of the basin, and consequently are more easily plowed. Moreover, mo st of them

are in easy view of their owner's dwellings and thu s are more easily protec ted

from wild fauna or carelessly watched flocks. Fu rth er dow n in the basin, how -

ever, where rugged cliffs and gorges form , the reduced precipitation , th e r o c k -

ness, steepness and inaccessibility of t he cultivable dry lands co mbine t o render

rainfall agriculture less vital t o subsistence.

Spring-watered trac ts of land in some highland glens provide an oth er kind

of tillable land which is called simply

s rod

( cold ) land . Sarad land is diffe rent

from rainfall land in that i t is well watered by perennial springs. Indeed often it

is too well watered, and has t o be planted with vegetation tha t is no t spoiled by

a water surfeit. It is plowed and seeded , then left alone with out m uch atten tion.

It is similar t o rainfall land In that it has only a sho rt growing season, and may be

spofled by grazing animals and wild fauna. Sarad lands exist in dif fere nt places



CULTURAL

ECOLOGY 5

in the Bamian highlands, bu t m ost extensively in Kalu, which, unlike Shib ar, has

almost no rainfall land . Sarad land is always used for supp lementary agriculture.

Ecologic Regions

The Bamian basin can be divided in to six ecologic regions o n the basis of

the kinds of agricultural possibilities in each see Tab le 1): the Tagaw plain,

Khoja-Ghar Moun tain, Shibar, Kalu, the Shah Foladi

highlands,

and Qarghanatu.

The Tagaw region Zone I) has num erou s advantages. Low a titude 6

800

feet)

and an east-west orientation comb ine t o provide th e longest growing season in

the basin; and abu nda nt natural surface waters assure it o f m oisture necessary for

irtigation. Bu t it does no t have the benefits of spring and sum mer rains. Winter

snows are mode rate.

Khoja-Ghar mo unta in Zone 11), owing to its ruggedness, has the fewest

possibilities for land use. Very little of its south ern slopes and cliffs is really

usable. On some plateaus above the cliffs the re is some spring vegetation useful

for grazing. Only in a few places does water flow south ward off this ridge, so

there are few commu nities on its sou ther n skirts. Many of these are located close

to th e Tagaw plain and also own land on Tagaw.

The valleys of Shibar Zone

111) are high, ranging in altitude from about

7500 to abou t 950 0 feet, and most of them are north-south oriented. Generally,

therefore, they have relatively sho rt growing seasons, thou gh the compara tively

warm valley of Iraq is an exception. Surface water is abun dant in most parts of

Shibar except in those highest on the m ountains. For tuna tely, however, spring

and summer rains fall, rendering rainfall agriculture possible on many unirrigable

lands, complementing the irrigation ag riculture. Moreover, in some places rain-

watered lands particularly favor the highest valleys where surface wate r is

scarce) because the higher slopes receive the mo st rainfall. Winter snow s are

heavy, enhanc ing rainfall agr iculture by fertilizing the soil.

Th e valley of Kalu Zone IV), thou gh nor th-so uth oriented , is wide and its

hilly boundaries are no t so abru pt

s to shade much land. It is high, however,

about th e same altitud e as the Shibar valleys, and therefore has a relatively short

growing season. Th e num erou s springs in th e highest slopes above Kalu provide,

as men tioned earlier, to o much surface water, bu t there is little rainfall. Winter

snows are heavy.

Th e valleys in th e Shah Foladi highlands Zo ne V) range in altitude from

7,50 0 to perhaps 10 ,50 0 feet above sea level. Often they are narrow and their

hilly boundaries steep. Growing seasons there fore in these valleys are relatively

short, especially shor t, of course, amon g those highest on the moun tain. Surface

water is generally sufficient except, again, in the highest valleys, but summer rain-

fall is minimal. Snows are relatively heavy but less than in Shibar.



T BLE

Continued

Summer

Recipita tion

Amount Accessible

Surface Water Summ er Pasture

Land ses Means of Livelihood

very slight abu nda nt none irrig. agric.

subsistence activities: irrig. agric.

cash activities: trees, potato es;

marketing

unknown little or none little or none none none

moderate- adequate to abundant

slight rarely ) barely

sufficient

slight

slight

slight

too much

adequate to

rarely) barely

sufficient

usually

insufficient

abundant

abundant

abundant

Primary: irrig.

subsistence activities: irrig. agric.;

agric.; rainfall

rainfall agric.; flock care

agric. cash activities: trees few )

Secondary: pasture

Primary irrig.

subsist ence activities: irrig. agric.;

agric. flock care

Secondary: sarad

agxic.; pastu re

Primary irrig

agric.

Secondary

:

pasture

Primary irrig.

agr c

Secondary some)

rainfall agric.;

pasture

subsistence activities: irrig. agric.;

flock care;

cash activities: trees few)

subsist ence activities: irrig. agric.;

flock care

cash activities: peas



CULTURAL ECOLOGY

9

the east of Bamian an d th e Mazar-i-Sharif-Qunduz region t o its no rth . Sunni

power at these centers has supplied a protective cover fo r Sunn i econ omi c inter-

ests in Bamian. With th e improvement o f roads and othe r means of communica-

tion Bamian s Tagaw has becom e increasingly involved with these o uts ide centers.

Their Sunni faith, vis-a-vis th e Imam ism of their neighb ors, evinces the degree of

their social integration in to the natio nal econom ic system. Indee d, it will be

argued later th at Tagaw stands apa rt fr om th e highlands precisely because it has

historically belonged t o a Sunni-d om inated political sy stem , while th e highlands,

rather than being integrated in to it , have chosen socially t o withdraw from it.

The people of Tagaw have n ot always been Sunnis or so well integrated in to

the national econ omy . Travelers reports in the last century imply tha t th e popu-

lations of Tagaw at t ha t time were Imamis, thou gh there seemed t o have been a

contingent of Sunnis in th e markaz (Masson,

1842;

Lal,

1834 .

How the Tagaw

populations became Sunnis or, alternatively, how they supplanted the previous

Imami populations, is no t know n. But that they are Sunnis tod ay , unlike th e

rest of th e basin, is at least consistent wi th their d istinctly close ties

t o an enlarg-

ing Sunni econom ic netw ork.

The oth er significant econom ic factor imposing o n social arrangem ents in

Bamian is irrigation agricultu re. Irrigation agricultu re, practiced by pea sants

throughout Bamian, draws those sharing com mo n irrigation runnels in to solidary

groups. Irrigation agriculture cons trains grou ps t o be solidary because o f the

properties of wa ter .j A transient fluid substance, water o n th e surface of th e

earth, if used f or agriculture, mus t be drawn ou t of its natural so urce an d trans-

ported to th e desired locatio n before its release on th e cultivated soil. Surface

water is therefore usable only by artificial means. Th e necessity t o con trol th e

flow of water artificially over a period of time requires tho se using it t o be or-

ganized.

Since th e supply is transie nt, and since it

lows

past

and therefore may

be

beyond recovery, its use autom atically imposes problems of sharing

(Bennett ,

9690

:63, under l in ing original).

The persons using th e water mus t agree o n a plan an d supervise its exec uti on over

time. Irrigation agriculture is therefore a social und ertakin g, molding th e people

sharing a water line int o a com mu nit y of interre lated persons.

Cf. Adams (1962), Beardsley (1964), Geertz (1963). Gray (1963). This statement doe s not

necessarily im ply any point o f view o n Wittfogel s hyp othis is that the emer gence o f statc

power i in relation to the developm ent o f large scale irrigation works. S ee Ad ams

(1966),

Steward 1

955).

Wittfogel

(1957),

Wolf and Palerm

(1955).

TI I~S ivussion o f the social consequences of surface water u s has profited from Bennett

(19690).



3


Only t he g roup sharing a co mm on water line is rendered solidary by irriga-

tion practice. Com muni ties using different irrigation runn els ten d t o be distinct-

ly separate from each othe r. This is m os t dramatically exemplified in the distri-

bution of religious sects in Shibar. T he religious factions in Labm ushak (Fig.

3),

for example, are generally dist ribu ted a long separa te irrigation lines: th e runnels

on th e west side of th e valley sup ply mostly Imarni com mu niti es, and those on

the east, Ismaili com munit ies. Th e exceptio ns illustrate th e poi nt. Th e corn-

muni ty of Juraqol, unlike t he oth ers on t he west side, is Ismaili. Juraqol lands,

however, are actually separately w atered by a small natur al st ream , so it is inde-

pendent of th e Imami irrigation runnels. It is thus relatively free (for whatever

reasons) t o be different from th e Im amis dwelling o n t he sam e side of the valley.

However, Digu, which is also separately wa tered, is Im ami; as its wa ter supply is

smaller than Juraqol s, its lands at critical times mus t be wate red from the left

bank canal system dom inated by Imamis.

Internally fractured com muniti es appea r in Shibar an d nowhere else in

eastern Afghanistan because the rainfall agriculture of Shibar provides more

latit ude fo r co mm un ity division. Rainfall agriculture, unlike irrigation, imposes

few organizational dema nds, allowing people t o wo rk in dep end ent ly, and conse-

quently t o be socially less solidary. Dry-land cultivation can be don e b y individ-

ual farmers, for the land is water ed naturally . Each ow ner can plow an d work his

rain-watered land w itho ut the c ooperatio n or supervision of his neighbors,

though cert ain tasks, e.g., in t he use of dra ft animals for plowing, may require the

coo pera tion of several farmers. The social requ irem ents of rainfall agriculture,

the n, con tras t with th ose of irrigation agriculture . Rainfall agriculture is an in-

dividual or small group enterprise w itho ut m uch regard for com m un ity interest,

while irrigation farming is a social enterprise with less regard for individual in-

t e r e s t ~ . ~t is in Shib ar, where rainfall agriculture is vitally im po rt an t, th at frac-

tured communities are found. Whatever the specific causes of division may be,

th e comm unities of Shibar have m ore latitude for internal fission because they

are less strongly constrained t o be solidary by the practice o f irrigation activity.

A second factor affects th e solidarity imposed by irrigation: the abundance

of water in a shared irrigation runnel. Where wat er

is

ab un dant an d easily accessi-

ble t everyone, a comm unity need no t cooperate closely t o enforce codes of

sharing. and may thu s be relatively less solidary. Where water is scarce, th e com-

mu nity mus t carefully supervise its water use and therefore is constrained to be

more solidary. Th e divided com muniti es of Labmushak (Fig. 4 . for example,

4

The cultivation of sarad lands and the care of flocks have social requirements similar to

those of rainfall agriculture because they may be carried on with lit tle regard for the opin-

ions or demands of nelghbors. But the sarad lands of Kalu are not vltal for subsistence

as

they seldom can be planted with grain crops, and the flock care practiced throughout the

hi lands does not distinguish Shlbar from the rest of the basin.



CULTUR L

ECOLOGY



3

FACTION AND CONVERSION IN A

PLURAL

SOCIETY

are situated along the naturally ab un da nt waters of the Labmushak River. Dissi-

de nt members o f these com mu nities have been able t o ta p directly off the stream

withou t th e consent of their neighbors. Th e comm unities on th e plateaus above

the alluvial plain, however, cou ld n o t divide in this way because, supplied by

lengthy canals carrying only limited a mo unt s of water , they must mo re closely

supervise the use of their water. Th us, where surface wa ter is abu nda nt and

easily accessible t o th e c om mu nity there is more la titud e for co mm uni ty division

than where surface water is scarce and th e natural so urce dista nt.

Comm unities located near th e natural water s ource are no t always more

free t o divide. In the narrow valley of Changqol (Fig.

4 , for example,

all

the

farmers in the valley dwell close t o th e natural stream . But t he stream is small.

At critical periods in the sum me r, the water has to b e shared by turns day and

night. The re is n o social fraction ation of co mm unities in Changqol as a result;

ll inha bitan ts are Ismaili. Just below Chan gqol, how ever, a t the village of Ikad,

division has occurred. Ikad is watered b y t w o natural strea ms, the Changqol

rivulet, which at critical times is almost dry, most of it being used in Changqol,

an d the Barshi stream which is larger. After flow ing thro ugh a narrow gorge

where irrigation is not feasible, the Barshi stream disgorges on the plain o f Ikad,

and in com bination w ith th e Changqol stream, provides ample surface water for

Ikad s needs. Social division within Ikad cou ld tak e place because its water sup-

ply is abu nda nt and easily accessible t o individuals who are unwilling t o cooper-

ate with the comm unity. Fur ther dow n at Kanaj, however, the Barshi stream,

having been used freely on th e lands of Ik ad, is small. Th e necessity t o cooper-

ate in its use has acted to hold th e comm unity of Kanaj together.

A qualification, therefore , must be appende d to the argum ent. Communi-

ties in Shibar indeed are more free to bre ak, due t o their vital de pende nce on

rainfall agriculture. But even in Shibar no t all the com mun ities divide, because

the relative scarcity of water in the irrigation lines on w hich they partially sub-

sist may still constrain the m t o hold togethe r. In addition t o being vitally de-

pendent on rainfall s well as irrigated lands, those comm unitie s tha t have

divided internally are located near natural flowing streams carrying an abundance

of surface water.



SOCI L SYSTEM I TERRITORI L GROUPS

HE

conclusion was drawn in t he previous ch apter tha t the ex ten t o f a group s

dependence o n irrigation agriculture and the abundance of w ater in its

canal seem to define the ecologic cons traints which to varying degrees tend either

to hold the group together or allow it to divide. This point m erely suggests the

ecologic circumstances in which comm unities may cohere or , as in Sh ibar , divide.

Obviously, it leaves some questions unanswered. Fo r examp le, it does n o t ex-

plain why any comm unity would be inclined t o fly apart. Th at the econo mic

activities of flock care and rainfall agriculture are highly im po rtant in Shibar

does no t explain why these activities shou ld eventua te in the breaking o f fellow-

ship between community members, even to the point of their aligning themselves

in hostile sectarian factions and disavowing any meaningful ties of kinship. More-

over, it does no t explain why neighborhoods should be checkered by contrasting

religious alliances. And it do es no t explain specifically how the social ties joining

persons in commun ities and neighborhoods actually may become rupture d so

that th e former bonds are dissolved and new social alignments are cons truc ted.

The problem to be dealt w ith in the ne xt three chap ters is the internal cir-

cumstances of social division. These chapters focus on the social structu re of

neighborhoods and comm unities in Bamian and on the kinds of behavior which

can lead t o religious division amo ng kinsmen. Th e analysis is presented in tw o

schematic descriptions which ap ply t o social relations in Bamian generally, the

first a scheme of group arrangem ents and the second a scheme of dispute tactics,

including conversion.

The analytical model o f structural arrangements is the subject o f this and

the next cha pter. The central aim of the description is to make a po int already

suggested by Wolf:

Social relations create order, but sometimes in the very act of creating orde r-

liness they breed disorder (1 96 6 :9 7; see also Holloway, 19 68).

The description of loc l social structur e tries to show th at inh erent in the social

ties drawing persons togethe r are tensions working to rend them apa rt. United or



34

FACTION AND C ONVE RSION IN A PLU RA L SOCIETY

divided villages an d ne ighb orhood s are p rese nted as variant form s of a general so-

cial system in which con trary tensions are operative. Th e system takes different

forms-as divided neighbo rhood s and com mun ities in o ne are a, as united neigh-

borho ods and com mu nities in another-in response t o th e environmental factors

which are conducive t o one or t he o ther p attern.

Th e social system is presented in four descriptive parts, th e first two of

which appear in this cha pter . Th e first part de scribes the ideal conc eptions of

unity amo ng kinsmen; the seco nd, the stru ctu res of territorially based social

groups; the th ird pa rt, constituting Ch apter IV, the s truc ture of the kinship net-

work, a non-territorial sharing gro up; and the fo ur th, C hapter V , the processes of

fission an d conversion.

THE CONCEPT O F KINSHIP SOLIDA RITY

Th e com mo n local term for a spatially and socially united group o f people

is the term for the agnatic group,

qawm.

Th e central inten t of the word qawm

is that the m embers are united by agnatic kinship, have a co mm on ho m e territory,

and enjoy warm social fellowship. A qawm in its con cep tion is a socially solidary

group. Th e members of a qawm , in local usage, are qawmi to each othe r. Qawmi

are in-group persons; non-qa wm i are in some sense ou t-g roup persons. Qawmi

should dwell in the same territory. The y should coope rate in work when needed;

they should be politically un ited, opera ting as wholes for political purposes; and

they should be religiously un ited, celebrating the Muslim holidays together and

gathering at a ppointed times t o pray and listen t o sermons or the reading of re-

ligious litera ture . Th e local members of a qaw m, there fore , are ideally a terri-

torially a nd socially integrated group , joined together through ties of kinship,

political actio n, and religious belief a nd ritual.

A

qawm , depending on the reckoning, may be as large as an enti re ethnic

group or as small as a hamlet g roup com posed of on ly a half-dozen households.

As a result, the functional unit which qawm groups really achieve varies according

to size of the un it, smaller groups approxim ating the ideal be tte r than larger ones.

Actua lly, the word qawm, rather than describing an empirical social pat-

tern, is a term for a locally conceived struc tura l category (Levi-Strauss,

1963:271 .

It therefore m ay be adjusted t o suit various actual social situa tions. It may be in-

voked, when appropr iate, for various ranges and degrees of kinship rea lity, and

denied when not ap propriate. The word qawm may be used to include, not only

those persons reckon ing themselves agnates through a co mmon ances tor, but also

I

From the Arabic,

tr ibe, nat ion . The Arabs normally emp loy the wo rd only in aw o.

ciation with the nam e o f a tribal chief , the q um of Sha lm . rather than wi th the name

o the trlbe (Musil, 1928:SO .



SOCIAL SYSTEM I: TER RITO RIAL GROUPS

the persons who mutually assist each o the r and share goods with eac h oth er , no t

all of whom are always close kinsmen. It may app ly t o affinal as well as agnatic

kinsmen, and even to unrelated persons wh o become assimilated in to a grou p by

marriage. And it may refer t o friendly families w ho may eventually fo rm kinship

ties through reciprocal marriages. Conversely, the word can be con trac ted so as

to exclude certain actual kinsmen wh o n o longer coo per ate with th e rest of one's

in-group. Th e kind of adjustmen t the con cept o f qawm undergoes in deference

to actual social practice was implied in a conversation overheard in Kabul among

several persons who had em igrated from the ir provincial districts. O ne person

said that he now had hardly a ny con tact w ith his qawmi. Instead, his neighbors

now meant more t o him than his qawmi back hom e. An other in the group re-

plied, Well, these are yo ur qawmi now . In Kabul you r qawmi are yo ur neigh-

bors. In practice, the word qawm is applied t o a group , whoever the y are,

who functionally carry on the activities th at express kinship un ity , even if this

usage masks certain aberrancies in the ac tual kinship con nec tions .

The activities which demonstrate the unity of kinsmen, however, do not

necessarily express their personal feelings tow ard ea ch other . Ideally, of course,

qawmi should be sen timentally close s well as economica lly, politically, an d re-

ligiously aligned. But personal sentim ents among qawm i, despite the ir overt ex-

pressions of solidarity throu gh the reciprocal sharing of goods and coo per atio n,

can sometimes be bitter an d hostile. Persons may o nly be participating in the

qawm group by compulsion, despite personal dislikes for some of their neighbors

and kinsmen, since coo peration with th e othe rs is a necessary e xpe dien t. Hostili-

ties may be expressed by mak ing insinuations in gossip, by refusing t o participate

in certain social function s, and th e like, but so long as these qaw mi coop erate in

certain crucial instances they remain m embers of the qawrn group. As on e per-

son expressed i t, even brothers m ay fall o u t of fellowship with each ot he r; they

may even separate their residences or cease t o com mu nicate socially; b u t they

still keep up the appearances of their b roth erh ood .

This chap ter and th e ne xt discuss the u nits of social interaction an d th e

behavioral forms which maintain the ideal of social un ity , even if enmities do

exist

TER RITO RIAL UNITS O F SOCIAL INTERACTION

This section presents the territorial units of social interaction in a typo-

logic series of inclusiveness, from elem enta ry t o comp oun d un its. Since they

correspond with the general pa ttern of social interactio n, they are generally re-

flected in the spatial groupings o f persons. Consequen tly, to keep the levels

clear, the social units are described as territorial as well as social un its o f inter-

personal relationship.



3

6


Fo ur levels of territorial grou ping and inte racti on are distinguishable: nu-

clear families, households, qaw m c omm unities, a nd neighborhoods.

The Nuclear Family

nuclear family is composed of a man , his wife or wives), an d their chil-

dren. Som etimes, one of th e spouses having died, there m ay be only one living

parent in the family. Th e head of the family is the m an , bu t if he dies his wife

the olde r, if mo re than one) becomes head until a son reaches adu ltho od . Com-

mo nly, the m an personally owns and works the land on which his family subsists.

Some men are landless an d have t o hire o ut as laborers o r as tena nts to wealthier

persons. Fo r a num ber of days each summ er-from 20 t o 60 , depending on need

and accessibility of wild vegetation-the me n must also gather t ho rn bushes used

for heating and cooking. Th e women o f the family co ok, sew, and in summer do

much of the weeding of the farm land. In the highlands where flocks are kept, the

women milk the animals morning and evening. m l d r e n are required t o help

n

the shepherding of the flocks at an early age; bu t w hen they become stro ng

enough, usually when they reach pu ber ty, sons begin to w ork o n the soil with

their fathers.

Several nuclear families of ten live togethe r in

a

single hou se ; however, for

several mon ths of sum mer in th e highlands, each family lives separately in its own

y u r t c h p r i - ~ h u p a r i ) . ~n their aylaqs situated high in th e m ountains , where in

summer th ey pasture their flocks, the yur ts of close relatives are pitched together

n

small groups. After harvest, when it is coo ler, the families pitch the ir yurts on

the irrigated trac ts of land near their houses and live in the m for several more

weeks in order t o avoid the fleas, bed b u g , and ot he r vermin that flourish in

their houses during the h o t season.

Each nuclear fam ily in a househ old has at least one b ox in w hich personal

effe cts are kep t. These are locked , as they c onta in th e few valuables belonging to

the family. Personal belongings are no t shared unless sen time nts are close. Often

the c onte nts of these boxes are no t revealed to o the r families in the house. Pri-

vate gifts made t o individuals were sometimes secretly hidden from oth er mem-

ers

of the househo ld. Similarly, the d oors of individual families sharing a house

are ofte n kept locked when n o one is there. If the families coo k and ea t separate-

ly,

they have separate storage bins for flour, or separa te bins in the walls of the

house known as bu khans

Althou* man y families appear t o be relatively tranquil, tensions surround -

ing the conjugal relationship sometimes disrupt t he family. If serious, the

The term yurt u x d here refers to a temporary, transportable summer dwelling. However,

the temporary dw elling u w d in Bamian , though having afflnlties with the Central A8ian yurt,

i8 merely a crude approximation to i t . Further north. temporary d w el l in g more c l o d y aP-

proxim te the true Central Asian yurt

me

Ferdinand, 1959).



SOCIAL SYSTEM I: TER RITO RIAL GROUPS 7

tensions may influence relations outside th e family an d thu s breed hostility be-

tween persons in larger social groups. It is therefore necessary t o explain t he

husband-wife relationship a nd th e kinds of potentiall y disruptive tens ions im-

plied in it.

Men typically believe t he w omen t o be violent or fierce (shalita). Th ere

may be some justification fo r this feeling because t he w om en have limited em o-

tional outlets in their social relations and som etime s have n o on e bu t t heir

husbands t o wh om t hey may release thei r feelings. Besides being deeme d fierce,

women are said to be unt rust wo rthy . Som etime s, as the women manage the

goods used in cooking, the y m ay (especially if hostile t o their husbands ) hoa rd

small am oun ts of flour or sugar, etc., in order t o gain a few negotiable goods of

their own. These they m ay use in exchange for oth er desirable goods or for

favors. A woman might, for instance, pay some extra w heat t o induce another

woman briefly t o care for a bab y, or spin or sew for her, o r make clo thes or

handkerchiefs. But if the husban d o r father sho uld discover th at she is using

food for this purpose, his fear tha t th e wom en in t he house are untru stw orth y is

substantiated.

The feeling of distrust m en have tow ard their wives is furthe r aroused b y

occasional incidents o f a dul tery . I

heard numerous accounts of adultery, of

which th e following is an exam ple:

A K . seduced th e wife of M . K . and the husband happened t o come

in and see the m ,

so

the re was a fight. Th ey were fighting in th e house while

their infa nt child was sleeping there an d t he child got und erfo ot an d was

killed. A K . was jailed for th at for several years. Now th e husband is in

Turkestan. But after A K. got o ut of prison, he came t o Kabul and

brought the woman and her children

Th e fact th at several families live close together also contri but es t o extra-

marital sexual relations. Husbands therefo re tend t o be watchful of their wives.

Though they dominate the hom e an d the marriage relationship, they a re some-

times unsure of their wives loyalty. Visitors som etime s (the y say) run across

lusty women where they are guests. A

person whose work involves moving

around to the different communities of t he area enumerate d several instances

when, as he slept in someone s house, he was approac hed secretly by a woman of

the household. How fr equently s uch incidents really occur is impossible t o esti-

mate, but stories of sexual incontinence ab ound am ong the m en, for example:

Sheyk h Barsisa was a holy man w ho prayed a lot and ther efor e was con-

sidered a

perfectly reliable person. A man going o n th e pilgrimage w anted

to leave his sister, wh o was very beautiful, with som eone tru stw orth y while

he w s away , so he decided tha t there could b e no place safer fo r her than

the house

of

Sheyk h Barsisa. But while she was staying in the hou se, Shey kh



8


Barsisa noticed he r, loved he r, and fina lly to ok he r by force. She became

pregnant so he killed an d buried h er. When her br oth er finally returned

from th e pilgrimage th e Shey kh told him she had died

o

a disease.

It is believed that adultery is more frequent in the mountains than on the

plains. If true, this may rela te t o the k ind of subsistence activities there, in

which more o pp ortu nitie s exist for wom en t o be isolated fro m their husbands.

As

the wom en take th e flocks and children in to t he mo untains during the surn-

mers and the husbands are often gone in to the m ountain s t o gather brush for

fuel du ring spring and sum mer, the re are ma ny lon g periods when spouses are

separated.

In vernacular usage no d istinc tion is ma de betw een rape a nd adultery. It is

assumed tha t th e wom an has conse nted t o the act w hatever her personal inclina-

tions may have been. When rape occurs it is a great insult a nd shame to the

wom an, of course, for it exposes her weakness an d vulnerability as well as that of

her family.= It is assumed that , had he r fam ily been stron g, the att ac k would not

have been possible or successful. Th e greatest shame is t o the woman's closest

male relatives, her husba nd, o r, if no t married, her fa the r or brother. Her at-

tacker, on the o ther ha nd, is proud of his conque st, for it dem onstrates his

strength an d courage. If he were t o be ca ugh t, he likely w ould be killed or badly

abused by her fam ily; for if they were n ot able to re taliate, it wou ld be a

man-

strous humiliation. It does indeed happe n that the insulted males, due t o insuf-

ficient economic and social leverage, ca nno t avenge such an a ffro nt.

A woma n wh o has been raped is said to be mo re acquiescent to subsequent

demands of the same man again lest his disclosure of her c on qu es t spoil her life

and reputation. No one wan ts a wom an wh o has been raped. If it becomes

publicly know n th at she has been raped, o the r men will also go after her. She is

known

as r di

(or razi , tracked. More seriously , she is loo ked up on essentially

as

an adultress. And she has n o legal recourse with out the u tmo st public em-

barrassment.

Persons who maintain an illicit sexual relationship are kn ow n as

rafiqs

friends. Th e rafiq relationship naturally has num erous complications. per-

son may have a rafiq for a while bu t she may b e married off t o som eo ne living far

away, or she may be divorced and have t o move, rendering t he relationship more

difficult. Of course rafiqs can never be seen togeth er.

Because o f the suspicion over illicit sexual a ctivity , the w omen are typical-

ly circumspect in their social demeanor a round men . Considering ho w closely

people are able t o watch each oth er , living close togeth er in small groups, it seems

strange that any mischief o this kind happens a t all, yet a num ber of a dultery (or

The relation between a woman s purity

and

her agnate s honor appears to

be

compuable to

that dmcribsd

y

Campbell

(1964). See

also Peristiany

(1966).




9

rape) cases are carried t o the cou rts; many mor e never reach public view. This no

doubt is why men ten d t o be extremely sensitive a bo ut their wo men a nd why

most women are generally careful t o remain aloof fr om a ny man wh o is not a

close relative.

Tensions in the household caused by suspicions of uncha stity between

spouses affect relations between agnates. Males of a househo ld o r a com mu nity

may unobtrusively w ithdraw from each oth er or op enly come i nt o conflict over

a suspected illicit relationship with a woman. Abdul

Ahad, for exam ple, a poor

young man, was married t o a beautiful young w oman w ho caught the attention

of Imam Ali, a wealthy neighbor and kinsman wh o also was married and had a

child. Eventually Imam Ali seduced Abdul Ahad's wife. When the affair became

known, Abdul Ahad was obliged t o divorce his wife, but h e w as powerless t o

gain retribution against Imam Ali because of the latter's much greater wealth and

influence. Imam Ali married th e wom an, bu t because of th e hostility o f his en-

tire commu nity he had t o rent o ut his land and move to Kabul. After a few

years, however, he was able t o return t o his village. Abdul

Ahad, humiliated by

the incident, moved o u t of the village and remarried elsewhere.

Wives are sometimes bea ten by their husbands. Th e practice of wife bea t-

ing, judged by t he nu mbe r of persons who testified t o it, may be fairly com mo n.

wealthy hajji (pilgrim) explain ed, for example, tha t he has two wives, one

whom he does not like, secured for him by his father, and an othe r whom h e

does like, obtained by himself. Th e wives d o no t really like each ot he r bu t o ut

of fear of him, he said, they d on't fight. Each of them has a separate room a nd

separate dishes. He said tha t when they offend him , he beats the m w ith a

stick-a big one , he expla ined , gesticulating t o show its great size. He hits them

on the shoulders, hea d, and arms. Sometimes they don't get u p from bed fo r

several days. And they might no t speak to him for a long time , or th ey m ight

complain to him because he beat them without a cause (his words). But

whenever he frowns, he sa id, they jum p.

A young man once explained tha t a few days previously h e had fough t with

his wife. He showed bruises on his legs where she had hit him w ith a stick. In re-

sponse he had grabbed her by t he hair and hit her w ith his fists. When

she

got

away from him she ran t o her father's house ne arby. He was in t he process of

making occasional visits t o his father-in-law's house t o at te m pt t o heal the breach

between them . Ano ther reason for going was that a few days after the fight she

had given birth t o a son.

Women have few means of recourse, if abused. If they should run away,

they could be beaten or divorced. Th e husband in th e latter case need only go t o

the court with a few witnesses. If

a

wom an should complain t o her fath er, she is

not likely to get redress. fat he r, t o avoid having t o retu rn the bride price for

her, seldom attem pts t o save his daughter from a cruel husband. In the past a

woman could no t hope to obta in release from an unh appy marriage by



4

FACTION IN CONVERSION IN A

PLURAL

SOCIETY

complaining to th e gove rnme nt, tho ugh this is less true no w than formerly. Now-

adays, sometimes a wom an will deliberately wo und herself t o show the court that

her husban d is cruel.

Though separation o r divorce is seldom possible for a w om an, the tension

over the abuse of a wife ma y bring t he families of t he spouses in to conflict and

eventually break t he cord o f solidarity wh ich the m arital bond was meant to

strengthen. But th e hostility between th e families of feuding spouses is often

publicly expressed over some oth er issue. Since vengeance for abuses of the con-

jugal bo nd relationship can not be satisfac tonly w on , it must be gained under

oth er pretexts. Th us, families related through a n unsatisfac tory or storm y mar

riage align themselves o n opp osite sides in oth er disp utes . Th e tensions of mar-

riage, therefore, may underlie oth er kinds o f social conflict.

The Joint Household

Houses are occupied b y one or m ore nuclear families w ho may have some

agnatic connection , usually a close one . Th e house (khan a) in which nuclear

families live is generally a two-story stru ctur e, the groun d floor being for the

animals and storage, and th e upstairs for the h um an residents. Down stairs there

is a cow room (gaw kham ) where animals are kep t at night during spring and

fall, an d con tinuous ly during winter. Also downstairs is a forage room (alaf

khana) where winter fo od fo r the animals is stored. Upstairs on the second story

there are quarters fo r the families inhabiting the house. These consist o f a sleep-

ing room , and a kitchen kor kha na work room ). There may be separate stor-

age space as well. Outside the houses large piles of dun g cakes along with the

bushes used fo r winter fuel are stacked in piles against th e side of the house.

Where two o r three nuclear families live in the same house, each may occu-

py a separate suite of room s consisting (always) of a kitchen and (o fte n) an addi-

tional room fo r storage or for enterta ining guests. A widow a nd her children will

inha bit a separate suite , bu t a widower's family usually eats , and sometimes lives,

with an agnate's family. Poor families, however, com mo nly possess only one

room, a kitchen. Sometimes, depending on the sentiments of the wom en, two or

more families may share a single kitchen while occupying separate sleeping

rooms.

The kitchen is usually t he cen ter of nuclear family activity , bu t som etimes,

owing to lack of space and a meager supply o f fuel in winter , several poor nuclear

families

will

share a comm on k itchen. A kitchen is distinguishable fro m othe r

rooms by the w e n built in to the floor. The oven's w armth serves t o heat b oth

the dow nstairs and th e kitchen upstairs during the severe winters. Ot her a ppur-

tenances n the kitchen depend o n the wealth of the household a nd the relation-

ships between the nuclear families sharing the kitchen and the dwelling. It Is not

unco mm on fo r poor families to use the kitchen as a sleeping-living room s well1




as a room for preparing fo od , especially in winter when fuel is in shor t sup ply. In

wealthier homes the re is a separa te guest room for ente rtain ing visitors, bu t in the

usual household one o f th e living-sleeping room s of a nuclear family ha s t o be

used for entertain ing guests.

Today a different style of ho use is being built which clearly aims a t privacy.

This is a two-storied construction with the room s surrou nding an interior c our t-

yard where cooking can be carried on in the open air, bu t w ithin the privacy of

the house. These have been built by the wealthy families and seem t o be the

trend; several such structures were unde r construc tion in 1968

The nuclear families who share a hou se are related thro ugh agnates. A

young man and his family

will

usually live in th e same house w ith his father a nd

mother; in such cases his wife works in the same kitchen with his mo ther . O ften

brothers' families dwell in the same building. Or th e families of agnatically re-

lated first or second cousins, o r a man and his paternal neph ew, may share a

house (Fig. 5 .

In winter th e nuclear families in a single househ old may live toge ther in

one kitchen to conserve fuel. In the richer house holds, however, a room know n

as a tawa khana

is used as a sitting room . This consists of an elevated room under

which the heat from a fire is conducted before being exhum ed outside. Tho ugh

often quite comfortable in w inter they are expensive t o hea t, and I fou nd n o

family using a tawa khana o n a regular basis. Fo r most families, then , th e use of

fuel for heating the com mo n kitchen entails the sharing of resources with ano the r

family. The sharing of fuel between several nuclear families requires tha t th e men

in these families coo perate in collecting the fuel from th e mou ntain s.

Members of the household or o th er close relatives, if of the sam e generation

or younger than the spe aker, are ofte n addressed by

laqabs.

Laqabs are titles or

nicknames used in addressing, and som etimes in referring to , a relative. A laqab

is properly a title such as a h n g might bestow. It is also a title for an ad ult wh o

has achieved some e min enc e, such

as

m l e m sayb

(for a teacher), or

wakil sayb

(for a parliamentary representative) or

godaamdaar

(for the keeper of the govern-

ment storehouse). laqab is also used within the family, com mo nly bestowed

by the wom en, as a term of ende arm ent , chosen to suit one's ch aracter. It might

be an affec tionate nam e, such as aaghua shirin sweet sir, o r a descriptive term

for some feature of a person's personality or appearance , as for exam ple,

baafur

the wild. These laqabs are used among close relatives rather freely, depending

on their sentimental relations. Gen erally, if they are on good terms th e laqab is

emp loyed; if no t, the personal nam e is used. Som etimes laqabs are used for cer-

tain unpopular characters of the co mm unit y behind their backs or , teasingly, t o

their face, such as pmy-kata. big foot. A girl does no t usually get a perm anent

laqab until afte r marriage. It is given her by he r husband's m othe r; if she likes

her new daughter, she will give her a laqab ea rly; if no t, she will contin ue to call

her only by name. If a husban d a nd wife are on good term s they will call each



4




SOCIAL SYSTEM I: TER RIT OR IAL GROU PS 4

other by their laqabs or , honorifically, by tekn onymic terms, Mother of

9

or Father of

.

Parents will call a daughter by name until she bears a

chdd, and then by her tekno nym .

Generally the m en and wom en of the families in a household work and

socialize in separate groups by sex. The m en of a household , being agnatically

related, usually own adjacent land s, an d generally have no t divided the property

inherited from a father or grandfather. They work cooperatively, irrigating the

land together or by turns, collecting by turns the wild thorn bushes used for fuel,

working together in cons truc tion and repair o f the hou se, plowing and harvesting

their crops together, and the like.

The women o f a household often w ork together in the same kitchen, the

oldest being in charge. T o make th e weeding of the fields more p leasant, they

work together on each other's fields. They also weave rugs

gelam

type) together,

the number of wom en available, usually three to five, determining the wid th of

the rug; sitting side by side in a row they ll work on a single weft a t th e same

time. They likewise assist each other during sickness. These families also retain

a similar pattern of coo pera tion in their sum mer highland pastures (aylaqs) and

occupy adjacent yurts. The sheep and goats of the families in a household are

always pastured to geth er, bu t the animals of each family are separately milked by

the women twice each day .

Older persons of a household are treate d with deference. Even after sons

reach ma turity and establish families of their ow n they will show pub lic respect

for their parents. As long as the father is able to work he usually directs the agri-

cultural activities of his family. Among the women age is im po rtant , bu t the

woman who con trols the preparation and distribution of food is usually the

dominant woman o f the household.

In my family [said one man] my mother used to be the strongest of

the women because she was the co ok . Now my first wife is the stronges t be-

cause my m other is qu ite old and my wife is cook now. My m othe r has to

be nice to her so that my wife will feed her well. Of course

I

get the best

fo od, because she would be out if

I

weren't happy, but the rest of it she

shares with my mo the r. This food is one way tha t she gets power over her.

Tensions among the wom en of a household con tinuously develop over the

work routine. mo ther, fo r instance, may be disappointed in the way a new

daughter-in-law does the household chores. She may miss her own daughter who

has married ou t and find the new daughter-in-law a poor replacement. daughter,

having learned to d o the chores from her mothe r, is familiar with the household

routine, but a daughter-in-law may be slow to learn and even reluctant t o follow

some of the work pa tterns familiar t o the household.

Tensions between the women can con tribu te t o the fissioning of relatives.

wealthy man told me that a woman usually w ants to get he r husband t o move



44

FACTION A ND CONVERSION IN

A

PLURAL SOCIETY

ou t of a joint househ old s o th at she won't have t o share the w ork a nd the utensils

with the oth er women. T o divide brothers sharing a household , a woman may

fight with the brother's wife or even the b roth er himself. Or she may attem pt to

prejudice t he brother's relationship by hintin g t o her husba nd t ha t t he brother or

his wife is t a h n g more than his share of something. family moving out in such

circumstances, if it builds a new stru ctu re, ma y move onl y a small distance away

and thereby eventually be able t o resume cordial relationships w ith th e original

household. If a family can not remove itself to a separate stru ctu re, it might di-

vide t he house by walling off se parate qua rter s for each of th e families, and open-

ing a separate door to t he outside. This practice, however, is no t com mon .

If tensions between th e wome n become severe enoug h, the males of the

household are likely also to become involved. Ty pica lly, how eve r, even though

brothers may no t speak t o each othe r, they will , as men tioned earlier, continue

to carry on certain kinds of cooperative activities. Of ten t here is an eventual

rapprochement.

Still, bitterness between close relatives does somet ime s persist f or life.

A

wom an told me t hat her father's relatives, even w hen they visited th eir house on

social occasions, tended t o quarrel with th em . Th ey seldom felt, she said, that

they had a trustw orthy friend among their own relatives. Her m ot he r had been

so angry at her father's relatives that before he r de ath, she reques ted t ha t she be

buried in a strange graveyard rather than with his kinsmen.

The Qawm Comm unity

Spatially grouped agnates retaining close ties of social interactio n and social

identity are here called a qawm com mu nity . A qawm comm uni ty is th e small-

est gro up calling themselves a qawm.

Settlements.

Most qawrn comm unit ies dwell in hamlets4 bu t so me live in

village fortresses (qalaas). Village fortresses are large dwellings, spac ious enough

t o house as many as 3 families, equ ippe d with h igh, fortified walls, an d wells in

the interior cou rtya rd. Th ey were built t o withs tand t he form er slave-raiding

assaults of Uzbek and Turkoman marauders from the north.

Village fortresses were constru cted by order of th e Mir, or chief, of the dig-

trict, w ho was strong enough t o oblige a nd pay his weaker neighbors and kinsmen

t o work his land as well as build such a structu re. They appear to reflect the

more stratified social structure formerly e xta nt a mong the inhabitan ts of the re-

gion (Aslanov, e t al., 1969; Ferdinand, 1959; Schurmann, 1962). Few village

~ e h .

'village.

s

not here dlrtin@uished rom gerhlaq or age/ , here translated hamlet. be-

cauw the only difference in local usage

s

relative size. Apparently, further west

age

means

a small, domed-shaped branch hut (Ferdlnand, 1959:28).



SOCIAL SYSTEM I: TE RR ITO RIA L GROU PS 5

fortresses exist in Bamian anymore, because, with the termination of slave raid-

ing, they were gradually ab and one d in favor of less com pac t settlem ents. Even-

tually they were dismembered for parts useful in constructing new buildings.

Remains of village fortresses are seld om even visible, b u t the sites of fo rm er

fortresses are sometimes indicated by suc h place nam es as Qalaay-Mullah and

Qalaay-Maarnad.

Kinship co mpo sition Th e male members of a qawm co mm unity putat ively

are all agnates. Figure 6 shows the ties between th e adult mem bers of a small

qawm community w hich occupies t w o hamlets known as Lower an d U pper Ali

Jam. The native-born members o f this com mu nit y, descendants from a com-

mon ancestor, Ali Ja m , call themselves the qaw m o f Ali Ja m. Th ey are socially

united by ties of com m on descent, marriage and coo pera tion , bu t territorially

they are separated in tw o hamlets.

While descent thro ugh a male line from a co mm on anc estor is usually

claimed, not all the m embe rs of qaw m c om m un ity are necessarily so related.

Interlopers some imes are assimilated in to qaw m com mu niti es throug h marriage.

Their descendants are then considered agnatic descendants from the ep ony mo us

ancestor of the com mu nity . A single individual, for example, may be accep ted

as a laborer in t he q awm co m m un it y and eventually, if favorably received,

marry in to a sonless family. His sons would th en receive his father-in-law s

property as if, in effect, no interr upt ion in the male line had oc curred. It was

explained to me in a specific case as follows:

Shah Abdul is no t from Pesh Zyar himself. He is really fro m Day

Mir Daad, so his qawm is different fr om t he rest. His grandfath er cam e

here. It is possible he became at od ds with his qawm a nd to ok a wife here

in Pesh Zyar and stayed here . Sh ah Abdul is now a Pesh Zyari himself,

though he was not originally from here.

This tendency for a qawm com mun ity t o incorporate strangers int o the

existing grou p is facilitated by t he practice of first-cousin marriage. If an o ut -

sider is allowed t o marry in to the g roup, his offspring can (and should, by ideal

standards) intermarry wi th his new

affinal kinsmen. It thus becomes easy t o

form close agnatic relationships within a single generation and so t o acc ept the

interloper as an actual link in th e chain of descen t. He is grafted in to th e agnatic

line by simply reckoning him th e son o f his wife s father.

Kinship terminology The terms of relationship within the qawm com-

munity witness to their sense of relationship through agnates. Qaw mi com mo nly

Bacon 1958) was the f i rs t to no te th is as a general pa t tern am ong the Hazaras



UPPER L I J A M /

L O ~ W R A L I J A M

C ---

. . . . . ..

-

.

-

- .

.

I

I

Figure 6. Kinship relations of members of

li

Jam qawm children excluded).

Deceased persons are unshaded. Persons who married out are indicated by arrows.




7

address one another w ith th e terms o f reference indicated on Table 2, bu t wi th

the following provisions.6

1. Qawmi older than eg o are addressed by a kinship t erm ; those yo unger,

by name.

2. Persons actually related to ego lineally o r those collaterally thro ug h onl y

one collateral link (e.g., FaBr, F aSi, MoBr, MoSi) are addressed b y th e

kinship term designating this relationship, e.g., tagha (for MoBr), khmla

(MoSi), awdur (FaBr), amma (FaSi), etc.

3. Everyone else in t he qawm c om mu nit y, excep t those persons tw o as-

cending generations fro m ego, is addressed, if older, by on e of th e terms

for first ascending generation collaterals o n father s side. T h at is, gen-

erally, all qawmi males older th an ego are addressed as

awdur

=abagha=kaakaa) (FaBr), ll native-born qaw mi females as amma

(FaSi), and all wives of aw durs as enga (or sanow) (FaBrWi). All per-

sons younger are addressed by n ame .

4.

Qawmi persons tw o ascending gene ration s from ego are addressed, if

males, as baaba, or , if females, as aaja.

In this usage, generally everyone in one s qaw m co mm un ity , ex ce pt his

closest relatives, is addressed as his grandparent o r grandchild (if t w o gen erat ion s

removed), as his father s bro the r, father s sister, brother s so n, or broth er s daugh-

ter (if one generation remo ved), or as a patrilateral first cousi n. Virtua lly every-

one in a qawm co mm unity , excep t females wh o have married in , is reckoned as a

kinsman on his father s side.

Intermarriage. First cousin marriage, that is, to a child of one s termin o-

logical awdur (FaBr), is consid ered t he ideal. Acco rding to Islamic proscriptions

a man is no t allowed t o marry his mo the r, sister, sister s daug hter, brother s daugh-

ter, mother s sister, brother s sister, father s sister, or a fo rmer wet nurse an d any

of her similar relatives. Marriage to cousins of an y degree is the refo re permissible,

and marriage between close relatives is in fact c om m on (see Table 3 ) in ord er t o

avoid dispersing land rights t o outsiders, and s o t o maintain th e corp ora te iden-

tity of the local descent group.7 On e person, up on learning tha t first cousin

These are the t erms in use in a spec i f i c com mu ni ty in Sh ibar . Actual ly , a l tho ugh there i s

much variat ion in terms used in d i f feren t areas . the d ist inct ion s of t he syst em ere retained

Lhroughout Bamian.

~s la m ic nher itance law de f ines in e laborate de ta i l the order o f r igh t s and the a m oun ts t o be

received f rom an inher itance . The s t ipu lat ions that a cer ta in am ou nt o f the inheri tance

shou ld gn t o re la t ives o f a cer ta in degree g ives the re la t ives a spec i f i c se t o f r igh ts t o o ne

another s private prope rties.

Intermarriage w ith in th is grou p ef fe ct iv ely insures that these

r ight s ahall be co mp ou nde d wi th in the group by a redup l i cat ion o f thei r k insh ip t i e s through

marriage.




TABLE 2

KINSHIP TERMS O F REFERENCE

Lineal Terms

aata Fa;uaya

=

Mo; bubo MoFa, FaFa;aaja FaMo, MoMo; baaba kata FaFaFa,

MoFaFa, FaMoFa, MoMoFa;aaja kata

=

FaFaMo, MoMoMo, FaMoMo, MoFaMo;

bucha = So; dokhtm = Da; nowsa SoCh, DaCh; kowsa = SoChCh, DaChCh

Sibling Terms

k w h ElBr apa ElZs; braar = YoBr h waar = YoSi

Collateral Terms

awdur (or abagha or

k a a h

FaBr;awdunaada (or awdurbaacha or bachey-kaakoo)

FaBrSo;amma = FaSi; FaSiDa; khwaarzaada = SiCh, FaSiCh

tagha (or muamua) MoBr, MoMoBr, MoFaBrSo, MoBr FaBrSo achey-tagha

MoBrSo;dokhtar-e-tagho MoBrDa; khaalo MoSi, MoFaBrDa, MoBrWi;

bow MoSiCh; bachey-khaala

=

MoSiSo okhtar-e-khaah

=

MoSiDo

Affinal Terms

shuy Hu; zan (or khaanom)

=

Wi;

khosor WiFa, HuFa; khosorbara

=

WiBr, HuBr; khosor kata WiFaBr, HuFaBr;

khosor maada (or khoshdaamun) WiMo, HuMo; khosor muada kata = WiFaSi;

dokhtar-e-khosor HuSi; eywar HuBr; eyguchi WiSi, WiFaSi;

doormat DaHu, SiHu, BrDaHu, SoDaHu; beyri (or sanow)

=

SoWi, BrWI, BrSoWi;

e z m = husbands of female collaterals; enga = wives of male collaterals

marriage was no t prac ticed in ou r cultur e, expressed the belief tha t this was why

we had n o qawrn com mun ities in our coun try. Examples of the frequency o f

marriages within a qawm community are provided in Table 3. In one com-

munity 44 percent of the marriages were between qawm i, and in the oth er

percent

As a consequence of the frequent intermarriage between cousins, kinship

ties within the

qawm

com mu nity are typically intricate, for its members are re-

lated t o each othe r by m ultiple ties of descent and affinity. Th e diagram of

kin-

ship rela tions in Ali Jam qawrn community

(Fig. 6

illustrates the am ou nt o f in-

termarriage an d the resulting multiple kinship ties within a small agna tic group.

Th e children o f

Khodadad are related t o Musafer Bay through two lines, an

agnatic line through their grea t grandfather, in which

c se

Musafer Bay is their

aw dur (FaBr), an d a cogna tic line throu gh their father s sister,

in

which case he

s their ezna. The y address Musafer Bay

as

awdur. Their relationship to Laal




TABLE 3

EXAMPLES OF MARRIAGE FREQUEN CIES WITHIN AN D OUTSIDE

QAWM COMMUNITIES

Name of Total Between Qawmi Girls Non-Qawmi Girls

Qawm Com munity Marriages Qawmi Married Out Married In

Maya no. 4 3 19 9 15

Z) 100) 44) 2 1) 35)

Reza no .) 4 3 14 9 20

( I 100) 33) 21) 46)

Marnad, however, is terminologically th e same ; thr ou gh whichever pa rent they

reckon kinship, eit he r their fa ther (a sister's so n of Laal Mamad) or their moth er

(his daughter), he is their tagha.

The close and intricate relationships between m embers of a qaw m c om-

munity are further intertwin ed by th e practice of exchanging girls betw een tw o

families, known as

ostoghan alish kordan

exchanging bones. The girls are ex-

changed in marriage t o avoid th e bride price costs t o bo th families. This lund o f

exchange, when b etw een families

in

the same qawm com munity, natural ly com-

pounds their relationship ties. A specific case of this kind o f sister exchan ge was

given in the following st ate men t:

I went t o live with m y

a wd ur

(FaBr) after my father died. I took in

marriage] his daughter as my w ife, and m y sister married the son of m y

a w d u r . It was my right t o marry he r; n o one else had such a claim on

her as I did. We too k wives from each ot he r and paid no mo ney fo r

the girls exce pt the exp enses of th e marriage. We had grown u p toge ther ,

so

w e all knew each ot he r. At th e tim e of the marriage we gathered th e

people, killed several sheep at on e time and had o ne fea st. We gave th e

foo d t o everyone. We cooked maybe 15 pound s of rice. They ate the

foo d and prayed fo r us, and they joined us in th e tw o marriages.

Members of th e qawm c om mu nity traditionally claim first rights t o the

girls of the com mun ity . Ideally, first cousins have first priority t o ma rry a girl,

and after them, the oth er males of the qawm com mun ity before any non-qawmi

suitors. This w s expressed in t he qu ot e above,

in

which the speaker said, no

one else had such

a

claim o n her (his FaBrDa) as

I

did.

The traditional o rder o f rights t o a girl, however, has recently been break-

in down and it is invoked o r denied according to its use t o the suitor. Th e same



5

FACTION AND CONVERSION IN A PLUR L

SOCIETY

person w ho in th e qu ote above claimed a prior right t o a FaBrDa denied the im-

portance of this rule when h e a ttem pte d to marry an oth er m ore distantly related

girl.

There was anoth er man who was attem pting t o get her. He was

in

her

qawm her parents wouldn t agree t o him, so he went t o the Hakim [a

sub-governor] with a petition t o have the police com e and get me [for

at

temp ting to marry her witho ut her qawmi s con sen t] but a friend of mine

stopped him on th e way. He gave him som e mo ney and to ok th e petition

away from him. He would have complained tha t the paren ts would not

give him their daug hter . Ac tually, he didn t have this right. They could

give her t o any one th ey wanted to. He was just a useless man . He

had

the idea th at if they wou ldn t give her t o him , then they shouldn t give her

to anyone else.

If a man dies, his bro the r, a nd th en his ot he r qawm i have prior right to

marry his widow. This rule, once perhaps followed strictly, seems no t firmly

practiced now , with th e result t ha t num ero us disputes over such widow rights

occur. dispute, for exam ple, arose between Maya qawm com m unity and

Lablabu qawrn com mun ity over a Lablabu girl whose husban d from Maya qawm

died. After his death she came home t o Lablabu. She was still youn g, and in

Lablabu several suito rs asked for he r, so eventually she was engaged t o one of

them. Th e brother of the first husba nd, who of course belonged t o Maya qawm

com mu nity, tried t o break up the engagement by claiming he had a prior right

to

her. But the Lablabu qawm com mun ity insisted on keeping her , unde r the ex-

cuse tha t her fath er had already promised her and this could no t be changed.

They agreed tha t if he had claimed her earlier, he could have had her . group of

elders from Maya qawm came t o Lablabu to m ake their claim on her and take her

away, bu t after a great argument they agreed to accept a pa yme nt o f cash from

her qawm instead.

roperty transfer The lands of qawmi, especially irrigated la nds , tend to be

spatially clustered, probably because they have been divided from the property of

the male ancestor of the qawm c om mu nity , and because current practices o f land

transfer tend to favor the continuation of this clustering. Upon th e death o f a

property ow ner , if the re are sons, daugh ters will no t usually receive any portion

of it, though according to the Hanafi interpretation of Islamic law a daughter is

entitle d to half the inheritance of a son. And recently, as governmental regula-

tions have been m ore widely enforce d, more women have been claiming this

property right. Should there be no sons, of course, the inheritance falls to the

daughters of the deceased. Women who have no brothe rs, and consequently re-

ceive their father s inheritance, som etimes remain in their father s house, and their

husbands move in with them.




The clustering of agnates lands is furth er accom plished by a n official re-

quirement that, should a man have t o sell som e of his land (only a rare an d ex-

treme resort in case of a financial exigency), the first opp or tun ity of purchase

must be extended t o the owne rs of adjacent plots. So th e property of a seller

often falls to a neighbor, o fte n a close agnate.

Certain kinds of land transfer, however, tend t o disrupt this patt ern . Th e

land may not be purchased by a neighbor, or it may be turned over t o an o ut-

sider s security for a loan an arrangement called geraw) an d, owing t o financial

exigencies of the original ow ne r, never be redeemed . In such cases the land falls

to an outsider, bu t

this occurs relatively infrequently.

Irrigation activities. Alth oug h agricultural land is privately own ed and

worked, the members of a qaw m co mm unity have a c orpor ate interest, as

described earlier, in the canals th a t wa ter their adja cen t plots. It was argued

earlier that as the waterways have t o be constructed and m aintained b y coo pera-

tive labor and shared unde r group supervision, the people w hose lands are

watered by a com mo n canal are socially bonded together. Actually, persons who

own land served by a single canal mus t work toge ther o n its repair. If someon e

refuses t o participate in this wo rk, one of their members can complain to the

elders of the com mu nity o r, failing th at measure, t o the government. Cleaning a

canal and shoring u p its emba nkm ent is done by the group in t he spring, as

needed. Generally canals on th e lowland plain require relatively little at te nt io n,

but those on th e hillsides sometimes require q uite a lo t because the w inter snows

and spring rains tend t o erode th e e mbankm ents and c lutter the canals with silt

and debris.

Individually owned irrigated plo ts run linearly in d oub le o r triple parallel

rows on

the lower side of the main canal from which the y are watered. Minor

arteries are kep t ope n fo r the feeding of plo ts from th e larger canal. Th is spatial

arrangement, an d often the limited am oun t of water carried by the canal, obliges

farmers to water their plots by turn s from the com mo n source.

The length of canals is often correlated with the num ber o f people brou ght

into association through irrigation from th e one canal. Th e lands adjacent t o th e

river itself obviously c an be supp lied by sh orte r canals than those f ar the r away,

nd

can be dug more easily by the own ers of such plots. But the farther a tract

of irrigable land lies from the n atural sou rce, the longer the canal feeding it has

to be t o reach it; consequently a larger number of persons must co ope rate in its

construction and maintenance.

This system of water sharing sometimes presses men int o conflict. Th e ad-

jacent plots of qawmi drawing water f rom the same canal are delimited solely by

One- or two -foo t dikes surroun ding the p lots on all sides. Since as ye t there is n o

cadastral survey indicating the exact boundaries of plots, the own ers must be

careful to ensure that these dikes never shift. But in th e attem pt t o gain maximum



FACTION AND CONVERSION IN A PLUR L SOCIETY

tillable space th e farm ers, when plowing, te nd t o crow d t he dikes, pushing them,

albeit slightly, o nt o neighboring plots. s a result, plowing season is fraught with

disputes over land boundaries.

Th e routine en cou nte rs necessitated in th e sharing of resources and labor,

though some times expressing feelings of accord a nd fellowsh ip among friends,

of ten intensify the hostile sen timents of enemies. Tension betw een some qawmi

seems t o be perpetual. Men, for exam ple, wh o have

ds p ut e d over the use of

water o r the boundaries of p lots will likely have t o argue again, for the same

problems of turn s a nd rights t o scarce resources have t o be faced routinely. The

hostility between qawmi is expressed in some sayings. People sometim es say,

Doshman dareyn? Ma awdunada darum, Do you have an enemy? have a

cousin. Th ey may also say sarcastically,

maa shir-i-khoda baladastem,

We are

familiar with the milk of our cow, meaning 'W e kn ow th e people who are close

to us; no one has t o tell us a bou t them.

Even bro thers are sometimes forced in to c om petitive positions over scarce

land and water. This is no t s o true in mod erately wealthy families where brothers

inherit large enough po rtion s t o provide each with a com forta ble living. But

where families are poor and lan d is already min imal, th e tension between brothers

over land can be serious. In such instances bro ther s, desp ite the belief tha t they

should help each othe r and get along togethe r, may bec ome bitterly hostile.

In sum, the members of qawm com munities who must coo perate in the use

o f a com mo n water source are brought i nto tension with each other over the em-

ban km ents which delimit their adjacen t properties. Hostility and tension exist

over the bound aries of a scarce resource-land-among the very group of people

who are obliged t o hold to gether fo r the joint emp loym ent of an oth er scarce re-

source-water. Th e term pulwaan shariki (or in Hazaragi, jagha shariki , em-

bankm ent sharing, meaning the practice of coope ration between neighbors,

implies a contradiction between how people feel toward each oth er an d how

they must act toward each othe r. That is, they may hap pen t o distrust and dis-

like each othe r and ye t be obliged t o coop erate in their own separate interests.

Other cooperative activities.

Within the qawm co mm un ity several families,

usually closely related ones, besides participating in the water-sharing activities

of th e com mu nity, also coop erate in oth er routine subsistence activities. The oc-

casions in t he year when a farmer needs a hand from his neighbors are numerous.

The fall of th e year is a critical time for a highland farm er: his crop is usually

ready fo r harvest only a few days before the initial frost o f winter ; he must also

thresh and sift his wheat befo re th e cold sets in.

o

during harvest time in the

higher localities where frost may be imm inen t, farmers find it useful t o arrange

t o work each other's plots together in order of their urgency.

Th e differences in the growing seasons of the lands in the highlands is one

factor t ha t enables highlanders to assist each ot he r profitably during harvest



SOCIAL SYSTEM I: TER RIT OR IAL GROUPS 5

season for these lands matu re in tu rn u p t he valley. Were there n o seasonal vari-

ability of plots on the highlands this la nd of coo pera tion would be less feasible;

everyone s harvest would com e in a t o nce, and so everyone would be w orking o n

his own harvest at th e same time. As it is, crop s on rainfall lands or o n high

spring-watered lands mature a t a different tim e than crop s on the irrigated plots.

Furthermore, as barley matures earlier than wheat, and unshaded lands earlier

than shaded lands, the local farmers have some latitu de for w orking o u t th e se-

quence of their cooperative effor ts, so th at they assist one anoth er reciprocally

at the appropriate time when each plot must be harvested. On Tagaw, of course,

the crops mature at a bo ut th e same time, bu t because the frost comes later,

Tagaw farmers have more time t o harvest them .

Besides the urgency o f harvesting and threshing before winter fros t in the

highlands, ano ther reason mutu al help is useful is tha t threshing is best do ne by

several households togethe r. On e man, it is tru e, can thresh his wheat with a

single bull by means of a device known as a shaatul a platform made of a thorny

bush on which someone rides t o give it weight as it is pulled a rou nd t he threshing

floor. But this is no t as efficient as using a team of five or six bulls driven

as

a

group side by side around the threshing floor. Farmers who have small crop s

will therefore pool their bulls and , where possible, bor row mo re for a few days

from farmers whose threshing is either co mpleted or n ot qui te read y; and tog ether

they will thresh their crop s in tu rn (but keeping each separate) o n a single thresh-

ing floo r. Wealthier men wh o have plenty of land a nd eno ugh ca ttle will also

need additional labo r help fo r threslung , bu t such farm ers usually get help by

paying a poorer farmer as a day laborer or by requesting favors of weaker rela-

tives who can even tually be repaid in o th er ways.

The sharing of pack o r d raft animals among a few families, especially the

poorer ones, is also a necessity at certain times in the yea r. As few families have

more than one bull, they have to share their an imals reciprocally for plowing.

Moreover,

as

a man can take two or three donkeys up o nt o the mountain to

gather thorn bushes o r forage as efficiently s he can take only o ne, an owner of

one donkey is inclined to arrange with anothe r owner of o ne o r two do nkeys t o

use all their animals together by turns, each taking them on alternate day s to d o

his

ow

work. This sharing of animals, whether bulls or do nkeys, is known as

doingpolghu. It is also com mon for a few households t o graze their sheep to-

gether. The families inhabiting a house always keep their sheep in the same

flock, it being unfeasible t o separate them during the day because they are

stabled together at night. But beyond this there is some lati tud e in flock-grazing

arrangements. Som etimes all the families of

a

qawm com mu nity will hire a single

shepherd and com bine their sheep in o ne flo ck ; sometimes smaller groups of

families will have joint flocks. In a few cases families of diff erent but nearb y

qawm com munities will coopera te in this way. Similarly, small herds of bulls

and donkeys, known as puudagaws are made u p of the animals of the families

of



5

FACTIO N AND CONVERSION IN A PLU RA L SOCIETY

one o r two qawm com mu nities . Th is is a for m of coo pe rat ion characteristic only

of t he highlands, as few sheep a nd g oats are kept on the lowlands of Tagaw.

Shepherds of t he smaller flocks are co mmon ly children u nder 15 , usually

from one of th e househo lds contrib uting animals to t he flock. In such cases, th

child or his parent is paid in grain by the o th er families after harvest. For the

larger flocks an older pe rson is hired as shep herd . Usually th e hired shepherds

come from the qawm com mu nity; those who d o no t, in addition t o their pay,

are fed and bedded each night in turns by the different families owning sheep in

the flock.

During spring an d fall th e s heep an d goats are grazed during the day and

broug ht back to their owners' houses at night; during summ er when they are

taken higher in to the m ountain aylaqs, they are kept on the s m d tracts of open

groun d arou nd which the yur ts of th e cooperating families are grouped. These

groups of yur ts vary w ith t he size of the group s cooper ating in the common

flock. Typically th e com mo n flock agreements and the spatial clustering of the

yu rts of the coop erating families reflect th e cu rre nt factional alignments of per-

sons in the neighb orhoo d.

Special fn endships.

Within the qawrn comm unit y endu ring and close

friendships of ten form between a few individuals.

A

special dyadic tie between

close friends is known as a

khaanda,

step or adopted, friendship. A

k h w a

khaanda is an ad opte d sister, a braadar khaanda an ado pted bro ther. Khwaar

khaandas or braadar khaandas address each oth er as sister or brother re-

spectively, confide in each o th er , work toge ther w hen possible, share their goods

with each ot he r, etc. This is no t a formal relationship, bu t is noticed by other

members of the comm unity.

Khwaar khaandas seem generally mo re intimate than braadar khaandas. A

woman may have more than one khwaar khaanda, but usually no more than three

or four . Khwaar khaandas may borrow and loan among each othe r, and they will

share their goods withou t stric t accounting. They invite each oth er over for spe-

cial occasions and they are supposed t o keep each other's secrets. But they often

tell their husbands and som etimes other friends what they hear from each other,

so their husbands and o ther relatives learn a lot abo ut what is going on in each

others'houses, e.g., about their troubles, their debts, what their children say,

what happened over there last Friday, etc.

Besides being able t o confide in each o the r, khwaar khaandas can help each

oth er by leaking useful info rmation t o the right persons wi tho ut revealing the

source. A woman might say to an acqu aintance in the interest o f her khwaar

khaanda, for example, I hear that so-and-so is interested in yo ur daughter. Do

you kn ow him?

1

don 't really know him well, bu t he seems like a nice boy.

Women sit and work tog ether and talk during the day , bu t when it is time

t eat , the hostess always provides the food. A visitor would never take food



SOCIAL SYSTEM I: TER RITO RIA L GROU PS 5

from her house t o the hostess ' house. Bu t a wom an w ho has visi ted in her

khwaar khaanda's house a nd wan ts t o retu rn th e favor, might at ano the r t ime

take her a special gift of fo od . When a c ow gives birth t o a calf, for exa mp le, she

might take over som e o f th e beestings, which is considered especially tastefu l

when mixed with regular milk. Her khw aar khaan da

in

return might send her

some regular m i lk f rom her ow n cow so th at b ot h could enjoy th e m ixture .

Naturally, in close friendships the re is less stric t reckoning o f obligations t o share

equally than th at which is formally required am on g kinsmen.

Khwaar khaan das, if especially close over a long period of time, m ay swear

to be sis ters forever on the Q uran b u t this is no t com mo nly practiced. Th e chil-

dren of khwaar khaandas will call the other woman

kh l

(MoSi) a nd her hus-

band

k k

or awd ur (FaBr) unless he has a mo re honorific t i tle , such

as ji

sayb

pilgrim sir. Th e husb ands of khw aar khaand as are no t necessarily friendly,

and in fact ma y resent their wives' intim acy . T he following is a description o f a

particular khw aar kh aan da relationsh ip:

My m oth er had a khwaar kh aand a and she would stay with her at

night and we had to invite her husband and children over to ou r house to o.

She was from the same village, the wife of t he m ullah. Whatever happ ened

in our house, we heard it at the ot he r end of th e village, and we kn ew th at

our mother had told no o ne except her khwaar khaanda. The khwaar

khaanda lived only a few minutes ' walk aw ay, but we would go over there

and s tay one o r two nights . And they w ould come and s tay with us. Of ten

my father would com e hom e for the night. But we would stay over there

late and talk.

The reason m y m oth er was so close to her khwaar khaanda was that

all of th e o th er perso ns in th e village were m y father's relatives; she could

not be close to any of her husband's relatives because she did not want his

people to know how she felt. When she finally discovered

a

woman who

could e her khwaar kha anda it was natural th at this would be a non-relative

of my fath er. In this case, as th e village was split in tw o factio ns, her khwaar

khaanda had married into th e ot he r gro up . wom an wh o is in her husband's

village doesn't have mu ch c hance t o have her relatives ov er, so my mo ther

didn't have any on e to tell her feelings to . So she needed a person t o talk to

who wouldn't let it get back t o my father and his peop le. But of te n it did

anyway.

Braadar khaand as similarly have intim ate relationships. Th ey invite each

other over to their homes too, bu t as the men often w ork independ ently they

cannot see each oth er so frequently.

I

was told th at sometimes the wives of

braadar khaandas becom e friends too . When they find a girl for their son s or

marry ou t their daughters they ofte n use their braadar khaand as as go-between t o

th

parents of th e prospective spou se. And o f course they o ften arrange for their



FACTION

AND


children t o interm arry, th us binding the affective ties of the khaanda friendship

more formally through affinity.

Of course braadar kh aandas confide in each other. An example of a spe-

cific braadar khaanda

relationship

is the following:

Aziz became braadar khaanda t o Ab dul Akim a bo ut ten years

ago

Th ey had been classmates th ro ug h th e sixth grade. When Aziz went away

to stud y in Kabul, they made a promise t o be braadar k haandas for ever.

When Aziz came to Kabul, Abdul A kim , wh o had started t o work in the

local government offi ce, gave him som e mo ney . Now t ha t Aziz has

finished his education and has a bette r gov ernm ent job he feels he should

help Abdul A kim. Aziz loans him money wi tho ut in terest, entertains him,

visits him o n his day s of f, etc. The y tell each oth er things they would not

tell anyo ne else-a fath er, a broth er, or awd ur in their qa wm , for example.

The y talk a bo ut girls, some of th e plans they have fo r the future , and so

o n .

Not everyon e has a braadar khaanda or khwaar khaan da, but t he few

khaanda relationships in each qaw m com mu nity, b y leaking information not

otherwise comm unica ble between estranged persons, provide a mechanism for

releasing the tensions o f interne cine hostility and gossip sometim es present in the

qawm commu nity.

Common

pmyer

Th e males of th e qaw m c omm unity regularly gather for

public prayers. Th e five daily ritual prayers enjoin ed upo n t he muslim are

formally expressed

in

prescribed physical prostratio ns and recitations which

visibly display one's faith. More spiritua l me rit is prom ised for the prayers o f

groups than f or the sum o f individual prayers recited privately. Frida y is the day

for the muslim t o pray publicly with h s brethre n. Each village has a mosque

which is

a

room or building for Friday prayers. Usually t he roo m is only large

enough t o hold abou t 50 people sitting on the flo or. When o n special occasions

larger groups gather f or religious meetings, they mee t outd oors.

Th e mosque is repaired an d serviced by com mu nal labor. In the mon th of

Mizan (beginning about August

2

,

soo n after harvest th e leading elders call for

all men of th e comm unity to bring fuel bushes, one donkey-load per family.

The n cleaning and m udding of the mosque is do ne t o bring it int o respectable

cond ition in case of a visit by a government in specto r.

Th e weekly prayers of t he adult m ales are d on e somewh at differently ac-

cording t o th e sect. As the overt m otion s of the prayers of each sect are differ-

en t, they iden tify t he mem bers of each sect, and express the religious solidarity

of all its members. Sun nis say group prayers and hear

a sermon at the mosque

by

th

leader of prayers on Fridays just after no on . Imarni groups me et in the

mosqu on Thurs day evenings ( Friday nights ) an d Friday mornings, t o listen




to the reading of stories, to cry over th e sufferings of Hosayn an d ot he r vene-

rated martyrs of the s ect, an d finally t o pray.

Imami group prayers differ from thos e of Sunnis, inter alia, in th e impo r-

tance that is placed o n t he personal qualities of t he leader o f prayers, the mullah

imaam. The mullah imaam m ust be an unusually pious ( pure ) person

s

h e is

considered the sub stit ute fo r the Imaam , w ho is believed sinless. Before the

prayers each person privately re pea ts th e sta temen t, I have ac cepted th e pres-

ent imaam, i.e., the man standin g s leader of prayers for the group. Th e

spiritual efficacy of th e grou p prayers is thereb y placed o n th e shoulders o f the

mullah imaam. He must recite the en tire prayer sequ ence while thos e behind

him recite only part of i t , an d he must no t let his full attention wander from th e

recitation of prayer du ring th e ritual, lest his an d th e prayers o f those praying

with him be rendered ineffectual.

Ismailis from tw o or thre e adjac ent ham lets o r villages, if near e nou gh,

gather in a mosque or a ho me on Thurs day evenings for prayers and th e reading

of books. In the prayers I observed, n o one to ok a position in fr ont o f th e rest,

though one person led th e grou p recitations. After prayers th e men re ad, be-

sides the Quran, portions of boo ks w ritten by th e Ismaili Saint, and som e oth er

poets. ht e ra te persons in the group take tu rn s reading to the rest, and the re is

some discussion. These meetings are for prayer and learning, no t for solving

disputes, someone said. Som etim es the ir meetin gs last unti l early mornin g.

Another kind o f prayer, duw

(Arabic du ha), is a brief, perfunctory

prayer, bu t it is considered efficaciou s in avoiding mi sfor tune . Th e giving of

feasts is considered a means o f gaining good for tu ne thro ugh the prayers (duwaas)

of thanksgiving expressed by th e guests. People spon sor feasts partly t o repay

social obligations but more im port antl y, they say, to elicit th e guests' sincere

duwaas for God's blessing on th e host a nd his househ old. Aside from the sup-

posed supernatural effect of such prayers, they have the social effect of reassur-

ing the members o f t he g rou p o f th e intercessor's goodwill an d their willingness

to conform t o th e mores o f social fellowship.

Elders The heads of the several households in a qaw m com muni ty com-

prise the elders of the co mm uni ty. As there are variations in wealth, the re is

variation in the amount of deference given different older persons, but usually,

whether rich or poor, they are respected. Persons of influence in the co mm uni ty

are generally of a m at ure age.

The

elders form an informal body that makes de-

cisions on comm unity-w ide affairs. Social gatherings provide them opp ortu niti es

t develop com nion understandings a nd opinions on issues of current interest, so

generally everyone in the co mm un ity kn ows everyone else's op inions. Co mm on-

ly. on Fridays after t he prayers t he elders go t o someone's house t o drink tea and

talk; sometimes they simply linger after prayers at the mosque.

The elders some times meet for special purposes. If the y as a gro up become



8

FACTION

AND

CONV ERSION IN A P LU RA L SOCIETY

embroiled in a dispute with ano ther gro up requiring political action they

w ll

meet t o discuss policy and strategy. If the g overn men t conscripts a certain

num

ber of men from t he qawm com m unity t o work o n a construction project such

as a road o r a government building th ey will mee t t o decide who has to go.

Fo r certain assessments mad e against

all

th e m emb ers of the qawm com-

mu nity the leading elders tak e the responsibility of collecting the funds. For

example for the salary pay m ent o f th e local mullah a list of the qawrni who

can con tribu te is mad e an d three or fo ur respected elders those most noted for

hones ty an d fairness will circulate am ong the qaw mi collecting and noting

down the am ounts contributed by each.

In discussion the older and w ea lth er persons have the most influence.

Usually only t he older m en ta lk bu t am ong the m there sometimes is one person

whose opinion is of ten sought and wh en given acc epte d. A person of such in-

fluence is comm only one w ho contro ls mu ch m ore we alth than the others.

In the qawm co mm uni ty o ne elder is a recognized representative of the

group to th e government. He is know n as th e arbuab. Comm unication between

the governm ent officials an d the qa wm co mm un ity usually is transmitted through

the arbaab. Arbaabs are involved in th e colle ction o f taxes an d fees and the con-

scription of persons fo r mdita ry service or govern men t labor. Above the arbaab

is th e mir or

mallek

who usually represents several qawm comm unities to the

government. Arbaabs are usually co nta cte d through the mirs by the government

officials an d the arbaabs in return take information back to the rnir rather than

directly t o the government officials. Recen tly however arbaabs have been deal-

ing with governm ent officials o n their ow n.

The Neighborhood

A neighborhood is a highland valley inh abite d mainly by several qawm

communities most of whom are related. Neigh borhoods are no t really signifi-

can t social uni ts on Tagaw as Tagaw is a relatively large unb roken plain; popula-

tions on the Tagaw are however spatially grouped in to com mo n descent groups

a social unit to be described in t h ~ section. Neighborhoods are analytically con-

sidered separate levels of social intera ction in the highlands because neighborhood

sp at id groupings are dictated b y the topographic segm entation of valleys in the

highlands an d because the inh abita nts of these valleys usually claim certain corn-

on pastures which loosely draw the m i n to social association.

Comm on descent groups. As mentioned earlier the size of a group of

kins-

men w ho make up a qawm varies according t o the range of kinship one wishes t

refer to . One may call the m embers of his village his gawmi o r aU the persons in

his valley

his

qawmi or even the persons located in neighboring valleys his q a d

Figure

7

illustrates th e relationship o f smaller and larger descen t groups t o each

other within the valley of Labmushak.



SOCIAL SYSTEM

I :

TERRITORIAL GROUPS

a Karl vla

A k i m y m

New Sayyecia

Juraqol Sayye

m u

m

Wakil am

Mm pem

T w w

L j a m

2

Ekhtyaar

3 J u r w

4 Digu

6

sh

Zyar

6

Mullah

7

k m d

Razaka

9

li Jam

10 Uppr nud

11

Um r li Jam

Figure 7 Descent groups in Labmushak



6

FACTION AND CONVERSION IN A PL UR AL SOCIETY

Th e Hazara descent grou ps wh o claim t o have com e earliest t o this valley

were those o f A kim Bay an d Karim Bay, b ot h descen dants o f Khida, the putative

son of Baba Dargan (Darghu in Hazaragi) (see Fig. 8 . So th ey , as well as the

in-

habitants of a num ber of adja cent valleys, are reckoned sons of Khida. Another

group descended from b d a re those known as Sheykh Maamad who dwell in

ot he r valleys no t far aw ay. Few people are clear as to t he specific lines of ances-

try t ha t link Akim Bay an d Karim Bay t o Khida . In fac t, only a half-dozen elder-

ly people (some wom en as well as me n) could give a chain of ancestry all the way

back t o Khida. Most oth er people could re mem ber five to seven generations of

their forefathers, bu t th e younger people typically could remember n o further

back than their own grandfathers. So me people were no t sure whether Akim Bay

and Karim Bay were brothe rs or w het her Karim Bay was a son of Akim Bay.

Even so, there is a general belief tha t in L abmu shak t here are tw o stems of

descent emanating from b d a , hose through Akim Bay and those through

Karim Bay.

It appea rs tha t spatial location was one mean s by which th e residents iden-

tified a person s mem bership in th e differe nt de scent groups, for upon coming to

uncertainties in someone s chain o f ancestry they would say th at the sons of

Karim Bay simpl y are in th e villages o f Ali Ja m , Rezaka, and Qalaay-Ekhtyaar

while th e sons of Akim Bay are in Pesh Zyar, Q alaay-Maamad a nd Qalaay-Mullah.

Th e implication is that th e mem bers of these territorial units are descent groups

representing sublines of descent from the e pon ym ous ancestor.

The sons of Karim Bay may have on ce been mirs of th e valley, since

my

in-

forma nts recognize E khtyaar (an old w ord for elder or chi ef) as a descendant of

Karim Bay. Th e old qalaa of Ekht yaa r is situated on t he choice lowlands not far

from t he m ou th of th e valley, bu t th e males claiming descent from him are only

two, through a comm on grandfat her. Their families occupy oppos ite corners of

th e now practically ruined fortifie d dwelling. Th e oth er so ns of Karim Bay live

mu ch farther u p the valley in Rezaka an d Ali Jam . Th e ham let of R ezaka is

cluster of about 10 houses. Ali Jam is broken in to tw o hamlets, the original one

no w consisting of three structures n ot far from R ezaka and the newer one,

Upper Ali Jam, situate d o n th e highest irrigated tr act in the valley.

Tw o of the several sons (or descendants) o f Akim Bay, the othe r son of

Khida, were Lutfali an d Faizili, a nd their descen dants occupy Pesh Zyar. The

descen dants of Maamad, anothe r son o f Akim Bay, are now scattere d in the

higher por tio ns of the valley. The village called Qalaay-Maam ad is th e largest

cluster of his descendants, but higher up th e valley, between Lower Ali

Jam

and

Upper Ali Jam is a string of houses grouped in twos and t hree s, mo st of which

also claim descent from Maamad. Also among them are tw o houses of Sayyeds

an d a family descended fro m a noth er offspring of A kim Bay, Baybaad, most of

whose ot he r descen dants live in a small neighboring valley.

Mullah Baabay, t he foun der o f Qalaay-Mullah, was some tim es given as

descendant of Akim Bay, b u t elderly inform ants indicated tha t this is not



SOCI L SYSTEM

I

TERRITORI L GROUPS




accurate. He was probably an o utsider bro ugh t in t o serve th e religious interests

of t he com mu nity a long time ago. His des cendants have con tinu ed t o be leaders

in religious practice a nd opinion being able t o read), t hou gh like almost every-

one else, they are mainly farmers.

Digu descent grou p is similarly said b y som e t o repres ent ano ther line from

Karim Bay bu t older persons indicate th at Digu q aw m is also from the outside.

Some say Digu are from Lajoo valley over the m ou nt ai n, bu t t he most knowl-

edgeable persons insisted th at the y are fro m t he Q aaluq subg roup of th e Sheykh

Ali Hazaras.

Th e groups inhabiting the best lowland tracts o f Labmushak are from the

outside. Th e ancestry o f the residents of Tagaw Kha na has been forgotten but

their ancestry is different fr om the ot he r groups. T he Sayy eds residing in

Juraqol, an d th e t w o related h ouseho lds high in t he valley, are also of vague

ancestry. Th e solitary househ old of Sayyed s near Tagaw Khana has come into

th e valley only recently th rou gh land purchases and marriages with t he wealthy

families of Tagaw K hana.

These outs ide groups moved i nt o the valley after the descend ants of Kluda

had becom e ensconced there. Th e fact tha t the y oc cup y favorable locations sug-

gests that they imm igrated from a position of strength an d displaced othe r

groups. Possibly th ey were stat ione d the re by pow erful out sid e Hazara groups,

the notable ones nearby being the Sheykh Alis and the Besuds. Sayyed f a d y

might have been invited t o com e in and s ettle in Ju raqo l, as is sometimes done,

for its religious value to t he nei ghbo rhoo d. Unlike individual interlope rs grafted

on to existing comm on descent groups, these groups have been able t o raise chil-

dren in their own names because they occupied territorial blocks which fell

to

their male heirs.

On e more descent grou p is represented by the tw o Arab m en serving the

valley as blacksmiths, one in Pesh Zyar an d th e oth er in Katayalaw. Many of

their fore fath ers have had Hazara wives, and physically they are indistinguish-

able from Hazaras. The y have no lan d. Their specialized occupa tion s, passed

from fath er t o son, seem t o provide t he basis for retaining their kinship distinct-

ness.

In an earlier quota tion o n th e ancestry of someone w ho had interloped

into a qawm com muni ty see p.

45 the speaker suggested that the interloper may

have lef t his ho me t errit ory because of conflict with his own kin smen . This is a

significant suppos ition, for it suggests a reason for the spatial fragmentation of

certain descent groups, as in, for example, the divided descent groups of

Ekhtyaar, Maamad, and Ali Jam in Labmushak. It is likely tha t the built-in po-

tential for conflict over resources may have caused occasional relocation o f some

of the group members so as t o avoid or reduce tension. This option n o longer

exists because it is now mu ch less feasible t o bring new lands i nt o cultivation

than

formerly.




3

Common

holdings. The wider n etw ork of affinals an d descent groups

oc

cupying the highland valleys corp orat ely claim territ ories

in

the m ountains where

thorn bushes, if available, may be gathe red for fuel and the ir flocks grazed. It is

in these areas above th e valleys t ha t t he rain-wate red lands of Shibar are located .

Above the irrigated plains of the highland valleys, the hillsides, ravines, and

glens of the mountain are particularly resplendent wi th bru sh vegetation in sum-

mer. The inhabitants of ea ch valley claim th e right t o collect t he wild vegetation

used for fuel in the whole upp er region exte ndin g fro m t he slu rt of th e mou n-

tains to the very to p of th e ridge. Th ey resent any fuel gathering in t h e areas by

outsiders from less favored regions. If they ca tch a t h e f of fuel bushes they may

take his ropes, which are highly valued, o r repo rt h im t o the gove rnmen t.

Not everything growing on the mou nta ins above a valley, however, belongs

to the entire neighborho od. As already me nti on ed , rights t o pasturage on th e

highest slopes of the m oun tain belong t o the n oma ds m igrating i nt o th e area in

summer. Below this region th e local farm ers have pasturage and cultiv ation

rights of their own . In this region, topo grap hy an d climate perm itting , they cul-

tivate rainfall land in the flatti sh wadis and ravines th at are likely t o collect the

most precipitation when i t rains in sum me r and sno ws in winter.

ll

th e rain-

watered land that can be plowed is already unde r cu ltiva tion. The rest is pastur-

age claimed by the residen ts of th e valley. If someone were t o plow u p a new

tract for agriculture, the residents of the valley wou ld com plain because they

would lose the benefit of the pasturage.

In Shibar, the belt o f neighborhood -controlled lands includes bo th pastur-

age, where the yurt s are set up in sum mer, and rainfall lan d. Th e rainfall plots of

each qawm co mm unit y, though privately ow ned and cultivated, are comm only

grouped together, presumably because the area was once owned b y a com mon

ancestor. Among these rainfall lands there oft en are small stretch es of pasturage

where the land owner s flock s are some times grazed.

In addition t o the pasturage claimed by each qawm c om mu nity there are

extensive untillable stre tche s of ground am ong the lower mo unta in ravines and

slopes which may be grazed by a ny fl ock s from the valley, bu t n ot by flocks

from any othe r valley. It is in these pastures th at the p eople of a valley leave

their bulls and female donkeys for the s um mer. Th e comm unities highest on the

plateaus are close enough t o these vales and hillsides t o shephe rd their bulls and

donkeys in herds (paadagaws) and bring them back t o their homes at nigh t. But

the owners of livestock in a valley farthe r away from the highland pastures, ow -

ing to the great distance of th e pasturage from their ho mes, ofte n let their bulls

roam free through these mou ntain regions; the anima ls are left un ten ded for

m ny weeks of the sum mer because it is too cold a t night for a shepherd.

The right t o gather animal forage from the m ountains for winter is like th e

right to pasture one s animals. One can collect wild forage in some places, bu t

not in othe rs because of the specific rights of t he qawm comm unities in certain




PLURAL

SOCIETY

areas. Cutting grass on th e pasturage o f an other qaw m community is considered

thievery bu t cutt ing forage from pastu res no t specifically claimed by any qawm

comm unity is not.

It should be clear th at the bonds o f social cohes ion in neighborhoods are

relatively fragde. Even though ideally un ited thro ugh comm on descent the

populations o f neighborhoods are in fact functionally d rawn together only

through their com mo n pastures. Thus the neighborhood as a functional unit

exists among the highland populations where pasturage is an important secondary

means of subsistence. There are additional ties however which more firmly

draw the populations of neighborhoods together bu t they are ties of a different

kind than those described above. These are the social ties wrought through the

sharing of goods and services among members of th e kinship network.



SOCI L SYSTEM :

THE KINSHIP NETWORK

HE

term kinship network is used t o refer t o th e conn ected system of inter-

related kinsmen, however they may be joined, wh ether through agnatic

descent or marriage. Following B arnes (1 95 4; see also Mayer,

1966)' a distinction

is made between a set of kinsh ip con nec tions and a network of kinship con-

nections. set of kinship con nec tio ns is th e com posit e of agnatic and affinal ties

linking a single family with i ts relatives.

A family's set of kinship ties obviously is

not identical to the kinship ties of an y o the r family, thoug h their sets of conn ec-

tions may largely overlap.

A

network of kinship connections

is

the combined

sets of affinal and agnatic ties of a g rou p of interco nnec ted families. T he k inship

network of a qawm co mm un ity , for example, is th e combined sets of connections

involving ll the members of that group.

family's set o f kinsmen is know n as its qawm-o-khesh, agnates and

affines. Sometimes its set of kinsmen is simply glossed as its qaw m. Thu s, in

popular usage one's qawm grou p may include, depending o n the int ent , his affinal

s well as his agnatic relatives. qaw m com mun ity's ne tw or k of kinship conn ec-

tions, when th e group's com bine d kinship ties are being referred t o, may also be

called the qawm-o-khesh of that group.

The kinship net wo rk has three distinguishing features: it has n o specific

geographical co nt ex t; it is only op erative th rou gh eph eme ral public gatherings;

and it is a netw ork of eco nomic distribution.

SOCI L COMPOSITION

ND

GEOGR PHIC CONTEXT

Kinship networks have n o specific geographical co nt ex t; they encomp ass

both the interlaced, dense connection s of kinsmen in qaw m com munities and

also the dispersed affinal conn ection s extendin g between differen t qaw m co m-

munities.

The

kinship netw ork is therefore a different grouping of persons than

the territorial u nits described earlier; it overlaps with som e o f th e ties o f persons

in qawm comm unities and neighborhoods, bu t it also reaches farther o u t int o

other districts.



FACTION AND CONV ERSION

IN

A PL UR AL SOCIETY

The dispersal of lans hip ties of course is a result of th e nu merous marriages

consummated between members of different qaw m communities. Figure

9

shows

the dispersal o f affinal connect ions joining a qa wm com mu nity , Rezaka, to

num ber of oth er similar communities. O ut of 4 3 marriages of the members

of

Rezaka qawm com mun ity, 1 4

33

perc ent) were con su mmate d within the group,

six of which were between th e offspring of bro thers;

20

girls f rom eight different

qawm com munities were m arried in to t he g roup; an d nine girls from the com-

munity were married o ut to eight othe r qawm communit ies.

Th e intricacy o f t he kinship ties within a qaw m co mm uni ty contributes to

its sense of un ity vis-a-vis ot he r qaw m com muniti es. Conse quently, the members

of a qaw m com mu nity may consider themselves affines of groups in to w hch one

of their members has married. Members of af f i n d y related qawm communities

address eac h oth er by affinal term s of kinship. Older persons, if not directly re-

lated t o ego through marriage, are addressed as mate rnal uncle (tagha, maamaa)

or as maternal a unt

khaala)

or, if t w o ascendant generations removed, s spouse s

father (khosor) o r spouse s m oth er (khosorbara). Affinal conne ctions between

qawm com munities, then, are considered to draw t he groups together.

If a man [said one inf or ma nt ] gives a wom an t o a man of another

qawm co mm unity they try t o keep good relations between t he two qawm

com mu niti es. Th ey will visit e ach ot he r at special time s, especially at times

of

a death or a marriage. But th e wo men go fo r ot he r lesser occasions, also;

SO they tend t o form closer ties amo ng themselves. Onc e the visits start,

the exchanges

of

goods begin, and th ey ten d t o co ntin ue. In this way the

ties of fellowship between th e groups are maintained.

Th e kinship network, though n ot associated w ith a ny particular features of

space, functionally contribut es t o the un ity of tw o territorial groups, th e neigh-

bor hoo d and the qawm com mu nity . Primarily it reinforces the uni ty of the qawm

com mu nity because th e ties of affinity and descent within t he qawm community

are, as already sta ted, exceedingly intricate. Th ey also draw non -qawm i persons,

many of who m o f course live in oth er qawm com muniti es in the neighborhood,

in to relationship with the com mu nity , thu s strengthening the ties between corn-

munities in the neighbo rhood. Th e frequency of intermarriage among qawm

communities w i t h n a nd outside a neighborhood is shown in Table 4. Affinal

ties w i t h n the neighborhood are more num erous than those outside. However,

marital ties between distant qawm comm unities, when once established, are often

reduplicated, so tha t marriages som etime s recur betw een distant qawm communi-

ties

point n ot evident on the table, however, is th at the qaw m communities

o f a neighborhood are no t all equally well integrated in to a single web of af-

finity. Antagonisms develop between qawm com mu nitie s and channel their re12

tionships into diff eren t sets of intermarrying groups. Marriages are usually



SOCIAL SYSTEM :

THE

KINSHIP NETWORK



TABLE

RELATIVE DISTANCE OF QAWM COMMUNITIES RELATED THROUGH MARRIAGE TO REZAKA QAWM COMMUNITY

Marriages to

qawm communit s

in

the

n e g h b o r h d

Peah

Zyar

6

Madarqom 3

Katayalaw

1

Mullah Qalaa 1

Tagaw Khana 1

otal

12

Percent 4 2

Marriages to

qawm communities

outside of

Shibar

Sheykh ALi 1

Turughman

1

2

7

Total

9

1

Marriages to

qawm comm unities

distant but

within Shibar

Lawed Bulaq

3

Ghorbandak 5

8

27

Marriages to

qawm comm unities

in

adjacent

neighborhoods

Namaqol

2

2

7

Marriages to qawm

communities

in

near

but not adjacent

neighborhoods

Khakak 1

Lichikbir

5

17



SOCIAL SYST M 11: THE KINSH IP NETWORK

9

consummated between friendly fam ilies, se ldo m be tw ee n an tag on isti c families.

Thus a

marriage is best conceived as the structural formalization of an existing

friendship. Families on good terms tend t o re inforc e the ir goo dwi ll by rep ea ted

marriages every generation o r so. Bu t, if t he y sho uld fall ou t with eac h ot he r,

their previously formed marital ties m ay quickly be disregarded an d eve ntua lly

be

forgotten. Similarly, unre lated families w h o beco me associated fo r o th er rea-

sons eventually express their ties th ro ug h in termarr iag e. For ins tan ce , in a con-

versation regarding two families who had recently become allies in a dispute,

someone observed that the

families were n ot related yet, bu t w ould eventually

become SO. Affinal connections, then, are basically plastic, responsive to the

vicissitudes of in ter-family sen timen tal re latio nships.

The effect of this fact on th e ne tw or k o f a ffin al ties in a neigh borh ood is

that

marital connections between hostile qawm communities in a neighborhood

do not develop, or, if once e xt an t, a re n o t rein forced by ad dit ion al ties, while

marital connections between persons belonging t o friendly q awm c o m m ~ n i t i e s

are kept strong by recurrent marriages. Thu s th e qaw m com mun itie s of a neigh-

borhood are sometimes aligned in separate sets of intermarrying kinship net-

works.

kinship netwo rk has diffuse con necti on s across a wide geographical fiel d,

conceivably extending t o an y locality. The ou ter limits of the ne tw or k are in

not geographical bu t social: since persons o f different s ects do no t

U S ~ J ~ Y

intermarry, he real maximal lim its of th e ne tw or k are essentially the boundarie s

ofthe sect. The kinship netw ork blends closely in to th e sect, for the kinship net-

work is indeed, to a major degree, a religious ne tw ork. Almo st all the public oc-

casionsin which kinsmen in th e ne tw or k are broug ht toge ther a re religious or

quasi-religious. And it is throu gh such occasions t ha t t he in fluen ce of the leaders

the sect, the Saints, is mainly ex er ted . When th e kinsmen are gathered o n

Public occasions, it is co m m on fo r a religious autho ri ty , if n o m ore than th e local

elderclosest to the Saint, or f or a learned teacher, a mullah representing the Saint9

O

be Present, an d t o lead in prayer o r pe rform ot he r religious services within th e

community.

The kinship netw ork , the n, being in its widest sense coter mi nou s with the

Sect, reaches to the oute r limits o f social cohe sion a nd cultural identification.

The elastic word qawm, as a result, when den oting the gro up w ho are

kinsmen, i.e.. those in the kinship network , becomes also c o te r m i n o ~ s

with

the word for sect

mazhab) .

In Bsmian, and generally throughout Afghanis-

t a n he unity of a com mo n faith implies a com mo n kinship. I was told by one

person, We believe our blo od is Imami, and their blo od is Sunni. In the valley

Foladi a Hazara info rm ant consistently used th e word qawm t o distinguish

between the religious sects. Tajiks an d Afghans were S unn i qawm s, he explained .

The l mm i qawm o f Bamian, i.e., th e Hazaras (and Sayyeds?) were fr om

I ( m d h a r . The Isrnaili qawm

o

Shibar, he felt, was a different kind of Hazara



SOCIAL SYSTEM 11: T H E KINSH IP NETWORK

7

1

Th e O bligation t o Visit

The core social activity o f all social int er ac tio n is th e visit in wh ich personal

respects are paid an d food is shared . Visiting is an e ssential me ans of displaying

goodwill between friends an d relatives. Pe rson s w ho visit a h n s m a n ar e showin g

their goodwdl. An offende d person expresses disaffection by refusing t o visit a

kinsman's house when it is expected.

In general, exc ept f or special occasions suc h as a marriage or fu ner al, when

everyone must come t o a person's ho us e, a young er person sho uld visit a n older,

and a poorer should visit a richer. If it were o the rwise, pe ople m ight say t he

elder or stronger person was goshna hungry, greedy, i.e., he wan ts som ething .

This, of course, does no t apply t o equals, friends, a nd siblings, who should visit

each other reciprocally, for a visit implies the payment of a courtesy which

should be repaid.

There are a num ber of occasions on which kinsmen are in contac t. Fo r

practical reasons men have t o move aroun d rather of te n, perhaps t o b uy or bor-

row straw or grain from som eon e in an ot he r neigh bor hoo d, t o buy or sell a cow

or donkey, to borrow mo ney or pay a d ebt , etc. These movements allow them

to make brief cou rtes y calls on kinsmen or special friends, an d when feasible, to

stay for tea, lunch, o r t he night.

There are also times when a person should make a point of visiting his kins-

men. He should visit, for exam ple, whe n a lunsma n has returned safely from a

trip. It used to be tha t when som eon e returne d fro m Kabul, his relatives and

neighbors would gather and throw pastry

cholpak)

on him to congratulate him

on his successful jou rne y, so dis ta nt a nd forb idd ing was Ka bul in th ose days.

This is no longer do ne, t hou gh the y d o still d ro p in t o greet a newc ome r; the

traveler, in return, sh ould have a small present sawghaar) such as an orange or a

handful of nuts, to give to his friends. When a ma n com es back from th e pil-

grimage to Mecca or fro m his ar my service, or retu rns well from the h ospital

after a sickness, his neighbors a nd friends are exp ect ed t o pay a visit; also, when

he has purchased som ething valuable, such as a car, o r bu ilt a new h ouse or grad-

uated from school. On religious holidays people are supp osed t o visit each ot her ,

customarily several house s in a single day . Peop le should also atte nd th e life-

crisis com me mora tions of the ir kinsme n, e.g., the childh ood rites (men at te nd

only those of a boy ), enga gements, weddings, funerals, and o th er religious rites.

Their attendance at such occasions expresses their loyalty t o the ho st; a poorly-

attended social occasion is a humiliation t o a hos t.

When som eon e pays a visit he is alwa ys given som eth ing to eat . visit

may be brief a nd casual, involving only a few min utes o f conversation or it m ay

be an overnight stay, bu t it always includes a presentatio n of fo od by th e host.

visitor should at least be given te a; at mealtime he sho uld be given foo d.

Fail-

ure to provide a visitor with f oo d at mealtimes, no m atte r wha t t he inconvenience

or cost, is an insult t o him and a sham e t o th e host.



FACTION

AND

CONV ERSION IN

A

PLURAL SOCIETY

Th e com mon co nsump tion of food by kinsm en is an expression of solidari-

ty. People wh o eat together are supposed t o be friends; one does not eat with n

ene my . Th e solidarity implied in th e m utu al consump tion of foo d is expressed in

certain words derived from the word for salt, namak. A nam akk hoo r, salt-eater,

or a ham nam ak, also-together-salt, is a person w ho ea ts with yo u and thereby

is

in league with you , i.e., a frie nd . namak bahalaal, acceptable salt, is a person

who stays on good terms with his harnn ama k; m m a k ba harum , forbidden salt,

is a person w ho do es no t.

The Obligation t o Share

When kinsmen att en d a social occasion th e tw o sexes gather in separate parts

of the house. Th e men sit

in

a guest room, sipping tea, and eventually eat together.

Th e women gather in th e kitchen, an d help t he hostess prepare the meal; they

also

exchange gifts an d, after t he m en , ea t toge ther . Bo th groups gossip freely. 'There

are there fore tw o distinct circles of fellow ship when kinsmen m eet. Each is a dis-

tinct circle o f reciprocal sharing. Amo ng the m en foo d is shared through the

sponsorship of feasts, an d amo ng the w omen pe tty cash or pastries are given

as

personal gifts. Both circles express solidarity b y reciprocal presenta tions of goods,

and both control reciprocity in the presentations through gossip (see below).

The feasts sponsored by the men ideally consist of rice, bread, meat, and

tea. Th e most im po rta nt ingredient is the me at. Th e size of a feast is cited in

terms of the number of pounds of rice served and the number of animals killed

hushrani). Through feasts me at, a perishable good, is transform ed in to social

obligation. There are virtually no means o f preserving meat in Bamian. Except

in th e mark az, where meat is butche red and sold daily , dressed m eat is only avail-

able when feasts are given, or when raw m eat is distributed a fter the de ath o f a

relative on Id-i-Qorban (see Appendix

1 .

Consequently, as in most societies lack-

ing preservative techniques, me at sharing is a device by which me at, a perishable

good , is transforme d into a preservable c om mo dity , obligation. Those who at-

tend a man's feasts are expe cted to invite him to th e feasts they sponso r; if they

are too poor to sponsor feasts, they must give oth er favors as they can. AS a

yo ung man expressed it to me, The food given at a feast is a kind of loan,

though n o one really wants t o express it that way.

In the parallel circle of prestations among the women-which is scarcely

know n among the men-the items given as gifts vary according to the kind

o f

pett y goods accessible to the m. Th e Tajik women in th e markaz area, where

money is in extensive circulation, give coins or small currency note s as gifts,

usually

1

t o 2 afghanis, sometimes more dep ending on the w ealth and intimacy

of the visitor and hostess. The Hazara women o f the highlands, where cash is

scarce, give fried breads as favors. These gifts are terminoiogically distinguished

according to the occasion: when a child is born or a new house completed or

a



SOCIAL SYSTEM 11: TH E KIN SHIP NETWORK 7

3

kinsman has returned aft er a long absence, they are known as sha k m ey z , sugar-

pouring ; when someone has returned f rom the hospita l, as khayraa t-e-w r, of-

fering for the head ; when som eone has died or is marrying, as desta rkha on

(which otherwise means a c lo th o n w hich food is served).

Petty gifts among the w om en a nd fo od a mo ng the m en are considered loans

to be reciprocated a t a late r time. A wom an for instance, will reme mbe r for many

years what each woman gave he r a t a ce rtain occasion, n o m at te r ho w large the

gathering may have been. When th e op po rtu ni ty arises, one must pay out an

equivalent amount in gifts to his cred itors, ideally a bit more. If no t, th e offen ded

creditors will gossip ab ou t him, a nd eventually refuse t o go t o his house o r assist

him in a time of need. Or some time s, the y send messages dem and ing paym en t, or

clarification on why their gift was never rec iprocated.

Obligations are inhe rited like deb ts.

A

son (or a b rot he r, if the son is small

and the brothers have no t divided th e inherita nce) inh erits a man's obligations as

well as his financial debts.

A

daughter (if she has no t married o ut ) or a son's wife

(if the daughter has) inherits a woman's obligations. Th e credit f or having spon-

sored a feast or given

a gift is inhe rited in the sam e way , i.e., to the so n (or

brother) of a male, to a son's wife (or daughte r) of a female.

Besides drawing all kinsmen generally into relationships of mutual obliga-

tion, the feasts and gifts draw nearer relatives especially close because the close

kinsmen often have t o loan so me of the resources necessary t o give the feast or

gift. The cost of a woman's gift t o an outsider, for exa mp le, is shared by he r

close female relatives, those in he r household an d those w ho have m arried o u t of

it. Similarly, when a man spon sors

a

feast, his close relatives may contr ibu te

something for the feast, e.g., a sheep, goat, even a cow, or som etim es cash. He

should publicly acknowledge these co ntr ibu tion s and say som ething complimen-

tary about them , e.g., It was very fat, a valuable animal, He w ent t o a lo t of

expense.

Most of these gifts are supposed to be reciprocated at a later da te though

sometimes

a

smaller gift, e.g., a kid or lam b, is given by a close relative wi thou t

n expectation of direct return. In add ition, the host is expected t o give his

donors some personal gifts at th e time o f th e feast. For exam ple, a man gave an

especially large marriage feast for his son in which he ex pended 80, 00 0 afghanis,

some of it borrowed from eight closely related families. Each of them also con-

tributed a goat or 500 afghanis. Besides inviting every member of his sect in his

neighborhood he also invited

25

relatives living in Kabul . He fed his Kabul visi-

tors for

15

days an d gave each a cloak

chapan).

To each of the families who

contributed to his feast he gave a cloak. In additio n, he should also co ntr ibu te

to each of them a goat when they sponsor a wedding feast. In retu rn, he will

then receive a cloak from them.

man's affines also may co ntr ibu te t o his feast, but these gifts are more

Promptly and equally reciprocated. Afte r the feast they are given gifts deemed



SOCIAL SYSTEM 11: TH E KINSHIP NETWORK

75

n acquaintance once said to m e, If a qawm m em ber kills yo u, at least h e will

pull you in to th e shade . A qawm m ember is supposed t o be a t least more help-

ful-however he may feel ab ou t yo u personally-than a non-qaw mi.

For special projects, such as building a house, a man will invite many kins-

men to come help him and during the period of the project will provide their

noon meals. This is kn ow n as doing aashur One m an, for example, spent three

summer seasons building a house o n a hill overlook ing his land. He had three

hired workers bu t also several times called fo r his relatives-his qawmi, he

said-to help hlm. He went ar oun d and asked all the mem bers of his qawm com-

munity and

all

affinal qawm com mun itie s in the valleys and neighboring valleys.

He did not approach mem bers of the opposing sect living nearby. Th e ones who

came, came out of friendship, he said. Besides the hired laborers and t he carpen-

ters,

10

to

12

qawmi too k turn s every tw o or three d ays constructing adobe walls

and mud floors and excavating the mo un tain side. His wife prepared feasts for

about 20 people each day.

The political leaders (mirs an d arbaabs) representing th e people t o the gov-

ernment do aashur to get their harvesting o r plowing done , for most of them are

too busy with political affairs t o d o their ow n w ork. Weak political pa trons are

unable to draw muc h aashur help a nd so mus t usually d o mos t of their own w ork.

Strong leaders, however, can maintain the ties of reciprocal help through doing

political favors for the ir lunsm an-c lients an d b y giving feasts.

A

strong leader's

prestige may be such as t o att ra ct , besides his own qaw mi, some o the r friends

(i.e., clients) from ot he r qawm i com mu nities, b ut actually, it is said, on e can

only require aashur he lp from one's ow n kinsmen. Mirs an d othe r wealthy per-

sons usually also have hired hands. These, I was told , work harde r tha n the vol-

untary helpers.

GENEROSITY

AND

PRESTIGE IN THE KINSHIP NETWORK

The idiom, the n, o f social fellowship in bo th circles o f exchange is recipro-

cal generosity. Generous giving is the m eans by which a person gains a position

of respect, a name, am ong his kinsmen . There are ot he r ways of building a

good reputation-e.g., holding a respected position in governm ent or reciting

well the Quran or other po etry-b ut for most persons a good name is gained

through generosity in feast-sponsoring an d gift-giving.

The obligations of sharing tend t o converge on th e wealthy, who can afford

to be more generous than the others . man's wealth is described in term s of

generosity, as in this sta tem en t:

He

is

famo us for his wealth, for his generosity and the num ber of

visitors an d servan ts eating in his house every d a y . Som etimes he has a




hundred people f or dinn er; he will take in any one for dinner. There is no

one like him in all of Bamian. He ow ns maybe a hund red kharwaar l of

land and tw o or thre e flour mills and may be 1,00 0,00 0 trees and three

cars. Som etimes people can borrow on e of the cars for their own use.

Besides being much respected in their local kinship netw orks, the w ealthy are in-

fluential am ong governmen t officials. Som etim es they becom e guarantors for

persons held for trial, and sometimes, by giving favors, win for them a favorable

decision in co ur t. It is said of a rich m an , People see hls face.

The merging of con cep ts of w ealth an d influence is evident in certain ver-

nacular terms. A m a m d m r , name-haver, is a prestigious person, and by ex-

tension a wea lthy one. Th e adjective motabar generally trans lated wealthy,

also means (in thi s region) powerful : e.g., The governor is very motabar be-

cause he can tell the judge wha t t o do and he has t o do it. * T o be motabar is

to be both rich and influential.

A k h a a ~ w a a d a= K h a n

=

Saayeb-e-rosokh) is a man of very great wealth

and influence, such as the one described in th e qu ote above.

A

khaanawaada is a

category of relative eminence. In Tagaw, especially in the m arkaz area, where

there is a greater conc entration of w ealth, som etimes there are mor e than one

khaanawaada in a qawm com mu nity ; bu t in th e highlands, which are poorer,

the re are relatively few khaanawaadas. Similarly, a khaanawaada's kinsmen are

variously reckoned: the w ealthier he is, the wider is his set of hn sh ip connec-

tions. He sometimes refers to the m emb ers of his kinship set as his qawmi.

Geographically close khaanawaadas may com pete with e ach ot he r for the

loyalty of weaker lunsmen by inviting them to their houses. In addition to the

gatherings after the Friday prayers, they may simply invite them to come over

informally t o discuss cur ren t issues in the c om mu nity. Such gatherings serve the

interest of a khaanawaada because by providing the food he wins the loyalty of

his guests, and by consulting with them on cur ren t issues he stays abreast of cur-

rent opinio n. Such meetings also serve the interests of his weaker kinsmen, for

they enable them to express their respect for the khaanawaada an d maintain a

relationslup with him which could in a time of need be the basis for his support.

Local factions tend t o polarize around khaanawaadas. Where there are

more than one khaanawaada in a small area, persons ma y be more loyal to one

than to an oth er, but will give respect to bo th. But if the tension between the

two khaanawaadas becomes overt ho stility, the weaker persons have t o line up

solidly for one against the o ther .

A

khaanawaada will speak of those who are

loyal as his good friends or his good qawmi.

A k h r w Is

1 246

poundr . Thi s Is the amou nt o aeed used in planting his land . The

actual area dependa o n the qua lity

of

the so l l .

2 ~ h l statemen t is actual ly incorrect under the n ew co nst itu t ion but i t il lurtratcr the umge.



SOCIAL SYSTEM I: TH E KINSH IP NETWORK

TENSION IN THE K INSHIP NETWORK

Hoarding an d Sharing

In the system of reciprocal sharing amo ng kinsm en the re is an unde rlying

problem: People may wan t t o share fo r social reasons bu t t o survive th ey m ust

be personally acquisitive. With a na rrow margin o f subsisten ce the peasants can-

not afford to share to o liberally alth oug h they mu st app ear generous.

As goods

are scarce, there is a tension be twe en th e value o f a goo d nam e t hrou gh sharing

and the personal necessity t o ho ard. Co nseque ntly, everyone ho ards secretly

while publicly pre tend ing t o sha re as liberally as his lim ited m eans will allow.

The practical importan ce of sharing and c oope rating, rather t ha n enh ancing

feelings of fellowship and in tim ac y, tends t o breed suspicion and ho stility. In th e

exchange of goods and services givers and receivers evaluate the amounts ex-

changed differently. Givers of course te nd t o overes timate a nd receivers t o under-

estimate the values of contributions. At a feast one's guests freq ue ntl y seem un-

grateful and insufficiently aware of their obligation. Indeed , the ho st may b e sus-

pected of being niggardly in e xpe nditu res for a f ea st, so ins tead of gaining prestige

he loses it. We spend ou r mo ney and ou r name turn s bad anywa y, com plained

one informant. T o avoid such a loss a host goes to great eff orts t o ensure tha t his

feasts are sump tuous. He would be publicly embarrassed if the food were not

abundantly more than th e guests could consume. For tuna tely, the intricacy of

reciprocal obligations restra ins excessive criticism .

That the obligation t o share is enforced by social pressure is implied in th e

private techniques employed t o evade it. Individuals ho ard their private goods

from sight. Adult mem bers of a hou seh old keep storage boxes in which they

lock their few private possessions. T o avoid having t o share goods wh ich I gave

them, people ofte n hid the gifts an d did no t acknowledge th em publicly (though

of

course they did privately) unless circumstances absolutely required it.

Gossip and S candal as Mechanisms of Social Con trol

What then enforces the practice of reciprocal sharing? As already state d,

the mutual need fo r sup por t constrains p eople t o help and give as required. In

addition, two o the r forces operate to m aintain recipro city: gossip and scanda1.j

The terms gossip and scandal are used here in the sense which take to be Gluckrnan's in his

article on this subject. The following quotes suggest his Intent, and mine. Makah gossip

does not show merely that general interest in the doings, and the virtues and vices, of others,

which characterizes any group. The gossip passes beyond this state and becomes vicious

Scandal, aimed at demonstrating that the other parties are not worthy. (1963:311). I t

is Rood manners to gossip and scandalize about your dearest friends with those

w o

belong,

even though

i t

be their dearest friends-but it i s

bad

manners. to tell unpleaeant stories

about your friends to strangers ] b i d . : 3 1 3 .



F CTION ND CONVERSION IN PLUR L SOCIETY

Gossip and scandal mobilize public opinion against persons who do not share

fairly.

Moral evaluations of th e behav ior of oth ers pervade social interaction. Such

evaluations assume a supreme standa rd f o r a l l m oral persons, nam ely fairness.

Cluckman has po in ted o ut tha t

Th e values of [a ] gro up are clearly asser ted

in

gossip and scandal,

s ince a m an o r wom an is a lways ru n d ow n for fai ling to live u p t o these

values (19 63 :31 2) .

When group s are together talking abo ut in cidents in their daily routines o r inci-

den ts heard fro m others, they express their opin ion o f people 's behavior , censor-

ing or approving according t o their conc ept ion s or fai rness .

An

exa m ple is the

following incident , recounted t o m e by an e lder ly highlander .

T o show yo u w hat those people [o n th e Tagaw] are l ike , one time in

winter I was on my way t o Bamian [ i .e . , to the m arkaz fro m his provincial

vil lage] , an d when i t began t o get dark I had t o s to p. I t was very cold and

th e snow was dee p. S o I s top ped in a village near th e road an d went to the

mosque t o stay for the night. I t was, I ad m it, warm there. But while

I

was

trying to get warm and w onder ing how I was to get fo od , someone came

along an d asked me w hat I was doing there. I said I was o n my way to

Bam ian bu t it w as cold a nd d ark a nd also dang erou s, since the wolves would

be ou t a t night , so I had t o s top somewhere and I came to the mosque to

spend the night. The n I asked for food b ut n o one did anything for me.

Later , two soldiers came in and tho se people treated the m un fr iendly too ,

as they h ad me. Finally much later th e mullah of t he mosque came in and

I

to ld him my s tory-how I had come there because I could go n o fur ther ,

and I didn' t have anything t o eat bu t w ould gladly pay som ething if

I

could

get i t , e tc . , bu t no o ne around there would be nice to me; they gave me no

fo o d, n o blank et, hardly even a hello.

Well, th at m ullah would no t let tho se peop le get by with th at : He

made the m cook food for me. So f inally af te r a long t ime a bou ntifu l meal

was brought t o me. Of course, then they wouldn' t take any mon ey fo r i t .

I t was a go od m eal, bu t it was because th e mullah interced ed o n my behalf.

l i t tle later someone fed th e soldiers to o , and they offered some of their

meal to m e, bu t I was so full , 1 couldn' t accep t. So f inally I got plenty to

ea t. Bu t, yo u see, that 's how they treat travelers dow n there. In our place

a traveler would never be treated that way.

Th e incid ent he related, like so many in anyone's life, reveals certain characteris-

tics of people's behavior which ca n b e judged by a moral stan dard . In telling the

inciden t he invoked fairness as the stan dard o acceptable m orali ty in others, and

by implication aff irmed it as the standard for all.



SOCIAL SYSTEM 11: T H E KINS HIP NETWORK 9

The opinion of t he adu lts domin ating t he kinship net wo rk is the sustaining

force for the good reputa tion s o f various individuals. A man's rep utat ion is bui lt

u

by talk of his generosity an d fairness ; it is dimin ished by talk of his miserli-

ness and acquisitiveness. As gossip is no t st at ic , th e re pu ta tion s or names of

personages over time gradually shif t wit h respect t o each ot he r, some pe rsons be-

coming more esteemed, other s less so. Con seque ntly, whe n kinsmen m ee t to-

gether, they test each ot he r so as t o assess their ow n cu rren t status es. A ma n,

for example, may tease his kinsman by suggesting that he plans to ask them for

something, usually an unreaso nable de m an d. Their re sponse displays the ir will-

ingness to comply, and b y im plic atio n the ir respec t for him .

People also atte mp t t o constrain oth ers t o reciprocate mo re generously by

exaggerating the ability of ot her s t o repay their d eb ts in gene rous amo unt s. Said

one person of anoth er sitting in th e gro up, The worst c lothes are worn b y th e

richest people in order t o avoid paying their fair share. Ha bib is actual ly very

well off, but he wants t o ac t poor. Habib was actua lly poor, bu t the speaker

was reminding him th at his de bt s should b e repa id in full.

The need of kinsmen for each ot he r usually sets limits on ho w keen ly a

man may chide his kinsmen, and also on how irritable they may be in response

to his chiding. If his teasing is t o o cau stic, the y c ould wholly withd raw fro m his

fellowship and deprive him o f needfu l assistance. But they dar e no t be overtly

irritable at such teasing, lest the y similarly lose a useful ally. The poo r have t o

bear more chiding tha n t he w ealthy , because th ey have m ore need of t he richer

man's help tha n he of theirs. T he poo r,

as

a result, often endu re more coarse

chiding and rough, co ndesc ending tre atm ent .

To avoid becoming vulnerable t o gossip and scandal people shro ud their

personal affairs in sec recy . Usages of t he word parda, curtain, veil, cover, ex-

press the value of persona l secrecy t o ma intain self re spect. Parda kardan means

to veil or to hide , and implies mo des ty in social relations. It is said, fo r ex-

ample,

shooleyt-a-boxo,paradeyr-a-buko,

Eat y ou r pudding and draw your

curtain, i.e., tend t o yo ur own business.

Pardey-mardum -a-bokoo ke khodaa

Pardeyt-a-bokona,

Hide o th er people's faults so tha t Go d will hide yours. TO

be

beypar

without curtain, is t o be embarrassed. A person who atte mp ts t o

gloss over the fau lts of ot he rs is doing

parda.

It there fore im plies a sense of

pride and self respe ct:

maa az xod aab-o-pardadaareym,

We have ou r ow n

water and curtain, i.e., we have a sou rce of self respect of ou r ow n

(a

respectable

background).

Secrecy conce rning one's personal affairs is a mea ns of protec tion . Informa -

tion given t o enemies can be used against one t o injure his repu tati on in t he co m-

Inunity, as a kind o f we apo n. Divulging info rmatio n a bo ut one's self involves an

amount of risk, and com ple te, wholly accurate personal in forma tion is no t given

to persons who are not trusted friends.

Information

is som etime s distorted when given t o outsiders. In my initial

contacts with people the y oft en distorted informa tion. Onc e, for exam ple, in a



FACTION

AND

CONVERSION

IN

A PL UR AL SOCIETY

tea sh op I casually asked a traveler w hat h e was doi ng the re and he answered that

he was selling rugs gelams). Later overheard him explaining t o another person

(of his ow n ethnic group) t ha t he had c om e t o buy (n ot sell) rugs. Another time,

wlule sta ying in a hom e, I asked som eon e if he ever had difficulties with the

nomads. He said, no , they never caused any problem. Soo n afterw ard,

an

elder

came in to th e room , vouched for m y trustworthiness, and encouraged the others

t o give whatever info rmatio n I needed for m y research. Th en th e kinsmen cor-

rected his earlier statem ent : th e nom ads ha d, he said, been q uite a lot of trouble

to h im ; and h e described some difficulties he had personally experienced.

Moreover, inform ation ab ou t specific tensions an d difficulties among close

kinsmen h ad to be obt aine d fro m individuals when al one, sometim es only after

they were assured th at specific details woul d n ot be expo sed t o others in their

group. People w ho freely chatt ed individually ab ou t local problems changed the

subject when others entered the room .

Th e practice of secrecy am ong lunsm en, rather than effectively reducing

the transfer of new s, seems t o heighten the inquisitiveness, ru mo r, and suspicion.

People understa nd each other s subtle evasions only to o well, so suspicion per-

vades their social inte ract ion. Many seem conce rned a bo ut losing their fair share,

or being cheated by secret alliances. As a result, a ny obvious advantage a man

has can be resented by envious neighbors. A man wi th an exceptionally produc-

tive milch-cow, or a specially fertile field, for in stance, has somethin g to fear:

people will talk ab ou t it. Envious and fearful kinsmen may resent ot he r blessings

as

well, e.g., a pre tty wife, or a healt hy br oo d o f children. Th us, a ma n fears for

what benefits he has, lest envy injure him a nd des troy his advantage.

Gossip and scandal mobilize th e envy and suspicion between kinsmen so

as t o bring their opinion to bear upon each ot her. If on e does no t share, or

shows himself unfair or avaricious, they will talk. And th e talk will destroy his

social image. Th is is especially true am ong th e closely bou nd kinsmen o f a qawm

com mu nity . In the qawm com mu nity everyone knows everyon e else. They live

next t o each oth er all their lives, wheth er they like each ot he r personally o r not.

Because they are dep endent on a stationary capital asset, lan d, they c ann ot move

away fro m their neighbors. Similarly, from th e gossip an d scandal of their neigh-

bor s there is no hiding place. O ne does not easily live dow n a bad name . f ma-

licious talk begins, it can contin ue for years; gossip can chain a man t o an ugly

image for life. On th e other hand , gossip can be rewarding t o a generous man;

man with a good name m ay be able for a w h l e t o take advantage of the crest of

a good name amon g his kinsmen, exploiting their good faith w itho ut fully repay-

ing his obligation, though o f course n ot indefinitely.

People remember t he times when they came in to conflict before, and they

learn t o invoke these past irritatio ns when they are angry and t o forget them

when in fellowship. o hostilities tend t o resonate between kinsmen, just s

their relationship ties reduplicate . When hostilities build up , a person may be



SOCIAL SYSTEM 11: TH E KINS HIP NETWORK

tempted to leave the co mmun ity but as this of course would also en tai l leaving

his land he cannot afford t o move. He is held close to his kinsmen by necessity

even

though toward some of them he may harbor deep-seated hostility.

FISSIVE AND FUSIVE PROCESSES IN SOCIAL REL ATIO NS

The description of the social system in this an d th e previous ch ap ter indi-

cates that inherent in the relations drawing persons in to gro ups are tensions tha t

could force them apart . At every level of typological inclusiveness divisive as well

as cohesive tendencies exis t. Tensions in the conjugal bo nd besides ruining the

happiness of the family can d isru pt social arrangeme nts at higher levels. Ten-

sions among the women of a household can endanger its unity. Tensions over

land in the qawm com mu nity can bring its members i n to conflict. Tensions in

the kinship netw ork engender susp icion and envy.

This description th en reveals a set of con trar y tensions inhere nt in the so-

cial system: social groups can fly apart almost as easily as they can hold togeth-

er. Both divided form s and cohesive fo rm s of social groupsing can exist in

Barnian. Cohesion can appear a t th e several levels of social grouping: the fam -

ily the household the qawm com m uni ty the neighborhood and the kinship net-

work. Division in con tras t seldom appears in the family thou gh conjugal ten-

sions may breed strains that ramify elsewhere. But division may appear at the

other levels of social grouping: in the household as the women o f the household

and sometimes the m en become antagonistic over work habits o r violations of

sexual rights; in t he qawm c om m un ity

as

the qawmi wh o share a canal are drawn

into conflict over boundar y crow ding; in the kinship netw ork as lunsmen w ho

are supposed to share feeling victimized by the acquisitiveness of relatives re-

align themselves against each o th er.

Since the social system inhere ntly embodies con trary social tensions it is

susceptible to any divisive or cohesive influen ces imposed upon it by environm en-

tal conditions. Where the environment strongly favors the cohesion of social

groups the groups though enshroud ing internal hostilities will appea r solidary.

Where the environm ent imposes only loose constraints on social groups they ma y

when internecine antagonisms arise fall apart . The divisive tendencies ex tant

everywhere in Bamian are manifest in Shibar as broken qawm com munities . Th e

cohesive forces extant everywhere in the area are manifest as solidary communi-

ti s

in the other regions o f Bamian. The design presented here is one of fissive

Processes and fusive processes operating in relative balance to bring ab ou t united

or divided com munities in Bamian. Chapter V att em pts to explain how the fis-

sive processes becom e expressed as religious conversion.

So far we have only suggested why qawm commun ities should fly apa rt.

ne

of the possible causes fo r division in qawm comm unitie s i.e. disputes over




A

PLU RA L SOCIETY

dike-crowding, may also be a reason for the checkered social alignments in neigh-

bor hoo ds in Shibar and Kalu. In this chessboard of faction s adjacent qawm com-

munities in neig hborh oods are a t od ds with each oth er. N o specific cases were

discovered of inter-qawm com m unit y c onflict over com mo n dikes, but it seems

reasonable to supp ose t ha t th e tensions between persons over their dikes may

af

fect relations between adjacent qawm communities. As already no ted, the popu-

lations of neighborhoods are only loosely un ited , bu t the mem bers of qawm com-

munities are relatively solidary . Where the irrigated plots of qawm community

mem bers ajoin the plots of m embers o f o ther qaw m com mu nities, their tensions

over t he delimiting dikes are n ot molified by stro ng bon ds of u nity such as those

am ong members of a qawm c om m un ity ; conse quen tly, any dispute over a dike

separating their p lots may m ore easily ru ptu re their social relations. Moreover, a

land dispute between tw o such persons is likely t o draw t o each the support of

his respective qawmi. Th us, neighboring qaw m com mu nities can easily become

aligned against each othe r in territorial d isputes.

It is possible t ha t th e ten sion over adjacent territories follows a pattern sim-

ilar t o that of nomad ic tribes in sou th Persia Barth,

96

130 ,

where adjacent

tribes line up against each o th er , bu t a ltern ate tribes, as each pair has a common

adversary, align in loose confe deration s. Possibly, the checkered alignment of

sectarian groups in parts of S hibar and Kalu is a result o f a similar opposition of

groups over abu tting territories. Chapter VI

w ll

argue tha t t h s pattern of alter-

nate oppositions

n

Kalu and Shibar takes the overt form of sectarian factions

because in this area feuding com mu nities have the op tion of aligning themselves

with larger orders of political antago nism, i.e., th e tw o sec ts, Ismailism and

Imamism.



v

SOCIAL SYSTEM : COMMUNITY FISSION

TO

this point th e discussion of fissive tenden cies with in kinsh ip gro ups has

implied that the only m anif esta tion of these fissive tendencies is th e sectari-

an

chessboard in Shibar. Actua lly division occurs am ong kinsmen everyw here in

Bamian but only in Shibar does it ta ke shape as a sectarian division. This chapte r

describes the processes of qaw m co m mun ity fission: th e general pat ter n of fis-

sion in

which a defeated disputa nt emigrates from th e co m mu nity ; and t he pat-

tern seemingly peculiar t o Sh ibar in which a de feat ed d ispu tant converts t o a

different religious sect .

THE POWER

O F

COMMUN ITY CONSENSUS

s explained earlier the ties of solidarity between qawm comm unity m m -

hers whatever their em otional sentime nts are powerful. Qawmi are functionally

united through their co mm on dependence on an irrigation canal their mutu al

help

arrangements their intricate ties of descent and affm ity and their associated

Patterns of reciprocal sharing. Moreover they tend t o con cept uall y merge their

notions of kinship closeness political solid arity religious un ity and territo rial

grouping int o a single conc ep t the kinship-based qawm co mm un ity .

An

outright

dispute between qawmi t hrea tens these eco nom ic and social ties and therefore is

usually sanctioned by the c om m un ity .

Comm unity consensus is usually the decisive factor in the o utc om e of a dis-

pute. disputing person w ho persistently refuses t o accept a solu tion suggested

by

the comm unity elders is in danger of losing their econo mic and political sup-

Port which in an exigency are vital for his survival. Even if he were t o fl ou t their

Opinion and appeal t o the governm ent co ur t he would still likely need the m as

witnesses on his behalf and perhap s also as sources of financial aid. In a qua rrel

then he must primarily maneuver t o win their political backing.

Thus

a

disp utan t unless he is especially pow erful is usually forced t o

acquiesce t o th e majority o pini on.



SOCIAL SYSTEM 111: COM MU NITY FIS SIO N

There were three s iste rs [ fo r exam ple] w ho had n o surviving brothers ,

and so were the heiresses of t heir fa ther s lan d. O ne of t he sisters di ed , ho w -

ever, after bearing a so n, an d h er land was divided b etwe en th e tw o o the r

sisters. When the son of the d eceased s is ter becam e old en ou gh t o und er-

stand that some of th e land was legally his, he pressed his ma tern al au nt s

for his land, but got n o sat isfact ion. Eve ntually, with ou t co nsult ing the

leaders of his qawm com m un i ty , he w ent d i rec t ly to the gov ernment wi th

his

complaint . This caused a lo t of i l l-feeling am on g his local qaw m i, bu t

the elders avoided a cou rt case by forcing the yo un g m an t o accep t a cash

payment and a por t ion of t he land h e c la imed fro m his aunts . He was con-

stra ined by the ent i re comm uni ty t o accept th e land and m on ey , bu t he fe l t

he should have received m ore . Eventually h e again wen t t o the go vernment

to complain. Th is t ime also on e of th e elders intervened b efore th e case be-

came officially registered, and provided th e necessary evidenc e t o convince

the local officials th at the s is ters had already m ade a se t t leme nt fo r the

land. The young man s secon d comp la int to the governm ent , however ,

alienated him fro m his kinsm en, an d having n o ho pe of gaining their su p-

port , he lef t the com m uni ty and w ent t o Kabul .

The boy is no t l ikely t o soo n reestablish close t ies with his kinsmen , fo r

both they and he have n o desi re t o renew c on tac t . Th e boy now h as los t the PO-

1itica.I

and econom ic sup po rt of his kinsmen a nd m ay never regain i t . He has been

functionally cut o ff from his nata l kinship gr ou p. (Of co urs e, no t all social breaks

o

this kind are so perma nent as this one. Ve ry co m m on ly, c lose relat ives f ight

over property bu t eventually are reconciled and retu rn t o no rm al expressions of

kinship cooperation.)

person may win

a

dispu te in cour t and s t il l be fo rced ou t o f the com -

munity

After the dea th of an e lderly neighbor [ fo r exam ple] Khayr Maamad

claimed tha t a piece of land being cu ltivated by a son of th e deceased was

actually his, because, said h e, the deceased n eighbo r had f o r som e years

been encroaching o nt o Khayr Maamad s prop er ty . The ent i re comm uni ty

disagreed wi th h im, but he too k the c laim to c our t an yw ay. Th e cour t a lso

rejected his claim, bu t allowed h im t he o p tio n, legally recognized in Islam,

of swearing on the Quran tha t the young man s c la im to th e d isputed plot

was false. T ho ug h all his kinsmen an d even the gove rnm ent officials be-

lieved he was lying, the y were willing t o accep t this p rocedu re as binding,

expecting God t o direct ly infl ic t him with a serious pun ishm ent.

Khayr Maamad was legally aw arded t h e lan d, but back in his village

the young man s t i ll refused t o hand i t over. Finally, Khayr Maamad beat

him up and by forc e to ok possession of i t . Th e com m un ity, however, was

so incensed against Khayr Maamad t ha t he soon decided t o leave. He rented

ou t his land and m oved t o Kabul.



8

F CTION ND CONVERSION IN PLUR L SOCIETY

person at odds

with

his qawmi is prudent to move o ut because the com-

munity can turn against him in a time of crisis. The case of Hosayn

li

may be

an

example:

Hosayn Ali sold some land t o his Saint , an eminent religious author-

ity named Sayyed Aliyawar, residing in another district. According to the

earlier practice, the sale was only registered with the local mir. Years later,

after the government began recording transactions, Hosayn Ali claimed that

the money was never paid.

As the sale had not been registered with the gov-

ernment, he won his case in court. He was therefore paid the money a sec-

ond time, but of course he had become permanently estranged from Sayyed

Aliyawar. More seriously, he lost the confidence of his own kinsmen, who

besides disapproving of Hosayn Ali s dishonesty, regarded Sayyed Aliyawar

as a Saint.

Some time later Sayyed Aliyawar became involved in a dispute with

another Saint. Hosayn Ali s qawm community of course sided with Sayyed

Aliyawar, but Hosayn Ali, unable to conciliate with Sayyed Aliyawar, fur

ther isolated himself from his kinsmen by declaring himself for the opposing

Saint. Hosayn Ali s position was now doubly precarious. He had on ac-

count of the first incident lost the confidence of his qawmi and on account

of the second had made himself their opponent in a major dispute.

The dispute grew in acrimony and involved a number of charges and

counter charges implicating almost everyone in the area. During a period

of intense feeling Hosayn Ali s wife fell in to a bitter argument with a neigh-

bor woman, the wife of one of his awdurzaadas (FaBrSo), and later the

same day Hosayn Ali himself became involved. Soon afterwards the neigh-

bor woman died, presumably from a wound inflicted in the argument.

Under other circumstances, the woman s death might have been reported

only as a natural death and the claims against Hosayn Ali, if any, would

have been settled within the community. But the feeling against Hosayn Ali

was now so strong that the elders of the qawm community themselves ac-

cused him of murder in the government court.

The followings of the two opposing Saints sided with the two parties

in the murder case, so the dispute between Hosayn Ali and his kinsmen

be

came test of the relative strengths of the two religious blocs. One side

claimed the woman had died of an accidental fall and the other claimed she

had been deliberately killed. Eventually, the court decided Hosayn Ali was

guilty and sentenced him to prison. As already noted, however, had HosaYn

Ali been on good terms with his kinsmen the case would likely have been

settled out of court.

Persons may at one time have been able to remove themselves from their

kinsmen by relocating to another locality nearby. In the valley of Labmushak



SOCIAL SYSTEM 111: COMMUNITY FISSION

(Fig.

7)

the spatial distribution of descent grou ps suggests .that persons have in

the past split off from parent stems. Groups recognizing a rather close line of

kinship sometimes occupy dis tan t t err ito ries. In som e ins tan ces it seems clear

th t one or more families have gone t o th e tro ub le o f relocating on ly a few

hundred yards away from their nata l qaw m co m m un it y. Ac tual insta nces o f this

kind of hiving off from a pa rent c om m un ity , howe ver, were n ot fou nd , so it can

only be conjectured that on e reason for the spatial scattering o f kinship groups

w s internal tension.

RELIGIOUS CONVERSION

Defeated persons emigrate fro m their nata l co mm uniti es everywhere in

Bamian, including Shibar, and as a cons eque nce m os t of their qaw m com mu nities

maintain an appearance of hom ogen eity an d stron g solidarit y. In t he valleys o f

bu, however, a dss ide nt person has ano ther op tio n wh ich, though involving

dissolution of ties wi th close qawmi, still enables him t o remain o n his land. Th is

is the option of religious conv ersion. Religious con version, as described earlier,

h fractured some qawm co mm unitie s in Shibar. Intern ecin e dispute s have

eventuated in a drastic reformu lation o f th e disputa nts' kinship, political and re-

li@ousConnections, an d the ostracized individuals have becom e, s o t o speak, So-

cially different persons.

In a quote in Chapter I, one person den ied t ha t conversion was possible (see

a

9 -

He argued tha t the practical difficulties of conversion were insu rmount a-

ble. If someone were t o conve rt, he would lose the s up po rt of everyon e in his

as well as of his Saint and of his mullah, and so he could n ot really

remain in

the

comm unity. Th e statem ent, while aiming to say that conversion

Was mpossible because it was impract ical, leaves unclear w hethe r conversion is

possible for a person already hopelessly ou t of fellowship w ith his kinsmen.

The denials quoted earlier notwithstanding, certain informants clearly indi-

cated that persons have, albe it rarely , conv erted in Shibar. An instan ce o f con-

version in an originally lsmaili fam ily was described by on e informan t as follows:

Three brothers shared as they should, but w hen they died their fami-

lies foug ht over the in herita nce. Eventually they split up both spatially and

religiously. The y divided in to the three sects-Sunni, lm am i and Ismaill.

One

of

these families, the Su nn i, was unable to get along in our district be-

cause the others wouldn't tolerate

a

Sunni,

so

his family left. Th e oth er

two families stay ed.

No further details were ob taine d on t he circums tances of this family quar-

rel

ut

i t seems appa rent tha t the conversions were maneuvers associated with

ttempts to gain leverage in th e struggle for the inheritance. In this case, as th e




A

PLURAL SOCIETY

co nf ic t between the fam hes had become so intense tha t n o hope of reconcilia-

tion rem ained, it apparently was feasible, perhaps even necessary, for the oppos-

ing sides t o align themselves with the larger social blocs, th e sects.

What progression of social realignments could have led t o such a break?

I

have no com plete case histo ry o f a conversion. Inste ad, there is merely evidence

tha t conversions have taken place, and incom plete h in ts of conversion, such as

the desc ription above. A model of t he behavior of quarrelling qawmi is therefore

proposed which indicates ho w conversion could have take n place and resulted in

the fractionated c om mu nity s truc ture peculiar t o Sh ibar. Th e model is abstracted

from fragmentary inform ation obtained from the few informants w ho would dis-

cuss such events and fro m t he social system already described. Th e model is as

follows:

A dispute of some vital importance, such as a conflict over land , develops

between two families in a qawm c om mu nity . Th e argume nt continues for some

time. The families break off

ll

social activities an d begin t o slander each other

among their kinsmen. Eventually, the elders of the qaw m co mm uni ty, attempt-

ing a reconciliation, work ou t a solution, b ut one of the sides, feeling slighted,

refuses t o accept it . Th e ds se nti ng fam ily, as it becom es hostile toward its entire

qawm co m mu nity, is faced with th e characteristic alternative: either t o get out

of the co mm unity and probably lose the disputed territory, or t o stay on the

land and att em pt t o form new coope rative-sharing ties with oth er groups in the

neighborhood. T o be able t o take the second alternative, the family must be

situated in the following circumstances:

(1)

As suggested earlie r, it must live

where economic coo peration w ith its neighbors is n o t vital for survival. That is,

it mu st have rainfall lands on which i t depe nds t o a relatively great degree, and

its irrigated lan ds must b e close t o a well-supplied, natu ral water flow, so that

the

family can , if necessary, dig a private cana l. (2) It m ust live near m embers o f the

oth er sec t, for in times of ec ono mic an d political crisis, it must have o the r social

ties outside its natal com mu nity . Th e need for political backing during a dispute

s o f course great because the new con nections must be forme d

as

the conflict

intensifies. Such new social ties can only be form ed with a group willing to ac-

cept the dissident family and dwelling near eno ugh t o help and sh are with it.

Certain localities of Shibar, as described earlier, provide these circum-

stances. In Shiba r irrigation water sharing is relatively less im po rtan t, and in

places the n atural water flow is more than ab un da nt; also, the two hostile sects,

lsmailis and Imarnis, dwell close toge ther in many neighborhoods. Some neigh-

borhoo ds o f Shibar, then, d o in fact provide a dissident family with the possibili-

ty o f physically remaining on its territories w ithou t a disastrous economic and

political collapse.

Th e new group to which the family a ttempts t o align itself is one that

c n

iden tify with the family s quarrel because, belonging to th e opp osite sect and

being situated nearby, it probably has already had num erous conflicts over



SOCIAL SYSTEM 111: COMMUNITY FISSION 9

territorial boundaries with t he m em bers of th at co m m un it y. If th e fam ily dis-

puting

with the rest has previously had a goo d re pu tat ion , ce rtain g enerous per-

sons

in the neighboring village may initial ly express sy mpa th y fo r th e family s

cause Moreover, their distrust of th e ot he r c om m un ity , already heightened by

the sectarian barrier, seems t o be con firm ed by th e c om plain ts of th e disputing

family.

As

a result, the neighbors, informa lly a t firs t, iden tify w ith the cause o f

the one family.

New ties between t he dissenting fam ily and th e neighboring gro up develop.

At first

they may only be evident informally as the disputing family complains

to

the others. Later, it helps som eone in t he ot he r com m uni ty durin g harvest or

plowing season, and in re tu rn receives similar hel p. As it loses influence in i ts

natal group, it prizes mo re dearly these ties t o t he neighboring co m m un it y and

attempts to develop them in to p rotective an d sup portive bo nds t o undergird its

socially tenuous posi tion. Tho ug h these a re , of cou rse , first estab lished by re-

ciprocal cooperative an d sharing co nt ac ts , the y ev entua lly are reinforced by

intermarriage.

The disputing family t hu s gradually be com es socially aligned wi th a neigh-

boring community which, as n ote d earlier, belongs t o th e c on tra ry religious bloc.

This change in allegiance is, of cou rse , sh or t of religious conversion: few peop le

adjust their ideological conv ictions as easily as they change frien ds. The family

probably still maintains conn ectio ns with th e Sa int of t he natal co mmun ity and

affirms ts belief in the doctrines of i ts sect. But i ts relationship t o th e sect an d

the Saint are affected by i ts new social alignment. It s religious con nections be-

come less important as distinguishing marks o f its social ide nti ty. Indeed its

sectarian beliefs suggest an emb arrass ing dissonance with th e very g ro up o f per-

sons to whom it is now s om ewhat tenuou sly aligned. Also, its stat us wit h its

Saint is being unde rmi ned, fo r while the family may co nti nu e t o pay th e Saint

respect, he is nevertheless informed o f the c om mun ity disp ute by ot he r followers

sympathetic to the position o f the com m unity opposing the family. Th us, the

old ties of relationship to th e Saint an d the sect a n gradually w eakened by the

social statu s of t h e fam ily.

At the same time, new religious influen ces are being exerted on the family

through its new circle of sharing and helping. In public gatherings the f d l y

to know the religious authorities of the contrary sect. And from i ts new

friends it hears good things ab ou t their Saint. Moreover, the d octrin es o f the

contrary sect are presented in a mo re favorable light than the family had en-

countered earlier.

Thus, if the family s ties persist w ith the neighboring com m uni ty, the fam-

ily or its offspring will eventually become identified w ith t he Saint and t he sect

of its new friends. Its animos ity toward t he natal com mun ity , expressed earlier

as accusations o f dishonesty and imm orali ty, merely becom es part of t he bo dy

o uspicion and derogatory m yth abo ut th e members of the other sect in

general.



9


PLUR L

OCIETY

This is th e for m of conversion whe reby a family t urns t o neighboring hos-

tile groups for sup po rt in a quarrel against its ow n natal com m unity . The family

converts eith er fro m Ismailism t o Im arnism o r vice versa depending o n its origi-

nal status. family converting from eithe r o f these sects t o Sunnism must em-

ploy different tactics because Sunni groups are n ot interspersed a mon g the other

two. family wh o rather than eaning toward its neighbors turns t o the gov-

ern me nt fo r suppo rt against its qawm i is in fact turn ing t o a S unni institution

for leverage.

A

second scheme then m ay be advanced t o suggest the pattern

of

conversion leading t o Sunn ism: a dissident family in order t o win its case in

Sunni court aligns itself t o S unni families well co nne cted w ith government

and

eventually declares itself t o be Sunni.

T he possibility o f suc h a mea sure f or m ost Imamis o r Ismailis is slight but

a few families of wealth an d influence have been able t o m ake this kind of iden-

t i ty change. Wealthy families ofte n have conne ctions with prominent Su m i

families any wa y primarily ec on om ic ones bu t som etim es they also have kinship

ties for occasionally

an

Ismaili or Im am i Hazara bride is given t o a wealthy

Sunni.

Only o ne case is know n of the conversion of a Hazara t o Sunnism which is

s

follows:

we althy man d ied rat he r suddenly in m iddle age and was survived

by three small sons and a younger brother . T he brot her their uncle took

con trol of t he entire esta te but t o the children of th e deceased when they

grew u p he gave large am ou nts of land. He did no t however divide the

propery according t o t he ideal patterns of inheri tance.

T he uncle throu gh the years developed f rom this estate an immense

wealth throug h multiple an d diverse investme nts. He became so influential

tha t f or many years none of his three nephew s th e sons wh o had a right to

his estate dared challenge him. T w o of th e three sons died and only the

youngest son of t he original owne r lived t o fu ll adu lthoo d. Th e uncle held

the estate fo r many years and it was evident that his ow n sons expected to

inherit it when he die d. T he uncle came under pressure f ro m the govern-

men t f o r oth er reasons and t he surviving son of the original ow ne r took the

op po rtu nit y t o challenge his right t o the estate . Fo r some time the son was

unsuccessful. Th ro ug h his ow n sizable wealth and conne ction s however

he was eventually able t o establish social conn ec tio ns with a leading retigious

family in anot he r distric t. T he family was Su nn i an d besides being influen-

tial

n

religious circles had c on necti ons with c ertain leading officials in his

district.

Eventually th e son became engaged to a wom an fr om th e Sunni fam-

ily. In a bette r position t o obtain greater notice with th e government offi-

cials o f his dis tric t he again m ade a form al com plain t against his uncle this



SOCIAL SYSTEM 111: COM MUNITY FIS SIO N

1

time at a higher echelon of go vern me nt. He succeed ed in creatin g a serious

and complicated co urt case. It was duri ng the involved investigations

of

this

case that he identified himself as a Sunn i. Th is of cours e was the decisive,

final

break with his natal fam ily. By espousing his new se ct, he formalized

the

new base of political m aneuver fro m which he was ope ratin g. He be-

came a Sunni wi thou t being a Tajik, bu t prob ably he (o r a t least his

children) will someday b e kn ow n as Tajiks ra the r th an Hazaras.

We have been concerned wi th h o w q wm communities are divided through

internecine conflict. Qawrn com mu nitie s splin ter eith er t hrou gh th e exo du s of

socially defeated persons from the co m m un it y, or t hrou gh their realignment t o

neighboring groups belonging t o t he opp osin g sect. T o explain th e seco nd pat-

t rn

it

was assumed that in Shibar neighbors of

the

contrary sect already were

dwelling close enough to th e fissioning gr ou p t o su pp or t th em when the y brok e

from the natal com munit y. Th is does no t, of co urse , explain h ow grou ps belong-

in to

two opposing sects came in th e first place t o be together in Shibar, or why

factional oppositions have t o be form ulat ed as religious differen ces. Th ese issues

re discussed in t he ne xt chap ter .



HISTORY ND POLITIC L PROCESSES

T H

political history o f Bamian discloses a differ ential in th e degree t o which

outside political gro ups hav e influe nce d social relati ons with in th e basin.

Whereas Tagaw has oft en be en co ntr oll ed b y p ow erful g rou ps ou tsi de Bamian,

the highlands surrou nding Tagaw have of te n b een ind epe nde nt o f ou tsid e con -

trol; the highland groups have, in fact , oft en be en disu nited amo ng themselves.

The eastern highlands of east-c entral Afgh anistan seem in a special sense t o be

politically marginal, fo r this area lies a t t h e f ron tier s of thre e histor ic cen ters o f

political power: Tu rkestan , Kabu l, an d Ha zarajat (see Fig.

10 .

Moreover, the

recent history of Bamian reveals th e uni ty o f political and religious iden titie s, for

the wars by which Abdul Rah man , t he Am ir of Kabul, brough t the cou ntr y under

is control were fought betwee n armies th at ha d been mobilized m ainly by re-

ligious appeals.

These

themes

will

be elaborated at the e nd o f th is chapter .

HISTORY

Ancient History

Very little is know n ab ou t th e differential in political influences across the

Bamivl landscape in ancient times. Th e ruins of a ncient fortresses, mo st o f them

concentrated at either e n d of Tagaw, indicate Tagaw's political im portanc e. while

other ruins indicate th e strateg ic significance of the lines o f access leading in to it.

The ancient citadel o f Gholghola, ''The Noisy City, located a t the m ou th o f th e

Kakrak valley, presides over the ma rkaz area on th e western end of Tagaw plain.

Shari-i-~ohak,The Red City, an ancient fortress fam ous in Persian epic poetry,

is situated a to p 350-foot cliffs overlook ing the eastern end of Tagaw a nd its trib-

utary valley, Paymuri. The im portan ce of these locatio ns derives from their con-

fro1 of the p oint s where t he trade rou tes converged within the valley.

Th e importance o f Bamian is therefore d ue t o its position, as a [mili-

tary for ce located there would cover th e group of passes [a ro un d its



9

FACTION

ND

CONVERSION IN A PLUR L SOCIETY

Figure 10 The historic centers

of

power in Ekmian history

Arrows point t o catchment areas of lsmaili saints



HISTORY AND PO LITICA L PROCESSES

perimeter] and would com man d th e main rou te fr om Turkes tan t o the

Afghan capital (Government of India, 191 :5

1).

Massive fortresses cont rolling the main his tor ic lines of access in to t h e Barnian

basin are also located in the Shekari gorge, and in th e valleys of Iraq (in Shibar),

Jalmesh and Ghandak.

Barnian s strength in the an cien t past was du e t o its geography: its strategic

position and the qualities which made it a natu ral fortres s. It lay a lon g th e major

route

of trade through the H indu K ush mo unta ins betw een the kingdoms of Cen-

tr l

Asia to the north and thos e of India t o the southe ast. Trade betw een India

nd

Bactria, and eventually Ch ina, passed th ro ug h thi s b a s i n . Th e natural bar-

riers surrounding it se t easily de fen dable fronti ers a ro un d i t, and th e fe rtile a nd

expansive Tagaw plain ensured a stab le so urce of agricultura l p ro du ct s, ade qu at e

to support a strong ru le rs hp . As the basin was a natural fortre ss, econ omicafl y

self-sufficient, nd strategically locate d alo ng a ro ut e w hich in the sev enth cen-

tury

had become a vital highway betw een th e great civilizations of In dia a nd

China, it flourished, especially in th e mark az area, as a great cu ltu ral an d political

center

Bamian s importan ce end ed a brup tly w ith its com plet e destru ctio n by

Ghengis Khan in the thi rte en th cen tu ry . It never regained it s ancient st ren gth ,

for

the political rivalries and recurrent periods of political instability in Central

Asia during the following 500 years atrophied the trade on which B m i a n had

hive d. The development of maritim e traffic between Eu rope , India, and China

brought the final and decisive blo w t o Barnian s em inent p os itio n. It has since

been vulnerable to the powers who successively dominated either side of the

Hindu Kush.

Early Hazara Political Relations

The

subsequent history o f Bamian and central Afghanistan is only dimly

known until about the fi fteen th centu ry. At this time three kinds of grou ps

oc

cupied this region: in the m ount ains so uth of the Hindu Kush the re were tribes

of Hazaras? t o the sou th and east of th is region there were Afghan tribe s; an d to

the north and west o f the Hindu Kush range there were Turk ic (Uzbek and

Turkoman) groups.

he Hazaras, like many tribal groups where justice an d revenge must be ef-

fected through vend etta, seemed const antly embroiled in feuds and internecine

The fol lowing works provide the mo t d et ai l o n B am ian a a nc ie n t p a st : ~ o d a r d ,

t

e l .

1918);Hackln and Hackin (19 33 ) ; Hackin e t a l . (19 59 ) . N . Wolfe 1963) ives e readable

in English.

2

On the orig in of the Hataras of central Afghanistan, m e B acon,

1 9 5

1



96

FACTION AND CONVERSION IN A PLUR L OCIETY

raiding. Ferrier wr ote w hat he ha d learned of

them

in t h e early half of the nine-

teen th cen tury :

Th ey a rm on ly f o r pillage, and n o sovereign can reckon up on their

following him int o th e field. T h e Push t K oh Hazarahs of Hassan

han

ben Zorab are co nsta ntly divided am ongst them selves eith er by t he intrigues

of subaltern chiefs , o r by family qu arrels ; th ey are always scheming and

plot-

t ing on e agains t th e ot he r th e Afghans a lways contrive to get through

their [ t h e Hazaras'] passes and a t tack the m o n thei r ow n ground, though

they cann ot occu py i t perm anen t ly , and they conte nt themselves with

straining every nerve to get a go od b oo ty an d be off again. By this constant

hosti l ity [t he re ] is maintained such a lively h atre d between the Afghans

and th e Hazarahs, th at i t is scarcely possible fo r the la t ter

[

th e A fghans?]

t o ve nt ur e singly in th e Paropa misus-a lone ly traveller wo uld assuredly be

assassinated. He is obliged the re fo re t o m ake a considerable circuit to go

from Kabul t o H era t , o r vice versa, t o accomp lish a journe y which would

be so sho rt if the cou ntry of th e Hazarahs were safe . Tamerlane seems

t o have been th e last sovereign w ho subjugated th e Hazarahs; they shook

off t h e yoke at his de ath , an d have remained free in their m ountains ever

since. T h e Sufaveans, th e Gra nd M ogul, Nadir Sh ah, and Ahmed Shah

Su dd ozy e have never been able to sub jugate them again. I t appears that

they have been th e same from t ime immem oria l . (1857:220-221 ) .

Am ong th e Afghans th e Hazaras were no torio us for their incorrigibil ity.

Arnir Abdu l Rahrnan said of th em :

Th e Hazaras had raided and plundered th e neighboring subjects [of

the Afghan confed eracy] for abo ut three h undred years pas t , and none of

th e kings had had the power to make the m absolutely peaceful (Mir

M u nsh i, 1 9 0 0 , V o l. 1 : 2 7 9 ) . ~

Because of the incorrigibility o f th e Hazaras, traffic between Kabul and th e

no rth, which passed through H azara territories , was ofte n inte rrup ted .

Till abo ut 7 0 years ago Hazarajat was very isolated, and in practice

indep ende nt of the Central Go vernm ent. At th at t ime very few dared to

go to Hazarajat ; the n om ads ke pt t o t he Pashtun area, and very few trade-

caravans passed throug h th e central parts , they preferred th e rou te by the

Unai, Hajigak, and Iraq passes, to Bam ian, and th e mo re no rthe rn routes

throug h th e Sheik h Ali area in the G ho rba nd valley held open by force and

subs idies (Ferdinan d, 195 9:

18 1

9) .

On the Hazaras during the t ime of Shah Ru kh, see Price 18 2

I

Vol 111:534-35 ; of Shah

Zaman,

see

Elphinstone 1 81 5 , Vol II: 12) ; and

of

Abdul Rahrnan, see Kakar 1968).



HISTORY

AND

POLITIC L PROCESSES

The Hazara territories, then, d urin g this p erio d w ere ess entially be yo nd t h e pale

of

the

Afghan groups lying t o the ir so ut h a nd east.

During the eighteenth and n in ete en th ce ntu ries a solidifying con fed era tion

of Afghan tribes began t o press w ith growing intensity on th e so uth ern an d east-

em

flanks of the Hazaras. Ra ve rty w ro te :

Within the last cen tury a nd a half or t w o centuries, especially fr om

the time that th e Ghalzi Afghans threw of f the yok e of th e Safawis [u nde r

M i Wais, 1729-321, they began t o encroa ch on th e H azarah people , and

to thrust them back tow ards th e west a nd o n acc oun t of th e stead y increase

of some branches o f the G halzis, m any o f w hom are

i lats

kochis or no-

mads, this is still going on . T h e Durra nis, in ot he r part s have been doing

the same. Rave rty, 188 8:3 5 appro x. , qu ot ed in Ferdin and, 195 9: 12).

The central regions of A fgha nista n we re g radu ally feeling th e pressu re o f th e

growing Afghan con fede ratio n wh ich w as centra lize d a t first in K an da ha r bu t

later in Kabul. Masson wr ot e o f th e dist rict o f Wardak t ha t prio r t o th e last cen-

tury it had been

Possessed by the Hazaras, wh o, ab ou t on e hun dred years since, were ex-

pelled by th e Afghans. T h e Hazaras would also seem t o have held th e

country from K arabagh t o Gh azn i, but have been in like manne r partially

expelled. Indeed, the encro achm ents of th e Afghan tr ibes are stil l in

Progress Masson, 19 42 , Vol. II: 22 4).

It was during this period, tha t is , early in the ninetee nth cen tury , tha t th e

region of Bamian was said t o have c om e und er th e con tro l o f th e Ka bul ruler,

Laman Shah; it was, nonetheless, subje ct t o slave raiding by th e people s of its

northern bounda ries Bur nes 1 83 4, Vol. : 165; Dollo t , 1937 :285; Elphinstone,

1815; Vambrey, 18 64 :2 13 ff.; Wood,

1841 .

Besides being pushed bac k, as they had been from W ardak, the H azaras

were also gradually being bro ug ht un der sub ject ion t o the A fghan con fede ratio n.

Burnes reported on the s itua tion d uring th e 183 0s as follows:

The Hazaras of Dihzungee are nearly ind epe nde nt; thos e of Dih-Koon-

dee altogether so. ~t Kara Bagh they come dow n up on th e plains beyon d

Ghuzni and are subject t o Cabo ol, as are those of Jaghore e, Behsud and

Fouladee [sic]

1

834 :230) .

The localities to which h e refers indica te t he geographical range of A fghan con -

trol; firm around G hazni, bu t far ther o ut less so, until a t Deh K undi there was

no control at all.



FACTION

AND

CONVERSION IN A

PLUR L

SOCIETY

Bamian in the Nin eteenth C entury

At abo ut this time Lieutenant J oh n Wood travelled through Bamian. HIS

report indicates tha t th e contro l o f Bamian ha d in th e recent past fallen alter-

nately t o the ruler of Q un du z and th e ruler of Kabul. At th e time of his journey

through Bamian it was subject t o th e ruler o f Q un du z, wh o collected his tribute

in slaves. Kabul s con tro l seemed t o reach o nly as far as Hajigak Pass, the

alu

entrance in to the basin (Wood, 184 1 198 ,200 ) .

Bot h t he rulerships of Q un du z an d Kabul w ere Sunni, th e rulership of the

Qu nd uz area being Uzb ek an d tha t of Kab ul being Afghan. Bamian, in contrast,

seemed t o be oc cupie d tot ally b y Imam i Hazaras, for Wood saw n o Tajik (i.e.,

Sunni) popu lations in Bamian (184 1 :206). T h e Uzbeks, because of their traffic

in slaves, were deeply abho rred b y the Hazaras o f Bamian.

Generally they speak with detestatio n

of

th e practice

of

manstealing,

and never m ention th e Uzbeks, w ho enslave th em , bu t in term s of loathing

and hatred (Ibid.,

1841 : 2 0 0 .

Even after B amian eventu ally ca me un de r the firm grip of th e Kabul rulers,

it was subject t o slave raiding atta ck s from th e no rth . Som e elderly persons re-

mem ber from th eir childho od sto ries of those raids. Th e old fortified buildings

(qalaas), cons tructed t o house a num ber of families, mo st of which have now

crum bled, were ma de in defense against such raiders, bu t th e development of 10

cal d efenses and the streng thenin g of government power in Bamian finally termi-

nated the slave raids during the time of Sher Ali Khan (1 86 3-6 7, and 1869-79).

During th e mid-nin eteenth cen tury the Tagaw of Bamian seemed securely

held by th e ruler of Kab ul, Dost Moh ammad Kha n. Nevertheless a great Hazara

coalition contro lling the south ern and eastern po rtio ns of Barnian, as well as

mos t of t he Hazarajat (so uth o f Koh-i-Baba) had form ed und er the leadership of

Mir Yazdan Bakhsh of Besud. T o the nor th of Bamian Mir Moham med Ali Beg,

ruler of Sayghan, was still successfully raiding Bamian a nd oth er parts of the

Hazarajat fo r slaves whom he gave in t rib ute or sold t o superior powers in

Turk estan. T o the west of Bamian tribal states existed indep enden t of Kabul or

Qu ndu z control (Ferrier, 857; Masson,

1

842, Vol. 11).

Th e strategic localities along the main caravan rou tes int o th e Tagaw o f

Bamian had to be contro lled in order t o safeguard the Tagaw. Consequently, as

th e Tagaw came un der a more effective he gem ony , th e lines of access into and

ou t of Tagaw were also brou ght und er con tro l, usually by treaty and subsidy,

sustained by the th reat o f force. Th e strongest coalitions on the rim o f the basin

were those that co ntrolle d these passageways throu gh th e mou ntain s. Thus Mir

Yazdan Bakhsh, wh o controlled the Hajigak rou te in to Bamian, dominate d the

south ern and eastern rim of t he basin. Mir Moham med Ali

Beg,

wh o controlled

the Aqrob at route in to Bamian, dominated the northern rim of the basin.



HISTORY AND POLITICAL PROCESSES

Neither of these rulers was directly subservient t o th e stro nge r powers lo-

c ted

in Kabul and Turkestan, but under pressure they each paid certain forms

of tribute: Mir Yazdan Bakhsh o f Besud paid t o Ka bul an d Mir Mohammed Ali

eg

of Sayghan paid to Qunduz.

The Marginal Highlands in the Nineteenth Century

The growth of Kabul power brou ght a firmer political ha nd i n to these mar-

ginal districts. Sher Ali Kh an , in que lling rival at te m pts fo r th e t hron e during his

fint reign (1 863-1867), succeeded in pacifying man y of the n orth ern regions of

Turkestan and thus may have brought a new measure of security and stability to

Bamian.

Kakar (1968:209) indicates that the Sheykh Ali Hazaras occupying the

eastern fringe of Bamian were f irs t pacified during th e reign of Sher Ali Khan.

These Hazaras, located on the rou tes fro m Gho rba nd west in to Barnian and no rth

into Turkestan, had c on si st ed y tax ed or p lundered th e caravans th at travelled

through their territo ry. These Sheykh Ali Hazaras may have included the close-

ly

related Hazara populations in hab iting Shibar and Kalu, who tod ay call them -

selves Dargan (Darghu) Hazaras, as well as the true Sheykh Alis who nowadays

mainly inhabit the region east and nor theas t o f Shibar. As the Sheykh Alis were

later forcibly displaced by Amir Abdul Rahman Khan of Kabul, some of the ties

of relationship between these groups may have been forg otten . Kakar (196 8:

199

in any case says that Sheykh U s inhabited both sides of the southw est

end of the Hindu Kush, tha t is, the region here called the so uthe rn highlands of

east-central Afghanistan.

Sher Ali Khan's second reign (186 9-1879 ) saw the gradual dec line of cen-

tral authority, and a fte r his dea th the She ykh Alis resumed their prac tice of

plundering caravans on t he K abul-Turk estan road. Later, A bdul R ahman K han,

who forced his way t o the A mirate o f Kabul ab ou t a year after the death of Sher

li Khan, sent three successive punitive ex pend itions against this group early in

his

reign (1 881, 1882, 1883).

One of these raids may have been in retaliation f or a specific act o f bri-

Bandage upon a caravan in which the wife of Arnir Abdul Rahman was travelling

to Kabul. The year in which this event occurred is obscure, but it is known

among these people as the year of the lak. Two o r three hundred Hazara men

t some time during Abdul Rahman's reign raided th is caravan in the vicinity of

Hajigak Pass. They to ok every thing of value but allowed the ro y d lady and her

Party to go without fur the r insult. The Amir, however, appears to have been

easily able t o gain his retribution on these ou tlaws, for he jailed some o f the

Hau ra le ade n, placing a fine of 100 ,000 afghanis4 (one ink) on each o f them

The

afghani Is the monetary unit o f Afghanistan Its value toda y s

~ O U ~ Y

ne and

fa

half

cents At that time

It

was worth many t ime8 more



1

FACTION AND CONVERSION IN A PL UR AL SOCIETY

payable b efore t heir release, while ot he r person s sought by th e government fled

t o the n orth and stayed away un ti l H abibulah Khan, his son, upon taking the

rulership, co mm ut ed their sentences. Alto gethe r ab ou t ten laks (i.e., 1,000,000)

of afghanis were actually paid in fines by those rich eno ug h t o obtain the release

of these prisoners.

The Solidification of Politico-Religious Identities

T he rulers o f Kab ul w ere gradually ex ten din g a stron ger political presence

in to central Afghanistan. Kakar s resum6 of th e tribu te pay men ts being made

to

Abdul Rah ma n portrays th e range of Afghan co ntr ol in t he Hazarajat during the

early yea rs o f his reign.

By 18 86 all Hazara tribes paid lan d revenue an d tax es on cattle and

even marriage fees. But th e revenue was no t paid in a unifo rm man ner .

. .

whereas some tribes such as the Behsud

.

Deh Mardad and Sheikh Ali

paid 114 111

of

their produce of their lands, oth er tribes such as the

Mohmad Khwaja . . Balkabi Deh Zangi an d Deh Kon di paid a

f ixed am oun t ei ther on the land o r per family. But the rate

of

revenue on

all tribes was increased in various degrees durin g this period of

th e Amir s

[A bd ul Rahma n s] reign. T he on ly exc ep tion was th e Hazaras of Pas-i-Koh

(beyond the moun tain), who mainly occupied Uruzgan.

.

They were the

largest o f th e tribes, and so far had successfully defied all att em pt s to ob-

tain th eir submission (Kakar, 19 68 :2 10).

The gain in Afghan control over the Hazara territories that had taken place since

the time whe n Burnes described t he range of A fghan gove rnm ent control was the

result of a gradual adj ust me nt in t he balance of power betw een Afghans and the

Hazaras of centra l Afghanistan. Th e Afghan con fed era tio n was clearly becoming

dom inan t, and thus was increasingly able t o exact trib ute from m ore of the

Hazara tribes. As a consequence of this growing Afghan su per iori ty some adjust-

men ts were occurring in the frontie r zone betw een the territories of th e Hazaras

and th e Afghans. As each Hazara tribe was brou ght und er t he suzerainty of the

Afghan rulers, this frontie r zone was being pushed farther in to th e central high-

lands of the country.

Th e social boun dary betw een these tw o groups was changing in another

way : they were beginning t o formula te their differences as sectarian differences-

Th is change in the ir id ent ities vis-a-vis each ot he r emerged as th e Afghan coalition

became a Sunni-dominated Sta te and as the wars of Afghan conque st, which

finally led t o the co mp lete subjugation o f th e Hazaras, congealed th e support for

the State in terms of loyalty t o th e Sunni faith and the resistance against the

Sta te, in the case of Hazara resistance, in terms of loya lty t o the Imami faith.

Afghanistan began to take th e form o f a nation during the reign o f mir



HISTORY AND POLITICAL PROCESSES 1 1

Abdul Rahrnan. The Amir during his rule att em pt ed , on th e on e ha nd , t o mold

an institution of rulership to replace the confederation of Afghan tribes on which

the Amirate was based, and o n th e o th er ha nd , t o str et ch his military an d adm in-

istrative control across a landscape th a t h ad be en aw ard ed hi m b y an Anglo-

Russian agreement. As the A fghan ruling in sti tu tio n t o o k for m , th e histo ric

SO-

cia

foundations of author ity inh ere nt in t he Amir's power were mold ed i nt o it .

One

of these foundations lay in th e t rad itio nal s up po rt o f Sunn i religious leaders.

'These persons controlled th e legal an d ed uc at ion al tra dit ion s on wh ich th e admin-

istration of justice was based. Even as early as mo re th an a ce nt ur y be fo re A bdu l

Rahman, these learned scholars o f t h e Islamic religion had ex er ted g reat influen ce

on

the Afghan rulership.

Power over th e acti ons of th e m ona rch w as also vested in th e Muslim

clergy, who were in charge of learning, educ atio n, th e in terpre tation of

Shari'a law, the ad ministra tion of justice, an d t he supervision o f pu blic

morality through the office of ~ o h t a s i b . ' Th ey enjoyed economic self-

sufficiency and w ielded grea t p owe r ( Elp hin ston e, 18 5

:2

14-15 see also

527,540).

The state being formed in Kabul du ring the time of Abdul Rahm an, there-

fore, leaned heavily up on these a uthorities of th e Islamic faith . T ha t all of t he m

were Sunnis witnessed to th e stre ng th o f t he Su nni persuasion in t he regions

which politically underg irded t h e Kabul A mi ra te. Th ese were th e regio ns SUr-

rounding Kabul, Ghazni, an d Kan dahar and th e Af ghan-d omin ated terr itories

mainly to the east an d so ut h of these cities.

In addition t o the Amir's atte mp ts t o f orm a ruling institution th e necessity

to subdue the entire territories allotted to Afghanistan also contributed t o the

forging of Arnir Abdul R& man 7s gove rnme nt int o a Sunn i inst ituti on. This

Cessity was pressed up on th e Amir by tw o dan gerous uprisings, eac h of which,

testing his pow er, forc ed him t o solicit Sunn i suppo rt.

The first took place in

1888

It was led by Abd ul Rahman's ow n cousin.

Ihaq Khan, who had been granted om er sh ip of Turkestan by the Kabul Arnir.

Abdul Rahrnan's a tte mp t t o subjugate Turke stan congealed his sup po rt as a self-

Sunni coalition, for the Amir a ttem pte d t o gather support by invoking

religious values. He

directed his ef fo rt s t o m obilize religious and public opin ion against Ishaq.

The

mullas and elders

of

Kabul and Jalalabad gave him

a f e tw

[ecclesias-

tical or judicial ed ic t] to th e eff ect that Ishaq was a rebel the y called

o

all the tribes to act against Ishaq. Fur the r, he gave ou t tha t lshaq's

5

An

a t te n da n t o f t h e c o u r t e m p o w e r e d t o c h e c k u p o n a n d e n f o r c e t h e o b s e r v a n ce o f r e li gi ou s

Precepts and duties



102

FACTION AND CONVERSION IN A PLU RAL SOCIETY

rebellion was du e to Russia and th us they called the suppression of the in-

surrection a religious du ty (K aka r, 1968:194 .

By suggesting tha t Ishaq had en tered in to league with Russia they insinu-

ated th at he ha d com promised his faith for th e sake of personal advantage.

In contrast t o Abdul Rahman's unifo rm sup po rt by the Sunnis within his

realm, Ishaq Khan's following was religiously m ore diverse. He and the main

body of his supp orters were Sunnis, b u t h e was also helped by Sheykh Ali

Hazaras, who were Imamis.

A few miles so uth of Khulm (Tashqurghan) the Afghan forces of Abdul

Rahman joined in battle with the Uzbek-Sheykh Ali forces of Ishaq Khan. In

this conflict Abdul Rahm an nearly los t his forces, bu t owing to the timidity of

Ishaq Kh an, wh o fled fro m th e b attle, the Amir of Kabul was eventually able to

defeat the arm y of Tu rke stan . Once in con trol , the Arnir inflicted savage punish-

ments on the m ost pro min ent of the insurrectionists. A large numb er of the

Shey kh Alis, for their pa rt in the revolt, were removed en masse from their terri-

tory o n the eastern an d north -eastem flank of Bamian and dispersed throughout

Afghanistan.

Th e second uprising against the A mir of Kabul to ok place on the heels of

the first. After th e removal of the S hey kh Alis the Amir app oin ted a new gover-

nor t o Bamian and gave him broad powers and a large bod y o f troops. The

Amir's objective was to use Bamian as the gateway th rough w hich he would ac-

complish a peaceful penetration (Kakar, 196 8:2 10) in to the Hazarajat, the

mountainous region of central Afghanistan which lay to the west and south (over

the Shah-Foladi mountain) of the Bamian basin. As the influence of the Kabul

government was being more firmly exerted in the Hazarajat, however, a whole-

sale Hazara rebellion eru pted barely a year after Abdul Rahm an's defeat o f the

Sheykh ALis and the strengthening of his hold on Bamian (Kakar, 19 68 ; Fletcher,

1965 : 127). Indicative of the contro l th at Kabul exercised over Bamian by this

time is the fact th at during the Hazara revolt, which a t one time involved nearly

the whole o f the central mo untain ous regions of the c ou ntr y south and west of

Bamian, Bamian itself never openly participated in the revolution (Kakar, 1968:

222-23).

The bloody war tha t ensued between the Hazaras of Central Afghanistan

and the Arnir of Kabul was form ulated for b ot h sides as a sectarian conflict.

Powerful religious coalitions to ok shape o n bo th sides. Th e Amir's following

became

a

Sunni coalition more firmly cemented together than ever before.

Because the Hazaras were Shi'ite [Imami] Muslims and therefore in

perpetual enmity with their Sunni neighbors, the Amir obtained fetw s

fro m the [S un ni] mullas easily. Fo r the first time , the Khan-e-Mulla of

Kabul, in consultation with other mullas, declared religious war against the



HISTORY AND POL ITICAL PROCESSES 103

Hazaras. In 60 0 proclam ations which th e Am ir distr ibu ted thr ou gh ou t

the country, the Hazaras and all the S hias [Ima mis ] were declared t o be

kafir [ infidel] . Th e task of inci ting th e Sun nis was entr uste d to th e

Sunni mullas who, in th e religious preaching spared n o ef fo rts in conde mnin g

the Hazaras to death. T o keep u p the spiri t of war, st ipendiary mullas

were ordered t o acco mpa ny th e tribal levies, and p reach ghaza [ho ly con-

quest] to them (Kakar, 1 96 8:2 13 .

I t was for these reasons that fo r th e f i rst t im e al l the S un ni popula-

tion rallied to th e Amir. It increased his pow er an d prestige, and in fused a

sense of u nity am ong his subje cts (Ib id. : 227 ).

The Hazaras, on th e oth er hand , were welded together as an Imami coal i tion

n

opposition t o this Su nni p ow er.

Never in the past had th e Hazaras been so unite d a mon g themselves as

they now were against th e Am ir. In a n assembly Tim ur Sh ah a

ayyed

descendant of Imam Musa R eza, was elected as their Khalifa f o r the p ur-

Pose of religious war against th e Am ir. T h e Ha zaras decla red We will

fight fo r one true G od and his pro ph et, and fo r Ali against these K afirs and

allies of Kafirs (K aka r, 19 68 2 18).

The political h ub of th e Hazara resistance lay in Uruzgan, b ut a t th e time of

the most widespread H azara rebellion th e Hazaras of D eh K on di, De h Zangi, Day a,

Folad, Besud, Jaghori, a nd G izao were also insurgen t (Kakar, 19 68 :21 2). In the

fall of 1892 the Afghan army pushed in to th e heart of Hazara terr itories and ef-

fectively quench ed all resistance a t Uru zgan. Bu t t he n ex t spring som e of th e I-Iamras

rose again, the first of w hom were t he Hazaras on th e sou the rn side of Koh-i-

Baba, where no garrison had been le ft. This uprising included a t least th e Hazaras

of Besud, Deh Zangi, an d Y ak Awlang, fo r t he decisive bat tles were fo ug ht agpinst

these groups. Wh ether th e Hazaras of t he n or th side of

hah

Foladi mou ntain, the

highest ridge of the Koh-i-Baba, joined in th e insu rrectio n is n o t know n. But t h e

fact that one of the f i n d engagements to o k place at Yak Awlang suggests tha t the

western

rim

of Bamian m ay have been involved.

By the end of th e bloody years of war between the Am ir and the Hazaras

th Hazarajat was almost deso lated. Th e Amir, as befo re, relocated his enemies.

To replace th em , large num be rs of Afghans were encouraged t o settle in Uruzgan.

n addition, the Afghan nom adic tribes w ho assisted his cause were awarded in-

disputable grazing rights in cen tral A fghanistan, including t he slop es of t h e mas-

sive Koh-i-Baba. Th e whole o f central Afghanistan was finally sub due d.

A third conquest by the Amir demonst rated th e extent t o which the

Afghan rulership had acquired a sense o f Su nni iden tity. Amir Abdul Rah ma n

attacked an d con que red the pagan peoples of Kafiristan, Country of Infidels,




and renamed tha t territo ry Nu ristan , Coun try of Light. Afterw ard, he accepted

th e title Zia al-Milat-wa-al-Din, Light of the Nation and th e Religion. In the

process of subjugating the diverse an d dissident po pulations of his coun try, he

had consolidated an institution o f rulership. He ha d, moreover, formed it as a

coalition o f Sunnis, dom inated in im po rta nt respects by the authorities of the

Sunn i sect.

Subse quen t Highland R esistance

After those b attles of the last ce ntu ry , th e highland groups of Bamian,

though forcibly subdu ed, in their ow n way co ntin ued to ma nifest a measure of

hostility an d insolence towa rd th e Kabul government. In the 1920s during the

reign o f King Am anullah, the Mir o f the Foladi valley, Mosen Beyg, whenever

visiting th e seat of government in th e markaz , was accom panied by a bodyguard

of

1 000h ~ r s e m e n . ~ndeed, on an occasion when the King himself was visiting

the province, t he Mir failed t o show him appro priate respec t; he was consequent-

ly jailed, and his family was moved t o an oth er district.

Th e unwillingness o f th e highland groups t o accept the auth ority of Kabul

was evident again during the cha otic period of Bache-Saqaw's reign after he had

successfully led a revolt against Am anullah in 19 29 . Af ter Bache-Saqaw took the

rulership of Kabul he

was

recognized by the populations of Tagaw in Bamian,

bu t the p opulation s in the margins vigorously oppo sed him. s a result of their

opp osition, the p opu lation s of Tagaw were in danger of being overrun . The Tajiks

of the mark az, however, were barely saved by the arrival of tro op s who had

forced their way in to the basin from the capital. Their presence at the markaz

was clearly sufficient t o quell the rebellious Hazaras: promin ent Sayyed and

Hazara houses in Foladi and Shibar were ransacked and burned and the people

fled in to th e mounta ins. Some leaders in strategic valleys were exec uted.

Three informants described incidents in which the populations of Shibar

resisted Bache-Saqaw auth or ity . One of these descriptions of resistance was

given by a would-be participant in the resistance.

In th e time of Bache-Saqaw the brother of the deposed King

Amanullah was travelling in Hazarajat to gather support for him. I had

been sent along with several oth ers to join the followers

of

th e form er King.

We carried money in the form of silver coins sewed in our belts, which

made them extrem ely heavy because at th at time

1000

afghanis , pure silver,

weighed ab ou t

20

pounds. Each of us was carrying

2500

afghanis , that is

about 5 poun ds apiece, bu t on the way some Tajiks, whom we at first

took to be friendly, robbed us of ou r horses, mon ey, and firearms. So

the

result

was

that we lost everything and were no help to the King. After

his

information w as

given b y hi s

grandson



HISTORY AND P O L I T I CA L P RO CE S S E S 105

Amanullah lost the bat t le with Saqaw in Ka bul , we heard th at

6

m e n

from Amanullah s a rm y w ere com ing t o Shibar t o jo in ou r res istance

against Saqaw. Only 3 of these reached Sh ibar , the o t he rs having been

killed or fr ightened aw ay. Thes e stoo d wit h th e people of S hib ar fo r nine

months of tr ou ble .

Another of these incide nts was to ld by a person w h o as a ch i ld ha d seen

some of the action.

When Saqaw became K ing i t was quiet in ou r distr ic t a t f i rst . But

when we refused t o acknow ledge him , then tr ou ble began. His soldiers

came several t imes. T h e first t im e we were all in ou r qalaa [fortif ied dw ell-

ing] . T he wom en and children were sent t o the mo unta ins . My awdurzada

[FaBr] h is son , and several o t he r m en in my qaw m stayed behind . They

had only muzzle-loading r if les. T h e soldiers to ok m y uncle , his so n, an d

five o thers of m y qaw mi and k i lled th em . Th ey too k away a ll o u r th ings

on the backs of our donkey s. Th ey bro ke dow n th e doors of th e houses ,

and if they found people ins ide they k illed or woun ded them . Th en they

burned ou r houses. Th ey came a t o the r t imes. In th e end we had noth ing

le f t . All of Shibar suffe red f r om Saqaw , bu t o ur val ley suffe red m ost .

Another descript ion o f resistance t o Saqaw was told

by

a rela tive o f the

uss Amin mentioned in this acc oun t:

In the year of S aqaw , ther e was a caravan tra in o f supplies from

Kabul moving to Bam ian in logistic su pp ort of gro up s favoring Saq aw in

Bamian. As these men ca me throug h here we stoppe d them , captured

them, and led them u p in to Nanqiqol and kept th em there . The re were

2 o r 3 of them. They were taken to the house of Musa Amin where

they were hospitably t rea ted , but the i r goods were taken f ro m the m an d

div ided amon g the people . Th en they were kept pr i soner for some time

unti l a contingen t fr om B amian cam e looking for th e lost caravan. T he

people heard t he y were coming and m any of th em fled into the mountains.

They at first considered killing their cap tives, but Musa Am in and Kabir

Khan dec ided t o save them. So they agreed t o move them u p to the mou n-

tains a t night . T ha t night , a long th e way , Musa A min , in a sud den panic ,

ran away , leaving Kabir Khan alone with th e prisoners. So he too k them

by himself and set them fre e at th e place previously app oin ted , high in the

moun ta ins to th e no r th o f Nanq iqo l .

Back in Nanqiqol, when the soldiers in pursuit of the missing goods

and men reached N anqiqol , all the people had f led into the m ountains, but

they were able t o ca tch Musa min as he was re turn ing a lone f rom t he

mo untains. Th ey kept him overnight . After discussing what t o do with

him th ey decided t o kill him by hanging him b y his feet and sh ootin g at



1 6


PLURAL

SOCIETY

him. Th en a s Musa Am in was being hun g up , on e of t he men said he would

like t o have his clothes. They w ere nice on es, why no t take off his clothes

first, so they would not be spoiled with blood when he was shot. Then as

they were ab ou t to ta ke off his clothes, he said t o the m , Will yo u kill a

Muslim naked? Then they conferred among themselves and finally the

comm anding officer decided to wait overnight. Th en during the night

some of th e released soldiers arrived from th e m oun tains where Kabir Khan

had released them and they identified Musa Amin as the man who had

cared for them and fed the m well during their stay there .

So the man was

saved from exec ution.

Nadir S hah Kh an , who finally ove rturn ed S aqaw , was welcomed as the new

King by th e Hazaras. In succeeding years, however, as his govern men t grew in

strength a nd e stablished mo re b ranches in t he mo unta inou s regions, his officials

were treated coldly. The

l q d rs

(chief ad min istrato rs of t he government rural

stations) assigned t o Shibar, for ex am ple, were no t well received, and until per-

manent buildings were finally erected for them and their staff, they were obliged

t o live in inhosp itable qua rters grudgingly provided by the local elders, and sev-

eral times th ey ha d t o shift their locations.

Contemporary T ension and the Centers of Power

Co ntem porary political tensions in t he east-central region of Afghanistan

con tinue t o express, t o a milder degree, the historic opposition between low-

lander and highlander and between Sunn i an d Imam i. Th e entire area is now

clearly under Afghan suzera inty, bu t the lowland popula tions are more fully

identified with the developing Afghan nation than are the highland populations.

Th e historic S unn i cen ters of power in Afghanistan are firmly held by a single

administration and serve s

the c entral bases of power from wh ich the Afghan

ruling institutio n e xer ts its influence on th e less accessible and less firmly con-

trolled regions of the co unt ry. Four c enters of Sunn i political influence bear

upon th e eastern highlands of east-central Afghanistan: Gho rband , Bamian

(the

markaz), Duab-i-Mezarin, and Doshi. These lowland s, besides being occupied

by Sunni populations, are loci of government stations.

Th e sizable Im ami popula tions in these districts are located mainly in the

surround ing highlands. They have been traditionally slow to accept outside

auth ority an d have resisted th e encroach ing Sunn i sta te. Even though their mili-

tary po tential ha s been decisively que nch ed, the social distance between them

and the Afghans, once established as an Imam i-Sunni distinctio n, has remained.

As a result, the con tinua nce of Imami religious practices has enabled th e Hazara

Sayyed populations of central Afghanistan to remain apart fro m the national

society



HISTORY AND POLITICAL PROCESSES

Imarni and Ismaili influence, th en , is restricted merely t o n etw ork s of re-

ligious clientage. These networks converge o n th e religious auth or itie s, th e

Saints of the Imami and Ismaili sec ts, wh o p rovide theological guidance fo r their

clients and collect and red istribute the ir religious con trib ution s. The auth or itie s

to

whom the non-Sunni populations of Barnian con tribu te all reside outs ide th e

basin. One Imami autho rity lives a t Yak Awlang to the west. Another is in

Kabul to the east. And the th ird is th e Ismaili Sain t whose ho m e is near D oshi

in

the southern Hindu Kush highlands. These a uthoriti es and their c lients of

course are clearly subject t o Afghan co nt ro l, bu t the ir importan ce am ong t he

sizable

non-Sumi populations of central Afghanistan has endowe d the m with

great influence and , as a consequ enc e, has occasioned th e wary surveillance o f

th

Afghan government.

POLITICAL PROCESSES

Processes in Bamian History

This review of the political histo ry of Bamian reveals thre e political pa ttern s

that seem to relate to the problem set for th is analysis. Th e first is the con trast

between the degree of outside political influence on the populations of Tagaw.

and

the degree of their influen ce on th e surround ing highland populations.

s

a

consequence of this differential in t he outside in flue nce upon th e differen t parts

ofth e basin, the p opu lations o f Tagaw and the m arginal highlands have experi-

enced different histories. The history o f Tagaw has brought it in to relatively

close association with political groups outside Barnian: though onc e sub ject to

Turkestm, Tagaw eventually became subservient t o the power o f Kabul. The

hi lands

surrounding th e Tagaw, on the oth er ha nd , have experienced less direct

influence from external political forces. Even though in th e mid-n ineteen th cen-

fury the markaz of Barnian was the locus of a governorship appointed by Kabul,

Powerful independe nt Hazara coalitions emerged t o the northeast and so utheast

of Bamian, drawing in to their web of influence-though in some cases only par-

tially-the highland regions marginal to the Barnian basin. On the wes t smaller

coalitions remained independent and roba ably affected political alignments on

Bamian s western rim. Furthe rm ore , althoug h late in th e last ce ntu ry Tagaw was

firmly held by Amir Abdul Rah man, a pair o f Hazara coalitions rebelled against

him,

the Sheykh Ali Hazaras dwelling in the mo untains east and no rth of Tagaw

(including, perhaps, those on the eas tern edge of th e basin), and a coalition of

Yak Awlang, Deh Zangi, Deh K ondi, nd Besud Hazaras situated in the highlands

west and south of the Bamian basin (including perhaps groups from the western

and southern margins within th e basin). More recently, when Bache-Saqaw took

the rulership of Kabul, although the peoples of Tagaw quickly acknowledged his



1 0 8

FACTION

AND

CONVER SION IN A PLURAL SOCIETY

aut hori ty, th e highland populations surroun ding Tagaw revolted. Tagaw, then,

has usually been aligned wit h th e exte rna l rulerships atte mp ting t o control the

Barnian basin w M e t he highlands have oft en be en aligned wi th movements that

opposed these external powers. T he populations of Tagaw have been more

easily subjugated th an their highland neighbors.

T he sec ond political patte rn expressed in th e history of Barnian refines

the

first . T h s is the different positions from which thre e centers of power-Kabul,

Turke stan a nd Hazarajat-have exe rted influence on the highland populations of

Bamian. Fo r while Tagaw has been f y eld b y dom inan t o utside political

forces, whether situated in T urkestan or K abul, th e populations of t he western,

an d perhaps sou ther n, highlands have ofte n been aligned t o th e Hazarajat. The

peoples of the eastern highlands, in contras t, as th ey lie in a zone that has often

been marginal t o all thre e power centers, have t ended t o be independent of, or

only sporadically controlled by , these powers.

s th e power of t he Afghan confe deracy centering in Kabul grew, it had to

subjugate the other tw o rival centers of power exerting impor tant sway on the

Bamian basin. Th e only one which posed an enduring thr eat t o Kabul was situ-

ated in Turkestan w here in ancient t imes

Balkh, and more recently Qun duz and

Khulm Tashqurghan), an d curr entl y Mazar-i-Sharif, have been the domin ant

cities. Th e influence of Turkestan at o ne time exten ded t o Bamian, even into

portions of the Hazarajat sou th of Bamian, bu t as Kabul power expanded, the in-

fluence of Turk esta n in these regions was pushed ba ck. Eventua lly, as has been

show n, Turkestan w as securely grasped by Kabul.

Th e othe r cent er of power influencing Bamian was tha t o f the Hazarajat.

The Hazaras in this region unit ed in to a single political bloc very late, bu t their

locations in th e natural mo unt ain fastnesses of cent ral Afghanistan probably

contrib uted t o their remaining independen t from Kabul t han did Turkestan.

Within the district of th e Hazarajat political coalitions emerged in different

places at different times. T he area t o the west and sou th of Bamian centering at

Besud was o ne o f these localities; this region was th e cent er o f th e Hazara coali-

tion form ed und er Ibhr Yazdan Bakhsh an d inclu ded , according t o Masson

1 842

Vol. 11), the valley of Kalu an d, by mean s of tr eaty and alliance, the regions of

Shibar and S hey kh Ali. After the collapse of this coalition, this region seems

never again t o have coalesced in so large a bloc. Ra th er, th e greater centers of

political coalescence in the Hazara territories have been further west and south

of Besud p robably because of th e growing pressure which Kabul was able to

ex ert on this more accessible region of th e Hazaraja t. Th e oth er Hazara localities

which , in subs equ ent histo ry, have become center s o f Hazara political force have

been Uruzgan, Deh Zangi an d Yak Awlang. Deh Zangi and Yak Awlang emerged

as

im por tant political centers in the Hazarajat w hen they arose in the final

Hazara rebellion against Abdul R ahm an. Tha t this area seems t o still be an

im-

port ant ce nter of Hazara political cohesion is indicated by t he importa nce of

ak Awlang as an lmami religious center today.



HISTORY AND POLITICAL PROCESSE S 10 9

The third social pa tte rn revealed in t he po litical his tory of cen tra l Afghanis-

tan is the fusion of religious an d polit ical c rit eri a in th e de ve lop ment o f politic al

groups in Afghanistan. Th is cementing t og et he r of po litica l an d religious iden ti-

ties took place, in the Sunni insta nce , as the Afghan ruling inst itu tio n dev eloped

according to Sunni outlines o f ad mi nist ratio n an d jurispru den ce, an d as a S unn i

military force formed in su pp ort o f th e ruling ins titu tio n for th e invasion o f th e

Hazarajat. In the Imami case, this fusion o f politic al a nd religious iden titi es de-

veloped

s

an h a m i coal it ion formed t o resist the Sunni army. The Sunni force

w s

wielded on behalf of

n

ort ho do x fa ith against a heretical faith, Imarnism.

The Imamis employed force o n behalf of thei r faith against the here tical faith o f

Sunnism. The defeat of th e Imarnis by the Sun nis secured th e unrivaled sup rem -

acy

of Sunni Islam in Afghanistan, an d established Sunnism as th e orthodox

faith of the nation. Imamism persists, bu t by th e tole rance of th e Sunnis.

What

has

been written abou t heterodo xy and or tho dox y in anoth er muslim set-

ting could be said abou t Afghanistan:

conformity to it [t h e official credo of the s ta te ], however perfunctory,

was the token and pledge of loyalty. O rth od ox y meant th e acceptance o f

the existing orde r, heresy o r apostasy its criticism and rejection (Lewis,

953:62; see also L am bton ,

1956 .

To be Sunni in Afghanistan is t o be i n so me sense iden tified w ith the ruling insti-

tution and with t he

SU ^

sources of authority on w hich its administrative system

Partially depends. T o be Im ami is t o be identified with the resistance t ha t once

warred against, an d even now con tinu es in som e degree to be isolated from , tha t

ruling institution.

Ismailism and Political Processes

These pattern s suggest tw o argu ments for why Ismailism has developed in

the highlands o f east-central Afgh anistan. Th e firs t argument is that these high-

lands lying in a zone tha t has been mo re o r less marginal t o all three political

centers of gravity, have been relatively free t o develop inde pen den t or ephem eral

political coalitions. Fo r some time neither the political groups domi nati ng

Turkestan nor tho se o f Hazarajat have been able t o effectively impose themselves

on the eastern highlands o f east-central Afghanistan, including Shibar. Indeed,

even the expanding rulership o f Kabul has had difficu lty in holding this area

within its secure domains. Historically this area has remained a t the f ronti ers of

the influences eman ating from all three cente rs of pow er, and unti l th e ruling in-

stitution o f Kabul was able t o establish secure administrative pos ts in th e rural

areas, these groups remained independent of, even recalcitrant toward, outside

control.

A

resistance movemen t, in which a dissenting group was able to suc-

cessfully identify itself as independent of these influences, was actually only




PLUR L

SOCIETY

feasible for groups situated out of range of b ot h Imarni and S unni centers of in-

fluence. Ismailism, therefore, developed where the influence of bo th groups was

weak. It could no t develop as a form of dissent from Imamism in the western

portions of Barnian because the geographical heart of the Imarni sect, and thus

of Imam i political influence, lay just west of the basin; though mo re inaccessible

t o Sunni influences than the eastern highlands, this area was mo re firmly bound

into th e orbit of the Imami resistance. Only th e eastern highlands, therefore,

were free enough t o form a political movement ou t of reach from b ot h centers

of political influence.

Th e second argum ent, already traceable in th e foregoing, is set for th here

merely

as

a hypothesis in th e absence of verifiable historical in form ation on the

actual emergence of Ismailism in this area. This argument is tha t Ismailism devel-

oped as the populations o f th e sou thern Hindu Kush highlands became aware that

their interests were different from those of the Imarnis and Sunnis whose centers

of influence lay far outside their own territories; according ly, they began t o ex-

press their independence and recalcitrance toward these outside groups in terms

of a dogmatic formulation emphasizing their discreteness from the other two

politically significant groups imposing on t he area.

In central Afghanistan the Imami sect, rather than being the subjugated

mino rity tha t it is in Barnian Tagaw and in most of Afghanistan, has been the

politically dominan t sect. Resistance to the Imarni-dom inated society in Hazara-

jat, therefore, may have been expressed through the conscious espousal of a

dis-

tinctly co ntra ry religious doctrine. Inasmuch as the identifying criterion of

allegiance to the Sta te was allegiance t o Sunnism and the criterion of resistance

against the S tate was Imarni allegiance, the c riterion o f m embership in an inde-

pendent m ovem ent became formu lated as loyalty to a sect clearly different from

bo th Sunnism and Imamism.

It is not necessary to a ttribu te an anthropom orph ic consciousness of this

social process t o the societies tha t became Ismailis. Ra ther, it seems sufficient to

say that these groups grew aware that their political interests were different from

those o f the Imami coalitions of the Hazarajat as well as those of the Sunni

powers

in

Kabul and Turk estan, and accordingly, coalesced in a movement of

independence from th em ; moreover, since the identities

of

these external powers

were characteristically couched in religious terms, it was natural that the

coalescence of these marginal populations in opposition t o external pressures

should be under the leadership of personages having the theological sophistica-

tion t o formulate their contrary o rientation

in

theological terms.

A

third sect

seems to have been the approp riate alternative in view of the social conditions.

Th e ritual practices and secret beliefs of the Ismailis, then-like the wearing of

the veil and the

checi

in pre-independence Algeria-became for these people

part of their language of refusal (Bourdieu,

962:

157 , setting them apart

from th e alien powers and cultures who had imposed themselves upon them.



VII

ON LUSION

SUMMARY O F

THE

ARGUMENT

T H E first chapter posed some questions ab ou t th e mosaic of religious groups

in

Barnian

and the succeeding cha pters developed a series of a rgum ents

which, taken together, appear to answer them.

First, why are the re lj o u s sects

o

Bamian distributed in a regulm

way

h e

answer seems to lie in economic an d political influences ema nating from ou t-

side Bamian.

Due to Tagaw's easily contro lled agricultural we alth an d its strategic

Position at the heart of t he basin where trade lines converge, its pop ulations have

een more strongly influenced by the Sunni-dom inated trade netw ork of th e na-

tion than the highland populations. As national t rade grew with th e improvem ent

of trmsportation and comm unica tion Tagaw's we alth beca me increasingly ab -

sorbed into the national trade system , an d its popula tions became orie nte d

toward cash econom y, and towa rd Sunnism. It is no t know n, however, ho w

the formerly Imami populations o f Tagaw were actua lly succeeded by Sunnis.

they converted t o Sunnism to gain better oppo rtunities in the national

market, or perhaps they were pushed ou t of th e he artla nd by Sunnis who imm i-

grated to take advantage o f attractive oppor tun ities in Tagaw.

case, the

trm~formationhat too k place

n

Tagaw did n ot occur in th e surrounding high-

~~ where the popu lations are less accessible t o foreign economic influences

and

where agricul u r d production is mo re modest. Consequen tly he highland POW-

Iations, existing primarily by subsistence activities, are on ly mar@ ' integ rated

nto

the national economy. And they are no t S um is, but h a m i s and Ismafiis.

The political in fluenc es from outside Barnian have also affected socialal ign

merits

in the basin. The populations of Bamian have socially differentiated pri-

marily in terms of their relation to the Sunni ruling inst itutio n and the opposing

h a m i religious sect. The po pulations on Tagaw are those most accessible to

Sunni influence and have identified with Sunnism, while most o f those in the

highlmb have expressed their differences with the Sunni institution by identify-

ing with Imamism. Among those living in Shibar and

Kdu

however, some have

ref ua d to identify with either Sunnism or Imamism, and have become i mail is



114

FACTION

AND

CONVERSION IN A PLU RAL SOCIETY

Th e Ismailis dwell in a frontier z one w here th e influences of external power

groups have historically been wea k. In term s of larger political influences, they

are distrib uted in an area marginal t o three political centers-Kabul, Afghan

Turkestan , an d Hazarajat. In terms o f a smaller range of political influences, the

sect lies between th e S unni-controlled lowlands of Barnian an d Gho rband , and

between two cen ters of

Imami influe nce, Kabul a nd Y ak Awlang.

In

this his-

torically inaccessible and intransigen t area t he third b loc has congealed, loyal to

a religious auth or ity dw elling in its own highland territories. Ismailism therefore

can be regarded as a kind of fro ntier p olity which, t o express its independence

an d interests b ot h from Sunnism and Imarnism, has form ulated its social dis-

tinctiveness as a d ifferent religious se ct.

Why are factional differences expressed in religious terms The reason for

this is implied above. Political blocs within the basin have form ulate d their dis-

tinct identities in terms o f their relationship t o each oth er and in terms of the

categories with which the power center s have bec om e identified. Th e divisions

within the comm unities of

Shlbar are formu lated in religious terms because

sectarian categories are the overriding social distin ction s in th e society and be-

cause th e ecological s etting in Shibar is more favorable t o internal division.

Why d o comm unities in Shibar divide while those elsewhere in Bamian do

not Fission am ong com mu nity mem bers actually doe s take place throughout

Barnian, bu t on ly in Shibar d o ecologic circumstanc es allow those losing a dispute

t o remain on their lands. Inhere nt in Bamian s com mu nities everywhere contra-

dictory tensions act both t o pull its mem bers together a nd t o rend them apart.

Dissenting persons in these co mm unitie s generally eithe r must acquiesce to com-

mu nity opinion or leave hom e, and their emigration enables their communities

to retain the appearance of social solidarity.

Th e strength of this

h n d of solidarity, however, varies according to the

different ecologic circumstances of each co mm un ity. Ecologic cond itions in

Shibar are most conducive t o a breakdown in com mu nity solidarity because of

the imp ortance o f rainfall agriculture, which unlike irrigation agriculture, re-

quires little group solidarity. Nevertheless, even in Shibar a com mu nity does not

allow dissident persons to remain on their lands unless they are situate d where

the natu ral water supply is abu nda nt and accessible. Division can take this form

in such com munities where factioning witho ut spatial relocation is a feasible

option.

How does conversion take place if it is said to be impossible Conversion

of individual families and small groups takes place under the circumstances

described above, and represents an at tem pt on the part of disputing persons to

realign themselves to a noth er g roup of sharing kinsmen. Such a social realign-

ment for tactical reasons eventually becomes expressed in ideological terms so

that the disputants become reckoned as kinsmen of the new group and their

former kinship ties are discarded.



CONCLUSION 115

SOME GEN ERA L APPLICATIONS

This solution seems applicable t o t w o problem s o f e th ni c an d religious

grouping elsewhere in Afghanistan. One of these is the lac k of congruence be-

tween ethnic and religious iden tities in A fghanistan. Generally the et hn ic and

religious criteria of social ident ity coincide so th at a Hazara is assumed t o be

Imami, a Tajik to be S unni, etc . T h s coincidence is n o t p erf ec t, however. While

most Afghans are Sunnis, there are also Imami Afghans and Ismaili ~fghans.'

Whereas most Hazaras are Imamis or Ismailis, there are Sunni Hazaras as well-the

eb Zainat Hazaras of Badgis (no rthwest of Mazar-i-Sharif) an d their relatives, the

Tatan.' And people known as Tajiks, the second largest ethn ic category in the

country, are not all Sunnis: in eastern and n orth ern Afghanistan and elsewhere in

Central Asia Tajiks are Sunnis; but in weste rn Afghanistan (e.g., Ghoria n) an d Iran

they are Imamis, and in the Pamir Mountains Tajik groups (called Mountain

Taliks or Pamir Tajiks ) are I s m d i s (Fig. I I) .

A complete explanation of this irregularity is impossible n ow , b ut it is inter-

esting to note that the territorial locations of these various kinds of g rou ps sug-

gest that ethnic and religious alignments in Afghanistan as a whole app rox ima te

the Pattern we have delinea ted fo r Bamian. The several kinds o f S unni popula-

tions control the economic centers o f Afghanistan; the different kinds of Imamis

Occupy marginal lands, eithe r mo unta inous regions (as in ~ a z a r a j a t ) r desert

lands (as in western Afghanistan, e.g., G horian ); and the dif feren t kinds o f

Ismailis occupy the most remote lands of the Hindu Kush-Pamir mountain range

between the centers of Sunni and Imami influence. Suc h a distribution is due

Partly to the nature o f the varied landscape itself, which provides she lter t o the

different interest groups, and partly t o the sectarian na tur e o f the Afghan state.

The other problem to which o ur analysis may apply is the relation between

race and cultural identity in Afghanistan. Many ethnic groups are believed t o be

distinct and th erefo re easily distinguishable by phe notype as well

as

cul-

ture.

n

Bamian, racial type , while grossly related t o et hn ic iden tity , is no t a Pre-

cise criterion. Th e Hazaras, though generally Mongoloid, are no t all pheno -

typically distinct and som e persons calling themselves Tajiks look very

Mongoloid. Th e relations there fore between racial typ e and cu ltural identity a re

rather loose. Some persons, desp ite the ir racial appearance, have passed fro m

1

T he A fgh an I sm ai li s ap p aren t ly k eep th e ir fa i th very secre t , for k n ow of n o o n e ou ts id e

t he s e ct w h o i s a w ar e o f th e ir e x i s t e n c e . a m t o l d t h at t h e y a re a w e a l t h y c o m m u n i t y o

P u Jh tu -speak in g occu p at ion a l sp ec ia li s t s In eas tern A fgh an i stan . T h ey s h ou ld n o t b e con -

fused with the R o s h a n is o f s ev er al c e n t u r ie s e g o ( C a r oe , 1 9 5 8 ) .

Ferrier's day

1

830s) the Taters were kn ow n as Tatar Hazaras or Hazara Tatars.

T h e T atars en cou n tered o f ten id en t i f i ed th em se lves as in it ial ly as T aj ik , b u t even tu a lly e x -

p la in ed th at th ey w ere T atars . N o n e o f th e m , h ow ever , id en t if i ed th em se lves as Hazara of

an y typ e . T h e T atars gen eral ly h ave s t ron g M on go lo id f ea tu res , l ik e th e H azaras .



CONCLUSION 117

one cultural group to an ot he r. As on e Hazara said of a sibling o f an ance stor,

Dahla became Tajik (see Bac on, 19 5 8 :6 ,7 , 18). Presu mab ly, a Hazara 'be-

comes Tajik by identifying w ith Sun nism an d becoming absorbed int o the

Sunni Tajik population.

The phen otype of a n individual would seem t o deter such passing if he

strongly evinced characteristic racial fea tures a nd if t he so ciety tolerate d n o

in-

termarriage between racial groups. In A fghanistan S un ni me n som etime s marry

non-Sunni wom en, bu t Hazara m en rarely marry Sunn i wom en. Hazara men

may in rare circumstances conv ert t o Sunnism a nd marr y S unni wom en. Pre-

sumably, in such cases th e racial id en tity o f these me n eventually b ecom es lost.

If not clearly Mongoloid in appe aranc e, t he (form er) Hazara m ay himself even-

tually be regarded as a Caucasian as well s S u ~ i .f no t he, then his children

would more certainly b e recognized a s full mem bers o f th e S unni socie ty; they

would be more easily considere d Caucasian a nd Sunn i, for they would betray

fewer distinctive racial fea tures an d be fully socialized i nt o S unni cultur e.

Not only have individual Hazaras beco me Tajiks bu t even whole groups of

Hazaras in some areas ma y have made th is transitio n. Th e Tatars of Turkes tan

were once know n as Hazara T ata rs (Ferrier, 185 7) and bear str ong Mongoloid

features, bu t today t he y call themselves 'Tajiks an d are Sunnis. Also, there are

populations calling themselves Tajiks in Jalm esh and Gh and ak whose appear-

ance and lunship terms suggest a Mongol an cestry

;

unlike most Tajiks they

terminologically distinguish between elder and younger siblings, a trait common-

ly found am ong Hazaras an d Mongols (Bacon, 1958 ).

THEOR ETICAL CONCLUSIONS

Implicit in the argum ent of this study has been a broad claim: tha t the

ethnic and sectarian groups form ing the rural mosaics of th e Middle East and

Central Asia, an d specifically o f Afghanistan, are n ot merely d iffere nt cultural

groups transm itting their characteristic traditio ns from the past, bu t are also PO-

litical units existing in tension within their socio-political contexts.

Such political units have been identified by various terms. Easton (1959 )

has distinguished rural and m inority intere st groups in a plural society fro m na-

tional political system s, calling them parapolitical structure s. This distinction

is merely one of relative pow er (see Bailey, 1968) . Similarly, Barth (1 969a) and

Abner Cohen (19 69) have em ploye d the term ethnic group and suggest tha t

ethnicity is merely a form of political grouping:

Ethnic ity is basically a political and not a cultural phe nom eno n,

and it operates within contemporary political contexts and is not an archaic

survival arrangement carried over into the present by conservative people

A . Cohen, 1969: 178).



1 1 8


Both Barth and Cohen believe that ethnicity may be distinguishable by different

kinds of cultu ral criteria , e.g., race, tribe, caste, language, et c. Therefore the more

general term interest group is preferred.

Interest groups have tw o features vital t o their existence. First, they share

some com mo n econo mic an d political interests and co nsequen tly stand together

in opposition t o o ther groups and the state. In urban contexts well-to-do interest

groups maintain their identities to pro tect vital econom ic monopolies (A. Cohen,

1969 ), while underprivileged g roups coalesce t o guard w hat com mo n economic

and political interests they share (Morse, 19 65 ; Gonzales, 1970). Similarly, in

nrral settings mino rity gro ups congeal to pro tect mu tual concerns, especially to

avoid the increased costs, such s taxa tion and conscription, of articulating with

the national structures.

Th e second vital featu re o f inte rest groups is their cultu ral distinctiveness.

Minority interest groups typically congeal around e thn ic and religious customs

tha t characterize their distinctive ide nti ty. Th ey are therefore relatively difficult

for a ruling institution t o control. Abner Cohen

(1969 :3) h as pointed o ut that

ethn ic a nd religious inte rest groups are especially suitable fo r evading governmen-

tal pressures, for a state can only at great cost con trol th e customs o f marriage,

kinship, friendship, an d ritual among its citizenry. And it is just such customs

that can b ecom e the social forms aro und which inform al political interest groups

congeal.

There is characteristically a tension between an interest gro up an d other

similar groups in its field of social relations, bu t the m os t decisive tension is that

between the group and the state. Bailey has pointed o u t that interest groups

are partly regulated by , and partly ind epen den t o f, larger encapsulating po-

litical structu res; and

so t o sp eak, fight ba ttles with these larger struc-

tures in a war which fo r them seldom, if ever, ends in victo ry, rarely in

dram atic defea t, bu t usually in a long drawn stalemate and defeat by attri-

tion (1968:281).

The nature of the ruling institution affects interest groups in three ways.

First, it influences the degree to wh ich they may remain discrete, solidary units.

Abner C ohen has note d that in some African nations tribesmen who immigrate

t o th e cities become less com mitted to tribal loyalties while in some oth er coun -

tries they becom e m ore tribalized. The difference, h e suggests, is a consequence

of the different poses which the African states take toward their minority

groups.

Th e degree

to

which interest groups can develop in a society depends

on the type of state system tha t prevails in that so ciety . Som e states per-

mit high degree of political pluralism, by allowing the form atio n

of

a

wide variety

of

formally organized interest groups. Oth er states are less



CONCLUSION 119

tolerant but d o no t prevent the form ation of inform l nterest groups.

Yet other states do no t tolera te even such inform al interest grou ps and d o

their utmost to suppress them (A . Co he n,

1969:3 .

Second, a state s stru ctur es affect th e cultura l iden tities of interest groups.

Since an interest grou p, in orde r t o rema in ap art, m ust id enti fy itself in distinctly

contrastive cultural terms, its cultural id entity of ten appears as a kin d of comple-

mentary opposite t o the identity of the state. Thu s, the cultural categories

around which a state coalesces defines th e te rms in wh ich the interest g roup will

express its distinctiveness. As cultural iden tities o f th e wider society change, th e

distinctive cultural feature s of an intere st gro up may have to adju st also. Abner

Cohen (1969) has described h ow the Hausa of Sab o, Ibadan, refo rmu lated their

distinctive characteristics in orde r t o maintain their social ide nti ty. In a some-

what different way t he categ ories of social ide nti ty in Afghanistan have changed.

At one time the iden tities of political groups were defined in terms of patrilineal

descent groups: Hazaras versus Afghans versus Tajik s versus Uzbeks, etc . But as

the coalition of A fghan tribes grew in to a ruling institutio n, the disposition of

the rulership toward Sunnism-expressed in its application of Su nni (i.e., Hanafi)

interpretations of Islamic law in the c our ts and its appeal for popular sup po rt as

a

Sunni coalition-endowed it with a Sun ni iden tity, thoug h it was still domi-

nated by Afghans. Op pos ition t o the rising Sun ni power was expressed in the

antithetical sectarian categories of h a m i s m and Ismailism. Thus, superimposed

upon patrilineal descent loyalties there were sectarian loyalties: Sunn is versus

Imamis versus Ismailis.

The third way in w hich state struc tures affec t interest groups is in the loca-

tion of rural interest grou p territories. Since the administration and c on trol

of

interest groups entail costs as well as benefits t o the ruling insti tut ion , cost-

benefit factors set fun ctional limits on the state s ability profitably to control

these groups. In rural areas these limits app ear as the territorial boundaries

forming the interest group mosaic. Thus, the mosaic of rural interest groups

traces certain social fron tiers of t he na tional administration (see Ge llner,

1970 .

Such has been the co ncep tion of interest gro up structures em ployed in this

analysis. The interest groups of Afghanistan are no t merely traditionalistic, con-

servative groups which , owing t o geographic isolation, have been bypassed by the

progress of history in the larger soc iety. They are also political and econo mic

groups whose traditional custom s and religious identities help p rotect vital con -

cerns.



PPENDIXI

PUBLIC CEREMONIES

T H I S Appendix is

a

supplement to Chapter

IV.

Th e public ceremonies for

which kinsmen come togethe r are described

in

tw o sections, Rites of

Pas

sage and Special Religious Occasions.

RITES O F PASSAGE

Childhood Rites

Infant mortality being quite

high,

the b irth of a child is n o t celebrated elab-

orately. But if the child lives, th e ce lebration s of his developm ent as a social per-

son successively grow in im portan ce, culm inating

in

the ce lebration of his mar-

riage, for this is the symbol of his a du ltho od .

The women are the main persons to celebrate the birth and grow th of a

child prior to his circumcision. Before he is born , a few women closely related to

the pregnant moth er join her o n a da y called

kaaluu-buroani,

clothes cutting, in

0rder to prepare clothing for the in fan t. Fru it and rice and meat (palaw) is usual-

ly served by the more well-to-do families; otherwise bread, pastry, and tea.

Similarly, at t he time o f th e appearance of a baby's first to ot h a few closely

related persons in wealthy families, mo stly w omen , may ea t a meal toge ther called

dandaani dandmn

tooth ). Sarkali, '%headshaving, is done when a boy is one

Year old. One of t he most elderly relatives of the child will shave the ch ild's head

in the presence of t he close relatives in expression of the hope tha t the child will

@ow to the age of the man performing the act. meal is provided for those who

come. The female guests give petty am ou nts of money 5 to 2 5 afghanis) s gifts

to women of the household . This is called shakerreyz, sugar-pouring.

Circumcision is prescribed for

ll

males of

an

Islamic comm unity and initi-

ates young men in to the bod y of a dult believers who pray together; until cir-

cumcised, children o f Imami pa rents, considered unbelievers ha fa r ) , are not

allowed to eat from the same dish

s

the men. In all the sects, boys are circurn-

cised between the ages of three and nine, usually ab ou t five.



22


Circumcision is don e in t he fall of the year (early Mizan) by an itinera te

group of tw o or three barbers from outside th e com mu nity , usually Maydaan.

They play music on th e night before the c ircumcision. Usually feasts are served

tha t night by the families circumcising a boy . Families wh o can afford it often

spend m uch on such feasts and invite relatives from far and n ear t o enjoy it with

the m. Those wh o cann ot afford a feast consisting of rice an d meat (palaw) will

serve tea a nd pastry. Next day , before the barbers leave, all the designated boys

in the c om mu nity are circumcised at one time.

Marriage

Marriage initiate s you ng persons in to ad ultho od . It is considered a religious

du ty because th e Pro phet Muham mad m arried, and his life is considered a stand-

ard of faith and practice. To m arry, many believe, is t o gain merit w ith God.

Not to m arry is a sin.

Marriage ceremonies involve more relatives t ha n any ot he r rite o f passage

and e pitomiz e the intricacy of reciprocal giving between kinsmen. A marriage is

joined by a series of increasingly larger social gatherings throu gh which the rela-

tives of the bride and groom endorse the marriage by their presence and their

witnessing of t he presentations of goods, and express solidarity in the common

consu mption of foo d. Th e consensus of th e relatives is the ultimate sanction of

th e marriage. Even thoug h official registration is necessary, the governm ent is

nevertheless dep end ent on th e testimonials of local elders fo r marriage registra-

tion.

The stages of progressive publicity and economic expenditure are the early

search for a wife, th e proposal, the engagem ent, the wedding, and the post-

marital transac tions. These stages are here described in detail because o f the im-

portance of the social bonds created by marriage.

When the m en get together they talk among oth er things abo ut girls: who

is the new prospect for marriage, how much h er bride price may be, wh o may

bid for her, how old she is, whe ther her parents are ready t o marry her off now,

etc . Th ey always ask wh ethe r she is pre tty. Girls in rural com munities, being

unveiled, may easily be seen, though seldom do es a man talk t o a girl not closely

related. Older men do no t marry wom en they have no t first seen. Older as well

as younger men can take an interest in you ng girls because under Islamic law

they may have four wives; even mo re are sometim es had b y the very rich in cer-

tain remote districts.

Th e women k now better who the prospective brides are and how suitable

they may be as wives. While a

girl s beauty is imp orta nt t o th e men, her tem-

perament is impo rtant t o the women. Girls known for

a

bad temper and the

daughters of ill-tempered women are not desired.

Arrangements for a first marriage are always made by parents or guardianr.



PUBLIC CEREM ONIES

Other marriages are initiated by th e adult me n themselves. In bo th cases, how-

ever, initial con tact is made through representatives (wakils), who at first are

usually women. A woman o n behalf of he r son , o r (in the m other's absence) her

younger brother, approach es the fem ale relatives of the bride an d prop oses a

marriage. Usually first proposals are refused or d elayed, so it is expecte d th at

several visits w ll have to be ma de . Refusals an d delays give the girl's family time

to inquire abo ut the suitor and t o develop a consensus abo ut t he proposal. If th e

girl's family agrees, a male from th e boy's family is sen t t o prop ose more form al-

ly

to the girl's father or guardian.

Engagements are com mo nly mad e even when the children are quite yo ung.

A certain woman, for exam ple, told me tha t her daugh ter was engaged t o a boy

named Mir Amad. He asked for her when she was very young, ab out five or six

years old. He is no w

25

and she

14

When he first asked for her th e mo the r and

father would no t agree. Bu t so many of his family visited th em so oft en , always

staying late, that they wore her family out . They finally agreed to give her t o

Mir Arnad, bu t only later. Th ey , the m oth er said, wou ld wait anoth er two years,

but h r Amad told me separately that he hoped t o marry the next sum mer.

After th e initial proposal is privately acc epted a few men f rom t he boy's

close relatives-e.g., Fa, Br, FaBr, FaBrSo-bring lu m p sugar t o the girl's family.

Everyone eats lum p sugar an d drink s tea supplied by th e girl's fam ily. This is

hewn as the breaking of hard sugar (qan d shekestmni) and signals a private

agreement of the marriage.

A few days later a t a time set by the girl's fathe r, they come again for a

s irini khori, eating sweets, which is the formal engagem ent cerem ony . Tajiks

bring only f ruit and lum p sugar; Hazaras send in advance the necessary ingredients

for a feast.' If the fo od sewed is only fru it and lum p sugar it is distrib uted

among the guests by the father o f th e girl, som etimes in teacups, but some times

(among the w ealthier Tajiks) in small scarves which are then k ep t as favors by the

guests. To th e shirini kho ri more men from the boy's family com e, some times as

many as

SO for richer families, bu t usually only five or six amon g the poor. Rela-

tively fewer relatives of the girl attend this feast.

The groom is among th e guests. If a meal is served, after the m eal the host

tells the groom th at it

was cooked by a certain daugh ter of his. This indicates his

acceptance of th e marriage. Com mon ly, one of th e boy's family forthrightly asks

the girl's father three times if he has promised his dau ghter t o this bo y ; each time

of course he replies affirmatively. Then they eat the lum p sugar and tea tog ether

in celebration of this engagem ent. Finally, they pray tha t God will bless this

agreement. After th e shirini khori the boy is allowed to visit his father-in-law

but cannot stay overnight.

An example of the goods and amounts sent in advance for a typical shirini khorl s the fol-

lowing: two sets of clothes two or three rings

a

pair of shoes

a

watch; eight pounds of hard

c andy one sheep sixteen pounds of ghi; eighty poundr of rice.



FACTION

AND


Th e wome n also meet for shirini khori. Prior t o the shirini khori some of

the close female relatives in the groom's family bring a small gift t o the m other

of t he girl, usually clothing, bu t som etimes m one y (perhaps

2 afghanis apiece).

Later they bring clothing for t he bride, consisting, fo r exam ple, of gold earrings,

a gold ring, a necklace, an embro idered blouse a nd p antaloon s, and a head scarf.

In

add ition t o these things, the closest female relatives of the boy-his mother,

sisters, an d aunts-will each send similar personal item s of cloth ing t o the bride.

ll

these gifts are brough t t o th e girl's hou se o n a tray covered w ith a cloth, and

on the way they sometimes sing and play the tamb ourine. The tray of gifts is

paraded o n someone's hea d. At th e girl's ho use, where the wo me n of the bride's

famdy have gathered, the groom's mo the r gives each item o n the tray t o the

bride's m othe r, displaying it t o everyone present.

The mo ther of the girl should lat er rec iprocate the specific personal gifts of

th e groom's female relatives, and if possible, double th e am ou nt . Th e shirini

khori am ong the wom en malnly consists of giving these gifts a nd consum ing tea

and hard sugar. At th e very en d, the bride som etimes gives her m other-in-law

some lu m p sugar in

an

embroidered cloth for the groom.

Seldom does a marriage ta ke place earlier than three m on ths afte r an en-

gagement, and usually it is much later. There are tw o reasons. One is tha t en-

gagements are ofte n m ade years before th e girl, an d of ten the boy , reach marriage-

able age. Ano ther is th at th e boy's family needs time t o mu ster

the

funds for the

wedding cos ts and the bride price. In any case, the obje ct of the early engagement

ceremonies is to confirm publicly the verbal marriage agreem ent an d t o secure it

until the marriage can be consum ma ted.

Am ong the Hazaras agreement on the bride price usually occurs when the

proposal is acc epte d. Custom arily, the girl's fa ther sks for an exorbitan t amount

and then eventually, if seriously interested in engaging his daughter to the suitor,

comes down to a price current a t the time.

Sometimes, when the marriage cann ot be consum ma ted for some months

or years the Hazaras hold a toykhord little marriage, feas t. This is essentially

similar t o the shirini khori b ut involves more people. Th e crucial object of toyk-

hord is to make the engagement more public, and hence mo re secure, by a rather

larger feast preliminary to an expected lengthy delay in the actual marriage cere-

mo ny. During this period of waiting the boy should take gifts of clothing to his

fiancee an d t o her m oth er o n special occasions, such as on Id o r New Year's Day.

In return, he

is

sometimes given a kind of pastry

qadmal).

He is allowed to

sleep in his father-in-law's house with out conjugal rights.

When the boy's family is ready for the marriage, several men fro m the fam-

ily

call

on the girl's father an d indicate their readiness t o have the marriage feast.

Am ong the Tajiks

this

is the time for finalizing the bride price. As mentioned

earlier, among the Hazaras the bride price has usually already been set.

day for paying the bride price is set. Usually

a

meal is eate n by a number



126

FACTION AND CON VERSION IN A PLURAL SOCIETY

has been prepared fr om ingredients sent in advance by t he groom's family. The

mullah-imam of th e com mu nity pe rforms the marriage ceremony neka). In a

recorded cerem ony in Shibar th e mullah-imam began the ce remo ny with the fol-

lowing words:

You who are endow ed with p urity a nd greatness, who are in charge

of this meeting, you are here with these h onora ble and respectable people

to be witnesses of this even t.

We

want t o d o this according to th e law of

Muhammad so tha t n o one will have any com plaint. [T hen he asked three

times if anyo ne had anyth ing to say against the marriage.]

Th e neka cerem ony c oncludes with the singing of official papers by the mullah-

imam a nd th e rnir. Later th e judge signs also.

After the neka the groom goes to th e ro om where his bride is waiting with

the oth er women. The groom's path is obstruc ted by a wom an from the bride's

family dema ndin g a gift, called mr - i - b i b i , t o w or offering t o Bibi (i.e., t o

Fatem a, the daughter of Muhammad). This is supposed to contribu te t o Fatema's

merit in heaven and thus in retu rn win he r intercessory favor on their behalf. As

the groom en ters the room where the bride and oth er women are waiting, the

bride's m othe r throw s coins on him ; this is her own m oney . He in return throws

coins on his bride. Th e female guests pick u p most of the m oney .

Th e groom a nd bride are escorted t o their relatives, of ten singing, dancing,

and shooting a gun, if available, to the groom's house. They go on fo ot if the

groom's residence is in th e same village or neighbo rhood, o r, if fur ther away, on

horseback, by car, or truck. A woman from each family accompanies the couple

t o their home. The on e from the bride's family remains over night to obtain the

evidence of her virginity, which she carries back to the girl's family. When the

wed ding party reaches the groom's house the fcmale me mb ers of his family throw

coins (among the Tajiks) or pastry (among th e Hazaras) on th e couple. These are

gathered up by o the r persons in the party.

After the girl is deposited in the house, the groom returns outside where his

qaw mi say a prayer (duwas) for hrm, that God will bless him and his household.

In return he thanks his qawrni for their help. You have gone to mu ch trouble

for my marriage, he tells them , and he concludes with a prayer, such as May

G od give wives t o those of you w ho have non e and may He reward any supplica-

tion you make before Him.

Next da y the wom en of the bride's family com e t o the groom's house for

lunch with the wo men o f his family. They bring the trousseau of the bride at

t is

time.3

The

boy's mother gives a gift known as khefu or t o seven of the

3 ~ h etems in on e Tajik girl's trousseau were er fo llo ws : Three box es of c loth ing,

e

mattress

and p i llow, b lankets , couple ofdes tarkhans (c loths on which food s spread), a few hand-

kerchkfs.

chedon veil

fall in t o the ankles) , 2 0 dresses, 2 0 scarves, 2 0 pantaloons , four

p u r r o f s h oe r,

3

hats, (all made by the bride herself), 3 0 embroidered drop c loth s, 3 0



PUBLIC CEREMONIES 127

women closest t o the bride, consisting of a scarf and a dress for each. Th at m orn-

ing

the women are allowed t o see th e bride bu t for this privilege they mu st pay a

few coins to the w oman wh o came w ith he r fo r th e night.

The fifth day after th e wedding is th e da y of takhtakuni, hitting the

board. This is the day when t he bride begins to work in the hou seh old . Th e

seven women t o whom th e groom's m ot he r gave gifts supply m ost o f t he food

for a feast t o which th e women of t he girl's qaw m co m e for a lun ch. Af ter this

the bride goes t o work.

A few days later th e groom's mo ther distributes some o f th e smaller i tems

(mainly the mirrors and hats) from th e bride's trousseau t o the wom en o f the

household.

A month o r so after the wedding, the bride's m othe r invites her and her

husband t o come stay for a few days. This is called paywazi. Th ey are accom-

panied on the first night by several me n and wom en from t he boy's family. If

they live near enough , until t he time o f paywazi t he bride's mo the r ha s daily sent

a bowl of pudding t o the newlyweds. At t he paywazi the bride's father, if able,

gives her an animal su ch as a co w, calf, or sh eep as a personal gift.

Death

When a person becomes so sick th at it is feared he will die, the relatives

gather. The host feeds the visitors and provides them with bedding. T he visitors

and members of t he family d o what they can t o make the sufferer physically

comfortable, bu t they are equally concerned t o suppo rt him spiritually. It is be-

lieved that the pain of de ath, thoug h very great (more painful for th e sinful man

than t he righteous), can be relieved by th e recitation of th e so-called Yasin Sura

(XXXIV), which is

in

the exact middle of the Qura n. relative repeats th e Yasin

Sura for the aff licte d one th rough his final mo m ents of d eath . It is also believed

absolutely necessary that he remem ber the muslim creed in orde r t o iden tify him-

self as a true believer t o the angels wh o are to exam ine his beliefs soon a fter his

death; conseq uently, a relative continually repeats th e creed to him. Fur ther , as

it is believed th at imm ediately upo n his death Satan will tem pt him by offering

him wine (w h c h is forbidden t o muslims) t o quench his thirst,

a

relative will

sprinkle droplets of water on his l ips t o assuage his thirst and thus help him t o

resist. Th e phrase water is drop ping on his lips (labesh a b

chakak

mekona s

a euphemism fo r he is dying.

d r a w - s t r in p f or h er p a n t al o o ns , 3 0 m i rro rs, 3 0 c o m b s , t w o p o u n d s o f t hr ea d , a b o x o f ~ 0 6 -

met ics , on e rather s imple si lver necklace and one exp ensive valued at 5 0 0 rfghanb ) necklace.

a pair o f silver bracelets, and a pair o f upper arm bands in wh ich am ulets are carried, 2 0 rings.

a

coat

chopan)

for the g room , and turbans for his c losest friends w h o t oo k part n the mar-

riage cerernon

y .



128


A PLUR L

SOCIETY

Immediately after dea th th e hands are laid across the body and the legs

are straightened. Should this no t be don e before the b ody stiffens, it is a cause

of great embarrassment t o th e family, as it indicates their failure t o care prop-

erly fo r their own. Th e body is washed by a close relative of the same sex,

usually a father, brot her , or son o f a male; a m oth er, sister, or daughter of a

female. The ritual o f washing is do ne d ifferently according to the stipulation of

each sect. Then th e bo dy is wrapped in a cloth. It must be buried within 24

hours.

It is no t conside red proper t o cry while th e su fferer is still alive, bu t when

he is clearly dead the female relatives of the deceased begin t o wail. During the

night before th e burial, moreover, mullahs recite the Q uran , if the family can

afford t o pay fo r this service. Th e very wealthy pay several mullahs or

qaaris

(men w ho have memorized the entire Quran) t o recite the Quran through the

night.

In

this case, they recite different p ortio ns all at the same tim e, so that

the entire Quran can be recited in one night.

An

edition of the Quran is pub-

lished in fascicles fo r this kind of recitation.) At th e end of the recitation of each

section the mullah o r qaari says I have recited th is on the behalf of

9

9

giving th e deceased th e merit in the hereafter. Those who recite through the

night, besides their usual pay , are fed a meal by the host family.

Next day the body is carried on a co t t o the cemetery by the male qawrni

and friends of the deceased, each taking a turn at one of its corners along the

way. Th e grave is dug by his qawmi. After the burial kinsmen and friends re-

peat parts of the Quran as prayers on his behalf. Three witnesses testify t o his

good character a t the graveside. Imamis often eat a feast for the deceased at

the grave. Finally, (mainly among the Sunnis) a few afghanis are given in small

change to the poor wh o are present. The mullah imam is also paid his fee and

in addition he sometim es keeps the small rug on which he said prayers at the

graveside.

After a death the kinsmen are obliged to pay a courtesy visit on the family

of the deceased.

This is called a faoteya (Arabic: faotehah). Th e family serves

foo d to th e visitors for the first three days afte r the de ath , and thereafter only

tea. (Ismaili families serve n o meals during the first three days, bu t afterwards

slaughter a cow and distr ibu te the parts raw to the kinsmen.) visitor shows his

grief by sitting far from the d oo r and staying longer than others. T o the family

he is supposed t o offer a few words of com fort: He died, bu t we will all die

too , At least he was a good man: he was never a liar or thief, he never took

ano ther man's wife, How lucky he was t o have died on a Friday (or in a

lucky month), ' Thank Go d he died with a good name , tha t he has many

qawmi t o bury him, Thank Go d he didn't die in jail, etc. The visitor says a

prayer for the dead af ter the meal or the tea that is served.

The faateya and several othe r meals tha t follow are known as khayrat-e-

mo r h

offering for the dead. A khay rat-e-morda feast is given on th e seventh



PUBLIC CEREM ONIES 12 9

night, and also sometimes on the first ~ r i d a ~ ~fter the deat h. This is n o longer

practiced among the Ismailis. At the n ex t Id celeb ration it is also cus tom ary t o

give another khayrat-e-morda feast o n behalf of th e deceased, a t w hich tim e

visitors will say to their host, Id-e-morda mubarak, a blessed Id for the dead.

One of the reasons fo r these feasts is that, as it is said, the nam e o f the

deceased will no t dep art from the people's lips. It is im po rtant th at many peo-

ple should come to do faa teya because this show s that the deceased and his

family have many friends. An other reason fo r the feasts is t o encourage th e

visitors to pray fo r the dead. This is an explicit pu rpose of th e faate ya meal and

the other

khayrats for the dead . The value of the faateya, said one person, is

that the people pray for them. The mullah imam usually recites a prayer after

the meal and all the men present raise their hand s, palms up , and pray that God

forgive the deceased. One person said people com e an d pray n o ma tte r how

they really feel abou t the dead person because they wan t t o eat the food.'

Some people actually sponsor the ir own khayrat-e-morda before they die.

'I''he five children of an elderly wealthy wo man gave a khayrat-e-m orda fo r he r

before she died, because they believed a khayrat before death would be worth

many times more than after death . After the khay rat she could no t eat the

khayrat food for anyone else. If she went t o a kha yrat feast she had t o be fed

by different food . After she dies, there may be an oth er khayrat-e-morda for her.

Khayrat-e-morda feasts are sometimes und ertaken at great cost t o th e sur-

viving family. A certain man told me, for exam ple, tha t t he previous spring his

wife had fallen through a fau lty bridge and, as the river was at t ha t time violently

at flood tide, drowned . In order t o get

2

afghanis for the costs of the faateya

for her, he had t o tu rn over three seyrs6 of his land as security for a loan (called

geraw . Altogether he had only seven seyrs of land, barely enough for him t o

live on already, so this am ounte d t o th e loss of almost half o f his already meager

capital assets. Though technically h e could regain the use of this land by repay-

ing the loan, he was no t likely to d o so fo r some time, if ever, because his re-

sources were below the threshold of survival. He was att em pti ng to supp lem ent

his income by managing a tea sh op , bu t had very few paying visitors.

The rituals associated with de ath , while obviously aimed at helping a so-

cial person dep art from th e group, also brings the surviving persons in to social

interaction and mutual obligation. The members of the group come to the house

of the bereaved family to assist in the w ork and t o offer condolences; food is

This is the night before the day o f Friday, as a night is cou nte d as part o f the day fol lo win g

It.

lslamic tradltion assures that prayers for the dead are effica ciou s. O ne scholar, for exa m ple,

m it e s , If a com mu nlty o f Muslims, a hundred strong, perform the SU lat (funeral prayers)

over a Muslim and all pray fo r hls sins to be forgiven h lm , this prayer will aurely be gran ted

~ M u s l l m ,Djanalir, tradltion

8 ;

quoted in Gibb and Kramers

1953

article o n shafa'ot).

A

seyr

Is sixteen p w = f i f teen poun ds) . reyr o f land ir a tract o f land on wh ich a seyr

of seed i s sow n.

Th e actual size varler according to the qu ality o f the roll .



13


served; prayers are offered fo r the departed one as an expression of solidarity

with t he family wh o has served th e foo d. In this way obligations are built up

for f uture reciprocation as th e circumstances require.

SPECIAL REL IGIOUS OCCASIONS

Most of th e social occasions already described have religious implications:

the rite of circumcision, as men tioned before, initiates the young m an in to the

body of ad ult believers who pray tog eth er; marriage is considered a religious

du ty , as it em ulates the Prophet's exa mp le; and funeral ceremonies of course

conform t o religious prescriptions. Certain oth er ceremonies through which kins-

men are drawn together, however, are solely justified in religious terms. These

are the Id festivities, th e religious distrib ution s known as

zakat

(alms), and other

religious con tribu tion s know n as khayrats

Id Celebrations

There are three festive occasions of t he yearly calen dar, Id-i-Fetr-i-Roza,

Festival of breaking th e fast, Id-i-Q orban, festival of sacrifice, and New

Year's Day. Id-i-Fetr-i-Roza an d Id-i-Qorban are essentially religious holidays,

appearing on the lunar calendar and retrograding on the solar calendar 1

days

per year. New Year's Day is based on the solar calendar and falls a t the time of

the vernal equin ox (March 2 1). It is no t actually a religious holiday to Sunnis,

though many actually celebrate it in the same way as the other Id holidays, but

to lmamis it is a day o f special religious significance because on this day Ali took

office as Calif. New Year's Day is the refore considered an Id (festival) and most

of th e routine observances of the day are th e same as on the oth er Ids.

On an Id new clothes are worn, kinsmen of all sorts are visited, and prayers

are said publicly. Also on an Id , food is shared. Usually on th e night o f an Id,

each family eats its meal separately but sends gifts of cooked food from their

own feast by the hand of a child t o their relatives, affmes as well as agnates. he

next few days kinsmen may entertain each other in a reciprocal pattern known

as meymoni dawra feasting by turns (or circularly). The families who par-

ticipate in meyrnani dawra are those of the qawm comm un ity , usually termino-

logical awdurs (FaBr) and awdu rzadas (FaBrSo) of each oth er , bu t it may also

include geographically close affines of the qawm co m m un ity ; sometim es closely

interrelated qawm com mu nities participate togeth er in the meymani dawra.

following is a description of the m eymani dawra:

On o ne day we gather, maybe 15 or 20 people from six or seven

households-we're all awdurs o r awdurzadas of each other- to have a noon



PUBLIC

CEREMONIES

meal, say, at m y house. We eat rice, m eat, tea, etc., and afterward s there

will be music, singing an d talking. Th en a t th e end we pra y th at G od will

advance Islam e veryw here, and rew ard all his people, an d th at H e will make

everyone a t peace.

The n before we leave, on e of th e others cal ls o u t , Tonight you must

come to my house. So everyone comes that night and greets each other,

and eats together . Th e hos t may spend 5 00 or a 10 00 afghanis on this

meal.

At tha t meal an oth er calls o ut Brothers , all of yo u , yo u have eaten

here and elsewhere. Tom orrow yo u m ust eat at m y place; yo u can not go

anywhere else. I have spent 5 00 afghanis for a sheep and as much mo re on

oth er things, so I beg you t o come to my house . Of course we want t o

eat there-and if he didn't invite us, i t would an no y us-so we say, Don't

be un hap py , we'll com e.

The n at that meal ano the r gets u p and says, All of you are rich and

I am poor amo ng yo u. But if

I should o nly have som e barley-and-fava bean

bread an d a few bowls of butterm ilk, would you com e and eat? The n we

say, of course, a thousand t imes, ou r bro the r, you are a good friend to

everyone. We will come. But when we go , instead of bread made from

fava bean an d barley , buttermilk and th e like, there is a great feast prepared

fo r us: rice, meat, soup-everything

in

abundan ce. S o we a ll th ink to our-

selves, I should d o mo re than this poo r man. And they all t ry to d o

twice as mu ch , lest people thin k badly of them .

The meymani dawra continue s for three or fo ur days unti l those households

which can afford it have take n their turn .

Religious Distributions

Distributions o f foo d are made o n th e religious holida ys and

at certain othe r

t imes during the year. T he most im po rtan t of these is the dis tribution o f the fresh

meat of a sheep , goat, or cow at Id-i-Qorban, festival o f sacrifice. This distribu-

tion is enjoined up on everyone w ho has enough t o eat. Individual families slaugh-

ter a sheep or goat , bu t a few closely related families, usually brothers or awdur-

zadas (FaBrSo), som etimes jointly purchase and slaughter a cow. Before slaughter

a prayer is recited over the animal, requesting G od t o accept

i t

o n their behalf.

The m eat is shared

wit

qawm i, neighbors and the poor.

An

effo rt is made

to give t o the poor, b ut in pract ice, whether t o poor or rich, the distributions

tend to flow to relatives. T he distributions of fresh meat therefore are largely re-

ciprocal exchanges am ong members of the kinship network .

Ou t of 30 families there may be 2 wh o slaughter

a

sacrifice bu t

1

families may be to o poor . So these go to claim their meat from th e others.



FACTION

AND

CONVERSION IN A

PLUR L

SOCIETY

The

2

families cut th e m eat i nt o as many pieces as there are households

and send i t to each. The others also do th e same,

so

no o ne is left out. But

also they give som ething to a traveller on t he road . The y d o this without

asking anythin g abo ut him, where he

is

fro m , his qaw m, or anything. But

th e mem bers of t he different se cts do their giving separately among them-

selves. The y are on e group and we are anoth er group.

An othe r kind of d istribu tion enjoined o n all muslim s who are financially eli-

gible is th e giving of alms, zakat. Th e zakat is called by the S unnis khayrat-i-fetr-

i-roza

offering for the breaking of fast, because it is given on the first day of

Id-i-fetr-i-roza. Th e zakat is a con tribu tion to th e poo r. Th e ideal order of pref-

erence is, first, to a poor relative, the n t o a po or muslim neighbor, the n, if there

is neither of these, t o any poor muslim, an d failing all of these, t o a poor unbe-

liever. Th e am ou nt of the z ak at is figured variously, but is appro xima tely one-

fortieth of one's yearly gain.

Kha yrats are special distributions o f goods, usually foo d, given w ithout re-

gard for a re turn in order t o gain God's favor. A khay rat can be th e gift of a

candle o r a flag to a shrine, a morsel of bread t o an animal, or even (according to

a story told by an lmarni mullah) water t o a thirsty plant in th e name of God.

Most ofte n kha yrats are offerings of foo d.

Th e khayra t aims to win God's favor in tw o ways. One is by th e sacrifice

which the giver sustains in giving the kha yra t as a kind o f penance. As it is given,

the don or says, May Go d accept this. Th e khay rat is also aimed at educing a

prayer of thanksgiving and intercession from the beneficiary of th e gifts, for it is

believed th e intercession of o ther s results in the spiritual credit of th e giver. At

the end o f a feast, for exa mp le, those who enjoy i t will ask God's blessing on the

host or , for example, on a sick child for whose deliverance the feast is offered.

Thu s, the importan ce of the intercession of kinsmen b efore G od , me ntioned else-

where, is further indicated by the exp enditures for khayrats.

Th e more expensive khayra ts are given as cooke d food. Kh ayrats may be

cooked at a shrine and passed ou t to an yone present, o r cooked at ho me and

served t o friends invited in, or secretly cook ed a nd eaten by only a few, as a

wom an m ight d o when afflicted by a malady she could only share with her clos-

est friends.

Some khayrat feasts are given voluntarily-offered, fo r exam ple, to obtain

relief from a distress, or t o achieve con cep tion. O the r khayrats are specifically

enjoined upon the believer, such as the kha yra te-m ord a, the za kat, and the

qorban i distributions described above. Th e Imamis freq uen tly give khayrat

feasts on t he night of th e ten th o f M oharram in mem ory o f th e slaughter of

Hosayn and his friends. Sunnis an d Ismailis serve sherbet or pudding t o friends.

At t he time o f the vernal and a utum nal equinox es, lmami families eat a

pudding

at a local shrine or at a mosque as a khayra t. Smaller am oun ts of foo d are



PUBLIC CEREMONIES

33

sometimes given s khayrats at other times o f the year in celebration o f some re-

ligious event, such as the Prophet s birthday, or the twenty-seventh of the Arabic

month of Rajab, when Ali is believed t o have converted an acquisitive Jew by his

generosity.



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1973 faction and conversion in a plural society--religious alignments in the hindu kush by canfield...

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