Major Henry George Raverty’s brief work with the title, ‘An account of Upper and Lower Suwat, and the Kohistan, to the source of the Suwat River; with an account of the tribes inhabiting those valleys’ was published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Volume XXXI, No.I. To V. 1862) Calcutta in the year 1862. That work of Major Raverty is produced here on this website for the interest of the readers and research scholars. Raverty wrote: (PART 3)
“That night we remained in Pala’i as guests of the chief, Amirullah, who did all he could to persuade the KHAN SAHIB to give up his journey; but he would neither listen to any excuses, nor admit of any obstacles. At length it was agreed on by Amir-ullah , that he should send one of his most trusty followers to his brother, Mir Aealam Khan, one of the Tarnah chiefs, to let him know, that the KHAN SAIB, (mentioning his name) was on his way to Suwat for the purpose of paying his respects to the Akhund Sahib; and that it was necessary he should treat him with all honours, and perform towards him the rights of service and hospitality, and not allow him to sustain any injury on account of the feud between themselves. The indefatigable Muhammad Eali, who had also come with us to Pala’i, now went with a message to Khurasan Khan, chief of Shir-khana’i and Zor-mandda’i, to let him know that the KHAN SAHIB was coming to his village as a guest, and that he should not be treated as the guest of the preceding day, who had been accidentally killed. This person was a traveler who had been entertained at Pala’i the previous night. In the morning, about dawn he wished the gate open that he might resume his journey. The party there advised him to wait until it got a little lighter, but he would not consent; so they opened it for him. He had scarcely advanced a score of yards when he came upon a party of the enemy from Zor-mandda’i , who were lying in ambush for the Pala’i-wals. One of them, not knowing who it was, fired his matchlock at him, but missed. The guest began to call out, “Dot not fire, do not kill me, I am a guest”. The words had scarcely time to pass his mouth and had not, probably, been heared by the enemy, when five or six matchlocks were discharged at him, two balls from which hit man proved to be of the Utman-khel. The messenger also added on his own part, that knowing who the KHAN SAHIB was, if he should receive any injury from the hands of himself (Khurasan Khan), or his followers, the powerful tribe to which he belonged would burn his villages about his head, and root out all his people. Muhammad Eali, returned with a favourable reply; and on the morning of the 18th August, we proceeded towards Zor-mandda’i, who is only about the distance of a cannon shot from Pala’i; but we were greatly afraid lest the stupidity of the Zor-mandda’i people might lead to try the range of their matchlocks upon us, who would be in danger of our lives, whilst affording amusement to them; as they relate of the Khaibaris , who having seized a very stout traveler, thought it an admirable opportunity to try their knives upon him, and did so too; and, of course, killed the poor man. However, we passed Zor-mandda’i in safety, and reached Shir-Khana’i, where the KHAN SAHIB obtained an interview with Khurasan Khan, the chief, who also strongly advised us not to proceed, as we could not have chosen a worse time for our visit to Suwat’ but as before, the KHAN SAHAIB, with true Afghan obstinacy, would not listen to any advice or arguments tending to delay, or put off his journey; so , without staying at Shir-khan’i, we set out for Suwat by the Pass over the Morah mountain, which is hence called Morey kolat.”
Reference (Source Details):
‘An account of Upper and Lower Suwat, and the Kohistan, to the source of the Suwat River; with an account of the tribes inhabiting those valleys’ was published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Volume XXXI, No.I. To V. 1862) Calcutta, pages 229-230.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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