JĀḠORI

 

JĀḠORI, a term of uncertain etymological origin, is both a tribal section of the Hazāras and a district (wolu-swāli) of Ḡazni province in Afghanistan. In Hazārajāt (q.v.), former tribal names tend nowadays to refer to territories. This evolution mirrors the general breakdown of social organization based on descent groups after the conquest of the region by the Amir ʿAbd-al-Raḥmān at the end of the 19th century (see AFGHANISTAN x).

Situated somewhere between 2000 and 3600 m, the district of Jāḡori covers 1,855 square km in the upper Arḡandāb valley and is bounded in the west by Mālestān and Dāʿi-čopān, in the north by Nāwor, in the east by Qarabāḡ and Moqor, and in the south by Gelān and Arḡandāb. Non-governmental organizations and the United Nations’ agencies active in the region estimate the total population between 99,126 (AVICEN, p. 20) and 150,000 (GRSP, p. 5; Johnson, p. 46). In spite of the climate, the altitude, and the rare precipitation (less than 300 mm per year), population density is very high. The demographic pressure is intense, which accounts for a constant migratory flux. This trend increased dramatically after the Communist coup of 1978. The government troops and the Red Army did not control the district, which was nevertheless the theater of bitter internal conflicts. The economy is essentially based on the remittances of the men who work in Kabul, Quetta (Pakistan), or Persia, and on irrigated agriculture. Autumn wheat dominates, but spring wheat, barley, potatoes, beans, onions, carrots, turnips, and fodder plants are also cultivated. Other crops are almonds, mulberries, apricots and apples. In local discourses and representations, but also by the social practices, the district of Jāḡori can be divided into more than twenty regions (manṭeqas), which have never, however, been officially acknowledged. The list may vary, but includes Almetu, Anguri, Bābā, Busaʿid, Čilbāḡtu-ye Oqi, Čilbāḡtu-ye Paši, Dahmarda, Dāwud, Ḥaydar, Heča, Hutqol, Kamarak, Lumān, Maska, Pātu, Sang-e Māša, Sapāya (or Ḵodādād), Sayyed Aḥmad, Šašpar, Šerzāda, Šolḡla, Siā Zamin (or Pošt-i Čob), Taberḡān, Uliātu, and Zerak. Available sources (Leech, p. 336; Maitland, pp. 369-75; Ḡarjestāni; Poladi, pp. 37-38) have drawn slightly different pictures of the tribal sections of Jāḡori. It would be misleading to impose an arbitrary order on this diversity, which expresses the changing political coalitions in genealogical terms. The following list is only indicative (Monsutti, 2002, pp. 125-26): Ātā (Oqi, including the Mir section, Bābā, Maska, Dahmarda, Koša, Heča); Bāḡočari (Lumān, Busaʿid, Nedām, Ḵodā-dād); Ezdari (Mirdād, Ḵvaja ʿAli, Ḵāṭer); Gari (Anguri, Dawlatšāh, Qara, Dāwud, Zirak, Ḥaydar). Two other groups present in the region have a distinct origin; they are Paši, which are sometimes said to be of remote Pashtun descent, and Qalandar, who were refugees arriving from Daʾi-čopān and Arḡandāb at the end of the 19th century.

 

Bibliography:

Ludwig W. Adamec, ed., Historical and Political Gazetteer of Afghanistan VI: Kabul and Southeastern Afghanistan, Graz, 1985, pp. 279-80.

Afghanistan Vaccination and Immunisation Centre (AVICEN), Hazarajat, The Development of the EPI Programme in the Central Provinces, Peshawar, 1990. Maḥmud ʿIsā Ḡarjestāni, Tāriḵ-e Hazāra wa Hazāre-stān, Quetta, 1989.

Ghazni Rural Support Programme (GRSP), Report of Hazarajat Mini Survey on Jaghori District 1995, Ghazni, 1996.

C. Johnson, Hazarajat Baseline Study: Interim Report, Islamabad, 2000.

R. Leech, “A Supplementary Account of the Hazarahs,” JASB 14, no. 161, 1845, pp. 333-40.

P. J. Maitland, “The Hazáras of the Country Known as the Hazáraját, and Elsewhere,” Afghan Boundary Commission Report IV, Shimla, 1891, pp. 277-450.

A. Monsutti, “Soziale und politische Organisation im südlichen Hazarajat,” in Paul Bucherer and Cornelia Vogelsanger, eds., Gestickte Gebete: Gebetstüchlein-dastmal-e mohr der afghanischen Hazara und ihr kultureller Kontext, Schriftenreihe der Stiftung Bibliotheca Afghanica 13, Liestal, 2000a, pp. 263-77.

Idem, “Nouveaux espaces, nouvelles solidarities: la migration des Hazaras d’Afghanistan,” in Pierre Centlivres and Isabelle Girod, eds., Les défis migratoires: actes du colloque CLUSE, Neuchâtel, 1998, Zurich, 2000b, pp. 333-42.

Idem, Guerres et migrations: réseaux sociaux et strategies économiques des Hazaras d’Afghanistan, Neuchâtel, 2002.

S. A. Mousavi, The Hazaras of Afghanistan: An Historical, Cultural, Economic and Political Study, Richmond, 1998.

Hassan Poladi, The Hazâras, Stockton, Calif., 1989.

(A. Monsutti)

Originally Published: December 15, 2008

Last Updated: April 10, 2012

This article is available in print.
Vol. XIV, Fasc. 4, pp. 373-374