Shirani
Encyclopedia
The Shirani are a Sarbanri
Pashtun
tribe, living in Pakistan
and Afghanistan
. They should not be confused with the Baloch Shirani, who live in Iran
.
border in what became the North-West Frontier Province
(NWFP) of British India
. After the annexation by the British, their homeland was a part of the Sherani Agency. The agency occupied an area of 1500 square miles (3,885 km²), and had a population of 12,371 according to the 1901 census
. The Shirani occupied the principal portion of the mountain known as the Takht-e-Sulaiman
and the country from there southeast to the border of Dera Ismail Khan district
, close to Baluchistan. They were constrained on the north by the Gomal Pass, and beyond that by the Mahsud
and Waziri
tribes; on the south by the Ustarana
, Zmarai and Zimri
tribes; and on the west by the Haripal, Kakar
and Mandu Khel tribes.
, Marani and Miani
. The Marani sub-branch (which is now commonly referred to as the Shirani) live in the areas of the Dera Ismail Khan District
(NWFP) and the Sherani Subdistrict
in Baluchistan
. The other two sub-branches—the Babar and Miani—have migrated to other areas. The Babar live mainly in the southern part of Dera Ismail Khan, in a place known as Chodhwan. The Miani have migrated mainly to the Gomal
area of Tank (present South Waziristan
). In addition, a large number of Miani either live in Afghanistan or migrate between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Babar and Miani who have migrated see themselves as separate tribes from the Shirani; however, the Babar and Miani who remained in the Dera Ismail Khan region still identify themselves as Shirani. Some Shirani migrated to Sanghar
, now called Taunsa Sharif
. The Jaffar tribe living in Tehsil Durug (or Tehsil Drug) of Musakhail District (Baluchistan) is also Miani (or Shirani) in origin.
of Rajasthan
, India
. The village has four mohallas: Sufiya, Gausiya, Najmiyan and Noori. There are also small villages (like Barnel, Bheniyad, Danta, Hamidpur and Dungari) with Shirani communities. The renowned Urdu poet Akhtar Sheerani
belongs to this community. His father Hafiz Mehmood Khan Sherani was a noted author, and it was in his name that the Rajasthan Urdu Academy award was given. This lineage now resides primarily in Pakistan (in Lahore
, Dera Ismail Khan
and Karachi
).
Some Shirani Pathans also lived in Vadnagar
, Gujarat, India. They lived in Shemberwada, near Samarkand
. Pathan Shirani tribes migrated in India during the time of the Mughal Humayun
who, with the support of Shirani Pathan warriors, was victorious in battle when he came to India for the second time. During the reign of the Mughal King Akbar (son of Humayun), the Shirani Pathan migrated to Kaligam (near Ahemdabad, Gujarat). At that time, the Nawab of Gujarat sent them to fight the Dodia Rajput near the Rajasthan-Gujarat border. The Shirani Pathan defeated Dodia Rajput in battle, and took over their land; they were called Shembher (or Summer), since they came from Samarkand.
Sarbans
Sarbans or Sarbani are the largest tribal group of Pashtuns. They are situated in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Sarbans include many Pashtun tribes, among whom the most numerous are the Durrani, Tareen and Miani tribes.-Name origin:...
Pashtun
Pashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
tribe, living in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. They should not be confused with the Baloch Shirani, who live in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
.
History
During the 19th century, the tribal group known as the Shirani was recorded as living on the northwest PunjabPunjab region
The Punjab , also spelled Panjab |water]]s"), is a geographical region straddling the border between Pakistan and India which includes Punjab province in Pakistan and the states of the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and some northern parts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi...
border in what became the North-West Frontier Province
North-West Frontier Province
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province and various other names, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, located in the north-west of the country...
(NWFP) of British India
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
. After the annexation by the British, their homeland was a part of the Sherani Agency. The agency occupied an area of 1500 square miles (3,885 km²), and had a population of 12,371 according to the 1901 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
. The Shirani occupied the principal portion of the mountain known as the Takht-e-Sulaiman
Takht-e-Sulaiman
For a site in West Azarbaijan, Iran known by the same name, see Takht-i-SuleimanFor a site located in Osh, Kyrgyzstan known by the same name, see Sulayman Mountain...
and the country from there southeast to the border of Dera Ismail Khan district
Dera Ismail Khan District
Dera Ismail Khan is one of the 24 districts in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The capital of the district is the town of Dera Ismail Khan...
, close to Baluchistan. They were constrained on the north by the Gomal Pass, and beyond that by the Mahsud
Mahsud
Mahsud is a Pashtun tribe in South Waziristan, a tribal region in Pakistan. Mahsud are considered to be one of the bravest and toughest Pashtun Tribes. The Mahsud tribe lives in the centre of South Waziristan valley, surrounded on three sides by the Darwesh Waziris, and being shut off by the...
and Waziri
Wazir (tribe)
Wazirs or Waziris are a Pashtun tribe settled in the North Waziristan and South Waziristan agencies of Pakistan as well in the urban cities of Tank, F.R Bannu,i.e Domel and adjacent villages, Karachi and Lahore. Across the border, they can also be found in Paktia, Khost and Paktika provinces of...
tribes; on the south by the Ustarana
Ustarana
Ustarana is a Pashtun tribe inhabiting the outer hills opposite the extreme south portion of the Dera Ismail Khan district of North West Frontier Province, Pakistan. They live today on the eastern side of Suleiman Mountains . Their chief village is Khoi Bahara...
, Zmarai and Zimri
Zimri (tribe)
Zimri is a Pashtun tribe in Pakistan. Members of the tribe live in Balochistan Province of Pakistan and speak Pashto language. Some of their people even live in Afghanistan...
tribes; and on the west by the Haripal, Kakar
Kakar
The Kakar are a Pashtun tribe, with members living in Afghanistan and Pakistan.-Kakar :Kakar Afghan was one of the grandsons of Qais Abdur Rashid. Kakar's father's name was Dani, son of Gharghasht, who was the son of Qais in the Afghan appendix of tribes. According to Afghan and Muslim historians,...
and Mandu Khel tribes.
Sub-tribes
The Shirani tribe is divided into three main sub-branches: the BabarBabar (tribe)
The Babar tribe is a Pakhtun tribe descending from Sarban, a son of Qais Abdur Rashid along with other tribes such as the Yusafzais, Tareens, Durranis and Mohmands....
, Marani and Miani
Miani (tribe)
Miani, is a Pushtoon tribe and the main sub branch of the Shirani tribe, but today it is identified as a separate tribe. The Miani tribe mainly inhabits the Gomal plains which fall in Tank in the North-West Frontier Province...
. The Marani sub-branch (which is now commonly referred to as the Shirani) live in the areas of the Dera Ismail Khan District
Dera Ismail Khan District
Dera Ismail Khan is one of the 24 districts in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The capital of the district is the town of Dera Ismail Khan...
(NWFP) and the Sherani Subdistrict
Sherani Subdistrict
Sherani Subdistrict or Sherani Sub-Division is an administrative division of Zhob District, Balochistan province of Pakistan. It is named after the Shirani tribe, some of whom live there. The population was 83,771 Sherani Subdistrict is entirely rural, but there are four villages of note: Ahmadi...
in Baluchistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)
Balochistan is one of the four provinces or federating units of Pakistan. With an area of 134,051 mi2 or , it is the largest province of Pakistan, constituting approximately 44% of the total land mass of Pakistan. According to the 1998 population census, Balochistan had a population of...
. The other two sub-branches—the Babar and Miani—have migrated to other areas. The Babar live mainly in the southern part of Dera Ismail Khan, in a place known as Chodhwan. The Miani have migrated mainly to the Gomal
Gomal River
Gomal River is a river in the historical region of Pashtunistan, consisting of areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan, inhabited by the Pashtuns...
area of Tank (present South Waziristan
South Waziristan
South Waziristan is the southern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² . Waziristan comprises the area west and southwest of Peshawar between the Tochi River to the north and the Gomal River to the south, forming...
). In addition, a large number of Miani either live in Afghanistan or migrate between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Babar and Miani who have migrated see themselves as separate tribes from the Shirani; however, the Babar and Miani who remained in the Dera Ismail Khan region still identify themselves as Shirani. Some Shirani migrated to Sanghar
Sanghar
Sanghar is a city in Sanghar District, Sindh, Pakistan. Sanghar is the headquarters of Sanghar District and Sanghar Taluka . It is one of the agriculture town situated approximately 265 km from Karachi city...
, now called Taunsa Sharif
Taunsa Sharif
Taunsa Sharif تونسه شريف , or Taunsa, is a Tehsil of Dera Ghazi Khan District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The town of Taunsa Sharif is the headquarters of the tehsil...
. The Jaffar tribe living in Tehsil Durug (or Tehsil Drug) of Musakhail District (Baluchistan) is also Miani (or Shirani) in origin.
Territories
Besides the populations living in Pakistan and Afghanistan, there is a village SheraniAbad in the Nagaur districtNagaur District
Nagaur District is one of the 33 districts of the state of Rajasthan in western India.Area of the district is 17,718 km2. The city of Nagaur is the district headquarters.- Geography :...
of Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The village has four mohallas: Sufiya, Gausiya, Najmiyan and Noori. There are also small villages (like Barnel, Bheniyad, Danta, Hamidpur and Dungari) with Shirani communities. The renowned Urdu poet Akhtar Sheerani
Akhtar Sheerani
Akhtar Shairani is considered one of the most prolific romantic poets of Urdu.-Early life:...
belongs to this community. His father Hafiz Mehmood Khan Sherani was a noted author, and it was in his name that the Rajasthan Urdu Academy award was given. This lineage now resides primarily in Pakistan (in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
, Dera Ismail Khan
Dera Ismail Khan
Dera Ismail Khan is a city in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. It is situated on the west bank of the Indus River, west of Lahore and northwest of Multan. The city is the capital of the district and tehsil of the same name. In Pakistan, its name is often abbreviated to D. I...
and Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
).
Some Shirani Pathans also lived in Vadnagar
Vadnagar
Vadnagar is a city and a municipality in Mehsana district in the Indian state of Gujarat.-Geography:Vadnagar is located at . It has an average elevation of 143 metres .-Demographics:...
, Gujarat, India. They lived in Shemberwada, near Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
. Pathan Shirani tribes migrated in India during the time of the Mughal Humayun
Humayun
Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun was the second Mughal Emperor who ruled present day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of northern India from 1530–1540 and again from 1555–1556. Like his father, Babur, he lost his kingdom early, but with Persian aid, he eventually regained an even larger one...
who, with the support of Shirani Pathan warriors, was victorious in battle when he came to India for the second time. During the reign of the Mughal King Akbar (son of Humayun), the Shirani Pathan migrated to Kaligam (near Ahemdabad, Gujarat). At that time, the Nawab of Gujarat sent them to fight the Dodia Rajput near the Rajasthan-Gujarat border. The Shirani Pathan defeated Dodia Rajput in battle, and took over their land; they were called Shembher (or Summer), since they came from Samarkand.