'Military Report on Persian Seistan' [‎74r] (152/188)

137
K
NAH—NAH
It possesses 13 ploughs of cultivable land, which annually yields 468
hharwars of grain (§ wheat and £ barley).
The Government revenue amounts to 156 kharwars per annum.— {Mania
Bakhsh, 1898.)
H. D. Napier says the village contains 40 houses and owns 50 cattle and
50 sheep and goats (1893).
NAHR-I-TEPE-I-DIZ—
A village on the Banjar or Tupkhana Canal, possessing 10 ploughs culti
vable land. Government revenue 120 kharwars of grain .—{Ahmad Bin)
NAHRUI (BALUCH)—
Referring to the Nahruis of Seistan, Bellew writes thus :—
“ This tribe was brought into Seistan and located at Burj-i-Alam and
Kimak by Malik Bahram, Kayani, in the beginning of this century, under
their Chief Alam Khan. His family and followers, in the time of his
father, Mirza Khan, were nomads roving on the Kuh Nahro, north of
Bampur. In the time of Alam Khan they used to frequent the southern
tracts of Seistan and the Helmand bank for the sake of pasture for their
camels and flocks.
“Malik Bahram atiached them to himself as military mercenaries, and
to protect himself from the encroachments of the Sarbandi, planted them
at Burj Alam, Kala Nao, Kimak, etc. The Nahrui, however, soon estab
lished themselves on an independent footing on the lands given to them
and maintained their position by marriage alliances with their neighbours.
With the Kayani and Shehraki they were dependents of Herat; but on
KohandiBs return from Persia they joined him, and on Ali Khan’s estab
lishment at Sekgha threw in their lot with him. Alam Khan, Nahrui,
left four sons, viz., Dost Muhammad, Sharif, Sherdil and Azim. Dost
Muhammad succeeded his father at Burj Alam, and on his death in 1857
left a son, Danvesh Ali ; he did not succeed his father, but his uncle Sharif
Khan, who had, since his return from service with Mir Afzul Khan at
Kandahar, become a staunch partizan of Persia, now assumed the Chiefship.
On the invasion of the country by the Persians, a few years later, he was the
first to join them, and has since been raised by them to the position of Chief
of Seistan. Some years ago he sent his son, Muhammad Ali, as a hostage to
Teheran ; he returned to his father completely Persianised shortly before our
arrival in Seistan in 1872. But on our departure he deserted his family
and went over to the Amir Sher Ah Khan at Kabul. Darwesh Khan, the
son of Dost Muhammad, resides in Burj Alam, and though dissatisfied with
the course of events, takes no part in the politics of his country ; his brother
Sherdil resides in Kimak and has joined the Persian interest. Previous to
the Persian invasion the Nahruis were Sunni Muhammadans, but, following
the lead of their Chief Sharif Khan, they now profess to be Shiahs. Sharif
Khan resides in Kala Nao, and his three other sons live in Sharifabad.
“ Owing to the Persian support, the Nahruis are the most powerful
tribe in Seistan as regards influence, though numerically they are the weakest.
The whole tribe hardly exceeds 400 families, and their subjects or
probably amount to 1,200 more,”
During the rebellion in Seistan against the Persians in 1873-74, or there
abouts, Sharif Khan did good service to the latter, but was not rewarded
as he expected. The ill-will thus engendered widened at last into a
regular breach, and in 1877-78 Sharif Khan moved over to the Afghan