Katoor Dynasty
Encyclopedia
The Katoor Dynasty and its collateral branches ruled the ancient Kingdom of Chitral
and its neighbours in the Eastern Hindukush Region for over four hundred years. At the height of their power under Mehtar
Aman-ul-Mulk the territory controlled by the Mehtar of Chitral extended from Asmar in the Kunar Valley
to Sher Qilla in the Gilgit Valley. The Mehtars of Chitral were influential players in the power politics of the region as they acted as intermediaries between the Princes of Badakhshan
, the Yousafzai
Pashtuns, the Maharaja of Kashmir and later the Emirate of Afghanistan
. The Katoor Mehtars also paid tribute to the Qing Dynasty
of China until the mid-19th century. Their economy largely relied upon the extraction of duties upon caravans travelling from Bokhara, Kashgar
and Yarkand
to the Punjab region
. The Mehtars were also highly involved in the Central Asian Slave Trade. Following the Chitral Expedition
of 1895, Chitral became a Princely State
of the British Indian Empire. For the history of the Dynasty from 1895 onwards, refer to State of Chitral
.
, Masshad and Herat
) named Ayub, Baba Hib-e-Sarmast. Some accounts claim that he was a son of Faridun Hussein, a son of Sultan Hussein, Padishah of Khorassan.
The name Katoor is an ancient one and has been in use long before the ancestor of the Katoors settled in Chitral. Theories include that it was a Kushan title of nobility. Katoor also means dragon
in the archaic Bashgali dialect of Nuristani
. The title of Shah Katoor was given to Mohtaram Shah, the first ruler of the house, by a local holy man who claimed that his bravery and integrity were reminiscent of the pre-Islamic Katoor rulers of the region.
Valley down to Bar Kunar, the Lot-Kuh Valley and the Torkho and Mulkho regions of Upper Chitral. Under Shah Katoor II, Mastuj
and the Yasin Valley
also came under Katoor domination, though very briefly as the Khushwaqt rulers (also descended from Baba Ayub) retook these regions within years. The Kati
and Kom
tribes of Kafiristan
(now Nuristan) were tributary to the Mehtar of Chitral until 1895. The tribes of Dir Kohistan and Swat
Kohistan (Kalam
) also paid a yearly tribute to the Katoor Mehtars. Shah Katoor II invaded Wakhan
in retaliation for a raid on Chitral from Wakhan and forced the Mir of Wakhan to pay tribute.. In 1876 Shah Aman-ul-Mulk conquered the Ghizer Valley (Excluding Yasin) and Puniyal and laid siege to the Dogra
Garrison of the Maharaja of Kashmir in the Gilgit
Fort. During this time the tribes of Darel, Tangir and Kandia and the State of Nagar paid tribute to the Mehtar of Chitral. The Katoor Kingdom reached its territorial peak under Shah Aman-ul-Mulk when the Khushwaqt territories of Ghizer, Yasin
and Ishkoman
were conquered in 1880 .
State of Chitral
Chitral was a princely state of Pakistan and British India until 1969. The area of the state now forms the Chitral District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.- Location :...
and its neighbours in the Eastern Hindukush Region for over four hundred years. At the height of their power under Mehtar
Mehtar
Mehtar is a Persian word meaning "Mighty" and was used in several ancient area of Pakistan to denote the local ruler. It is the title of the ruler of the former State of Chitral....
Aman-ul-Mulk the territory controlled by the Mehtar of Chitral extended from Asmar in the Kunar Valley
Kunar Valley
Kunar Valley or Chitral Valley is a valley in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Afghanistan the length of the valley is almost entirely narrow with steep and rugged mountains on both sides. The center of the valley is occupied by the Kunar River flowing south where it joins the Kabul River...
to Sher Qilla in the Gilgit Valley. The Mehtars of Chitral were influential players in the power politics of the region as they acted as intermediaries between the Princes of Badakhshan
Badakhshan
Badakhshan is an historic region comprising parts of what is now northeastern Afghanistan and southeastern Tajikistan. The name is retained in Badakhshan Province which is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, in the far northeast of Afghanistan, and contains the Wakhan Corridor...
, the Yousafzai
Yousafzai
The Yūsufzai is one of the largest Pashtun tribes...
Pashtuns, the Maharaja of Kashmir and later the Emirate of Afghanistan
Emirate of Afghanistan
The Emirate of Afghanistan began with the end of the Durrani Empire and the reign of Dost Mohammad Khan in 1823 and ended when Amir Amanullah Khan became Shah in 1926. This period was characterized by the expansion of European colonial interests in Central Asia...
. The Katoor Mehtars also paid tribute to the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
of China until the mid-19th century. Their economy largely relied upon the extraction of duties upon caravans travelling from Bokhara, Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
and Yarkand
Yarkand
Yarkant County , is a county in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, located on the southern rim of the Taklamakan desert in the Tarim Basin. It is one of 11 counties administered under Kashgar Prefecture...
to the Punjab region
Punjab 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...
. The Mehtars were also highly involved in the Central Asian Slave Trade. Following the Chitral Expedition
Chitral Expedition
The Chitral Expedition was a military expedition in 1895 sent by the British authorities to relieve the fort at Chitral which was under siege after a local coup.-Background to the conflict:Chitral was at the extreme north west of British India...
of 1895, Chitral became a Princely State
Princely state
A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entitity of British rule in India that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-British relationship with the Princely States:India under the British Raj ...
of the British Indian Empire. For the history of the Dynasty from 1895 onwards, refer to State of Chitral
State of Chitral
Chitral was a princely state of Pakistan and British India until 1969. The area of the state now forms the Chitral District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.- Location :...
.
Origins
The Katoor Dynasty and its other branch, the Khushwaqt Dynasty, descend from a Sufi Mystic from Khorassan (the region between MervMerv
Merv , formerly Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, and later Alexandria and Antiochia in Margiana , was a major oasis-city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, located near today's Mary in Turkmenistan. Several cities have existed on this site, which is significant for the interchange of...
, Masshad and Herat
Herat
Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...
) named Ayub, Baba Hib-e-Sarmast. Some accounts claim that he was a son of Faridun Hussein, a son of Sultan Hussein, Padishah of Khorassan.
The name Katoor is an ancient one and has been in use long before the ancestor of the Katoors settled in Chitral. Theories include that it was a Kushan title of nobility. Katoor also means dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
in the archaic Bashgali dialect of Nuristani
Nuristani
The Nuristani people are an ethnic group Aryan-Iranian to the Nuristan region of northeastern Iran and Afghanistan. The Nuristanis are a people whose ancestors practiced what was apparently an ancient Indo-Iranian polytheistic religion until they were conquered and converted to Islam in the late...
. The title of Shah Katoor was given to Mohtaram Shah, the first ruler of the house, by a local holy man who claimed that his bravery and integrity were reminiscent of the pre-Islamic Katoor rulers of the region.
Territorial Expansion
When the Dynasty was first founded by Shah Katoor his domains included lower Chitral, the KunarKunar
Kunar may refer to:*Kunar Valley, Afghanistan and Pakistan*Kunar Province, Afghanistan*Kunar River, Afghanistan and Pakistan...
Valley down to Bar Kunar, the Lot-Kuh Valley and the Torkho and Mulkho regions of Upper Chitral. Under Shah Katoor II, Mastuj
Mastuj
Mastuj is a town of Chitral District in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is located at 36°17'0N 72°31'0E with an altitude of 2359 metres ....
and the Yasin Valley
Yasin Valley
The Yasin Valley, Tehsil Yasin or Babaye-i-Yasen or Worshigum is a high mountain valley in the Hindu Kush mountains, in the northwest region of Gilgit in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Yasin is separated from the Ishkoman Valley by a high mountain pass...
also came under Katoor domination, though very briefly as the Khushwaqt rulers (also descended from Baba Ayub) retook these regions within years. The Kati
Kati
Kati is a town made up of 37 communes in Mali's Koulikoro Region, about 15 km from Bamako, Mali's capital. It has a population of approximately 40,000 inhabitants.-Economy:...
and Kom
Kom
The Kom are one of the principal ethnic groups of the North-West province of Cameroon, where traditional government institutions are very important. The capital, Laikom, is the seat of the ruler, the Fon, and his advisors, the Quifon, who continue to be the most respected leaders despite the...
tribes of Kafiristan
Kafiristan
Kāfiristān or Kāfirstān was a historic name of Nurestan , a province in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, prior to 1896. This historic region lies on, and mainly comprises, basins of the rivers Alingar, Pech , Landai Sin, and Kunar, and the intervening mountain ranges...
(now Nuristan) were tributary to the Mehtar of Chitral until 1895. The tribes of Dir Kohistan and Swat
Swat
SWAT is the special-weapons-and-tactics unit of a law-enforcement agency. Swat or SWAT may also refer to:In media:* SWAT , a video games series spin-off of Police Quest...
Kohistan (Kalam
Kalam
ʿIlm al-Kalām is the Islamic philosophical discipline of seeking theological principles through dialectic. Kalām in Islamic practice relates to the discipline of seeking theological knowledge through debate and argument. A scholar of kalām is referred to as a mutakallim...
) also paid a yearly tribute to the Katoor Mehtars. Shah Katoor II invaded Wakhan
Wakhan
Wakhan or "the Wakhan" is a very mountainous and rugged part of the Pamir and Karakoram regions of Afghanistan. Wakhan District is a district in Badakshan Province.-Geography:...
in retaliation for a raid on Chitral from Wakhan and forced the Mir of Wakhan to pay tribute.. In 1876 Shah Aman-ul-Mulk conquered the Ghizer Valley (Excluding Yasin) and Puniyal and laid siege to the Dogra
Dogra
The Dogras are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group in South Asia. Being a diversified group, the Dogras include both Savarnas such as Brahmins, Rajputs and Non-savarnas. The Dogras also incluide merchant castes such as Mahajans...
Garrison of the Maharaja of Kashmir in the Gilgit
Gilgit
Gilgit is a city in northern PakistanGilgit may refer to other terms related with the area of the city:* Gilgit River* Gilgit Valley* Gilgit District* Gilgit Agency * Gilgit Airport...
Fort. During this time the tribes of Darel, Tangir and Kandia and the State of Nagar paid tribute to the Mehtar of Chitral. The Katoor Kingdom reached its territorial peak under Shah Aman-ul-Mulk when the Khushwaqt territories of Ghizer, Yasin
Yasin
The Yasin anti-tank rocket launcher is a weapon developed by Hamas' Ezzedeen-al-qassam brigades named after the group's spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yasin, who was assassinated by the Israeli Defense Forces on March 22, 2004...
and Ishkoman
Ishkoman
The Ishkoman valley lies in the north of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and the Pamir corridor.-Political status:Administratively, Ishkoman valley constitutes a Tehsil of Ghizer District. It is located at a range of altitudes, from . The valley consists of 20 villages, with a total population of...
were conquered in 1880 .
Rulers
The rulers with the date of their accession:
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