June 16, 2002

One of the secrets of Britain’s colonial policy, which enabled it to build up an empire on which the sun never set, was the meticulous care its administrators took to observe and study the areas they ruled. It was as a part of this strategy that the British took upon themselves to write a comprehensive account of the people, society, history and geography of India.

Lord Mayo selected for this gigantic task the well-known historian Sir William Wilson Hunter (1840-1900) who traveled extensively through the length and breadth of India to personally collect information. He was assisted in this project by a team that he ably and efficiently led. They were finally able to compile and publish different editions of the gazetteers, the first having been published in 1881.

After his death this task was handed over to two people jointly, i.e. Sir Herbert Risley in India and J.S.Cotton in England. The latter had remained closely associated with Hunter. Local officers in their respective areas also assisted these gentlemen. The gazetteers varied in scope. Some covered the whole of India, some only the provinces and yet some were confined to the districts. However, all contained a treasure of information, that proved, in the words of Hunter, “more profitable than the conquest of a new province”.

The gazetteer under review is related to the NWFP and had originally been published for the first time in 1901, the year the province was created. As a part of centenary celebrations, it has been reprinted without any change in 2001. This book provides detailed information on the people, history, geography, geology, zoology, ethnology, languages, religions, public health and other important statistics of the NWFP.

It begins with the geographical descriptions of the province while discussing in great length its mountain ranges and rivers. There follows an account of the historical background of the area and the people. The writers have claimed that in the pre-Islamic era the inhabitants were mainly Indians but according to Reg Veda, that was written c. 1410 BC, the inhabitants of the area were Pakhtoons who were ethnically not Indian.

The book discusses briefly different historical episodes that give a cursory understanding of the history of the area. However, this brevity can at times create a wrong impression. For example, on page 94 it is said,”the Ghaznavide Monarch (Mahmood) in turn fell before Muhammad of Ghor in 1181”. The fact is that historically speaking there is a gap of 150 years between Mahmood Ghaznavi and Muhammad Ghori.

After an overview of the province, the gazetteer goes on to describe in elaborate detail different aspects of the districts, which were at that time set up as administrative units. The districts, which have been discussed, are Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Hazara. Almost every town and village of reasonable size is discussed. In the last section of the book details on the tribal areas have also been included.

The gazetteer is a storehouse of information. However, the utility of the book has been somewhat reduced by the fact that the information given is over a century old. Much of it was true at that time but is no longer so and is not even relevant. For example, it is stated that the Pathan “invariably purchases” his wife. This is not the case now. There may still be a few instances of wife-buying now but the overwhelming majority of the Pakhtuns consider the sale of women an obnoxious practice.

Again at another place it is stated that in winter the “Pathans wear postin or sheep-skin coat with the wool inside”. this is no more correct.

Some historical information provided is also not according to the prevailing and generally accepted beliefs. For example the book under review states, “Pathan tribes are mainly of Iranian origin”. In spite of the fact that the origin of the Pakhtuns is debatable, yet no school of thought traces the ancestory of the Pakhtuns to the Iranians. Further the genealogical table provided in the book is also incomplete, as it has omitted some very well known and important tribes of the Pakhtuns, such as the Bangash, Wazir, Mahsuds and Turis.

Though the Frontier government has done a good job by reprinting the NWFP Gazetteer. It could have been more useful had it been updated with latest information and published as a new and revised edition instead of just reprinting it in ditto. The British would update the information and publish it as a new edition whenever a gazetteer was reprinted. But unfortunately even after 54 years of Pakistan’s creation we have been unable to update the already available data.

The reprint also carries many typographical errors pointing to the fact that no proof reading has been done. In some places there are more than a dozen mistakes on a single page. On the cover-jacket of the book the mistake has turned into a bloomer as the caption of the picture of the monument of Second Afghan War describes it as the Third Afghan War.

Imperial gazetteer of India, provincial series: North West Frontier Province
(Special edition)
By H.A. Rose, E.B. Howell, et el.
Foreword by Dr Abdul Ghaffar Soomro
Reprinted by Manager Printing and Stationery Department, Government of NWFP, Peshawar 178+xiiipp.

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