The Centuries-Old Passage of the Kuchi, preserving heritage across shifting lands & generations.
From time immemorial Afghans of various tribes form the eastern high lands known to them as Khurassan, have migrated in autumn to the valley of the Indus to spend the winter in North Western Frontier Province Baluchistan and the Punjab and have returned in the spring. In the area of Peahwar, Kohat and Bunnu these nomads are known as Kuchi while in D.I Khan, Baluchistan and South-ren Punjab the term Pawinda is usually applied to them.
The word Kuchi is derived from the Persian “Kuch” which means to travel and kuch means one who move. While the word “Pawinda” is taken from Persian, which means to wander, or from the root of the Pushto verb powal, meaning grazing flocks moving them from place to place in search of pasture.
Moving from rugged mountains of the southern central Asia girdle to the fertile plains of Pakistan, these nomads spend the winter with their flocks and families there. The onset of the hot summer makes them retrace their path to the mountains.
The true nomads are the shepherds, camel men and merchant who are to be seen encamped throughout the winter in the North West Frontier Province, Baluchistan and the Punjab. The shepherds remain in the hilly tracts or long the skirt of the hills. Whereas the merchant and camel men pitch their kiris in the plains.
They live in tents which are made of strips of a coarse goat hair fabric sewn together, raised on poles and pegged to the ground at the corners. Goat hairs is always used because of its durability and cheapness.
The same winter and summer locations are generally occupied year after year and not only is the site of the kiri is same but the same families actually take up the same abodes. They love dogs and their dogs are of a heavy breed long hair. They would prefer to lose a camel than their dog.
All pawindas speak Pashtu as their mother tongue but with the peculiar accent which is easily distinguishable from that of the Pathans. Some speak Persian also.
They are generally strict in the performance of religious duties. Among them each kiri has at least one Mullah who conducts prayers, officiates at domestic ceremonies and imparts religious instruction to the children. The girls are instructed in the sacred duties by their mothers or other elderly women of the family.
The Pawinda are as a role very well behaved and would appear to live peacefully enough among themselves. Interfamily and tribal feuds are accepted. All the Pawin-das tribes are capable of tuning temporary alliance in order to achieve some common advantage or in face of some common enemy.
The dress of Pawinda man consists of Shalwar Kamiz, Chadddar, and Kullah. To this dress is often added a colored waistcoat embroided in gold and with facings of a different colors, or a post in winter.
The predominant color in the dress of the Pawinda women is black. This being the usual color worn on ordinary days and for journeys.
The ordinary Pawinda dress of a married woman is made of a thick black cotton material. The dress is worn long to the ankle and gathered in very full to the yoke. The sleeves are about a yard wide, and the wrists are edged with embroidery or silver buttons.
The trousers are made of dark red and black striped material. The head chaddar is made of a strong black or dark red material and is for choice seven yards long.
All married women wear a silver necklace and those who can afford it wear heavy silver bracelet. Their shoes are shaped into a turned-up point at the toe and are embroidered. The soles are very thick and often nailed.
They have great regard for their cultural and social traditions. Their rituals of marriage and death are different from local Pakhtuns.
According to folklore traditions among those hardy nomads the bridegroom has to prove his strength and power before the consumption of a marriage. This trail is in the form of a ritual. A tent is pitched in front of the bride’s house and the prospective bridegroom is made to squat in it. A camel’s load is then placed upon his shoulder, the load contains household goods, rugs and carpets, pots and pans, wood and beds. At this moment people congregate and pray for his success. After the prayer is over, the groom must get up and walk hundred yard with the loads and return to the tent. If he succeeds, he can get his bride.
In the past Kuchi were engaged in trade while maintain-ing a subsistence economy based on pastoral nomadism. The development of transport infrastructure was a blow to this trade, but the resistant nomads reentered the mar-ket as a carrier of smuggled consumer goods. Today it is not uncommon to see came carvans of Kuchi ladder with refrigerators, air conditioners, and electronic goods – an anachronism that has adapted to the late twentieth century. The settled Pathan population clarified the Kuchi into two major groups, the “Yar” and the ” Spin” that is black and white. While Pawinders are greater in number and known as Ghilzai and Non-Ghilzais. The routes used by various tribes for migration are different. One tribe carry their load on ponies and mules while the other rely on camels.
The spin group are extremely handsome with attractive features. They are very rich and have amiable habits usually engaged in timber trade. They used their camels as transportation in the hilly tracks of Northern tracks. The Tar group of these nomads of Hindokush are comparatively poor and have ordinarily features and dark complexion. They mostly earn their living from trade of horses and poneys. They buy food from Afghanistan load them up and sell them in Punjab and Sindh. Their women prepare household utensils at home and sell in the market. Their economic condition could easily be judged from their dresses. Their women are extremely hardworking and share their burden. They travel miles and miles on foot along with their men and look after their herds. During their stay at a particular place they take the responsibility of preparing meal, fetching water, cleaning and washing, collecting woods from jungle and arrange fader for the cattle. They do embroidery with silken thread during their leisure time. They are so much engaged in work that often when their men are out engaged as labourer in town, they carry big bundles on their heads and sell their goods in nearby places.
There are no Pawindah who does not often wish that he and his family were settled in some fertile valley with fruit gardens and fields and a house comfortably fortified against his enemies: yet nomadism and unrest are born in him and, were the migration to come to a sudden and even their camels would stampede.
