[1] See article HINDOSTANI LITERATURE.
[2] An exactly similar tale is told of Nanak, the first _Guru_ of the
Sikhs, who died in 1538.
[3] This and the following passages in quotation marks are from
Professor Wilson's translation of 100 _Sakhis_, pp. 83-90.
[4] Benares; Hara, a name of Siva.
[5] I.e. Mecca.
[6] "The Bountiful," one of the Koranic names of God (Allah).
KABUL, the capital of Afghanistan, standing at an elevation of 6900 ft.
above the sea in 34 deg. 32' N. and 69 deg. 14' E. Estimated pop. (1901),
140,000. Lying at the foot of the bare and rocky mountains forming the
western boundary of the Kabul valley, just below the gorge made by the
Kabul River, the city extends a mile and a half east to west and one
mile north to south. Hemmed in by the mountains, there is no way of
extending it, except in a northerly direction towards the Sherpur
cantonment. As the key of northern India, Kabul has been a city of vast
importance for countless ages. It commands all the passes which here
debouch from the north through the Hindu Kush, and from the west through
Kandahar; and through it passed successive invasions of India by
Alexander the Great, Mahmud of Ghazni, Jenghiz Khan, Baber, Nadir Shah
and Ahmad Shah. Indeed from the time of Baber to that of Nadir Shah
(1526-1738) Kabul was part of the empire of Delhi. It is now some 160 m.
from the British frontier post of Jamrud near Peshawar.
Kabul was formerly walled; the old wall had seven gates, of which two
alone remain, the Lahori and the Sirdar. The city itself is a huddle of
narrow and dirty streets, with the Bala Hissar or fort forming the
south-east angle, and rising about 150 ft. above the plain. The Amir's
palace is situated outside the town about midway between it and the
Sherpur cantonment which lies about a mile to the north-east. Formerly
the greatest ornament of the city was the arcaded and roofed bazaar
called _Chihar Chata_, ascribed to Ali Mardan Khan, a noble of the 17th
century, who has left behind him many monuments of his munificent public
spirit both in Kabul and in Hindustan. Its four arms had an aggregate
length of about 600 ft., with a breadth of 30. The display of goods was
remarkable, and in the evening it was illuminated. This edifice was
destroyed by Sir G. Pollock on evacuating Kabul in 1842 as a record of
the treachery of the city.
The tomb of the Sultan Baber stands on a slope about a mile to the west
of the city in a charming spot. The grave is marked by two erect slabs
of white marble. Near him lie several of his wives and children; the
garden was formerly enclosed by a marble wall; a clear stream waters the
flower-beds. From the hill that rises behind the tomb there is a noble
prospect of his beloved city, and of the all-fruitful plain stretching
to the north of it.
After the accession of Abdur Rahman in 1880 the city underwent great
changes. The Bala Hissar was destroyed and has never since been entirely
rebuilt, and a fortified cantonment at Sherpur (one side of which was
represented by the historic Bemaru ridge) had taken the place of the old
earthworks of the British occupation of 1842 which were constructed on
nearly the same site. The city streets were as narrow and evil-smelling,
the surrounding gardens as picturesque and attractive, and the wealth of
fruit was as great, as they had been fifty years previously. The amir,
however, effected many improvements. Kabul is now connected by
well-planned and metalled roads with Afghan Turkestan on the west, with
the Oxus and Bokhara on the north, and with India on the east. The road
to India was first made by British and is now maintained by Afghan
engineers. The road southwards to Ghazni and Kandahar was always
naturally excellent and has probably needed little engineering, but the
general principle of road-making in support of a military advance has
always been consistently maintained, and the expeditions of Kabul troops
to Kafiristan have been supported by a very well graded and
substantially constructed road up the Kunar valley from Jalalabad to
Asmar, and onwards to the Bashgol valley of Kafiristan. The city ways
have been improved until it has become possible for wheeled vehicles to
pass, and the various roads connecting the suburbs and the city are
efficiently maintained. A purely local railway has also been introduced,
to assist in transporting building material. The buildings erected by
Abdur Rahman were pretentious, but unmarked by any originality in design
and hardly worthy representation of the beauty and dignity of Mahommedan
architecture. They included a new palace and a durbar hall, a bridge
across the river and embankment, a pavilion and garden laid out around
the site of Baber's tomb overlooking the Chardeh valley; and many other
buildings of public utility connected with stud arrangements, the
manufacture of small arms and ammunition, and the requirements of what
may be termed a wholesale shop under European direction, besides
hospitals, dispensaries, bazaars, &c. The new palace is within an
entrenchment just outside the city. It is enclosed in a fine garden,
well planted with trees, where the harem serai (or ladies' apartments)
occupies a considerable space. The public portion of the buildings
comprise an ornamental and lofty pavilion with entrances on each side,
and a high-domed octagonal room in the centre, beautifully fitted and
appointed, where public receptions take place. The durbar hall, which is
a separate building, is 60 yards long by 20 broad, with a painted roof
supported by two rows of pillars. But the arrangement of terraced
gardens and the lightly constructed pavilion which graces the western
slopes of the hills overlooking Chardeh are the most attractive of these
innovations. Here, on a summer's day, with the scent of roses pervading
the heated air, the cool refreshment of the passing breezes and of
splashing fountains may be enjoyed by the officials of the Kabul court,
whilst they look across the beauty of the thickly planted plains of
Chardeh to the rugged outlines of Paghman and the snows of the Hindu
Kush. The artistic taste of the landscape gardening is excellent, and
the mountain scenery is not unworthy of Kashmir. It is pleasant to
record that the graveyard of those officers who fell in the Kabul
campaign of 1879-1880, which lies at the northern end of the Bemaru
ridge, is not uncared for.
Kabul is believed to be the _Ortospanum_ or _Ortospana_ of the
geographies of Alexander's march, a name conjectured to be a
corruption of _Urddhasthana_, "high place." This is the meaning of the
name Bala Hissar. But the actual name is perhaps also found as that of
a people in this position (Ptolemy's _Kabolitae_), if not in the name
of a city apparently identical with Ortospana, _Carura_, in some
copies read_ Cabura_. It was invaded by the Arabs as early as the
thirty-fifth year of the Hegira, but it was long before the
Mahommedans effected any lasting settlement. In the early Mahommedan
histories and geographies we find (according to a favourite Arabic
love of jingle) _Kabul_ and _Zabul_ constantly associated. Zabul
appears to have been the country about Ghazni. Kabul first became a
capital when Baber made himself master of it in 1504, and here he
reigned for fifteen years before his invasion of Hindustan. In modern
times it became a capital again, under Timur Shah (see AFGHANISTAN),
and so has continued both to the end of the Durani dynasty, and under
the Barakzais, who now reign. It was occupied by Sir John Keane in
1839, General Pollock in 1842, and again by Sir Frederick, afterwards
Lord Roberts, in 1879.
Kabul is also the name of the province including the city so called.
It may be considered to embrace the whole of the plains called Koh
Daman and Beghram, &c., to the Hindu Kush northward, with the Kohistan
or hill country adjoining. Eastward it extends to the border of
Jalalabad at Jagdalak; southward it includes the Logar district, and
extends to the border of Ghazni; north-westward it includes the
Paghman hills, and the valley of the upper Kabul river, and so to the
Koh-i-Baba. Roughly it embraces a territory of about 100 m. square,
chiefly mountainous. Wheat and barley are the staple products of the
arable tracts. Artificial grasses are also much cultivated, and fruits
largely, especially in the Koh Daman. A considerable part of the
population spends the summer in tents. The villages are not enclosed
by fortifications, but contain small private castles or fortalices.
See C. Yate, _Northern Afghanistan_ (1888); J. A. Gray, _At the Court
of the Amir_ (1895); Sir T. H. H. Holdich, _The Indian Borderland_
(1901). (T. H. H.*)
KABUL RIVER, a river of Afghanistan, 300 m. in length. The Kabul
(ancient _Kophes_), which is the most important (although not the
largest) river in Afghanistan, rises at the foot of the Unai pass
leading over the Sanglakh range, an offshoot of the Hindu Kush towards
Bamian and Afghan Turkestan. Its basin forms the province of Kabul,
which includes all northern Afghanistan between the Hindu Kush and the
Safed Koh ranges. From its source to the city of Kabul the course of the
river is only 45 m., and this part of it is often exhausted in summer
for purposes of irrigation. Half a mile east of Kabul it is joined by
the Logar, a much larger river, which rises beyond Ghazni among the
slopes of the Gul Koh (14,200 ft.), and drains the rich and picturesque
valleys of Logar and Wardak. Below the confluence the Kabul becomes a
rapid stream with a great volume of water and gradually absorbs the
whole drainage of the Hindu Kush. About 40 m. below Kabul the Panjshir
river joins it; 15 m. farther the Tagao; 20 m. from the Tagao junction
the united streams of Alingar and Alishang (rivers of Kafiristan); and
20 m. below that, at Balabagh, the Surkhab from the Safed Koh. Two or
three miles below Jalalabad it is joined by the Kunar, the river of
Chitral. Thenceforward it passes by deep gorges through the Mohmand
hills, curving northward until it emerges into the Peshawar plain at
Michni. Soon afterwards it receives the Swat river from the north and
the Bara river from the south, and after a further course of 40 m. falls
into the Indus at Attock. From Jalalabad downwards the river is
navigable by boats or rafts of inflated skins, and is considerably used
for purposes of commerce.
KABYLES, or KABAIL, a confederation of tribes in Algeria, Tunisia, and a
few oases of the Sahara, who form a branch of the great Berber race.
Their name is the Arabic _gabilat_ (pl.: _gabail_), and was at first
indiscriminately applied by the Arabs to all Berber peoples. The part of
Algeria which they inhabit is usually regarded as consisting of two
divisions--Great Kabylia and Lesser Kabylia, the former being also known
as the Kabylia of the Jurjura (also called Adrar Budfel, "Mountain of
Snow"). Physically many Kabyles do not present much contrast to the
Arabs of Algeria. Both Kabyle and Arab are white at birth, but rapidly
grow brown through exposure to air and sunshine. Both have in general
brown eyes and wavy hair of coarse quality, varying from dark brown to
jet black. In stature there is perhaps a little difference in favour of
the Kabyle, and he appears also to be of heavier build and more
muscular. Both are clearly long-headed. Some, however, of the purer type
of Kabyles in Kabylia proper have fair skins, ruddy complexions and blue
or grey eyes. In fact there are two distinct types of Kabyles: those
which by much admixture have approximated to Arab and negroid types, and
those which preserve Libyan features. Active, energetic and
enterprising, the Kabyle is to be found far from home--as a soldier in
the French army, as a workman in the towns, as a field labourer, or as a
pedlar or trader earning the means of purchasing his bit of ground in
his native village. The Kabyles are Mahommedans of the Sunnite branch
and the Malikite rite, looking to Morocco as the nearer centre of their
religion. Some of the Kabyles retain their vernacular speech, while
others have more or less completely adopted Arabic. The best known of
the Kabyle dialects is the Zouave[1] or Igaouaouen, those speaking it
having been settled on the northern side of the Jurjura at least from
the time of Ibn Khaldun; it is the principal basis of Hanoteau's _Essai
de grammaire kabyle_ (Paris, 1858). Unlike their southern brethren, the
Kabyles have no alphabet, and their literature is still in the stage of
oral transmission, for the most part by professional reciters.
Hanoteau's _Poesies populaires de la Kabylie du Jurjura_ (Paris, 1867)
gives the text and translation of a considerable number of historical
pieces, proverbial couplets and quatrains, dancing songs, &c.
Consult General L. L. C. Faidherbe and Dr Paul Topinard, _Instructions
sur l'anthropologie de l'Algerie_ (Paris, 1874); Melchior Joseph
Eugene Daumas, _Le Sahara algerien_ (Paris, 1845) and _Moeurs et
coutumes de l'Algerie_ (1857); De Slane's translation of Ibn Khaldun's
_Hist. des Berberes_ (Algiers, 1852); Aucapitaine, _Les Kabyles et la
colonie de l'Algerie_ (Paris, 1864) and _Les Beni M'zab_ (1868);
L.J.A.C. Hanoteau and A. Letourneux, _La Kabylie et les coutumes
kabyles_ (Paris, 1893); Charmetant, in _Jahrbucher der Verbreitung des
Glaubens_ (1874); Masqueray, _Formation des cites ... de l'Algerie_
(1886); Dugas, _La Kabylie et le peuple kabyle_ (Paris, 1878); Recoux,
_La Demographie de l'Algerie_ (Paris, 1880); J. Liorel, _Races
berberes: les Kabyles_ (Paris, 1893); MacIver and Wilkin, _Libyan
Notes_ (1901).