Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 95

MAY, 1933)
ON ANCIENT TRACKS PAST THE PAMIRS
The importance of Wakhan for traffic towards the Tarim basin lies in the fact that it provides a line of communication unbroken by any serious natural obstacle for a distance of close on 200 miles right up to the watershed towards the drainage area of the Tarim. Though the valley of the Oxus is narrow at its bottom it is singularly free from defiles except at the upper end of the sub-division of Ishkashm in the west and again above Sarhad, at present its highest village eastwards. Those two defiles, too, are short and practicable at all seasons for laden animals. Limited as the agricultural resources must always have been, yet the food supplies of Wakhân, supplemented by the focks for which the side valleys afford amplo grazing, are likely to have been always sufficient to meet the needs of traders and travellers following the route along the valley,
Permanent habitations are to be found on it now up to Sarhad and in earlier times existed also for two marches further up, as far as Langar. Thus shelter was assured all along for those using the route, an important consideration in view of the elevation at which the inhabited portion of the valley lies (from about 8,000 feet at Ishkashm to 10,500 feet at Sarhad) and the rigours of the climate during the greater part of the year. For the conditions of life and cultivation in Wakhân I must refer to the modem accounts already quoted. The present population of Wakbån, divided since the Anglo-Russian Boundary Commission of 1895 into a Russian portion on the right and an Afghan portion on the left bank of the Abi-Panja, can scarcely much exceed a total of about 5,000 souls. But that it must have been considerably greater in pre-Muhammadan times is proved by the number and extent of the ancient strongholds I was able to survey on my passage down the main portion of the valley in 1915.7
Hsüan-tsang's description of Wakhan, which the Imperial Annals of the Tang dynasty reproduce with some additions about its history, brings out clearly the great length of the territory in contrast to the narrowness of the habitable ground. It mentions wheat and pulse as the main crops; the hardiness of the local ponies; the icy winds. The dependence of the territory on the Tukhåra country, i.e., Badakhshån, which has continued to modern times, is duly referred to. Of the people we are told that they were "of a violent and coarse disposition.” The pilgrim's observation : "for the most part they have greenish-blue eyes and thereby differ from other people" is completely borne out by the physical character of the present Wakhis. They have preserved the Homo Alpinus type of the Galchas or
hillmen ' of the Oxus region in remarkable purity, and blue or light-grey eyes and fair hair are very common among them."
Hsüan-tsang mentions ten Buddhist convents, each with & small number of monks, and refers to the capital of the territory by a name (Hun-t'o-to). This clearly places it at the present Khandut, situated on the left bank of the river and with its 50-60 homesteads, the largest village of Wakhân. It is the track leading along the left bank which travellers on their way through Wakhan are likely to have ordinarily followed; for by keeping to it; those coming from or proceeding to the Påmîrs could avoid crossing the Ab-i-Panja at any point lower than Langar-kisht, wherpe, after its junction with the stream from the Great Pamîr, its bed becomes more confined and deeper.
6 See Serindia, i, p. 70. 6 See above, note 7.
For accounts of the fortresses of Zamr.i.atish-parast and Namadgut, cf. in particular Innermost Asia, ii, pp. 866 sqq., 872 sqq.
For an analysis of these records, ae0 Innermost Asia, i, pp. 61 sqq. The Annals duly note Hu. mi as the Chinese name of Wakhân, by the side of the name Ta-mo-hoi-t'ie-ti of Hsuan-tsang which stiil awaits axplanation.
For an analysis of the anthropometrical records soured by me, of. Mr. T. A. Joyce's Appendix O in Innermoat Asia, ii, pp. 996 sqq.