Durani

Durani, the largest and most powerful division of the Afgheln nation, and since 1747 the political rulers of the country, occupying the whole of the Helmand Valley between Kandahar and Herat, and also the Kabul district as far as the foot of the Hindu-Kush. Two main divisions, Zirak, with four branches; Popalzae, Barakzae (the royal sept since 1818), Alikiozae and Achakzae; Panjpas, with five branches: Nurzae, Alizae, Ishakzae, Khugiani, Maku, with nearly 150 clans altogether and total population about 850,000. The Abdali, as they were formerly called, took the name of Dureini in 1747 when Ahmad Khan, on the death of Nadir Shah, founded the present Afghetn State and assumed the title of Dur eel Duran, "Pearl of the Age." Thanks to their closer contact with Persia, the Dureini were always distinguished above the rest of the nation, and even above the Ghiljis, who were the ruling branch before them, by a higher degree of culture and a more elevated sentiment of national dignity. The Ghiljis themselves, despite their hereditary jealousy of the present rulers, recognise the superiority of the Dureini above all the divisions of the Afghan people. The Dureini have a special veneration for Kandahar, which, though not the present capital, is regarded by them as the cradle of their race. (Ferrier, History of the Afghans, 1857; Thornton, Gazetteer, 1844;

Leech, Account of the Abdalccs in Journal of the Asiatic Society, 1845.)