Ghilzaes

Ghilzaes (Ghiljis), one of the main divisions of the Afghans, whose territory extends from the Khyber Pass to Kabul, and thence across the western spurs of the Sufed Koh (" White Mountains") to Ghazni, and down the Tarnak valley to Kandahar and the Pishin district on the Baluchistan frontier. There are two main branches - Turan and Buran, with about 120 Khels or septs variously enumerated, and total population 600,000 to 700,000. The Ghilzaes claim Turki descent, and according to the national traditions they entered the Ghor country, West Afghanistan, in the 8th century under Sebakhtakin, a Tertar of the Kilich tribe formerly located on the upper course of the Syr Daria (Jaxartes). From Kilich is supposed to be derived the national name Ghilji through an intermediate form Kiliji, meaning "swordsmen," "warriors." But no trace now remains of their Tatar origin, all having long been completely assimilated in type and speech to the Afghan race. (Leech, The Early Ghilzaecs, in Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, 1845; H. W. Bellew, Afghanistan awl the Afghans, 1879.)