Does anyone have information on the Matti Division of Pashtuns in general but also specifically its Nohani/Noharni (also called Luharni/Luhani) tribe.
Re: Matti Pashtuns
Matti is one of the three branches of Pashtuns, other being Saraban and Karlan. Ghilzai or Ghaljis are the main subsection of Matti or Mattozi. Here is moterial about Ghiljis.
***| Ghilzai |*
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Ghilji or Ghilzai are one of the most famous tribes of Afghanistan. They are a large and widespread Afghan tribe, occupying the high plateaus north of Qandahar (Qalat-e-Ghilzai) and extending eastwards towards the Suleiman Mountains, westwards towards the Gul Koh range, and the North of the Kabul River. They were in power in Afghanistan at the beginning of the 18th Century and for a time even possessed the throne of Isfahan (Persia).
Ethnologue
According to the Ethnologue Data from Languages of the World, 14th Edition, The Ghilzai speakers of Pashto are 24 % of the national population of Afghanistan.
*Origins *
Some modern-day historians trace the origin of the Ghilzais to the Turkish tribe of Kilji, who once occupied the districts bordering the upper course of the Syr Darya (Jaxartes) and were brought into Afghanistan by the Turk Emperor Sultan Subaktagin in the 10th Century. According to a renowned historian
Barry O'Connell:
*The Ghilzai are the descendents of the Wu'chi (Indo-European/Turk) which absorbed the remnants of the Tocharian people (Indo-European) after the fall of the Tarim Basin to the Han (Chinese). *- J. Barry O'Connell Jr.
Traditional historians are however of a different view. According to them, Ghilji and Lodhi (Ibrahim Lodhi) were the offspring of Shah Hussain Ghauri off his first wife; Bibi Mato bint Bait Nikka bin Qais Abdul Rashid.
However the case may be, the Ghilzai clans now rank collectively as second to none in strength of military and commercial enterprise. They are a fine, manly race of people and it is from some of their most influential clans (the Suleiman Khel, Nasir Khel, Hotak, and Kharotis) that the main body of Powenda merchants are derived.
Ghilzai Family Structure
"Ghilzai lineages are diverse; some are organized with an institutionalised leadership position, while others coalesce around a charismatic male relative. Groups of related households unite and divide, depending upon which ancestor they choose to trace their ancestry. Lineage members have mutual obligations to assist each other and mutual liabilities. They are all fair game for retaliation should a feud erupt with another lineage or should a relative commit a crime.
Kin groups expand to become ever more inclusive. The next level above the minimal lineage is the maximal lineage, followed by the tribe and, finally, by the entire ethnic group. All these units are extensions of the nuclear family. All are based on real or reputed agnatic kinship. Tribes segment into smaller, sometimes mutually hostile, units, such as minimal or maximal lineages, depending on the purpose for which the unit is needed. Such smaller units are termed segmentary lineages. The principle of segmentation is succinctly summed up by the Arab proverb, "I against my brother. My brother and I against my cousin. My cousin, my brother, and I against the world." The potential for tension with agnatic kin is expressed in the Afghan adage, "Do you have an enemy? I have a cousin."
Competition for the same mates and inheritance of property cause much of the hostility between close agnates. Longtime Middle East specialist John Gulick explains kin relations in the Middle East as an expression of the "peril and refuge mentality." He observes that the kin who provide a person with social, emotional, and, if necessary, armed support are also competitors for the same resources. In the case of women, the same brothers and father with whom they are so close and who are their protectors are also their executioners, should the males doubt the daughter's or sister's chastity. These are also the relatives who know the person best and to whom he or she is consequently most vulnerable."
"Unlike the Hazaras, Ghilzai Pashtuns do not tolerate unrelated people in their kin communities. Should an impoverished Ghilzai man find it necessary to sell his patrimonial land, he should first sell to his closest neighbors. Among the Ghilzai, however, kin apply sanctions to punish relatives who sell to non-kin."
*Tribal Structure in Ghilzai Pashtun Society *
"Anderson has extensively described the meaning of qawm to the Ghilzai Pashtuns. His observations have theoretical significance for the meaning of tribe elsewhere. Among the Ghilzai the term qawm "can be applied to any category of common patrilineal descent that persists through time as a group identity from a particular community to the totality of Pashtun.
Informants emphasize, however, that most applications are metaphorical and comparative; that the idea refers to any larger category of common patrilineal descent; but that it usually designates the outer limit of common interest and sympathy, or at least the one with greatest salience."
Anderson also highlights the corporate nature of tribal responsibility. Fellow tribesmen share in the responsibility for offenses committed by members of the tribe. Revenge may be taken on any tribe member, although usually liability is greatest for those most closely related to the offender.
Nevertheless, "involvement in distant or minor affairs is all too imaginable and too often experienced to discount." Tribesmen also share the burden for revenging a wronged tribal member. Tribes stereotype themselves and each other in terms of customs, dress, appearance, and language.
Anderson also addresses the issue of tribal-state relations as:
The Ghilzai are historically a collection of tribes. They view their relation to the state not as an opposition of government to tribe, per se. Instead, they oppose seats of government with their hierarchical organization where there are rulers and ruled, to tribal lands where all are ideally equal and political organization is acephalous (without a paramount chief). Ideally, there are no differences among the members of a Ghilzai tribe.
Within the Ghilzai tribes are patrilineages that are segmentary and may be acephalous or may be headed by a leader whose position "amounts to an office.""
Re: Matti Pashtuns
Khalaj South of Oxus
Muslim authors agree that the Khalaj are one of the earliest tribes to have crossed the Oxus. In addition to I. Khurdadhbih whom we have quoted above, Istakhri (circa AD 930) [1] says: "The Khalaj are a class of Turks who in the days of the old (fi qadim al-ayyam) came to the country stretching between India and the districts of Sijistan, behind Ghur. They are cattle breeders of Turkish appearance (khilaq), dress, and language." Mas’udi, Muruj (AD 943), iii, 254, speaks of the Turkish tribes "Ghuz and Roman]خرلج living towards Gharsh (= Gharchistan) and Bust in (the region) adjoining Sijistan".
Contrary to Marquart, Eranshahr, 251, I think that [FONT=Times New Roman]خرلج must be read here *Kharlukh, and on the other hand, under Ghuz the author may mean the Khalaj, for, as we now know from Kashghari, the Khalaj were considered as the two "lost tribes" of the Ghuzz. [2]
If Istakhri and Mas’udi (?) place the Khalaj on the middle course of the Helmand, the compilator of the Hudud al-Alam (AD 982), f. 22b quotes the Khalaj in the region of Ghaznin and the adjoining districts. He speaks of their wealth in sheep and describes their habit of wandering along pasture-lands. He adds that the same tribe is numerous in "Balkh, Tukharistan, Bust and Guzganan". In fact the name is misspelt in the MS. as [FONT=Times New Roman]خلخ and it is very possible that the author has mixed together the Khallukh [FONT=Times New Roman]خلخ and Khalaj .
In Tukharistan and (?) Balkh he most probably has in view the former tribe, and in Ghaznin, Bust, and Guzganan the latter.
The Saffarids were the first Muslim dynasty to penetrate into Central Afghanistan. According to Ibn al-Athir, vii, 171, [3] Ya’qub conquered (AD. 868) "the Khalaj, Zabul and other (lands) but I do not know the year in which it happened…."
The Ghaznavids, from the outset of their activity, had to deal with the Khalaj. Nizam al-mulk [4] reports an episode of Sabuktagin’s early career when he was sent by his master Alaptagin (d. 352/963) to collect taxes from "the Khalaj and Turkmans", which he tried to do by peaceful means. In 385/995 Sabuktagin being in Herat, sent summons to the rulers of Sistan and Guzganan as well as to the *Khalaj Turks. [5]
Utbi, in his history (written circa 411/1020) refers to the Khalaj several times: i, 55, he announces his intention to narrate Mahmud’s victories "in India, as well as among the Turks and Khalaj"; i, 88, (Persian translation, 43, very free), he reports that after Mahmud’s expedition against India, "the Afghans and Khalaj submitted to him"; ii, 78 (Pers. Transl, 294): when Ilak Khan took up a menacing attitude Mahmud arrived in Ghazna and summoned "the Khalaj Turks, ever on their horses, [6] manly son of swords…" Equally, during the inroad of Qadir Khan to Tukharistan. Mahmud rushed to Balkh "with his Turkish, Indian, Khalaj, Afghan, and Ghazna troops…"
The fact that the Khalaj were associated in Mahmud’s victories may account for their subsequent ambitions, Already under the weak Sultan Mas’ud, they became restive. On 19 Muharram 432/1040, Mas’ud had to send an expedition from Ghazni in order to obtain the submission or punishment of the Khalaj who, during his absence, had committed some transgressions (fisad), Abul Fazal Bayhaqi, ed. Morley, 826, 830 [where [FONT=Times New Roman]خلجmis-spelt as Khalkh.
Najib Bakrans geography Jahan-nama, written (circa AD, 1200-1220) on the eve of the Mongol invasion, contains a particularly interesting paragraph on the changes which the originally Turkish tribe was undergoing: "The Khalaj are a tribe of Turks who from the Khallukh limits migrated to Zabulistan. Among the districts of Ghazni there is a steppe where they reside. Then, on account of the heat of the air, their complexion has changed and tended towards blackness; the tongue (zuban) too has undergone alterations and become a different language (lughat)."
In the earliest mention of Juvaynis Jahan-Gusha, i, 132, "the Khalaj of Ghazni" are curiously associated with "Afghans"; a levy (hashar) of these two tribes mobilized by the Mongols took part in the punitive expedition to the region of Merv, ii 194-8: after the disruption of the kingdom of Sultan Muhammad Khwarazim Shah, a "numberless" mass of "Khalaj and Turkmans from Khorasan and Transoxiana" gathered at Purshavur (Peshawar) under the leadership of Saif al-Din Ighraq (var. *Yighraq) [7] – Malik, who according to a gloss was himself a Khalaj. This army defeated the petty king of Ghazna, Radhi al-Mulk, but when Jalaladin Khwarazim Shah arrived in Ghazna, Ighraq came to greet him. After Jalaladin defeated the Mongols at Parvan, the Khalaj, Turkmans, and Ghauris of his army quarrelled with the Khwarazimians over the booty and finally retreated towards the south. Ighraq returned to Peshawar while his rival Nuh-Jandar stayed at *Ningrahar, but Ighraq retraced his steps and killed him. Finally, Mongol detachments reached the spot and destroyed the whole of the 20,000 - 30,000 Khalaj, Turkmans, and Ghauris who had abandoned Jalaladin. [8]
This historical sketch very clearly shows the gradual expansion of the southern branch of the Khalaj from the lower course of the Helmand to the environs of Ghazna and later to the neighborhood of Peshawar; on the other hand, it indicates how the Khalaj were utilized by the lords of the time and how gradually they found their way to power.
India was ever a most welcome field for energetic adventurers, and as early as AD. 1197 Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji [9], acting on behalf of the Ghurid Muiz al-Din Muhammad occupied Bihar and AD. 1202, at the head of a small troop of horse, conquered Lakhnauti in Bengal of which he became the governor.
In 689/1290 Jalal al-din Firuz Khalji succeeded the Mamluk kings on the throne of Delhi and his short-lived dynasty lasted till 1320. [10]
Another Khalji dynasty, descended from a brother of Firuz, ruled in Central India (Malwa) AD. 1436-1531. Equally the Lodhi kings of Delhi (AD. 1451-1526) belonged to a Khalji family which was established in Multan already towards AD 1005.
The Khalji in India were considered as Afghans and perhaps in the fifteenth century possessed no knowledge of Turkish but we must remember what Najib Bakran says on the changes undergone by the Khalaj of Afghanistan. In Afghanistan and India the descendants of the Khalaj are called Ghal-zae, i.e. "sons of the thief". [11] This later popular etymology and the legend built up round it are certainly artificial. The fact is that the important Ghilzai tribe occupies now the region round Ghazni, [12] where the Khalaj used to live and that historical data all point, to the transformation of the Turkish Khalaj into Afghan Ghilzai. Even the phonetic evolution of the name has nothing astonishing. The ancient Turkish form was Qalaj (or Qalach), and it is well known that Turkish q was heard by the Arabs now as kh and now as gh. [13] Qalaj could have a parallel form *Ghalaj of which it was easv to bring the end in conformity with the usual Afghan terminology of zae, zai (= Persian –zada).
Re: Matti Pashtuns
Lodhis, Suris, Niazis, Marwats, Lohanis, etc. are Ghilzais. Unfortunately, information about Lohanis is scarce.
Re: Matti Pashtuns
Thankyou, thankyou LOTD.
Really, really appreciate that, very informative.
Shame there’s not more on the Lohani tribe, the reason I asked about them is my gummybear/honeydrop 
belongs to that clan and hails from Attock. It it true that in old Pashto N and L were sometimes used interchangeabally and Lohani would at times be prounounced Nohani? Which spelling is more common?
Re: Matti Pashtuns
Yeah there are plent of "Matti" pashtuns on any given ground...