ETHNOFLORENCE
INDIAN AND HIMALAYAN
FOLK AND TRIBAL ARTS
AN INTERDISCIPLIANRY POINT OF VIEW
November 23, 2021
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Wooden Effigies
of the Kafir’s in the Collection of the Kabul Museum
The Genesis of a Collection
Through the careful reconstruction of Lennart Edelberg in ‘Statues de Bois: Rapportees du Kafiristan a Kabul apres la Conquete de cette Province par l’Emir Abdul Rahman en 1895-96’
(Arts Asiatiques Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 243-286 – École française d’Extrême-Orient) we dedicate ourselves today to the ‘diaspora’ of a group of Kafir’s wooden effigies from the local valleys to the Royal Palace Collection and later to the Kabul Museum (of which in 1929 four were donated to the Musee Guimet and two of these (four) were later assigned to the Musee de l ‘Homme in Paris ). For further information on the collection, please consult the catalogue of the National Museum of Afghanistan 1931-1985 by Francine Tissot (Unesco Publishing 1985)
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Kafirsitan – or – country of the infidels ‘Unbelievers’ is the name that the Muslims gave to the inhabitants of some remote valleys in the north – east of Afgahinstan, between the south of the Hindu – Kouch and the border provinces of Chitral.
As Lennart Edelberg notes, this Muslim definition has been adopted by science.
On the left Mod.p.Kf.1411.6 H. 1.16 cm Wood Old Man, with a large turban and a long beard, seated on a small stool. On the right Mod.p. Kf. 1412.7. H 1.64 cm Bearded man standing, with a large turban and coat decorated with wickerwork motifs. A Kafir dagger in his right hand
Georg Morgenstierne divides the tribes of Kafiristan into 4 linguistic groups: 1) The Eastern and Western Kati; 2) The Prasun of the Parum Valley; III & IV) The Ashkun – Waigali, inhabitants of the narrowed valleys , through which they entered into the central Kafiristan from the South. This classification closely corresponds to that ordered by tribes, including (I) Siah-Posh dressed in black, (II) Safed Posh dressed in white, and the other (III & IV) Pusht-Posh tribes fur dressed. In addition to these tribes in the Chitral area we find the black Kalash or Kafiri of the Chitral (not to be confused with the first Siah – Posh group dressed in black), who have a similar religion but a different language, of Indian derivation.
On the left Mod.p. Kf. 1418.13 H. 2.06 cm Wood -Horseman wearing a conical head-dress and carrying a dagger, a hand-gun with a cartridge-belt and a shield on his back. On the right Mod.p.Kf.1420.15 H. 1.80 cm Man seated on a chair
When most of Kafiristan was converted to Islam under the authority of the Emir of Afghanistan Abdul Rahman, the name of this area was changed to Nuristan ‘land of light’. In this era a number of wooden effigies were rescued from destruction and brought to Kabul, first to the Royal Palace, and later (between 1919 & 1926) to the Kaboul Museum.
Mod.p.Kf. 1413.8 H.1.91 cm Man standing, with a large cerremonial turban, an ear-pendant and a coat decorated with wickerwork motifs. An axe in his right hand.
According to some authors, at the time there must also have been some stone effigies, of which no evidence remains to this day.
From a documentary point of view these effigies were photographed from Jewett in 1916 and Niedermayer in 1917 .
Jeweet and Niederman were the first Westerners to document these effigies after the conquest of Kafiristan.
Oskar von Niedermayer – Afganistan Published by Leipzig, Karl W. Hiersemann, 1924
As already mentioned, if the entire group of effigies entered the Kabul Museum (between 1919 – the year it opened – and 1926) in 1929 four figures were donated to the Musee Guimet (two of these were later destined for the Musee de l ‘Homme).
Mod.p. Kf. 1418.13 H. 2.06 cm Wood -Horseman wearing a conical head-dress and carrying a dagger, a hand-gun with a cartridge-belt and a shield on his back.
In 1896 Kati refugees – or Red Kafiri, settled in the upper part of the Chitral valleys, inhabited by the Kalash Kafiris and strengthened their ancient beliefs together there for no more than another generation.
Mod.p.Kf.1422.17 Wood. Old man seated on a goat with very long horns.
Nowadays the sculptures of the Kafiris are present in the collections of the Museums In Pakistan, India, Europe and North America, among which we have recently documented some effigies of the Peshawar Museum (https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2021/11/15/wooden-effigies-gandaw-of-kalash-chitral-an-explicated-iconography/) we have mentioned the existence of some gandao replicas at the British Museum of London, at the Ethnographic Museum of Oslo, the National Museum of Copenhagen, the Ethnographic Museum of Florence (extensively documented in the recently reorganized new room https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/alti-sentieri-dasia-vita-cultura-e-miti-dei-popoli-dellhindu-kush/), in the Natural History Museum of New York. (https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/category/kafiri-nuristan-tribal-art/)
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Hoping to have intrigued the reader, I invite you to consult the two texts above, for a scientific definition of the individual figures inventoried in the collection of the Kabul Museum.
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RELATED PAGES ON ETHNOFLORENCE
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Alti Sentieri d’Asia Vita, Cultura e Miti dei Popoli dell’Hindu Kush
Visit the page at the following link https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/alti-sentieri-dasia-vita-cultura-e-miti-dei-popoli-dellhindu-kush/
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Wooden Effigies Gandaw of Kalash Chitral in the Gandhara National Museum in Peshawar
AN EXPLICATED ICONOGRAPHY
Visit the page at the following Link https://ethnoflorence.wordpress.com/2021/11/15/wooden-effigies-gandaw-of-kalash-chitral-an-explicated-iconography/
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ETHNOFLORENCE INDIAN AND HIMALAYAN FOLK AND TRIBAL ARTS 