766 
P E S 
own name for their nation is Poq/htoon; in the plural, 
Pov/htauneh. The Berdooraunees pronounce this word 
Pookhtaunp.li ; whence the name of Pitan, by which the 
Afghans are known in India, may probably be derived. 
The following is the courfe of ftudy purfued about 
Pefhawer,- and other large towns. A child begins its 
letters (in conformity to a traditional injunction of the 
prophet) when it is four years, four months, and four 
days, old; but its ftudies are immediately laid afide, and 
not refumed till it is fix or feven years old, when it learns 
its letters, and is taught to read a little Perfian poem of 
Saadis, which points out the beauty of each of the virtues, 
and the deformity of each of the vices, in very limple and 
not inelegant language. This takes from four months 
to a year, according to the child’s capacity. After this, 
common people learn the Koran, and ftudy fome books 
in their own language ; people of decent fortune proceed 
to read the Perfian dallies, and a little of the Arabic 
grammar: boys who are to be brought up as mollahs, or 
priefts, give a great deal of their time to this laft ftudy, 
which, as the Arabic grammars are very elaborate, and 
comprehend a great deal of fcience that we do not mix 
with the rudiments of a language, fometimes occupies 
feveral years. When a young mollah has made fufficient 
proficiency in this ftudy, he goes to Pefhawer, Hulhtnug- 
gur, or fome other place famous for its mollahs, and 
begins on logic, law, and theology. No further know¬ 
ledge is required to complete a mollah’s education; but 
many pufh their refearches into ethics, metaphyfics, and 
the fyftemof phyfics known in the Eaft, as well as hiftory, 
poetry, and medicine, which laft is a fafhionable ftudy for 
men of all profeftions. For thofe ftudies, and for the more 
advanced branches of theology and law, they often travel 
to diftant cities, and even to Bokhara, which is a great 
feat of Mahommedan learning; but Pelhawerfeems, on the 
whole, to be the mod learned city in thefe countries, and 
and many more ftudents come thither from Bokhara 
than repair to that city from Pefhawer. 
The Afghans are Mahometans of the Sunnite or or¬ 
thodox feft, which occafions a great hatred between 
them and the Perfians. (See Persia, p. 702.) The un¬ 
learned part of the Afghan nation certainly confidera 
Shiite as more an infidel than a Hindoo, and have a 
greater averfion to the Perfians for their religion than 
for all the injuries the country has fuffered at their hands. 
They hold, like all other Mufiulmans, that no infidel will 
be faved; that it is lawful and even meritorious to make 
war on unbelievers ; and to convert them to the Mulful- 
raan faith, or impofe tribute on them. 
The Afghans are a fociable people : befides the large 
entertainments which are given on marriages and fimilar 
occafions, they have parties of five or fix to dine with 
them, as often as they can afford to kill a flieep. When 
all the guefts have arrived, the mafter of the houfe, or one 
of his family, ferves every one with water to wadi his 
hands, and then brings in dinner. It generally confifts 
of boiled mutton, and the broth in which the meat is 
boiled, with no addition but fait, and fometimes pepper. 
This foup, which they generally eat with bread foaked in 
it, is faid to be very palatable. Their drink is butter¬ 
milk or ftierbet. In fome places, they drink a liquor 
made from fheep’s milk, which has an enlivening, if not 
an intoxicating, quality. During dinner, the mafter re¬ 
commends his diflies, prelfes the guefts to eat, and tells 
them not to fpare, for there is plenty. They fay a grace 
before and after dinner; and, when all is done, the guefts 
blefs the mafter of the houfe. After dinner, they (it and 
fimoke, or form a circle to tell tales and ling. The old 
men are the great ftory-tellers. Their tales are of kings 
and viziers, of genii and fairies; but principally of love 
and war. They are often mixed with fongs and verfes, 
and always end in a moral. They delight in thefe tales 
and fongs. All fit in filence while a tale is telling; and, 
when it is done, there is a general cry of “ Ai Shawafh!” 
their ufual expreflion of admiration. Their fongs are 
P E vS 
moftly about love; but they have numerous ballads, ce¬ 
lebrating the wars of their tribe, and the exploits of indi¬ 
vidual chiefs. As foon as a chief of any name dies, fongs 
are made in honour of his memory. Befides thefe fongs, 
fome men recite odes, or other paffages from the poets ; 
and others play the flute, the rubaub (a fort of lute or 
guitar), ihecamaunclieh^nd J'arindeh (two kinds of fiddles), 
or the foornaun, which is a fpecies of hautboy. Mr. 
Elphinftone gives the character of the Afghans, or Cau- 
buliftans, in the following terms. “ I know no people in 
Afia who have fewer- vices, or are lefs voluptuous or 
debauched ; but this is molt remarkable in the weft: the 
the people of towns are acquiring a tafte for debauchery, 
and thofe in the north-eaftof the country are already far 
from being pure. The Afghans themfelves complain of 
the corruption of manners, and of the decline of fincerity 
and good faith ; and fay that their nation is aflimilating 
to the Perfians. Their fentiments and conduct towards 
that nation greatly refemble thofe which we difeovered 
fome years ago towards'the French ; for their national 
antipathy, and a ftrong fenfe of their own fuperiority, do 
not prevent their imitating Perfian manners, while they 
declaim againft the practice, as depraving their own. 
They are fully fenfible of the advantage which Perfia 
has over them at prefent, from the comparative union 
and vigour of her councils ; and they regard the increafe 
of her power with fome degree of.apprehenfion, which 
is diminifhed by their inattention to the future, and by 
their confidence in themfelves. To fum up the charafter 
of the Afghans in a few words: their vices are revenge, 
envy, avarice, rapacity, and obftinacy ; on the other hand, 
they are fond of liberty, faithful to their friends, kind to 
their dependants, hofpitable, brave, hardy, frugal, la¬ 
borious, and prudent; and they are lefs difpofed than the 
nations in their neighbourhood to falfehood, intrigue, 
and deceit.” Elphinftone’s Account of the Kingdom of 
Caubul, &c. 4to. 1815. 
PESH'WA, or Peish wa, the hereditary title of the head 
of the Poona, or Weftern Mahrattas. The word has a 
meaning analogous to our firft or prime minifter ; but has 
been retained bytheperfons who, for feveral generations, 
have hereditarily fucceeded to the fovereignty. The 
hiftory of the pelhwas, according to the bell authorities, 
is briefly this. About the year 174.0, the pelhwa and 
buklhi, minifter and paymafter-general to the Ram Rajah, 
acknowledged fovereign of the whole Mabratta empire, 
threw off their allegiance to the weak fuccefior of the 
great Sevajee, and divided his extenfive empire between 
them. (See Mahrattas, vol. xiv.) The bukftii was of 
the military tribe, out of which, in ftriftnefs of Hindoo 
law, all fovereigns muft fpring; and he affumed the title 
and authority of Rajah of Berar, and fixed his capital at 
Nagpour._where, with that title, his fucceffors continue 
as fovereigns of the Berar, or Eaftern Mahratta ftate. 
The pelhwa was a Brahman, to which tribe fovereignty 
is pofitively prohibited by the law’s of Menu ; and, in 
obedience, no Brahman hath ever become a king; for, 
although the pelhwa have, in fa, 61 , the power, he by a 
political fidtion profefles to be only pelhwa to the reign¬ 
ing family at Sattara, where the defeendant of Sevajee is 
kept a llate-pageant, whole patent and drefs of inveftiture 
are Hill thought or feigned to be elfential to the peftiwa’s 
authority, though that authority has been hereditary for 
feveral generations, each of w'hich has kept the rajah in 
honourable thraldom at his ancient capital. 
At the dole of lord Wellefley’s memorable fplendid 
war, (fee the article Hindoostan, vol. x. p. 114.) four 
confiderable Mahratta powers continued to occupy a 
high rank among the native ftates. The Pelhwa, the 
nominal head of the national confederacy, had been re- 
ftored by Britilh arms, and maintained, though alfo con- 
troled, by a Britilh lubfidiary force. The Rajah of Berar 
had ceded his maritime province of Cuttack, and would 
have received a fubfidiary force, if means could have been 
found of fupporting it from his own revenues. Both, 
thefe 
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