´¡°äÆŽ°´ÜĪ, ACAKZĪ, or AČəKZĪ, AÄŒAKẒĪ, a tribal grouping of PaṧtÅ«n clans in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The AcÉ™kzÄ« form part of the ZÄ«rak branch of the DorrÄnÄ« (or AbdÄlÄ«) and thus belong to the so-called western PaṧtÅ«n (who are distinguished from the ḠilzÄ«, encompassing the eastern PaṧtÅ«n). Their language is MaḡrebÄ«/QandahÄri Pashto. Their eponymous ancestor is supposed to be a certain AcÉ™k, son of ZÄ«rak, son of AbdÄl, son of TarÄ«n, son of ḴarṧbÅ«n, whence AcÉ™k, + -³úÄ« (plural of the Pashto suffix -zay, “descendant of”) and the singular form AcÉ™kzay. In the 18th century they were already established straddling the present Afghan-Pakistani frontier not far from SpÄ«n BÅldak between QandahÄr and KÅyá¹a (Quetta). Indeed, Aḥmad Shah DorrÄnÄ« used to pass the hottest weeks of the summer on the TÅba heights (dÉ™ AcÉ™kzÅ TÅba) among the AcÉ™kzÄ«, whom he appreciated for their courage and their roughness equally (Caroe, Pathans, p. 261).
Toward the end of the 19th century, according to J. W. Murray (Dictionary, p. 201), the AcÉ™kzÄ« numbered 4,725 fighting men in the region of the “Khwaja Amran Range, Quetta-Pishin.” Bellew (Inquiry, p. 164) also placed them in the valley of “Kadani” (Kadanay) and on the northern slopes of the mountainous chain of “Khojak Amran” (ḴᵛÄÇ°a/ḴÅÇ°a AmrÄn) as far as the TÅba plateau. They were pastoral nomads, finding summer pasturage as far away as the Herat region, in ḠÅr, and in BÄá¸á¸¡Ä«s. Bellew specifies that they had 5,000 tents and comprised two branches: the “Bahàdur” and the “Gajan,” divided into numerous subclans. Caroe, on his map, “Tribal Locations of the Pathans” (Pathans, between pp. 486 and 487), localized them in the same area as Bellew, which is still correct for the AcÉ™kzÄ« in Pakistan.
About 100,000 AcÉ™kzÄ« live in Afghanistan at present, established primarily between QandahÄr and SpÄ«n BÅldak, in ZamÄ«ndÄvar north of Gerešk, and in KÅhdÄman north of Kabul. Some of them are still nomadic husbandmen, others are sedentary farmers, and still others have settled in the large cities, where they practice various professions or occupy official posts (see C. M. Kieffer, Afghanica, I. Langues et ethnies d’Afghanistan, in press).
Bibliography:
H. W. Bellew, An Inquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan, Woking, 1891 (repr. Graz, 1973).
O. Caroe, The Pathans, 550 B.C.-A.D. 1957, London, 1958.
J. W. Murray, A Dictionary of the Pathan Tribes on the North-West Frontier of India, Calcutta, 1899 (repr. Calcutta, 1910).
(C. M. Kieffer)
Originally Published: December 15, 1983
Last Updated: July 21, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 4, pp. 413-414
C. M. Kieffer, “´¡°äÆŽ°´ÜĪ,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/4, pp. 413-414; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/acekzi (accessed on 2 February 2014).
