Kabul, Afghanistan Circa 1885
KABUL, the capital of Afghanistan,
standing at an elevation of 6900 ft. above the sea in
34° 32' N. and 69° 14' E. Estimated pop. (1901),
140,000. Lying at the foot of the bare and rocky
mountains forming the western boundary of the Kabul
valley, just below the gorge made by the Kabul River, the
city extends a mile and a half east to west and one mile
north to south. Hemmed in by the mountains, there is no
way of extending it, except in a northerly direction
towards the Sherpur cantonment. As the key of northern India,
Kabul has been a city of vast importance for countless
ages. It commands all the passes which here debouch from
the north through the Hindu Kush, and from the west
through Kandahar; and through it passed successive
invasions of India by Alexander the Great, Mahmud of
Ghazni, Genghis Khan, Baber, Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah.
Indeed from the time of Baber to that of Nadir Shah
(1526-1738) Kabul was part of the empire of Delhi. It is
now some 160 m. from the British frontier post of Jamrud
near Peshawar. Kabul was formerly walled; the old wall
had seven gates, of which two alone remain, the Lahori
and the Sirdar. The city itself is a huddle of narrow and
dirty streets, with the Bala Hissar or fort forming the
south-east angle, and rising about 150 ft. above the
plain. The Amir's palace is situated outside the town
about midway between it and the Sherpur cantonment which
lies about a mile to the north-east. Formerly the
greatest ornament of the city was the arcaded and
roofed bazaar called Chillar Chata, ascribed to Ali
Maràan Khan, a noble of the 17th century, who has left
behind him many monuments of his munificent public spirit
both in Kabul and in Hindustan. Its four arms had an
aggregate length of about 600 ft., with a breadth of 30.
The display of goods was remarkable, and in the evening
it was illuminated. This edifice was destroyed by Sir G.
Pollock on evacuating Kabul in 1842 as a record of the
treachery of the city.
The tomb of the Sultan Baber stands on a slope about a
mile to the west of the city in a charming spot. The
grave is marked by two erect slabs of while marble. Near
him lie several of his wives and children; the garden was
formerly enclosed by a marble wall; a clear stream waters
the flower-beds. From the hill that rises behind the tomb
there is a noble prospect of his beloved city, and of the
all-fruitful plain stretching to the north of it.
After the accession of Abdur Rahman in 1880 the city
underwent great changes. The Bala Hissar was destroyed
and has never since been entirely rebuilt, and a
fortified cantonment at Sherpur (one side of which was
represented by the historic Bemaru ridge) had taken the
place of the old earthworks of the British occupation of
1842 which were constructed on nearly the same site. The
city streets were as narrow and evil-smelling, the
surrounding gardens as picturesque and attractive, and
the wealth of fruit was as great, as they had been fifty
years previously. The amir, however, effected many
improvements. Kabul is now connected by well-planned and
metalled roads with Afghan Turkestan on the west, with
the Oxus and Bokhara on the north, and with India on the
east.The road to India was first made by British and is
now maintained by Afghan engineers. The road southwards
to Ghazni and Kandahar was always naturally excellent and
has probably needed little engineering, but thegeneral
principle of road-making in support of a military advance
has always been consistently maintained, and the
expeditions of Kabul troops to Kafiristan have been
supported by a very well graded and substantially
constructed road up the Kunar valley from Jalalabad to
Asmar, and onwards to the Bashgol valley of Kafiristan.
The city ways have been improved until it has become
possible for wheeled vehicles to pass, and the various
roads connecting the suburbs and the city are efficiently
maintained. A purely local railway has also been
introduced, to assist in transporting building material.
The buildings erected by Abdur Rahman were pretentious,
but unmarked by any originality in design and hardly
worthy representation of the beauty and dignity of
Mahommedan architecture. They included a new palace and a
durbar hall, a bridge across the river and embankment, a
pavilion and garden laid out around the site of Baber's
tomb overlooking the Chardeh valley; and many other
buildings of public utility connected with stud
arrangements, the manufacture of small arms and
ammunition, and the requirements of what may be termed a
wholesale shop under European direction, besides
hospitals, dispensaries, bazaars, &c. The new palace
is within an entrenchment just outside the city. It is
enclosed in a fine garden, well planted with trees, where
the harem serai (or ladies' apartments) occupies a
considerable space. The public portion of the buildings
comprise an ornamental and lofty pavilion with entrances
on each side, and a high-domed octagonal room in the
centre, beautifully fitted and appointed, where public
receptions take place. The durbar hall, which is a
separate building, is 60 yards long by 20 broad, with a
painted roof supported by two rows of pillars. But the
arrangement of terraced gardens and the lightly
constructed pavilion which graces the western slopes of
the hills overlooking Chardeh are the most attractive of
these innovations. Here, on a summer's day, with the
scent of roses pervading the heated air, the cool
refreshment of the passing breezes and of splashing
fountains may be enjoyed by the officials of the Kabul
court, whilst they look across the beauty of the thickly
planted plains of Chardeh to the rugged outlines of
Paghman and the snows of the Hindu Kush. The artistic
taste of the landscape gardening is excellent, and the
mountain scenery is not unworthy of Kashmir. It is
pleasant to record that the graveyard of those officers
who fell in the Kabul campaign of 1879-1880, which lies
at the northern end of the Bemaru ridge, is not uncared
for. Kabul is believed to be the Orlospanum or Orlospana
of the geographies of Alexander's march, a name
conjectured to be a corruption of UrddhastMna, "
high place." This is the meaning of the name Bala
Hissar. But the actual name is perhaps also found as that
of a people in this position (Ptolemy's Kabolitae), if
not in the name of a city apparently identical with
Ortospana, Carura, in some copies read Cabura. It was
invaded by the Arabs as early as the thirty-fifth year of
the Ilegira, but it was long before the Mahommedans
effected any lasting settlement. In the early Mahommedan
histories and geographies we find (according to a
favourite Arabic love of jingle) Kabul and Zâbul
constantly associated. Zâbul appears to have been the
country about Ghazni. Kabul first became a capital when
Baber made himself master of it in 1504, and here he
reigned for fifteen years before his invasion of Hindustan.
In modern times it became a capital again, under Timur
Shah (see AFGHANISTAN), and so has continued both to the
end of the Durani dynasty, and under the Barakzais, who
now reign. It was occupied by Sir John Keane in 1839,
General Pollock in 1842, and again by Sir Frederick,
afterwards Lord Roberts, in 1879. Kabul is also the name
of the province including the city so called. It may be
considered to embrace the whole of the plains called Koh
Daman and Bagram, &c., to the Hindu Kush northward,
with the Kohistan or hill country adjoining. Eastward it
extends to the border of Jalalabad at Jagdalak; southward
it includes the Logar district, and extends to the border
of Ghazni; north-west wardit includes the Paghman hills,
and the valley of the upper Kabul river, and so to the
Koh-i-Baba. Roughly it embraces a territory of about IOO
m. square, chiefly mountainous. Wheat and barley are the
staple products of the arable tracts. Artificial grasses
are also much cultivated, and fruits largely, especially
in the Koh Daman. A considerable part of the population
spends the summer in tents. The villages are not enclosed
by fortifications, but contain small private castles or
fortalices. See C. Yate, Northern Afghanistan (1888); J.
A. Gray, At the Court of the Amir (1895); Sir T. H. H.
Holdich, The Indian Borderland (1901). (T. H. H.*)
1 This and the following passages in
quotation marks are from Professor Wilson's translation
of 100 Sakhïs, pp. 83-90. • Benares ; Hará, a name
of Siva. ? I.e. Mecca. “The Bountiful," one of
the Koranic names of God (Allah).
The Encyclopædia Britannica: A
Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General
Information
By Hugh Chisholm Published by At the University press,
1911
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