The Akhund of Swat and Ambela Expedition: An Analysis of Competing Accounts
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Abstract
The Ambela expedition 1863, unlike the previous expeditions of the colonial troops was not aimed at the Pukhtun tribe(s) of the Indian North-West Frontier, but directed against the Hindustani Mujahidin. The other distinctive mark of the Ambela expedition was the Akhund of Swat participation in it. It was the Akhund of Swat participation that turned the Ambela expedition into a holy war and this sparked a common rising of the people of Buner, Swat, Dir and other areas against the colonial British. It is because of the Akhund’s involvement that the local people still remember this expedition. Moreover, different sources and especially the Pashto folklore furnishes varied and often competing accounts of the extent, reasons and impact of the Akhund’s participation in this expedition. This paper, therefore, evaluates the role of the Akhund of Swat in the Ambela expedition in the light of the colonial and local sources both sympathetic and malignant.
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