Bajalan (tribe)

The Bajalan tribe (Bacilan, Bacwan, Banjelan, Bacerwan, Baclan), are an ethnic Kurdish Bajelani speaking tribe. Their ethnonym means "home of the falcons". The tribe originates from Abdal Bey, an Ottoman commander in the Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–39). The seat of the Bajalan Pashas was Zohab which they founded according to James Silk Buckingham. SARPUL-I ZOHAB ("bridgehead of Zohab"), a place on the way to Zagros on the great Baghdad-Kirmanshah road, takes its name from the stone bridge of two arches over the river Alwand. Austen Henry Layard observes the river Holwan issues at Ser-puli-Zohab from a deep gorge through lofty precipices. The Bajalan Pass was noted by foreign travelers for its monasteries, bridges, castles and aqueducts. The Bajalans, under the command of their leader Abdal Bey, participated on the side of the Ottomans in the Ottoman–Safavid War (1623–39); numbered some 4000, they fought successfully against the Persians and helped Sultan Murad IV conquer Baghdad in 1638. Murad IV, in recognition of services rendered to the Ottoman Empire in the capture of Baghdad, rewarded Abdal Bey and his descendants with the title of Pasha (of one tail) and hereditary rights to the newly established Zohab Pashalik under the Treaty of Zuhab of 1639. The Sultan ceded Zohab to Abdal Bey on the condition that he sols raise 2,000 horsemen when required, and pay a yearly tribute of 300,000 piastres to the State. However, in reality as an Ottoman vassal, they were lightly taxed and furnished a body of 1,200 horsemen to the crown. David McDowall described the Bajalans as formidable fighters and George Bournoutian stated that their sheer looks brought on terror to the enemy in their chain mail. Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet notes the Kalhur tribe were ousted from Zohab by Sultan Murad IV who gave their lands to the Bajalan tribe. The pashalik of Zohab was a district of considerable extent, lying at the foot of the ancient Zagros, the capital was surrounded by a mud wall.