Translated from the Persian Tarikh e Chitrar of Mirza Ghufran 1921)
Fruits of Chitral
This country is famous for the abundance of fruit. From Drosh ot Avi, best quality grape is produced.. There are several kinds of grapes and the best of them are named Hussaini, Wala Tumbuki and Maska-e -Bukhari. Kishmish grape is there but it is found in lesser quantity. Apricot of good quality are found up to Torkhow and Sonoghor and there are gardens of different kinds of it like Khurma, Muxaki, Begani, Qazzaqi, etc. Apricots are also dried and stored for winters. Pear is also found in different forms like Simaki, Charneghan etc. Other fruits as Mulberry, peach, apple, pomegranate and fig are also produced here in abundance. Mulberry of a specific kind ‘Bedana’ without seed and stone is famous allover. Its twig with leaves is peeled at the lower end and is grafted to another mulberry plant that has grown of seed and thus a ‘Bedana’ tree comes out of it. Similar grafting is done on all types of fruit trees. Apple is also produced of different kinds and the best of them are ‘Basuti’ and ‘Khardux’. Pomegranate and fig of this area are of lesser quality than that of Kabul and Qandahar as these fruit do not grow better in the far flung cold regions. Watermelon of this country is very sweet and nice but melon is not up to the level of that of Badakhshan and Kabul. As the land of this country varies from low to high so at a time fruit of different seasons can be seen. So far no trade of fruit is done in this country. Everywhere, anyone can eat freely from other’s garden and the one who forbids someone from it is earns a bad name.
Introduction:
Topic:
Chitral or Qashqar,
why is it named so?
In Old books as Tuzk e Babari of the King Muhammad Babar, Tazkara of Akhund Darveza and Akbar-Nama and Ayin e Akbari of Sheikh Abul Fazl, this area is named as Kashghar or Qashqar therefore, the people of adjacant areas like Bajaur, Swat and Peshawar still call it by this name. The name written as Kaskar by Munshi Azizuddin is just an illusion and nothing else. The reality is that difference between Kashghar of Eastern Turkistan and this area is that the Turkistani Kashghar is named Big Kashghar while this area is called Little Kashghar. However, since hundred years back (by 1800 AD) this area is named after its capital or centre of government as Chitrar, thus the whole area is now named as Chitral because of that. People of Peshawar and India use ‘l’ instead of ‘r’ in their pronouncement that has modified the name as Chitral. People of Turkistan call this area as Pirvul, the people of Tangir as Goki, the people of Narsat(Kunar) as Mangul or Moghol while in very old times it was also named Naguman which is now the name used for the river when it enters Peshawar area.