Ancient references
A variety of ancient groups with
eponyms similar to
Pukhtun have been hypothesized as possible ancestors of modern Pashtuns. The
Rigveda (1700–1100 BC) mentions a tribe called
Paktha inhabiting
eastern Afghanistan and
academics have proposed their connection with today's Pakhtun people.
[12][13] Furthermore, the
Greek historian
Herodotus mentioned a people called
Pactyans living in the same area (
Achaemenid's
Arachosia Satrapy) as early as the
1st millennium BC.
[14] It is believed that these may have been the ancient ancestors of Pashtuns.
[12]
Some modern-day Pashtun tribes have also been identified living in ancient
Gandhara (i.e. Alexander's historians mentioned
"Aspasii" in 330 BC and that may refer to today's
Afridis).
[43] Herodotus has mentioned the same Afridi tribe as
"Apridai" over a century earlier.
[44] Strabo, who lived between 64 BC and 24
CE, explains that the tribes inhabiting the lands west of the
Indus River were part of
Ariana and to their east was India.
[12]
In the
Middle Ages until the advent of modern Afghanistan in the 18th century and the division of
Pashtun territory by the 1893
Durand Line, Pashtuns were often referred to as ethnic
"Afghans". The earliest mention of the name
Afghan (
Abgân) is by
Shapur I of the
Sassanid Empire during the 3rd century CE,
[15][16][45] which is later recorded in the 6th century CE in the form of
"Avagānā" by the Indian astronomer
Varāha Mihira in his
Brihat-samhita.
[17] It was used to refer to a common legendary ancestor known as
"Afghana", propagated to be grandson of
King Saul of Israel.
[46][40][47] Hiven Tsiang, a
Chinese pilgrim, visiting the Afghanistan area several times between 630 to 644 CE also speaks about them.
[15][48] In
Shahnameh 1-110 and 1-116, it is written as
Awgaan.
[15] Ancestors of many of today's
Turkic-speaking Afghans settled in the
Hindu Kush area and began to
assimilate much of the
culture and language of the Pashtun tribes already present there.
[49] Among these were the
Khalaj people which are known today as
Ghilzai.
[50] According to several scholars such as
V. Minorsky, the name "Afghan" is documented several times in the 982 CE
Hudud-al-Alam.
[45]
Saul, a pleasant village on a mountain. In it live Afghans.
[42]
Names of territories during the
Islamic Caliphate of the 7th century and onward.
The village of Saul was probably located near
Gardez, Afghanistan. Hudud ul-'alam also speaks of a king in Ninhar (
Nangarhar), who had Muslim,
Afghan and Hindu wives.
[42] Al-Biruni wrote about Afghans in the 11th century as various tribes living in the western mountains of India and extending to the region of
Sind, which would be the
Sulaiman Mountains area between
Khorasan and
Hindustan. It was reported that between 1039 and 1040 CE
Mas'ud I of the
Ghaznavid Empire sent his son to subdue a group of rebel Afghans near
Ghazni. An army of
Arabs, Afghans,
Khiljis and others was assembled by
Arslan Shah Ghaznavid in 1119 CE. Another army of Afghans and Khiljis was assembled by
Bahram Shah Ghaznavid in 1153 CE.
Muhammad of Ghor, ruler of the
Ghorids, also had Afghans in his army along with others.
[51] A famous
Moroccan travelling
scholar,
Ibn Battuta, visiting Afghanistan following the era of the
Khilji dynasty in early 1300s gives his description of the Afghans.
We travelled on to Kabul, formerly a vast town, the site of which is now occupied by a village inhabited by a tribe of Persians called Afghans. They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen. Their principle mountain is called Kuh Sulayman. It is told that the prophet Sulayman [Solomon] ascended this mountain and having looked out over India, which was then covered with darkness, returned without entering it.[52]
Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah (Ferishta), writes about Afghans and their country called
Afghanistan in the 16th century.
The men of Kábul and Khilj also went home; and whenever they were questioned about the Musulmáns of the Kohistán (the mountains), and how matters stood there, they said, "Don't call it Kohistán, but Afghánistán; for there is nothing there but Afgháns and disturbances." Thus it is clear that for this reason the people of the country call their home in their own language Afghánistán, and themselves Afgháns. The people of India call them Patán; but the reason for this is not known. But it occurs to me, that when, under the rule of Muhammadan sovereigns, Musulmáns first came to the city of Patná, and dwelt there, the people of India (for that reason) called them Patáns—but God knows![53]
One historical account connects the Pakistani Pakhtuns to a possible
Ancient Egyptian past but this lacks supporting evidence.
I have read in the Mutla-ul-Anwar, a work written by a respectable author, and which I procured at Burhanpur, a town of Khandesh in the Deccan, that the Afghans are Copts of the race of the Pharaohs; and that when the prophet Moses got the better of that infidel who was overwhelmed in the Red Sea, many of the Copts became converts to the Jewish faith; but others, stubborn and self-willed, refusing to embrace the true faith, leaving their country, came to India, and eventually settled in the Sulimany mountains, where they bore the name of Afghans.[18] —Ferishta, 1560-1620
Additionally, although this too is unsubstantiated, some Afghan historians have maintained that Pashtuns are linked to the ancient
Israelites.
The Afghan historians proceed to relate that the children of Israel, both in Ghore and in Arabia, preserved their knowledge of the unity of God and the purity of their religious belief, and that on the appearance of the last and greatest of the prophets (Mohammed) the Afghans of Ghore listened to the invitation of their Arabian brethren, the chief of whom was Khauled (or Caled), son of Waleed, so famous for his conquest of Syria, and marched to the aid of the true faith, under the command of Kyse, afterwards surnamed Abdoolresheed.
[54] —Mohan Lal, 1846
[edit] Anthropology and oral traditions
Earliest Pashtun photograph in which
Amir Sher Ali Khan is sitting with Prince Abdullah Jan and the Afghan
Sardars in 1869.
Some
anthropologists lend credence to the
oral traditions of the Pashtun tribes themselves. For example, according to the
Encyclopaedia of Islam, the theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites is traced to
Maghzan-e-Afghani who compiled a history for
Khan-e-Jehan Lodhi in the reign of
Mughal Emperor
Jehangir in the 17th century.
[44]
Another book that corresponds with Pashtun historical records,
Taaqati-Nasiri, states that in the 7th century BC a people called the
Bani Israel settled in the
Ghor region of Afghanistan and migrated later to the southeast areas. These references to Bani Israel agree with the commonly held view by Pashtuns that when the twelve tribes of Israel were dispersed (see
Israel and Judah and
Ten Lost Tribes), the
tribe of Joseph, among other Hebrew tribes, settled in the region.
[55] This oral tradition is widespread among the Pashtuns. There have been many legends over the centuries of descent from the Ten Lost Tribes after groups converted to
Christianity and Islam. Hence the tribal name
Yusufzai in Pashto translates to the "son of Joseph". A similar story is told by the 16th century Persian historian,
Ferishta.
[18]
One conflicting issue in the belief that the Pashtuns descend from the
Israelites is that the Ten Lost Tribes were exiled by the ruler of
Assyria, while
Maghzan-e-Afghani says they were permitted by the ruler to go east to Afghanistan. This inconsistency can be explained by the fact that Persia acquired the lands of the ancient Assyrian Empire when it conquered the Empire of the
Medes and Chaldean
Babylonia, which had conquered Assyria decades earlier. But no ancient author mentions such a transfer of Israelites further east, or no ancient extra-Biblical texts refer to the Ten Lost Tribes at all.
Other Pashtun tribes claim descent from
Arabs, including some even claiming to be descendants of the
Islamic prophet Muhammad (referred to as
Sayyids).
[56] Some groups from
Peshawar and
Kandahar claim to be descended from
Ancient Greeks that arrived with
Alexander the Great.
[57]
In terms of
race, the Pashtuns are classified as
Caucasians[46] of the
Mediterranean variant.
[58] Their
Pashto language is classified under the
Eastern Iranian sub-branch of the
Iranian branch of the
Indo-European family of languages.
[59]
Early precursors to the Pashtuns were old
Iranian tribes that spread throughout the eastern
Iranian plateau.
[60] According to the Russian scholar Yu. V. Gankovsky, the Pashtuns probably began as a "union of largely East-Iranian tribes which became the initial ethnic stratum of the Pashtun ethnogenesis, dates from the middle of the first millennium CE and is connected with the dissolution of the
Epthalite (White Huns) confederacy." He proposes
Kushan-o-
Ephthalite origin for Pashtuns.
[61][62]
Those who speak a dialect of Pashto in the Kandahar region refer to themselves as Pashtuns, while those who speak a Peshawari dialect call themselves Pukhtuns. These native people compose the core of ethnic Pashtuns who are found in southeastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The Pashtuns have oral and written accounts of their family tree. The elders transfer the knowledge to the younger generation. Lineage is considered very important and is a vital consideration in marital business.
[edit] Genetics
