Pashtun

The Pashtuns (also Pushtun, Pakhtun, ethnic Afghan, or Pathan) are an ethno-linguistic group of eastern Iranian stock, living primarily in eastern and southern Afghanistan, the NWFP Province and Baluchistan with large colonies found in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore in Pakistan. There are smaller communities in Iran and India, and a large migrant worker community in the countries of the Arabian peninsula. The Pashtuns are typically characterized by their language, Muslim religion, and their pre-Islamic indigenous code of honor and culture, Pashtunwali. The Pashtuns are the world's largest segmentary lineage (patriarchal) tribal group in existence. The total population of the group is estimated to be about 40 million, but may be much higher as accurate census counts often prove difficult given the migratory nature of many Pashtun tribes as well as the practice of secluding women.

History and Origins

Pashtun culture is ancient and much of it is yet to be recorded in contemporary times. There are many conflicting theories, some contemporary, some ancient, about the origins of the Pashtun people, both among historians and the Pashtun themselves.

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Herodotus and several other Greek and Roman historians have mentioned a people called 'Pactyan' living on the eastern frontier of Iran as early as the first millennium CE. It has been conjectured that these may be the ancestors of today's Pashtuns, but there is no specific evidence for this. In addition, the Rig-Veda mentions a tribe called the 'Pakhat' as inhabiting present-day Afghanistan and some have speculated that they may have been early ancestors of the Pashtuns, but this remains unproven. The Bactrians appear to have spoken a related Eastern Iranian language and it is conceivable that the Pashtuns are at least partially descended from them, especially Pashtuns in the Kabul and Peshawar regions.

Related Topics:
Herodotus - Iran - Rig-Veda - Bactrian

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The Pashtuns most likely were living near somewhere in the vicinity of the city of Kandahar and the Suleiman Mountains and began expanding millennia ago. Due to their geographic location, they have often been in close contact with the Persians and religiously most Pashtuns were probably Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and pagan prior to the coming of Muslim invaders.

Related Topics:
Kandahar - Suleiman Mountains - Persians - Zoroastrian - Buddhist

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According to the writer W.K. Frazier Tytler writing in his book Afghanistan, "The word Afghan… first appears in history in the Hudud-al-Alam, a work by an unknown Arab geographer who wrote in 982 CE." Until the advent of the modern Afghan state in the 18th century, the word Afghan had been synonymous with Pashtun.

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"The supposition that the Pathans are any different from the Afghans is not borne out either by the legendary accounts associated with the origin of this people or by historical or ethnological data." (Afghan Immigration in the Early Middle Ages, by K.S Lal).

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From the 1st century BCE to the 5th century CE the regions where the Pashtuns lived saw immense migrations of Eurasian peoples including the Persians, Sakas, Scythians, Kushans, Huns, and Greeks. Later invaders would include Muslim Arabs and Central Asian Turkic tribes as well as the devastating assaults by the Mongols.

Related Topics:
Persians - Saka - Scythians - Kushan - Hun - Greek - Arab - Turkic - Mongols

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According to most anthropologists, the Pashtuns appear to be primarily of Aryan descent (as well as being modified by various other invaders and migrants over the centuries) and are very similar to the Persians, Kurds, Tajiks and Baluchis. The Pashtuns have eastern Iranian origins as the Pashto language is classified as an eastern Iranian tongue distantly related to Ossetic among other Iranian languages (see Ethnologue for further details). Many Pashtuns have intermingled with various invaders, neighboring groups, and migrants including possibly the Ghilzai who may have mingled with Turkic tribes, the Durrani who have interacted considerably with the Tajiks, the Hazaragi Pashtuns who are of mixed Pashtun and Hazara ancestry, Hindko-speaking Punjabi Pathans, and many Pathan groups in India who have mixed with local Indian populations as well. The Pashtuns overall are predominantly a Caucasoid people with Mediterranean features, but blonde hair and blue and green eyes are not uncommon, especially amongst remote mountain tribes. Some Pashtuns show traces of Mongol ancestry such as the Hazaragi Pashtuns while Pathans in India often display many phenotype similarities to Indian groups.

Related Topics:
Aryan - Persians - Kurds - Tajiks - Baluchis - Iranian - Pashto language - Ossetic - Ethnologue - Ghilzai - Durrani - Hazaragi - Hazara - Hindko - Pathan

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There are more mythological and romanticized origins for the Pashtuns. For example, according to the Encyclopedia 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 16th century CE. This reference is in line with the commonly held view by Pashtuns that when the twelve tribes of Israel were dispersed (see Israel and Judah, Lost Ten Tribes), the tribe of Joseph among other Hebrew tribes settled in the region. Hence the term 'Yusef Zai' in Pashto translates to the 'sons of Joseph'; the Yusefzai are the 8th largest tribe of the Pashtuns. Other Pashtuns claim descent from Arabs and some groups such as the Afridis claim to be descended from Alexander the Great's Greeks as well. Recent genetic researches have basically led to earlier anthropological conclusions that the Pashtuns are an Indo-European people related to other Iranian groups as well as speakers of Dardic languages such as the Kalasha as well as the Nuristanis. What may be the case is that the Pashtuns have been slightly modified over time by various invaders, while maintaining their eastern Iranian base both linguistically and genetically overall.

Related Topics:
Encyclopedia of Islam - Theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites - Maghzan-e-Afghani - Khan-e-Jehan Lodhi - Mughal - Jehangir - 16th century - Israel and Judah - Lost Ten Tribes - Joseph - Indo-European - Dardic languages - Kalasha - Nuristani

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The Pashtuns are intimately tied to the history of modern-era Afghanistan stretching back to the Durrani Empire. The country's founder, Ahmad Shah Durrani, was an Abdali (Durrani) Pashtun and formerly a high-ranking military official under the Turko-Iranian ruler Nadir Shah in Iran. He founded the empire of Greater Afghanistan which covered all of what is today Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and a portion of Iranian Mashad in 1747 and the Pashtuns would rule this empire for the next 80 years, while truncated Afghanistan emerged following conflicts with the Sikhs (see also Ranjit Singh) and the British. The Pashtuns/Afghans fought the British to a standstill and kept the Russians at bay during the Great Game during which Afghanistan managed to remain an independent state that played the two large empires against each other to maintain some semblance of autonomy. However, the British annexed the Pashtun majority regions that now comprise western Pakistan following the demarcation of the Durand Line and this would lead to the Pashtunistan dispute between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the 20th century, Pashtun troops enlisted in the British Indian army and fought in World War II and became an important component of the Frontier Scouts and the Pakistan army as well as the modern Afghan military and were active in the opposition against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. More recently the Pashtuns became known for being the primary ethnic group that comprised the Taliban, whose ideological basis began in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, and their activity was centered around the city of Peshawar and at the Madarassa-e-Haqqania in Akora, Khattak. In addition to Peshawar, the cities of Kandahar and Kabul figure quite prominently in Pashtun culture and the city of Quetta in Baluchistan also has a Pashtun majority population. The current President of Afghanistan is an ethnic Pashtun, Hamid Karzai, while in neighboring Pakistan another ethnic Pashtun also attained the Presidency in the 1950s and 1960s, Ayub Khan. The Afghan royal family now represented by Muhammad Zahir Shah is also of ethnic Pashtun origin. Other prominent Pashtuns include the 17th century warrior poet Khushal Khan Khattak, Afghan "Iron" Emir Abdur Rahman Khan and in modern times Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan and US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad among many others.

Related Topics:
Durrani Empire - Ahmad Shah Durrani - Durrani - Nadir Shah - Mashad - Sikhs - Ranjit Singh - British - Great Game - Durand Line - Pashtunistan - Soviet invasion of Afghanistan - Taliban - Peshawar - Madarassa-e-Haqqania - Akora - Khattak - Kandahar - Kabul - Quetta - Hamid Karzai - Ayub Khan - Muhammad Zahir Shah - Khushal Khan Khattak - Abdur Rahman Khan - Imran Khan - Zalmay Khalilzad

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