" does not have Islamic, Arabic, Turkic, or Persian background. It comes from Afghan people's association with its Indian roots. It comes from the Sanskrit term "
" which literally means the people of horses. It is well documented in the great Indian epic "Mahabharata" and gets several mentions in Vedas and other Indian scriptures.
" (अस्वगाण). The earliest mention of the name Afghan (Abgân) is by Shapur I of the Sassanid Empire during the 3rd century CE.
The Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization (3300-1300 BCE) extending from what today is Northwest India to northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has been found on the Oxus River at
in the northern Afghanistan. The Sikh and Hindu traders of Afghanistan are the descendants of this civilization making them the original natives of the land.
Between 2000–1200 BC, a branch of Indo-European-speaking tribes known as the Aryans began migrating into the region. The region of
in Afghanistan is linked to the earlier home of these Indo-Aryans. They appear to have split into Persian and Indian groups at an early stage, around 1200 BC with Afghanistan standing as the buffer between the two divisions.
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| Beautiful People of Afghanistan |
The
Medes, an Indo-Aryan group from Western Persia, arrived around the 700 BC and dominated most of ancient Afghanistan. The Zoroastrian scripture,
Avesta is believed to have been composed possibly as early as 1800 BC and written in ancient Ariana, a region of Afghanistan. The region of
Bactria is believed to be the home of
Zarathustra, who founded the
Zoroastrian religion. Zoroastrianism spread throughout the region alongside early Hindu beliefs and centuries later Buddhism.
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| Zoroastrian Heritage of Balkh, Afghanistan |
Notice the turban style and the trousers (Salwar) of the three figures in above pictures. This dress code is still prevalent in Bactria today.
Alexander Conquest of Afghanistan
After his defeat at the hands of Alexander,
Darius III, the King of Persia escaped towards Bactria. Chasing them,
Alexander arrived in Bactria and then went on to conquer all of Afghanistan.
Eratosthenes describes the borders of Ariana as defined by the Indus River in the east, the sea in the south, a line from Carmania to the so-called Taurus Mountains in the north.
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| Map of Alexander's Conquest of East |
The people inhabiting in the region as enumerated by the Greek historian Strabo were:
- Kapisa (Kabul)
- Arachosia (Khost)
- Arii (Arian)
- Drangae (Sistan)
- Bactrians (Balkh)
- Gedrosii (Baloch)
- Paropamisadae (Peshawar)
- Alexandria (Kandahar)
- Sogdians (Tajik)
- Carmania (Kerman)
Now lets take a deeper look at these regions and the people inhabiting there. Next we will try to map these ancient names to the tribes and cities of Afghanistan today.
Kapisa
Kapisa (Pashto: کاپيسا) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north-east of the country. The earliest references to Kapisa appear in the writings of fifth century BC Indian scholar
Pāṇini who refers to the city of
Kapiśi, a city of the
Kapisa kingdom,. He also refers to
Kapiśayani, a famous wine from Kapisa.
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| Goddess of Afghanistan - Begram |
Archaeological discoveries in 1939 confirmed that the city of Kapisa was an exporter of
Kapiśayana wine, bringing to light, numerous glass flasks, fish-shaped wine jars, and drinking cups typical of the wine trade of the era. The grapes (
Kapiśayani Draksha) and wine (
Kapiśayani Madhu) of the area are referred to in several works of ancient Indian literature.
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| Ancient Kapisa Province |
was ruled by a Kshatriya king holding sway over ten neighboring states including Lampaka, Naganahara, Gandhara and Bannu, according to the Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang who visited in 644 AD.
Khost
Arachosia is the Hellenized name of an ancient region in the
Arghandab Valley of Southern Afghanistan. The region appears in the
Avestan Vidēvdāt (1.12) as
Haraxvaitī referred to as 𐏃𐎼𐎢𐎺𐎫𐎡𐏁, written h(a)-r(a)-u-v(a)-t-i. This form is the "etymological equivalent" of Vedic Sanskrit
Sarasvatī, the name of a sacred river.
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| Argandab River Valley |
The
Helmand Valley region is mentioned by name in the
Avesta (Fargard 1:13) as the Aryan land of
Haetumant, one of the early centers of the Zoroastrian faith in areas that are now Afghanistan.
Khōst (Pashto: خوست, or Khēst خېست) is the modern name of
Arachosia. The inhabitants of Arachosia were Indo-Aryan peoples, referred to as
Arachosians or
Arachoti. The province is dominated by
Khostwal Tribes, primarily from the
Mangal tribe of Pashtoon. Although the tribe name suggests an Indian root and not a Hunic origin.
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| Dots on the Natives of Khost |
Arachosia retained Zoroastrian religious and cultural influence until the advent of Islam in the 7th century. Much of the country remained Zoroastrian even while in Arab hands, but within a few centuries Islam became the region's dominant religion.
Herat
The Greeks referred to
Haraiva (Herat) as '
Aria', which is one of the major provinces in Afghanistan.
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| Buddhist Ruins of Herat |
At the time of the Arab invasion in the middle of the 7th century, the Sasanian central power had declined with the
Hephthalites or
Abdali tribal lords dominating the
Herat region. The
Hephthalites or the
White Huns, were a tribal confederation and included both nomadic and settled urban communities.
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| Afghan Coin - Abdali King and Fire Altar |
The Hephthalites or
Abdalis from
Herat were followers of Zoroastrian religion and opposed the Arab forces in a battle of Kohestān in 651-52 AD, trying to block their advance but they were defeated. There were anarchy for over hundreds of years with various groups fighting to take over Herat. Finally, In 870 AD,
Yaqub ibn Layth, a local ruler of the
Saffarid dynasty conquered Herat and the nearby regions in the name of Islam.
Sistan
Drangiana or
Zarangiana (Greek: Δραγγιανή, Drangianē; attested in Old Western Iranian as 𐏀𐎼𐎣, or Zranka, was a historical region of the Achaemenid Empire. This region comprises territory around Hamun Lake, wetlands in
Sistan Basin on the Iran-Afghan border.
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| Drangiana Map |
The Indo-Arryan tribes that inhabited Drangiana were first conquered by the Medes. The new rulers were, however, overthrown by the Persian king Cyrus the Great (550 BCE). One of those tribes was known as the
Drangians, from which the region gained its name. They have also been referred to as the
Sarangians,
Drangae, and
Zarangae.
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| Native Women of Sistan |
According to Greek historians there was also a tribe in
Drangiana called the
Ariaspae or
Ariaspai. They were neighbors of the Gedrosia to their south. Without the Latin or Greek suffix, the name is '
Ariasp', clearly bears a relation to the Aryan origin.
Balkh
The ancient city of
Balkh was known to the Ancient Greeks as
Bactria (βαχλο, Bakhlo) (/ˈbæktriə/), an ancient region in the Hindu Kush mountain range and south of the Amu Darya river.
The
Bahlikas (Sanskrit: बाह्लिक; Bāhlika) were mentioned in Atharvaveda, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, Vartikka of Katyayana, Brhatsamhita, Amarkosha etc. The city of Shambalha was Shams-i-Balkh, a ancient Hindu sun temple.
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| Hindu Sun Temple - Shambalha, Balkh |
The Brahmanda Purana attests that river Chaksu (Oxus or Amu Darya) flowed through the land of Bahlavas. Bahlika breed of horses were one among the type of horses employed in Mahabharata war. Balhika breeds, with flowing tails, upright ears and fixed eyes, possessed of great speed, well-trained, and ridden by accomplished warriors armed with swords and lances.
The Iron pillar of Delhi inscription by Chandragupta (4 CE), also makes mention of Bahlikas as living on the west side of the Indus River (Sindhu).
Called "
beautiful Bactria, crowned with flags" by the
Avesta, the region is one of the sixteen perfect Iranian lands that the supreme deity
Ahura Mazda had created.
Zoroaster (Zarathustra) was an ancient Bactrian spiritual leader who founded what is now known as Zoroastrianism.
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| Zoroastrian Temple Ruins - Balkh |
Texts from the
Xuan Huang identify
Oddiyana as "
Shamis en Balkh" in modern day
Balkh where many ruins, Buddhist stupa and monasteries exist.
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| Nava Vihara - Buddhist Stupa Ruins, Balkh |
Peshawar
Paropamisadae (Greek: Παροπαμισάδες) was a satrapy of the Alexandrian Empire in modern Afghanistan and Pakistan, which largely coincided with the Achaemenid province of
Parupraesanna. It consisted of the districts of
Sattagydia (?),
Gandhara (Taxila),
Buner (Bannu) and
Udyana (Swat).
Paraupārisainā can be reconstructed as Puruprastha or Purushapura, or the ancient city of Peshawar. The Chinese travelling monk of the 4th century Fa Hien called it Polusha (Purusha). Three hundred years later, during the Tang dynasty, the historian Hiun Tsang who journeyed to collect scriptures of Indian Buddhism, referred to it as Polosha Pulo (Purushapura) while Al Beruni and Abul Fazl described it as Parashawur.
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| Dharmarajika Stupa, Taxila |
The region was ruled by Kshatriya (Khatri clans). Later it became the home of Kushans or the Kukhrain Khatris. Ghor khatri (Pashto: ګورکټړۍ) literally meaning "Warrior's Grave" marks the site where hundreds of Hindu Khatris were slain by the invaders, It is now a public park in ancient city of Peshawar built at the site of ancient ruins.
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| Ghor Khatri - Peshawar |
Kandhahar
The name "Kandahar" has evolved from "Iskandar", the local dialect version of the name Alexander, after Alexander the Great who founded the city in 330 BC and named it after himself as Alexandria of Arachosia.
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| Alexander Conquest of Afghanistan |
The remains of Alexandria of Arachosia are today found in the Old Kandahar citadel in the western portion of the modern city. The citadel was excavated by the British Society for South Asian Studies through the 1970s and with the relative improvement in security from 2008–2009.
The main inhabitants of Arachosia were the Pakhtas, an ancient Iranian tribe, who may be among the ancestors of today's Pashtuns.
Bamian
The blog is not complete without the mention of Bamian. The Buddhas of Bamian were two 6th century monumental statues of Gautama Buddha carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamian Valley in the Hazara Jat region of central Afghanistan. The statues represented the classic blended style of Gandhara art and were respectively 115 and 174 ft tall.
Bamian lies on the Silk Road, a caravan route linking the markets of China with those of India and Iran. It was the site of several Buddhist monasteries, and a thriving center for religion, philosophy, and art. It was a Buddhist religious site from the 2nd century up to the time of the Islamic invasion in the later half of the 7th century. Attempts were made by numerous invaders for centuries to destroy the statues, but the two Buddhas towered over the valley for centuries.
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| Bamian Budhaa in Hazara |
The statues were finally blown up and destroyed in March 2001 by the ignorant hooligans of Taliban, on orders from their leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.
Closing Remarks
The
People of Afghanistan are totally oblivious of their origin, heritage, and identity. Their roots are historically, culturally, and genetically tied with their Indian roots. The recent attack on a
Sikh Gurdwara in Kabul by ISIS Terrorists is another example of this ignorance. These Sikhs and Hindus are their own kin from their past.
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| Massacre at Sikh Temple - Kabul |
These
Sikhs are the last remnants of an ancient civilization that inhabited the lands of Afghanistan. By killing them or by destroying the Buddhas of Bamian, these ignorant Afghans are cutting the branch they are sitting on.
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| Sikh Pharmacist - Kabul |
The cursed land of
Afghanistan has seen so much blood shed in last 2,500 years and this unfortunate cycle will not stop till the people of Afghanistan find their unique identity that is different than ignorant philosophy that makes them feel so ashamed of their own history.
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| A Lady Mourning the Massacre of Sikhs in Kabul |
This unfounded shame prompts them to destroy the temples and other historic sites built by their own ancestors. They need to overcome this shame! Only then I guarantee you, there will be lasting peace in a new Afghanistan that will be proud of its ancestry.
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| Preserving Lost Heritage of Afghanistan |
Resources
silly punjabi, you have dravidian admixture unlike afghans
ReplyDeleteNot True! The Punjabis do not have Dravidian mix instead the South Indians have the Punjabi mix as the North Indian settlers moved south and intermingled with the aborigines residing in forests south of Vindhyachal. Afghanis however have Dravidian presence through the Brahui people. The Brahui (Brahui: براہوئی), Brahvi, or Brohi, are an ethnic group of about 2.2 million people with the vast majority found in Balochistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Brahui languauge is directly linked to the Dravidian languages of South India.
DeleteThere are three groups of Brahui tribes. The "nucleus" consists of the Achmadzai, Gurguari, Iltazai, Kalandari, Kambrani, Mirwari, Rodeni and the Sumalari. The majority of the population is divided up between the Jhalawan Brahuis (which include the tribes of the Nathwani's (Sulaiman's Nathwani) Bizanjars, Harunis, Muhammad Hasnis, Mengals, Siapad, Nicharis, Pandranis, Sajdis and the Zahris), and the Sarawan Brahuis (comprising the tribes of the Muhammad Shahi, Bangulzai, Kūrd, Lahri, Langov, Raisani, Rustamzai, Sarparah, Satakzai, Shahwani and Zagar-Mengal).
Please do not talk ignorant lies without studying history.
Aryan & daravidian theory is a hoax.
DeleteBrahui people come from Central India, and they are mostly in Baluchistan, and a small bit in Afghanistan. Either way Afghans are Aryans who migrated to where we now call Afghanistan around 200BC, and they did not mix with anyone. They are not related to the Aryans who migrated to India in 1800BC
DeleteThere is more to Afghan history than just limiting it to Afghanistan's conquest by Islamic invaders. Pre-Islamic history of Afghanistan needs to be discussed and researched. By breaking the idols of Gods and Goddesses worshiped by their ancestors, they can not wipe away genetic and cultural evidence. The Aryans whi migrated to Afghanistan are the same as the Aryans who migrated to Persia and to Punjab. They are genetically the same and share a common language that is documented in Persian Avesta and Sanskrit Rigveda. They are not separate migrations but branches of the same migration path that leads all they way to Middle India. The fact remains that the origin of various Afghani tribes are North Indian, even the name Afghan originate from the Sanskrit term Ashva-ghana proves beyond doubt who were the ancestors of Afghani people. This denial will not be able to stand up to modern science and genetic testing. By the way, the Brahui people did not migrate from Central India. Genetically, Brahui people are closer to the tribes in Central and South of India. They were part of the native hunter gatherers who lived on this land from Afghanistan to South India before the other races settled on this land.
DeleteAryan migrated?? What nonsense.
ReplyDeleteAnd In India Iron was found in 1900BCE in east UP.
Harappan civilization with max sites on Saraswati has oldest site is 9500 years old in birhana.
Dont sugar coat agenda in subtle way inyour large article. It discredits rest of it too.
Eeit your article and then delete my comment if u want to. Strictly i that order. Please.
The Hindutva leaning Indian scholars were trying to rewrite the history by denying the Aryan Migration theory. Now that falsehood is put to rest forever with a multi-institute study based on genetic testing of skeletons from Indus Vally site at Rakhigarhi and others. This study has categorically dumped the Out of India theory forever that you are basing your comments on. You just can't make up the aging of civilization based on figment of your imagination. History and Anthropolgy needs real evidence. Based on scientific facts, Indus Valley civilization is from 3300 BC to 1300 BC. Aryans first arrived in Punjab till 1800 BC and then expanded to Haryana, and then to UP. This dates Rama birth to be no older than 1800BC and Mahabharata no older than 900BC. Mythology is based on real historical events but the dates doesn't need to be exaggerated.
DeleteArya is a title term. Irrespective of race or jaati. Not a racial term. There is no gentleman or sir race or mohaday race or mananiy race.
ReplyDeleteDepends on whose perspective you are defining the term. If you are an Indian from east of Punjab, you define Aryans as a mix of Aryans and indigenous hunter gatherers from India. If you are Punjabi, you see yourselves as the continuation of true Aryans who settled in Punjab with Vedic culture around 1800 BC. If you are from Iran, you see yourselves as the true Aryans who migrated from Europe during Ice age as depicted in ancient Persian Gathas. And, if you are European, you see Aryans with blonde hair and blue eyes. What I am trying to explain is that you are right, Aryans means different to different people and if you combine it all, you get a confused picture that shows Aryans as multi-racial group. This is of course not true - The Indo-Aryans who arrived in Punjab were same like the Punjabis today. The divisive caste system preserved the genetic pool for thousands of years. I hope this clarifies the concept.
DeleteWhat is North Indian about Afghans? They are Aryans that Migrated to the land we now call Afghanistan around 200 BC, (Scythians) they did not mix with anyone and have no Indus valley DNA. Punjabis are indo-aryans, different from the kind of aryans afghans are, afghans are Iranic-Aryans
ReplyDeleteThis common mistake is based on the two false concepts - 1) All afghans are genetically same, and 2) All Punjabis are genetically same. Afghans are a collective terms for multiple races who have settled in that region for over thousands of years.
DeleteIt includes, multiple races, such as Aryans, Dravidan Bruhai, European Huns, Mongols, Turks, and Persians. The same is true for the Punjabis, While Punjabi Brahmins and Khatris are dependents of Indo-Aryans. The Aroras have their origin in Indus Valley, Punjabi Bania are genetically same as Marwaris from Rajasthan, Jatts,Rajputs, and Gujjars of Punjab are of Scythian origin, while the so called lower castes in Punjab originate from the native hunter gatherers, closely related to the South Indians.
Aryans from Iran, Afghanistan, and Punjab are not different but part of the same genetic roots. The language of Punjabi Aryans in Rigveda is same as that of Persian Aryans in Avesta. When the Punjabi Aryans conquered the rest of North India, they did mix with the Natives and its possibly fair to call those Indo-Aryans.
Please read my blog again, I have tried to describe people of different regions of Afghanistan and there origin. More research is needed and the modern science with genetic testing will expose the truth hidden behind these misconceptions.
Read more on my blog on Punjabis & Sindhis as forefathers of all Indians - Link: https://malicethoughts.blogspot.com/2020/03/punjabis-ancestors-of-all-indians.html?showComment=1589916631236
Sikhs in Afghanistan aren't originally from Afghanistan they were merchants whom migrated to Afghanistan in the 19th century.
ReplyDeleteYou in factually incorrect in this statement. The civilization in Afghanistan is thousands of years older than the arrival of nomadic marauders from Turkey, Mongolia, and central Asia.
DeleteThe Sikhs and Hindus of Afghanistan are the direct descendants of people who once inhabited the land. Kabhisa (Kabul), Arachosia (Khost), Arya (Ariana), Drangae (Sistan), Bahlika (Balkh), Haraiva (Herat), Purushahar (Peshawar), Alexandria (Kandahar), Gandhara (Taxila), Buner (Bannu) and Saraswat (Swat), Wahika (Wah) are ancient cities and kingdom belonging to these natives of land spread across Afghanistan and NW Frontiers.
These cities were looted and plundered by nomadic marauders from Turkey, Mongolia, and Central Asia. This made the current population now known as Afghans.
Not recognizing the original natives of Afghanistan is preposterous and stinks of ignorance of history. Instead of celebrating their ancestral link to Afghanistan, you are referring to them as outsiders. Let me reiterate, Sikhs and Hindus of Afghanistan did not migrate from Punjab. These are original natives of Afghanistan and their native language is not even Punjabi. They have some similarities with people of Punjab based on their historic connections. Its sad how Afghans of today treat them as foreigners and attack their places of worship ... just as if Europeans settlers would call themselves as real Americans and calling native Americans as foreigners. Sad!
First of all make two things clear :
ReplyDelete1.Initially a wide debate started with the question of "origion of Pashtoons", and due to the contradictions associated with "Bani Afghana", another possibility of Aryan origion came in.So the title of Afghan also got a special attention.Now it needs to clarify, that the term afghan was general name given to pashtoons, and most of the discussions were made in this perspective.
2. The term Afghan as citizen of Afghanistan is another thing, and in that regards I agree with you that it can not be given to any ethnic identity.
Secondly I take opportunity to disagree with you regarding Aryana state.
this state existed in the earliest history and the capital was Aracosia.In this land Parthians lived as major group, who were invaded by King Darius father and about 10000 parthians were killed and then they had to submit before hakhamanchi kingdom. During this period aracosia was totally destroyed and was lateron rebuilt by Alexender. The ruins of the city still exist near present Qandhar with the name Zor Shar (old city).
The discussion is too lengthy and I can't type anymore(Age issue)
However I appereciate your effort, but you need to straight the history.
Thanks
Jehanzeb Khan
Thank you Sir. A lot is not known about Afghan people and my effort was to document it in a way it is easy to read. Appreeciate the corrections. Love to hear more from you.
DeleteThe DNA evidence shows that the "out of india" theory is false by indian researchers themselves. The DNA flows eastward from the area of Afghanistan to india not the other way around. Indic genes were not found in ancient Afghans whereas inida showed DNA from Afghanistan and Iran. Sorry, you are not Afghan nor do you have any history outside of india.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the so called "out of India" thoery is a fake concept of Hindutva based Indian scholars and lack true evidence. The Aryans who settled in Persia, Bactria, Afghanistan, and Punjab arrived from the West. Its incorrect though to assume that DNA flows from Afghanistan to India. The direction is right as it follows the path of the Aryans but it is not the DNA of current occupiers of Afghanistan. The current occupiers of the land are not from Aryan roots but from the Hunnic, Turkic, and Epthalite origin. These ocupiers displaced the Aryan migrants whomigrated further east to Punjab. The Afghani Sikhs and Hindus are the descendents of these Aryans and true natives of the land. Some of the Afghan tribes demonstrate these DNA and reflect the conversion ans assymilation of some of these communities into islam. The ancient names of Afghanistan cities, rivers, and regions belonged to these natives and not to the Turko-Mngol occupiers of today. Kapisa, Khost (Archosia), Herat (Haraxvaiti), Balkh (Bahlika), are of Indo-Aryan origin.
DeleteAfghani people need to throw away the burqa of ignorance and learn about thier origin form Indo-Aryan roots. As we all know there was life before Huns and Islam in Afghanistan.