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Theories of Pashtun origin

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The Pashtun people are classified as an Iranian ethnic group. They are indigenous to southern Afghanistan and western Pakistan.[1][2] Although a number of theories attempting to explain their ethnogenesis have been put forward, the exact origin of the Pashtun tribes is acknowledged as being obscure.[3] Modern scholars have suggested that a common and singular origin is highly unlikely due to the Pashtuns' historical existence as a tribal confederation, and there is, in fact, no evidence attesting such an origin for the ethnicity.[4] The early ancestors of modern-day Pashtuns may have belonged to the old Iranian tribes that spread throughout the easternmost Iranian plateau.[5][6]

Varying in their degree of credibility, the most prominent Pashtun ethnogenesis theories propose:

  1. Descent from various different groups: Due to their existence as a tribal confederation many scholars believe that the Pashtun people have diverse origins rather than all sharing a common and singular origin.
  2. Descent from the Vedic Aryan Pakhtas (or Pactyans, per Herodotus), who are referenced in contemporary sources in Sanskrit and Greek as having lived along the eastern frontier of the Achaemenid Empire;
  3. Descent from the Saka, a group of nomadic Eastern Iranian peoples who historically inhabited the Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin;
  4. Descent from the Hephthalites, an Iranian nomadic confederation that inhabited Central Asia during late antiquity;[2][7]
  5. Descent from Rajputs, a group of militant clans in South Asia.[8][9][10] According to Henry Walter Bellew, Pasthun and Rajputs both had similar tribe names that changed over time.

Additionally, a popular theory of origin that has prevailed in Pashtun folklore since the time of the Mughal Empire asserts that the Pashtun people are descended from the Israelites, an ancient Semitic-speaking people who inhabited Canaan during the Iron Age, through the Ten Lost Tribes of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. However, the lack of historical evidence for this theory has complicated scholarly debate on whether or not the Ten Lost Tribes relocated to modern-day Afghanistan during the Assyrian captivity, which began after the Kingdom of Israel was destroyed and annexed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

Diverse origin

[edit]

Most modern scholars believe that the Pashtuns do not have a common and singular origin. Although the Pashtuns nowadays constitute a clear ethnic group with their own language and culture, there is no evidence whatsoever that all modern Pashtuns share the same ethnic origin. In fact it is highly unlikely. Likely the foundational population were of eastern Iranian origin and later mixed with various other groups which they came into contact with in the region over time.[11][12]

Bactrian origin

[edit]

The Cambridge History of Iran: Volume 2 also states the Bactrian tribes to be ancestors of Pashtuns.[13] In The Cambridge History of Iran Volume 3, Issue 2 the tribe Parsii are possibly Pashtuns.[14] The Parsii were a nomadic tribe, in the district of Paropamisadae.

Kushan and Tocharian origin

[edit]

Accrording to Yu. V. Gankovsky the Tocharians took part in there ethnogenesis of Pashtuns.[15] André Wink, states that Ghilji or Ghilzai are descended from the Khalaj who were a Turkicized group and remnants of early Indo-European nomads such as Kushans, Hephthalites and Sakas who later merged with the Afghans.[16]

Pakhta theory

[edit]
The Vedic people of the region were historically known as the Pakthas, and were identified by the Ancient Greeks as the Pactyans, and considered as ancestors of modern Pakthuns.

There is mention of the tribe called Pakthās who were one of the Vedic tribes that fought against Sudas in the Dasarajna the Battle of the Ten Kings (dāśarājñá), a battle alluded to in Mandala 7 of the Rigveda (RV 7.18.7).[17] dated between c. 1500 and 1200 BCE.[17] The Pakthās are mentioned:[18]

Together came the Pakthas (पक्था), the Bhalanas, the Alinas, the Sivas, the Visanins. Yet to the Trtsus came the Ārya's Comrade, through love of spoil and heroes' war, to lead them.

— Rigveda, Book 7, Hymn 18, Verse 7

Heinrich Zimmer connects them with a tribe mentioned by Herodotus (Pactyans) in 430 BCE in the Histories:[19][20][21]

Other Indians dwell near the town of Caspatyrus [Κασπάτυρος] and the Pactyic [Πακτυϊκή] country, north of the rest of India; these live like the Bactrians; they are of all Indians the most warlike, and it is they who are sent for the gold; for in these parts all is desolate because of the sand.

— Herodotus, The Histories, Book III, Chapter 102, Section 1

These Pactyans lived on the eastern frontier of the Achaemenid Arachosia Satrapy as early as the 1st millennium BCE.[22] Herodotus also mentions a tribe of known as Aparytai (Ἀπαρύται).[23] Thomas Holdich has linked them with the Afridi tribe:[24][25][26]

The Sattagydae, Gandarii, Dadicae, and Aparytae (Ἀπαρύται) paid together a hundred and seventy talents; this was the seventh province

— Herodotus, The Histories, Book III, Chapter 91, Section 4

Saka theory

[edit]
Head of a Saka warrior

Pashto is generally classified as an Eastern Iranian language.[27][28][29] It shares features with the Munji language, which is the closest existing language to the extinct Bactrian,[30] but also shares features with the Sogdian language, as well as Khwarezmian, Shughni, Sanglechi, and Khotanese Saka.[31]

This is considered a different rendering of Ptolemy's Parsioi (Πάρσιοι).[32] Johnny Cheung,[33] reflecting on Ptolemy's Parsioi (Πάρσιοι) and Strabo's Pasiani (Πασιανοί) states: "Both forms show slight phonetic substitutions, viz. of υ for ι, and the loss of r in Pasianoi is due to perseveration from the preceding Asianoi. They are therefore the most likely candidates as the (linguistic) ancestors of modern day Pashtuns."[34]

Linguist Georg Morgenstierne has described Pashto as a Saka dialect and many others have observed the similarities between Pashto and other Saka languages as well, suggesting that the original Pashto speakers might have been a Saka group.[35][36] Furthermore, Pashto and Ossetian, another Scythian-descending language, share cognates in their vocabulary which other Eastern Iranian languages lack[37] Cheung suggests a common isogloss between Pashto and Ossetian which he explains by an undocumented Saka dialect being spoken close to reconstructed Old Pashto which was likely spoken north of the Oxus at that time.[38] Others however have suggested a much older Iranic ancestor given the affinity to Old Avestan.[39]

Hephthalite theory

[edit]

Yu. V. Gankovsky, a Soviet historian, proposed an Ephthalite origin for Pashtuns.[40][41][42]

The Pashtuns 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. ... Of the contribution of the Epthalites (White Huns) to the ethnogenesis of the Pashtuns we find evidence in the ethnonym of the largest of the Pashtun tribe unions, the Abdali (Durrani after 1747) associated with the ethnic name of the Epthalites — Abdal. The Siah-posh, the Kafirs (Nuristanis) of the Hindu Kush, called all Pashtuns by a general name of Abdal still at the beginning of the 19th century.

According to Georg Morgenstierne, the Durrani tribe who were known as the "Abdali" before the formation of the Durrani Empire 1747,[43] might be connected to with the Hephthalites;[44] Aydogdy Kurbanov endorses this view who proposes that after the collapse of the Hephthalite confederacy, Hephthalite likely assimilated into different local populations.[45]

Others draw different conclusions. Ghilji tribe has been connected to the Khalaj people.[46] Following al-Khwarizmi, Josef Markwart claimed the Khalaj to be remnants of the Hephthalite confederacy.[47] The Hephthalites may have been Indo-Iranian,[47] although the view that they were of Turkic Gaoju origin[48] "seems to be most prominent at present".[49] The Khalaj may originally have been Turkic-speaking and only federated with Iranian Pashto-speaking tribes in Medieval times.[50]

According to The Cambridge History of Iran volume 3, Issue 1, the Ghilji tribe of Afghanistan are the descendants of Hephthalites.[51]

However, according to linguist Sims-Williams, archaeological documents do not support the suggestion that the Khalaj were the successors of the Hephthalites,[52] while according to historian V. Minorsky, the Khalaj were "perhaps only politically associated with the Hephthalites."[53]

Rajput theory

[edit]

The British physician and authority on oriental languages, Henry Walter Bellew, accredited for writing the first Pashto dictionary in colonial India, suggested that the Pashtuns (Pathans) are descended from Rajputs.[54][9][10] Bellew's theory was that all Pashtun tribal names could be traced to Rajput names.[55][56]

The Arab historian al-Masudi wrote that "Qandhar" (Gandhara in modern-day north west Pakistan) is a country of Rajputs and was a separate kingdom with a non-Muslim ruler.[57] Due to similar sounding names, this has been a source of confusion.[58] Modern scholars and historians have mentioned that Masudi is not referring to the modern city of Kandahar but rather the area of Gandhara in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.[59][60][61][62]

A number of genetic studies on Pashtuns have lately been undertaken by academics from various institutions and research institutes. The Greek heritage of Pakistani Pashtuns has been researched in the study, the Pashtuns, Kalash, and Burusho to be descended from Alexander's soldiers considered.[63]

Israelite theory

[edit]
See also: Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites

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 Nimat Allah al-Harawi, who compiled a history for Khan-e-Jehan Lodhi in the reign of Mughal Emperor Jehangir in the 17th century.[64] The 13th century Tabaqat-i Nasiri discusses the settlement of immigrant Bani Israel at the end of the 8th century CE in the Ghor region of Afghanistan, settlement attested by Jewish inscriptions in Ghor. Historian André Wink suggests that the story "may contain a clue to the remarkable theory of the Jewish origin of some of the Afghan tribes which is persistently advocated in the Persian-Afghan chronicles."[65] These references to Bani Israel agree with the commonly held view by Pashtuns that when the ten tribes of Israel were dispersed, the tribe of Joseph, among other Hebrew tribes, settled in the Afghanistan region.[66] This oral tradition is widespread among the Pashtun tribes. 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 many historians, including the 14th century Ibn Battuta and 16th century Ferishta.[67] However, the similarity of names can also be traced to the presence of Arabic through Islam.[68]

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.[69]

Some Afghan historians have maintained that Pashtuns are linked to the ancient Israelites. Mohan Lal quoted Mountstuart Elphinstone who wrote:

"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 (Muhammad) the Afghans of Ghore listened to the invitation of their Arabian brethren, the chief of whom was Khauled...if we consider the easy way with which all rude nations receive accounts favourable to their own antiquity, I fear we much class the descents of the Afghans from the Jews with that of the Romans and the British from the Trojans, and that of the Irish from the Milesians or Brahmins."[70]

— Mountstuart Elphinstone, 1841

While some sources assert that historical and anecdotal evidence strongly suggests a connection between the Israelite tribes & the Pashtuns,[71] the theory has been criticised by others as not being substantiated by historical evidence.[68] Dr. Zaman Stanizai criticises this theory:[68]

"The ‘mythified’ misconception that the Pashtuns are the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel is a fabrication popularized in 14th-century India. A claim that is full of logical inconsistencies and historical incongruities, and stands in stark contrast to the conclusive evidence of the Indo-Iranian origin of Pashtuns supported by the incontrovertible DNA sequencing that the genome analysis revealed scientifically."

— [68]

Comparison of genetic studies on Jews and Pashtuns

[edit]

According to genetic studies Pashtuns have a greater R1a1a*-M198 modal halogroup than Jews:[72]

"Our study demonstrates genetic similarities between Pathans from Afghanistan and Pakistan, both of which are characterized by the predominance of haplogroup R1a1a*-M198 (>50%) and the sharing of the same modal haplotype...Although Greeks and Jews have been proposed as ancestors to Pathans, their genetic origin remains ambiguous...Overall, Ashkenazi Jews exhibit a frequency of 15.3% for haplogroup R1a1a-M198"

— "Afghanistan from a Y-chromosome perspective", European Journal of Human Genetics (2012)

Arab/Egyptian theory

[edit]

Some Pashtun tribes claim descent from Arabs, including some claiming to be Sayyids (descendants of Muhammad).[73]

One historical account connects the Pashtuns to a possible Ancient Egyptian past but this lacks supporting evidence.[74]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ Ka Ka Khel; Sayed Wiqar Ali Shah (2014). "Origin of the Afghans: Myths and Reality". Journal of Asian Civilizations. 37 (1): 189–199.
  2. ^ a b Khalil, Hanif & Iqbal, Javed (2011). "An Analysis of the Different Theories About the Origin of the Pashtoons" (PDF). Balochistan Review. 24 (1): 45–54. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2013.
  3. ^ "Pashtun". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 15 March 2016. The origins of the Pashtun are unclear.
  4. ^ Vogelsang, Willem (2002). The Afghans. Oxford, England: Blackwell. p. 18. ISBN 0-631-19841-5.
  5. ^ "Old Iranian Online". University of Texas at Austin. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2007.
  6. ^ "Pashtun | people". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 8 November 2020. ...though most scholars believe it more likely that they arose from an intermingling of ancient Aryans from the north or west with subsequent invaders.
  7. ^ Behrooz, Maziar (ed.). "A Brief History of Afghanistan". San Francisco State University. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016.
  8. ^ The races of Afghanistan, being. Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University. 1880.
  9. ^ a b Sir Olaf Caroe (2003). "The Pathans – 550 BC - AD 1957". Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 4 March 2008. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  10. ^ a b Swatis and Afridis, By T. H. Holdich, The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 29, No. 1/2 (1899), pp. 2-9 (retrieved 4 May 2007).
  11. ^ Acheson, Ben (30 June 2023). The Pashtun Tribes in Afghanistan: Wolves Among Men. Pen and Sword Military. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-3990-6924-3. Given the range of raiders and residents that the area has seen over the centuries, it is easy to see why today's Pashtuns could be descended from Persians, Greeks, Turks, Bactrians, Scythians, Tartars, Huns, Mongols, Moghuls or anyone else who has crossed the region over the years.__More unexpected are the alleged Pashtun ties to Israel (Israelites).
  12. ^ "Who Are the Pashtun People of Afghanistan and Pakistan?". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 9 October 2023. Many scholars believe that the Pashtun people are descended from several ancestral groups. Likely the foundational population were of eastern Iranian (Persian) origin and brought the Indo-European language east with them. They probably mixed with other peoples, including possibly the Hephthalites or White Huns, 'Arabs', Mughals, and others who passed through the area.
  13. ^ The Cambridge History of Iran (Vol 2 ed.). Cambridge University. 2008. p. 48. ISBN 9781139054935.
  14. ^ Yarshater, Ehsan (1968). The Cambridge History of Iran (Volume 3, Issue 2 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 771.
  15. ^ Pstrusinska, Jadwiga. Secret Languages of Afghanistan and Their Speakers. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 49. ISBN 9781443864411.
  16. ^ Wink, André (2020). The Making of the Indo-Islamic World C.700-1800 CE. Cambridge University Press. p. 80. ISBN 9781108417747.
  17. ^ a b p. 2 "Some Aspects of Ancient Indian Culture" By D. R. Bhandarkar
  18. ^ "Rig Veda: Rig-Veda, Book 7: HYMN XVIII. Indra". www.sacred-texts.com.
  19. ^ "Herodotus, The Histories, Book 3, chapter 102, section 1". www.perseus.tufts.edu.
  20. ^ Macdonell, A.A. and Keith, A.B. 1912. The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects.
  21. ^ Map of the Median Empire, showing Pactyans territory in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan, Link
  22. ^ "The History of Herodotus Chapter 7, Written 440 B.C.E, Translated by George Rawlinson". Piney.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
  23. ^ "The History of Herodotus Book 3, Chapter 91, Verse 4; Written 440 B.C.E, Translated by G. C. Macaulay". sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  24. ^ "Herodotus, The Histories, Book 3, chapter 91, section 4". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
  25. ^ Dani, Ahmad Hasan (2007). History of Pakistan: Pakistan through ages. Sang-e Meel Publications. p. 77. ISBN 978-969-35-2020-0.
  26. ^ Holdich, Thomas (12 March 2019). The Gates of India, Being an Historical Narrative. Creative Media Partners, LLC. pp. 28, 31. ISBN 978-0-530-94119-6.
  27. ^ "Encolypedia Iranica, AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō". (69) Paṣ̌tō undoubtedly belongs to the Northeastern Iranic branch. It shares with Munǰī the change of *δ > l, but this tendency extends also to Sogdian
  28. ^ Comrie, Bernard (2009). The World's Major Languages. Pashto belongs to the North-Eastern group within the Iranian Languages
  29. ^ Afghanistan volume 28. Historical Society of Afghanistan. 1975. Pashto originally belonged to the north - eastern branch of the Iranic languages
  30. ^ Waghmar, Burzine; Frye, Richard N. (2001). "Bactrian History and Language: An Overview". Journal of the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute. 64: 40–48.
  31. ^ "Encolypedia Iranica, AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō". It shares with Munǰī the change of *δ > l, but this tendency extends also to Sogdian. The Waṇ. dialect shares with Munǰī the change of -t- > -y-/0. If we want to assume that this agreement points to some special connection, and not to a secondary, parallel development, we should have to admit that one branch of pre-Paṣ̌tō had already, before the splitting off of Waṇ., retained some special connection with Munǰī, an assumption unsupported by any other facts. Apart from l <*δ the only agreement between Paṣ̌tō and Munǰī appears to be Pṣ̌t. zə; Munǰī zo/a "I." Note also Pṣ̌t. l but Munǰī x̌ < θ (Pṣ̌t. plan "wide," cal(w)or "four," but Munǰī paҳəy, čfūr, Yidḡa čšīr < *čəҳfūr). Paṣ̌tō has dr-, wr- < *θr-, *fr- like Khotanese Saka (see above 23). An isolated, but important, agreement with Sangl. is the remarkable change of *rs/z > Pṣ̌t. ҳt/ǧd; Sangl. ṣ̌t/ẓ̌d (obəҳta "juniper;" Sangl. wəṣ̌t; (w)ūǧd "long;" vəẓ̌dük) (see above 25). But we find similar development also in Shugh. ambaҳc, vūγ̌j. The most plausible explanation seems to be that *rs (with unvoiced r) became *ṣ̌s and, with differentiation *ṣ̌c, and *rz, through *ẓ̌z > ẓ̌j (from which Shugh. ҳc, γ̌j). Pṣ̌t. and Sangl. then shared a further differentiation into ṣ̌t, ẓ̌d ( > Pṣ̌t. ҳt, ğd).
  32. ^ Humbach, Helmut; Faiss, Klaus (2012). Herodotus's Scythians and Ptolemy's Central Asia: Semasiological and Onomasiological Studies. Reichert Verlag. p. 21. ISBN 978-3-89500-887-0.
  33. ^ Cheung, Johnny. "Cheung2017-On the Origin of the Terms "Afghan" & "Pashtun" (Again) - Gnoli Memorial Volume.pdf": 39. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  34. ^ Morano, Enrico; Provasi, Elio; Rossi, Adriano Valerio (2017). "On the Origin of Terms Afghan and Pashtun". Studia Philologica Iranica: Gherardo Gnoli Memorial Volume. Scienze e lettere. p. 39. ISBN 978-88-6687-115-6.
  35. ^ Indo-Iranica. Kolkata, India: Iran Society. 1946. pp. 173–174. ... and their language is most closely related to on the one hand with Saka on the other with Munji-Yidgha
  36. ^ Bečka, Jiří (1969). A Study in Pashto Stress. Academia. p. 32. Pashto in its origin, is probably a Saka dialect.
  37. ^ Cheung, Jonny (2007). Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb. (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series).
  38. ^ Cheung, Jonny (2007). Etymological dictionary of the Iranian verb. (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series).
  39. ^ "Encyclopaedia Iranica, AFGHANISTAN vi. Paṣ̌tō". But it seems that the Old Iranic ancestor dialect of Paṣ̌tō must have been close to that of the Gathas.
  40. ^ Gankovsky, Yu. V. (1982). A History of Afghanistan. Progress Publishers. p. 382.
  41. ^ Quddus, Syed Abdul (1987). The Pathans. Moscow: Ferozsons. p. 29. ISBN 9789690006813. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  42. ^ Kurbanov pp238-243
  43. ^ Runion, Meredith L. (24 April 2017). The History of Afghanistan, 2nd Edition. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781610697781.
  44. ^ Morgenstierne, Georg (1979). "The Linguistic Stratification of Afghanistan". Afghan Studies. 2: 23–33.
  45. ^ Kurbano, Aydogdy. "THE HEPHTHALITES: ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS" (PDF). Department of History and Cultural Studies of the Free University, Berlin (PhD Thesis): 242. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. The Hephthalites may also have participated in the origin of the Afghans. The Afghan tribe Abdal is one of the big tribes that has lived there for centuries. Renaming the Abdals to Durrani occurred in 1747, when descendants from the Sadozai branch Zirak of this tribe, Ahmad-khan Abdali, became the shah of Afghanistan. In 1747 the tribe changed its name to "Durrani" when Ahmad khan became the first king of Afghanistan and accepted the title "Dur-i-Duran" (the pearl of pearls, from Arabian: "durr" – pearl).
  46. ^ Minorsky, V. "The Khalaj West of the Oxus". Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London. 10 (2): 417–437. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00087607. S2CID 162589866. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. The fact is that the important Ghilzai tribe occupies now the region round Ghazni, where the Khalaj used to live and that historical data all point, to the transformation of the Turkish Khalaj into Afghan Ghilzai.
  47. ^ a b "ḴALAJ i. TRIBE" - Encyclopaedia Iranica, December 15, 2010 (Pierre Oberling)
  48. ^ de la Vaissière 2003, pp. 119–137.
  49. ^ Rezakhani 2017, p. 135. "The suggestion that the Hephthalites were originally of Turkic origin and only later adopted Bactrian as their administrative, and possibly native, language (de la Vaissière 2007: 122) seems to be most prominent at present."
  50. ^ "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica".
  51. ^ Fisher, William Bayne; Yarshater, Ehsan (1968). The Cambridge History of Iran. Cambridge University Press. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-521-20092-9.
  52. ^ Bonasli, Sonel (2016). "The Khalaj and their language". Endangered Turkic Languages II A. Aralık: 273–275.
  53. ^ Minorsky, V. "The Khalaj West of the Oxus [excerpts from "The Turkish Dialect of the Khalaj", Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol 10, No 2, pp 417–437]". Khyber.ORG. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2007.
  54. ^ Ahmed, Khaled (6 April 2003). "Are the Pathans in fact Rajputs?". Daily Times. Archived from the original on 25 May 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  55. ^ Ahmad, Khaled (2003). "Are the Pathans Hindu Rajputs?". Khyber Gateway. Archived from the original on 26 June 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  56. ^ Bellew, Henry Walter (1879). Afghanistan and the Afghans. S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington. p. 218. Of the several tribes reckoned as Pukhtun or Pathan several are evidently of Indian origin, judging from their names, such as the Khatrini (Khatri or Hindu military caste), Sheorani (Shiva sect of Hindus), Kakar (Gakar tribe of Indians in the north Panjab), Tori (Tuari tribe of Rajputs), &c. All these Pathan tribes are located on the Suleman and Khybar ranges from the Kabul river in the north to the Kaura or Vahou Pass in the south.
  57. ^ Ball, Warwick (August 2010). "The seven qandahārs the name Q.ND.HAR. in the islamic sources". Gandhara in north Pakistan
  58. ^ Ball, Warwick (August 2010). "The seven qandahārs the name Q.ND.HAR. in the islamic sources". A comprehensive examination of the Islamic sources in Part I reveals a total of seven Qandahārs, all located in very different places. Understandably, this has led to some considerable confusion in the past amongst both ancient and modern scholars
  59. ^ "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica".
  60. ^ Ball, Warwick (August 2010). "The seven qandahārs the name Q.ND.HAR. in the islamic sources". To conclude, the few clues in the verse itself seem to indicate Gandhara as the likely location of this Qandahdr.
  61. ^ Ball, Warwick (August 2010). "The seven qandahārs the name Q.ND.HAR. in the islamic sources". Masudis first reference to Qandahar (in the Muritjadh-Dhahab, de Meynard and de Courteille, r85r, r, pp. 372-3; ED, r, pp. 22-3; Raverty, tBg2, p. 2o7), clearly refers to Gandhara, so need not be discussed"
  62. ^ "In view of Masudis other references to Qandahir which all refer to Gandhara, it seems more than likely that Gandhara is meant here as well. The source of later confusion of the names and its attribution is evident" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233196324_The_seven_qandahars_the_name_QNDHAR_in_the_islamic_sources
  63. ^ Huang, De-Shuang; Bevilacqua, Vitoantonio; Figueroa, Juan Carlos; Premaratne, Prashan (20 July 2013). Intelligent Computing Theories: 9th International Conference, ICIC 2013, Nanning, China, July 28-31, 2013, Proceedings. Springer. p. 403. ISBN 978-3-642-39479-9. A number of genetic studies of the Pashtuns have been conducted recently by researchers of various universities and research groups. The Greek ancestry of the Pashtuns of Pakistan has been investigated in [1]. In this study, the claim of the three populations of the region, i.e. the Pashtuns, the Kalash and the Burusho, to have des- cended from the soldiers of Alexander, has been considered.
  64. ^ Houtsma, Martijn Theodoor (1987). E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936. Vol. 2. BRILL. p. 150. ISBN 90-04-08265-4. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
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  68. ^ a b c d Stanizai, Zaman (9 October 2020). "Are Pashtuns the Lost Tribe of Israel?". doi:10.33774/coe-2020-vntk7-v4. S2CID 234658271. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  69. ^ McCarthy, Rory (17 January 2010). "Pashtun clue to lost tribes of Israel". The Observer.
  70. ^ Life of the Amir Dost Mohammed Khan; of Kabul, Volume 1. By Mohan Lal (1846), pg.5
  71. ^ McCarthy, Rory; Jerusalem (17 January 2010). "Pashtun clue to lost tribes of Israel". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  72. ^ Lacau, Harlette; Gayden, Tenzin; Regueiro, Maria; Chennakrishnaiah, Shilpa; Bukhari, Areej; Underhill, Peter A.; Garcia-Bertrand, Ralph L.; Herrera, Rene J. (October 2012). "Afghanistan from a Y-chromosome perspective". European Journal of Human Genetics. 20 (10): 1063–1070. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2012.59. PMC 3449065. PMID 22510847.
  73. ^ Caroe, Olaf. 1984. The Pathans: 500 B.C.-A.D. 1957 (Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints). Oxford University Press.
  74. ^ Barmazid. "Theory of Coptic origin of Pashtuns".
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