Pashtun

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The Pashtun (also Pushtun, Pakhtun, or ethnic Afghan; in referring to the period of the British Raj or earlier, sometimes Pathan) are an ethnic/religious group of people, living primarily in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India and following Pashtunwali. The Pashtuns are the world's largest patriarchal tribal group in existence. The total population of the group is estimated at 42 million.

Contents

History

Pashto culture is very ancient. Any discussion of its origins however fall afoul of what various tribes claim and what historians have uncovered.

Some people claim that the word "Afghan" appears in the inscriptions of Shahpur I at Naghsh-e Rostam which names Goundifer Abgan Rismaund. Also, according to Sprenger a similar name 'Apakan' occurs as the designation of the Sassanian Emperor Shahpur III.

"The word Afghan ... first appears in history in the Hudud-al-Alam, a work by an unknown Arab geographer who wrote in 982 A.D." (Afghanistan, by W.K Frazier Tytler).

"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).

From the 1st century B.C. to the 5th century A.D. this region saw three immense migrations of peoples from Central Asia: the arrival of the Sakas, Kushans, Huns and Gujjars. Previous groups whether Aryan, Jewish, Greek or Iranian would be a drop in the ocean of new arrivals.

According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, the theory of the Jewish descent of Afghans is of later origin and may be traced back to Maghzan-e-Afghani compiled for Khan-e-Jehan Lodhi in the reign of Mughal Emperor Jehangir and does not seem to have been recorded before the end of the 16th century A.D.

Prior to this period no other book mentions that Afghans are descended from Jewish tribes. The Jewish books also do not mention anywhere that Saul's son Jeremia had a son named Afghan from whom Afghans claim descent. However, it is a commonly held view by some Pushtuns that when the twelve tribes of Israel were dispersed, the tribe of Joseph settled in this region. Hence the ancient term 'Yusaf Zai' meaning 'child of Joseph' often used to describe Pashtuns.

See Bellew: Races of Afghanistan, Yu V. Gankovsky, Syed Bahadur Shah Zafar Kaka Khel: Pukhtana, and Sir Olaf Caroe: The Pathans.

The word for the language itself, Pashto or Pashtun, has been historically synonymous with the word Afghan. Because of this etymology, the Pashtuns are often referred to as "ethnic Afghans". In fact, just as Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tajikstan, Uzbekistan and other countries were named for their historical majority ethnic group, it can be said that Afghanistan was also named after its largest ethnic majority.

The Pashtuns are intimately tied to the history of modern-era Afghanistan. The country's founder, Ahmad Shah Durrani, was a Pashtun. He founded the country, as we know it today, in 1747 and the Pashtuns would rule it for the next 200 years. More recently the Pashtuns are known for being the primary ethnic group that comprised the Taliban, whose ideological basis began in the North West Frontier Province, centered around the Pakistani city of Peshawar and at the Madarassa-e-Haqqania in Akora, Khattak.

Culture

Throughout Pashtun history the warrior has been the most revered member of society. The term 'Pakhto' or 'Pashto' from which they derive their name is not merely the name of their language, but the name of an honour code and religion. The main tenets of 'Pakhto' or formally known as Pashtunwali are:

  1. Hospitality and asylum to all guests seeking help.
  2. Justice: Ancient Israelite Moses' Law, Tooth for a Tooth.
  3. Defense of 'Zan, Zar and Zameen' (Women/Family, Treasury and Property).
  4. Personal Independence. Pashtuns are fiercely independent and there is a lot of internal competition.

Most decisions in tribal life are made by a 'Jirga' or 'Senate' of elected elders and wise men. However, Pashtun society is also marked by its matriarchal tendencies. Folktales involving reverence for Pashtun mothers and matriarchs are common and are passed down from parent to child, as most Pashtun heritage, through a rich oral tradition.

However, some historians believe that the name Pakhtun has its origin in Pactyan, the name of an ancient Iranian tribe that lived in the Persian Satrapy Arachosia.

Who is a Pashtun

Among historians, anthropologists, and the Pashtun themselves, there is controversy as to exactly who is a Pashtun. The two most prominent views are, on the one hand, to define the Pashtun in terms of patrilineal descent going back to legendary times and, on the other, to consider as Pashtun any tribes who have hundreds of years of history in the relevant geographic area and who speak the same language and live in an essentially similar manner. We may call these the patrilineal definition and the cultural definition.

The patrilineal definition is based on an important tradition of Pashtun society, to able to trace each tribe to the patriarchal progenitors of the Pashtuns. Under this approach It is this which makes the tribe "Pashtun" rather than language. Thus the Afridis and Yousafzai of Bhopal in India have lost both the language and the ways of their ancestors, but by being able to trace themselves to one of the four sons of Qais Abdur Rashid, the progenitor of the Pashtun tribes they remain "Pashtun". Thus, under the patrilineal definition language is not in itself a defining point.

Conversely, the cultural definition would generally exclude the Afridis and Yousafzai of Bhopal, but would include some tribal group that do not share the specific descent required by the patrilineal definition, notably the Swatis, who claim patrilineal descent from Muhammad, the founder of Islam.

Institutions

The Pashtuns are predominantly a tribal people, however, increasing numbers now dwell in cities and urban settlements. Many still identify themselves with various clans.

More precisely, there are several levels of organization: the tabar (tribe) is subdivided into kinship groups each of which is a khel. The khel in turn is divided into smaller groups (pllarina or plarganey), each of which consists of several extended families or kahols. [Wardak, 2003, p. 7] "A large tribe often has dozens of sub-tribes whose members may see themselves as belonging to each, some, or all of the sub-tribes in different social situations (co-operative, competitive, confrontational) and identify with each accordingly." [ibid., p. 10]

Major Pashtuns tribes include:


References


References

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