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Theories of Pashtun origin
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Theories of Pashtun origin
The Pashtun people are classified as an Iranian ethnic group. They are indigenous to southern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. 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. 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. The early ancestors of modern-day Pashtuns may have belonged to the old Iranian tribes that spread throughout the easternmost Iranian plateau.
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.
The Cambridge History of Iran: Volume 2 also states the Bactrian tribes to be ancestors of Pashtuns. In The Cambridge History of Iran Volume 3, Issue 2 the tribe Parsii are possibly Pashtuns. The Parsii were a nomadic tribe, in the district of Paropamisadae.
Accrording to Yu. V. Gankovsky the Tocharians took part in there ethnogenesis of Pashtuns. 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.
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). dated between c. 1500 and 1200 BCE. The Pakthās are mentioned:
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:
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Theories of Pashtun origin
The Pashtun people are classified as an Iranian ethnic group. They are indigenous to southern Afghanistan and western Pakistan. 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. 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. The early ancestors of modern-day Pashtuns may have belonged to the old Iranian tribes that spread throughout the easternmost Iranian plateau.
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.
The Cambridge History of Iran: Volume 2 also states the Bactrian tribes to be ancestors of Pashtuns. In The Cambridge History of Iran Volume 3, Issue 2 the tribe Parsii are possibly Pashtuns. The Parsii were a nomadic tribe, in the district of Paropamisadae.
Accrording to Yu. V. Gankovsky the Tocharians took part in there ethnogenesis of Pashtuns. 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.
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). dated between c. 1500 and 1200 BCE. The Pakthās are mentioned:
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: