Afghan (name)

The ethnonym Afghan (افغان afġān) has been used in reference to the Pashtun people during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. The name Afghanistan (افغانستان afġānistān) is a derivation from the ethnonym, originally in the loose meaning "land of the Afghans (Pashtuns)" and referred to the territory inhabited by Pashtun tribes south of the Hindu Kush and was later adopted by the Pashtun-dominated kingdoms of Kabul.

The name Afghan is believed to be first attested in its Arabic form in the 10th century Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam. It likely derives from a Sanskritic tribal name, Aśvaka, used in reference to the Kambojas in antiquity. The Arabic Afġān is an adaptation of the Prakritic form अवगाना (), as first used by Varahamihira in his Bṛhat Saṃhitā in 6th century CE. Since the Middle Ages, "Afghan" has been used as a synonym for Pashtun, while the native name for the ethnic group is "Pashtun".

Afghan
The Pashtun people were called Afghans in the past, since at least the 7th century AD and onwards. A Chinese pilgrim, Xuanzang, who visited the Afghanistan area in 629 AD mentions about Afghans in Zhob.

The Encyclopædia Iranica explains: "From a more limited, ethnological point of view, "Afġān" is the term by which the Persian-speakers of Afghanistan (and the non-Paštō-speaking ethnic groups generally) designate the Paštūn. The equation [of] Afġān [and] Paštūn has been propagated all the more, both in and beyond Afghanistan, because the Paštūn tribal confederation is by far the most important in the country, numerically and politically. The term "Afġān" has probably designated the Paštūn since ancient times. Under the form Avagānā, this ethnic group is first mentioned by the Indian astronomer Varāha Mihira in the beginning of the 6th century A.D. in his Brhat-samhita."

Classical Muslim sources
According to several scholars such as V. Minorsky, W.K. Frazier Tyler and M.C. Gillet, the word Afghan first appears in the 982 AD Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, where a reference is made to "Saul, a pleasant village on a mountain. In it live Afghans." Saul was probably located near Gardez, in the Paktia province of Afghanistan. Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam also speaks of a king in "Ninhar" (Nangarhar), who shows a public display of conversion to Islam, even though he has over 30 wives, which are described as "Muslim, Afghan, and Hindu" wives. The distinction between Muslim, Hindu, and Afghan is very intriguing, since this shows that that they were not considered Muslim, nor Hindu, but rather something else.

Al-Utbi, the Ghaznavid chronicler, in his Tarikh-i Yamini records that recruitment for Sabuktigin's army was answered by Afghans and the 'Khalaj' (possibly related to modern Ghilzai), and he enrolled thousands of them. With these armies he twice defeated the Hindushahi King Jaipal in Laghman and Nangarhar, and drove him out of the upper Kabul valley, capturing immense treasures. Al-Utbi further states that Afghans and Ghilzai made a part of Mahmud Ghaznavi's army and were sent on his expedition to Tocharistan, while on another occasion Mahmud Ghaznavi attacked and punished Afghans, as also corroborated by Abulfazl Beyhaqi. In the 11th century AD, an explicit mentioning of Afghans appears in Al-Biruni's Tarikh-ul Hind ("History of India"), which mentions "rebellious" Afghans as "Hindus", whose tribal lands he passed by. Al-Biruni probably also refers to Afghans in another passage (loc. Cit. p. 199) where he mentions an uncivilized (Willem Vogelsang uses the word "savage") people in the mountains that form the western frontier of India (i.e. Suleiman Mountains) whom he describes as tribes of Hindus or akin to them, but this is uncertain.

Ibn Battuta, a famous Moroccan traveler, visiting Kabul in 1333 AD writes:

"We traveled on to Kabul, formerly a vast town, the site of which is now occupied by village inhabited by a tribe of Persians called Afghans. They hold mountains and defiles and possess considerable strength, and are mostly highwaymen."

Firishta, a 16th century Persian historian writing about the history of Muslim rule in India states: "He [Khalid bin Abdullah son of Khalid bin Walid] retired, therefore, with his family, and a number of Arab retainers, into the Sulaiman Mountains, situated between Multan and Peshawar, where he took up his residence, and gave his daughter in marriage to one of the Afghan chiefs, who had become a proselyte to Mahomedism. From this marriage many children were born, among whom were two sons famous in history. The one Lodhi, the other Sur; who each, subsequently, became head of the tribes which to this day bear their name. I have read in the Mutla-ul-Anwar, a work written by a respectable author, and which I procured at Burhanpur, a town of Khandesh in the Deccan, that the Afghans are Copts of the race of the Pharaohs; and that when the prophet Moses got the better of that infidel who was overwhelmed in the Red Sea, many of the Copts became converts to the Jewish faith; but others, stubborn and self-willed, refusing to embrace the true faith, leaving their country, came to India, and eventually settled in the Sulimany mountains, where they bore the name of Afghans"

In the writings of the 17th-century Pashto poet Khushal Khan Khattak, the equation of Afghan and Pashtun is further confirmed: "Pull out your sword and slay any one, that says Pashtun and Afghan are not one! Arabs know this and so do Romans: Afghans are Pashtuns, Pashtuns are Afghans!"

Afghanistan
The last part of the name -stān is a Persian suffix for "place of". The term "Afghanistan", meaning the "Land of Afghans", was mentioned by the 16th century Mughal Emperor Babur in his memoirs, referring to the territories south of Kabul that were inhabited by tribes called "Afghans". Babur states: "In the country of Kābul there are many and various tribes. Its valleys and plains are inhabited by Tūrks, Aimāks, and Arabs. In the city and the greater part of the villages, the population consists of Tājiks. Many other of the villages and districts are occupied by Pashāis, Parāchis, Tājiks, Berekis, and Afghans. In the hill-country to the west, reside the Hazāras and Nukderis. Among the Hazāra and Nukderi tribes, there are some who speak the Moghul language. In the hill-country to the north-east lies Kaferistān, such as Kattor and Gebrek. To the south is Afghanistān."

Regarding the modern state of "Afghanistan", the Encyclopædia Of Islam states: "Af gh ānistān has borne that name only since the middle of the 18th century, when the supremacy of the Afghan race (Pashtuns) became assured: previously various districts bore distinct apellations, but the country was not a definite political unit, and its component parts were not bound together by any identity of race or language. The earlier meaning of the word was simply "the land of the Afghans", a limited territory which did not include many parts of the present state but did comprise large districts now either independent or within the boundary of Pakistan."

Ashvaka
The etymological view supported by numerous noted scholars is that the name Afghan evidently derives from Sanskrit Aśvakas, qv. the Assakenoi of Arrian. This view was propounded by scholars like Christian Lassen, J. W. McCrindle, M. V. de Saint Martin, and É. Reclus, and has been supported by numerous modern scholars. See few more references on Asvaka = Afghan: The Numismatic Chronicle, 1893, p 100, Royal Numismatic Society (Great Britain); Awq, 1983, p 5, Giorgio Vercellin; Der Islam, 1960, p 58, Carl Heinrich Becker, Maymūn ibn al-Qāsim Tabarānī;  Journal of Indian History: Golden Jubilee Volume, 1973, p 470, Trivandrum, India (City), University of Kerala. Dept. of History; Literary History of Ancient India in Relation to Its Racial and Linguistic Affiliations, 1970, p 17, Chandra Chakraberty;  Stile der Portugiesischen lyrik im 20 jahrhundert, p 124, Winfried Kreutzen.; See: Works, 1865, p 164, Dr H. H. Wilson; The Earth and Its Inhabitants, 1891, p 83;  Chants populaires des Afghans, 1880, p clxiv,  James Darmesteter; Nouvelle geographie universelle v. 9, 1884, p.59, Elisée Reclus; Alexander the Great, 2004, p.318, Lewis Vance Cummings (Biography & Autobiography); Nouveau dictionnaire de géographie universelle contenant 1o La géographie physique ... 2o La .., 1879,  Louis Rousselet, Louis Vivien de Saint-Martin; An Ethnic Interpretation of Pauranika Personages, 1971, p 34,  Chandra Chakraberty;  Revue internationale, 1803,  p 803; Journal of Indian History: Golden Jubilee Volume, 1973,  p  470,  Trivandrum, India (City). University of Kerala. Dept. of History; Edinburgh University Publications, 1969, p 113,  University of Edinburgh;  Shi jie jian wen, 1930, p 68 by  Shi jie zhi shi chu ban she. Cf also: Advanced History of Medieval India, 1983, p 31, Dr J. L. Mehta; Asian Relations, 1948, p 301, Asian Relations Organization ("Distributed in the United State by: Institute of Pacific Relations, New York."); Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1892, p 275, Royal Scottish Geographical Society - Geography; The geographical dictionary of ancient and mediaeval India, 1971, p 87, Nundo Lal Dey; Nag Sen of Milind Paṅhö, 1996, p 64, P. K. Kaul - Social Science; The Sultanate of Delhi, 1959, p 30, Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava; Journal of Indian History, 1965, p 354, University of Kerala Dept. of History, University of Allahabad Dept. of Modern Indian History, University of Travancore - India; Mémoires sur les contrées occidentales, 1858, p 313, fn 3,  Stanislas Julien Xuanzang - Buddhism.

In Sanskrit, the word ashva (Iranian aspa, Prakrit assa) means "horse", and ashvaka (Prakrit assaka) means "horseman", "horse people", "land of horses", as well as "horse breeders". Pre-Christian times knew the people of the Hindukush region as Ashvakas (horsemen), since they raised a fine breed of horses and had a reputation for providing expert cavalrymen. The fifth-century-BCE Indian grammarian Pāṇini calls them Ashvakayana and Ashvayana. Mahabharata mentions them as Ashvaka(na). Classical writers, however, use the respective equivalents Aspasioi (or Aspasii, Hippasii) and Assakenoi (or Assaceni/Assacani, Asscenus) etc. The Aspasioi/Assakenoi (Ashvakas = Cavalrymen) is stated to be another name for the Kambojas of ancient texts because of their equestrian characteristics. Alexander Cunningham and a few other scholars identify these designations with the modern name Afghan.

The Indian epic Mahabharata speaks about Kambojas among the finest horsemen, and ancient Pali texts describe their lands as the land of horses. Kambojas spoke Avestan language and followed Zoroastrianism. *Dr V. S. Agarwala writes: "As shown in the Jataka and Avestic literature, the Kamboja was the center of ancient Iranian civilization as is evidenced by the peculiar customs of the country " (Ref: The Kamboja Janapada, January 1964, Purana, Vol VI, No 1, p 229; Jataka edited by Fausboll, Vol VI, p 210.)


 * Dr Michael Witzel: "The Kambojas, located somewhere in east Afghanistan, spoke Iranian language and followed Zoroastrian habits of killing lower animals." (Early Eastern Iran and the Atharvaveda, Persica-9, 1980, fn 81, p 114; Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, Vol. 7 (2001), issue 3 (May 25), Art. 9).


 * Dr D. C. Sircar: "The Kambojas were of Iranian extractions .. they were settled in Afghanistan region in Uttarapatha. Their numbers were occasionally swelled by new migrants from Iran, especially during age of Achaemenians." (Purana, Vol. V, No. 2, July 1963, p 256, Dr D. C. Sircar).


 * Willem Vogelsang: "The name Kamboja was commonly applied in Indian sources to the Iranian population of the borderlands i.e Afghanistan." (The Afghans (Peoples of Asia), 2001, p 127).


 * Dr R. Thapar: "The Kambojas were a tribe of the Iranians " (History of India, Vol. I, 1997, p 276).


 * E. Benveniste: "The Kambojas ... were known in Indian traditions as a foreign people, with peculiar customs, ... raised celebrated horses, spoke - as the Nirukata (II,2.8) tells us - a language with Iranian words in it ... and had, according to Buddhist Jataka (VI.206, 27-30), a certain religious practice - the killing of insects, moths, snakes and worms - which we may recognize as Mazdean from the passages in Mazdean books like the Videvati (XIV.5-6) as well as from the remark of Herodotus (I.140) about the Persian religion " (Journal Asiatique, CCXLVI 1958, I, pp 47-48, E. Benveniste). Some scholars believe Zoroastrianism originated in land of Kambojas.

The former Aspins of Chitral and Ashkuns (Yashkuns) of Gilgit are identified as the modern representatives of the Pāṇinian Aśvakayanas (Greek: Assakenoi); and the Asip/Isap (cf. Aspa-zai > Yusufzai) in the Kabul valley (between the rivers Kabul and Indus) are believed to be modern representatives of the Pāṇinian Aśvayanas (Greek: Aspasioi) respectively.

Later forms
In the 3rd century CE, Sassanids referred to a tribe called Abagân. Persian Abagan is the same as Sanskrit Avagan, being referred to in the writings of Varaha Mihira.

In the 6th century CE, the Indian astronomer Varāha Mihira referred to the Ashvakayana of Pāṇini or the Ashvaka(na) of Mahabharata as Avagānā.

In the 7th century CE, the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang noted the term as A-po-kien, during his visit to eastern Afghanistan.

Historical suggestions
There are a number of other hypotheses suggested for the name historically, all of them obsolete.


 * The "Maḫzan-e Afġān" by Nimat Allah al-Harawi, written in 1612 at the Mughal court, traces the name Afghan to an eponymous ancestor, an Afghana, identified as a grandson of Saul. Afghana was supposedly a son of Irmia (Jeremia), who was in turn a son of Saul (Talut).  Afghana was orphaned at a young age, and brought up by David. When Solomon became king, Afghana was promoted as the commander-in-chief of the army. Neither Afghana nor Jeremia son of Saul figure in the Hebrew Bible. Some four centuries after Afghana, in the sixth century BCE, Bakhtunnasar, or Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babil, attacked the Kingdom of Judah and exiled the descendants of Afghana, some of whom went to the mountains of Ghor in present-day Afghanistan and some to the neighborhood of Mecca in Arabia. Until the time of Muhammad, the deported Children of Israel of the east continually increased in number in the countries around Ghor which included Kabul, Kandahar and Ghazni, and made wars with the infidels around them. Khalid bin Walid is said to belong to the tribe of descendants of Afghana in the neighborhood of Mecca, although actually he was from the tribe of Quraysh. After conversion to Islam, Khalid invited his kinsmen, the Children of Israel of Ghor, to Islam. A deputation lead by Qais proceeded to Medina to meet Muhammad, and embraced Islam. Muhammad lavished blessings on them, and gave the name Abdur Rashid to Qais, who returned to Ghor successfully to propagate Islam. Qais had three sons, Sarbanr, Batan and Ghourghusht, who are progenitors of the various Pashtun tribes.
 * Samuel G. Benjamin (1887) derived the name Afghan from a term for 'wailing', which the Persians are said to have contemptuously used for their plaintive eastern neighbors.
 * H. W. Bellew, in his 1891 An Inquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan, believes that the name Afghan comes from Alban which derives from the Latin term albus, meaning "white", or "mountain", as mountains are often white-capped with snow (cf. Alps); used by Armenians as Alvan or Alwan, which refers to mountaineers, and in the case of transliterated Armenian characters, would be pronounced as Aghvan or Aghwan. To the Persians, this would further be altered to Aoghan, Avghan, and Afghan as a reference to the eastern highlanders or "mountaineers".
 * Michanovsky suggests the name Afghan derives from Sanskrit Avagana, which in turn derives from the ancient Sumerian word for Badakhshan - Ab-bar-Gan, or "high country".
 * There are also a few people who have attempted to link "Afghan" to an Uzbek word "Avagan" said to mean "original".