Afghanistan is a modern term since 18th century. Aryana (آریانا) is the ancient term that appears in Avesta and Rigveda(2500 -1800 BCE).

Similarly, in the El-Amarna tablets from Palestine dating from the middle of the 15th century B.C.E. contain the Indo-Aryan royal names: Arta-manya (“he who thinks Order”) and Suwar-d˝ta (“given by the sun”).

In the early 14th century B.C.E. a treaty was concluded between the Hittite king Shupiluliuma and the Hurrite king of the Mitanni, Matiwaza, in which the Mitanni gods are listed, among them: Mitra-Varuna, Indara, and the two Nasatyas, which are some of the principal gods of the Old Indo-Aryan pantheon. The Annals of Sargon II(7th century BCE) mentions the Aryans of Rising Sun or Aribi sa nip h Samsi that is Khorasan. Samsi in Assyrian equivalent to Khorsheed in Bactrian that stems from Avestan. It means sun or orient.

Afghans are older than Chineses and Egyptians and Persians are younger and the recipient of their culture while the Indians are their closest cousins. The Persians have NOTHING to do with Aryans and that must be clarified from outset.

Moreover, none of these documents referred to above mention “Persians” because they were not part of the Aryan tribes. The Annals of Sargon distinguishes Aryans from Persians(Parsa) and lump them with Elamites. Medes and Persians lived under the rule of Assyrians and Bactrians until 678 BCE.

The history of what is Afghanistan goes back to Oxus and Avestan civilization dated 2500–2200 BCE. Afghanistan is the exact boundary of Avestan Airyanaem Vaejh(آریانا). In Sanskrit, Ariana or Aryana is Aryavrata. That geographical entity has been inhibited by Aryans and their children who are the Tajiks and Pashtuns and their respective tribes.

ROOTS

The name Afghan comes from Avestan word gairi [mountain]. The word gairi remained as غره (gha’ra) or mountain. Stan in the term Afghanistan comes from Avestan aêtadha or place or station . Aw’ghan comes from gairi of gha’r. Hence, the name Afghanistan or mountain people=

آوغانستان

The Sanskrit गिरिजाल giri-(gairi in Avestan) or ghar (غر) in Pashto are all inter-related.

Additionally, scholars believe Afghanistan (‘Ashva-Gan-stan’ means the land of ‘Horse people’). Ashvin comes from Aspa in Avestan meaning Asp or horse اسپ or آس.

The Bahlikas - बाह्लिक; Bāhlika) were the inhabitants of Bahlika बह्लिक, located in Bactria or modern Balkh in Northern Afghanistan. Bahilkas are mentioned in Atharvaveda, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, and other ancient inscriptions such as Katyayana, Brhatsamhita, Amarkosha inscriptions. Rigveda(see below) mentions the Aryans 33 times.

According to Rigveda, books 6 and 8, there is a connection with Central Afghanistan as they may be of (proto-)Aryan origin, e.g. Arśasåna ‘winning of men?’ (2.20.7 - cf an-arśani ‘not having men?’ 8.32.2). The Parśu may be equated with the historical Pashtuns living in the Northwest Frontier and in Afghanistan.112 The case of Paktha is more complicated, as the name occurs with Adhrigu and Babhru in 8.22.10: K. Hoffmann (1975) takes it to mean ‘the fifth’, although in other cases it looks like a name which could presage the modern Pakhtuns. Drbhīk (2.14.3) may be compared with the Iranian tribe of Derbikes, and the incoming Uśij (2.21.5) represents an ancient Iranian clan as well as an Indian one.

Avesta and Rigveda provide the exact limits of Aryan that match today's Afghanistan that also includes the land south of Durand line in Pakistan. The history of Afghans goes back to Oxus and Avestan civilization(2500 BCE) that gave rise to the Indus Valley Civilization(1800 BCE).

AVESTA

**Yasna.9.14**

Renowned in the Airyanem Vaējah

you were the first, O Zarathustra,

to chant the Ahuna vairya.

(Airyanem Vaējah=Aryan Expanse=between Amu (Oxus ) and Helmand

**Yasna.10.11)**

*Thus the life-giving birds launched there*

*carried you out in various directions:*

*to Ishkata, Upāiri. saēna*(Hindukush and Koh e Ba’ba’

*to Staêra Starô.sâra,*

*to Kusrâdha Kusrô.patâdha,*

*to Pavrâna along the path of the birds,*

*to the two *White-color Mountains

Y.59.18

locates Zarathustra in Ragha in Badakhshan, Afghanistan[*(P. O. Skjærvø: Zoroastrianism, 2011).]

In Vendidad, I( section 1–8) in the Young Avesta describes the land of Aryan comprised of sixteen great lands (sodasa mahajanapada) with its center called Airyanem Vaējah

1. Airyanem Vaējah: airyanem vaêjô, the mythical homeland of the Aryans, where Zarathustra was born.

2. Iskata (Kohi Baba-بابا غر‎, کوه بابا, Bamyan, Afghanistan)

3. Pouruta: Iskata+ Pouruta=Upāiri. saēna =Hindu Khush mountain range-Afghanistan

4. Bāxδi(Balkh)

5. Nisāya (the region between Juzjan(جوزجان) and Balkh and Merv by the Amu River

6. Harōuva(Herat Valley by the Arghandab River crossing the Helmand River)

7. Gava (Suxδ)- Sogdia, Tajikistan

8. Harakhvaiti (Arachosia-south of Kabul river to Paktia-Swat region)

9. Haetumant (Helmand)

10. Ragha( Badakhshan and Bunner region of Khyber Pass region between Afghanistan and Pakistan; in Vendidad I not the Ray in Yast 19.18)- Gerschivitch 1964, and Gnoli 67, 71, 77, 1989, Mary Boyce 1982[G.Gnoli p.56]

11. Sogdiana (Gava)

12. Urva (Ghazni),

13. Gandhara (Kandahar),

14. Arachosia (Kabul Valley)

15. Čarx (Logar),

16. Buner(Varəna)= Swat Valley

None of these geographical locations are located in Persia or modern Iran, nor do they belong to modern Iran proper in 2020. [Illya Gerschevitch, 1959, p. 174, Mary Boyce, p. 274, Michael Witzel, p. 42, Gnoli p. 44–46].

Yasna 59:18 identities home of Zarathustra in Badakhshan, Afghanistan.

Zoroastre au Badakhsan

[June 2002 Studia Iranica 31(2):193-214 DOI: 10.2143/SI.31.2.268Frantz GRENET]

RIGVEDA

Rigveda (RS) 7,5,3 & 6 and 1,131,4 specifically describe the Aryans and their Indian counter-clans Dasyus, D Dāsas, and Panis. It tells us about the “five clans” of the Aryans (Yadus, Anus, Druhyus, Turvasas, and Pūrus. RS 2,12,4 and RS 1,130,8, RS 2,207, RS 3,34, 9 RS 1, 100, 18 describe and differentiate between the Aryans and Indians and their wars and races. Aryan king, Divodāsa Atithigva, King of Su dās and the battle of ten kings (RS 7,18 & 33 & 83, RS 4,30, 000, RS 4, 30, 21, RS 2, 14, 3 & 5 ) display the battle of Aryans and Indians. RS RS 2, 14, 3 &5 describes the battle between the Indian heroes Drbhika and Rudhikra with Aryans.

According to Rigveda (10,75,6), starting from the north, the rivers Tŗstāmā, Susartu, Rasā, Śvetyā, Kubhā (Kabul river-Afghanistan), Gomatī (Gumal- Afghanistan), Mehatnu and Krumu(Kuram-Afghanistan). R*ásā* रसा) is the name of a western tributary of the Indus the Rigveda(verse 5.53.9) that correspond to Avestan river of *Raŋhā* referred to as Hapta-Hindu or Sapta Sindhavah** **(Seven rivers) that is in northeastern Afghanistan corresponding to Kandahar or ancient Gandhara and Kurushetra in northern India. R*ásā, is mentioned with the Kabul and Kurram rivers and believed that is is the Amu Darya(Sanskrit Vakṣn=Oxus). *The Panis, Dāsas, and Dasysu lived in this region [Asko P. 215].

ERATOSTHENES (276 BC-195 BC)

In his book, Geographika, Erastothenes defines the boundaries of Ariana on the East

• the territories of Paropamisadae(Hindukush) from Amu River to Indus river covering Bactria(Balkh), Arachosia( Logar and Kabul Valleys), Buner(Swat Valley) reach the Indus River

• Drangiana covering the Helmand Valley, Hamune Basin of Helmand river, Arghandab river reaching Aria(Herat).

• Gedrosia(Markan in Baluchistan) starting in Gerdiz (Afghanistan) and ending towards the Persian Gulf.

Ariana, according to Erastothenes continues through the Caspian Sea on the West and reached the Taurus mountain region corresponding to southern Turkey that separates Mediterranean from central Anatolian Plateau. It is the expansion of Aryan settlements. It also includes the territory between the Caspian Sea to the borders of Carmenia (Kerman)

Eratosthenes was born in 276 BC, four years after Alexander of Macedon destroyed the Persian Achaemenids empire in 330 BC. Hence his description of Geography was based on the narratives created after Alexander entered into “Ariana” in 326 BC in pursuit of the Persian king, Darius III, who fled with his royal family into Bactria after the fall of Persepolis.

STRABO (64BC-24AD) AND ARIANA

Strabo younger was younger than Strabo but spend more time on Aryans than Persians. In his famous Geographies, Book 15, in nine sections he deals with (1-9)

• Strabo (II, 1, 22) states that Eratosthenes divided the world into Northern and Southern divisions. In the Southern division. Then he cut each division into sections called “Sphragidis.” The first section in the Southern division is called India and the second section is called Ariana.

• Strabo , Geography, XV, 2, 8 defines the boundaries of Ariana says 'Apixn' could also be extended to part of the Persians and the Medes and also northwards to the Bactrians and Sogdians.

ARYANS

The Aryans migrated into two directions. First, they moved to the Indian subcontinent and established the Indus Valley Civilization ca 1800–1400 BCE. Beginning 1000 BCE, the Aryans migrated towards West and settled in Fars, Persia. In the second wave of migration, the Aryans brought their Aryan language in the form of the Bactrian language and the religion of Zarathustra. Over the course of time, both the religion and language of Aryans diffused the Medes and Persian cultures. These Aryans first liberated Medes from the rule of Assyrians in 678 BCE and then they became the master of Persians among Achaemenides in 550 BCE.

Persia did not exist prior to 550 BC as a geographical entity or imperial power. Before this date, the Medes and Persians were under the rule of Assyrians. They emerged in the history records for the first time in the annals of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (858 BCE-824 BCE) when he campaigned against a revolt in the Zagros mountains in 835 BCE and crashed Parŝuwaŝ and received tributes from 27 other kings. Similarly, the name Persian appeared in the records of Assyrian king Tiglath pilaster III (744 BCE-727 BCE). The records of the Halulē Battle in 691 BCE on Tigris mention Persians. Furthermore, the Assyrian king-Sennacherib (704–681 BCE) defeated Elms, Anzans, Parsumaŝ.

The Medes were subjected to Bactrians and Assyrians and lived under their rule until they liberated themselves 647 BC and established an independent kingdom.

According to Annals of Sargon II recorded in ca 713 BC and issued by the Assyrian king Sargon II, Aryans and their head priest called Magi were living among Medes and Persian. The annals called them Aribi sa nip h Samsi or the Aryans of Rising Sun living in the “orient” that is meant Khorasan in Cental Asia corresponding to Afghanistan. Herodotus in his book Histories, chapter I, section 101 confirms this fact and calls the Aryans Arzanti (‘A….) and the Magi among Medes and Persians. Herodotus also mentions Pactyans (Pashtuns) who were engaged in constant insurgencies against Persians.

Iran as a term is not mentioned in Avesta or Rigveda. The founder of the Sassanians, Ardishir Papakan used “Aryanism” and Aryan to created a national identity that was annihilated by the Greeks when they destroyed the Persian empire in 330 BCE.

HERODOTUS (b. 484, died 425 BCE, wrote Histories)

Herodotus in his book Histories, chapter I, section 101 confirms this fact and calls the Aryans Arzanti (‘A….) and the Magi among Medes and Persians. Herodotus also mentions Pactyans (Pashtuns) who were engaged in constant insurgencies against Persians. Herodotus’ “Histories” focus on Persia and very scantly allude to Ariana.

In the first book of the Histories, Herodotus identifies ten tribes that constituted the Persian nation. No description of the tribes in Ariana. The ten tribes mentioned in the first book of The Histories were Pasargadae, Maspii, Maraphii, Panthialaei, Derusiaei, Germanii, Dair, Mardi, Dropici, and Sagartii [I, 125]. In the Book, I, 101, Herodotus subdivides Mede(Mardi) into Busae, Struchates, Paretaceni and states that an additional tribe called Arzanti(Ariani-‘ 'Αριξαντοι) dwelled among Medes. Strabo of Amasia added Cyrtians and Patischorians to Herodotus’ list to ten tribes in [Strabo 15.3.1]

AVESTAN LANGUAGE

►Central Aryan>>>Bactrian(branched into 48 language)>>>>Old Persian>>Middle Persian>>>New Persian(Dari and Farsi). Pashto is the direct descendent of Avestan and the only surviving Avestan language in modern-day spoken in Afghanistan and among Afghan Pashtuns in the autonomous region of Northwest Frontier between Afghanistan and modern-day Pakistan. Sanskrit and Avestan languages are twins. Avestan did not have an alphabet. It was transmitted orally. After 550 BCE, Akkadian, Elamite, Aramaic alphabets were used to record the Bactrian language(linguists call it Old Persian); After the Greek invasion, Sassanians were heavily influenced by Jews. They introduced Aramaic alphabet to write Bactrian(linguists call this Middle Persian). The Arabs introduced their alphabet to record the language spoken in Central Asia and Persia(linguists call that language New Persian). New Persian in this form is called DARI spoken by Afghans. Farsi is a derivative of Dari mixed with Arabic words and spoken by Persians in “Iran.”:

►Ormuri-Parachi (2)

►Pashto (4)

►Saka (2)

►Sanglechi-Ishkashimi (2)

►Shughni-Yazgulami (4)

►Southwestern Aryan (21)

►Wakhi (Pamir region in Eastern Afghanistan)

►Yidgha-Munja (2)

Indo-Aryan (223 branches)

►Bihari (24)

►Dhivehi-Sinhala(3)

►Indo-Aryan Central Zone with 84 branches.

Linguists and philologists have divided Avestan into three classes.

a) Old Avestan

b) Middle Avestan

c) Young Avesta.

Old Avestan and Middle Avestan languages belonged to Avestan Aryans in Ariana. Yasna of Old Avesta and Gātha were composed in Old and Middle Avesta. As the Avestan Aryans migrated to Persia, they evolved their language into Young Avesta exemplified by Vendidad and Yasht. Examples of such transition highlight the differences in the evolution of these languages:

Old Avestan (spoken in Ariana-Afghanistan)

Y 41.5

θβōi staotarascā maθranascā ahurā mazdā

aogɘmadaēcā usmahicā vısāmadaēcā

We are declaring ourselves, are aspiring and making ourselves available

to be your praisers and chanters, O Wise Lord.

Middle Avestan(Spoken in Indus Valley)

Y 14.1

visāi və aməšā spəntā

staota zaota zbāta yašta framarɘta aibijarɘta

I shall make myself available, O Life-giving Immortals,

as your praiser, priest, invoker, sacrificer, reciter, welcomer.

Young Avestan (spoken by Aryans among Persians)

Vendidad 5.1

vise vō amɘša spɘnta

staota zaota zbāta yašta framarɘta aibijarɘta

I am making myself available, O Life-giving Immortals,

as your praiser, priest, invoker, sacrificer, reciter, welcomer.

As an example, the word winter in Dari is (زمستان-Za’mistan)

in Pashto (ژمی-Zha’mai). The Avestan word for winter is zaya or zayanãm. As noted earlier, Pashto is the direct descent of Avestan whereby Dari developed through Bactrian that came from Avestan. Zham in Dari is the exact term in Pashto. ستان in (زمستان) comes from the Avestan word adhât which means “place.” The word for place in Sanskrit is अधिष्ठा n. adhisthana. The Avestan word aêtadha also means “stationed” as in a confined place. This word relates to isthana in Sanskrit and in Dari, it means ستاده estada which means standing. In winter, life and vegetation standstill.

Another example would be the word “dog.” In Avestan, it is spâ (m) and sûkem . In Pastho, the word remained Spai(سپی). In Dari, the word further developed into Sag (سگ) from sûkem .

This example shows that Avestan and Sanskrit are twin languages. There are thousands of other words to show the relationship between Pashto, Dari, Avestan, and Sanskrit.