5G0 Some Remarks on the Origin of the Afghan people. [No. 6. 



The mountain tract of Kaseghar, and the district of Kiidah, were 

 assigned in feudal tenure to Afghana. 



The original meaning of the word Afghana is figlian — a Persian 

 word, which means "complaint" " lamentation" because he was a 

 cause of lamentation to the devil, jins, and mankind. Prom the con- 

 stant use of the word, the vowel point (-7*) Jcasrah was dropped, after 

 which the other letters could not be sounded without the aid of a 

 vowel, and alif-i-wasl was placed before the gh, and thus made 

 Afghana. 



Malik Afghan having taken possession of his new territory, (to 

 use the expressive words of the author) " irrigated the land of that 

 mountainous country with the water of the sword, and planted in 

 the hearts of its inhabitants, the seeds of his own faith. He fixed 

 his residence at a place named Push or Pdsh, situated in the moun- 

 tains, and from the name of this place, the people have derived the 

 name of Pushtiin, and their language Pushto. Some traditions state 

 that the Afghans acquired their language from the Diws, and others, 

 that it is the original dialect of the aboriginal inhabitants of Kase- 

 ghar, and that the Afghans were in the habit of carrying off the 

 wives and daughters of those Infidels, and intermarrying with them,* 

 thereby learning from them the Pushto language, and in course of 

 time forgetting their own Ibrahami tongue. f" 



Again to use the words of the author, " Malik Afghan having purified 

 the face of the mistress of that country from the filth of the wicked 

 infidels by the pure water of the sword, and having given unto her 

 the rouge of beneficence, and decked her out in the bridal garments 

 of religion and the ornaments of Islam, bestowed her in the mar- 

 riage of possession to one of his sons," after which he returned to the 

 court of king Sulimau, at Bait-ul-Mukaddas,! where at length he died 

 at a very advanced age. His descendants from generation to gener- 

 tion, and from tribe to tribe, continued to dwell round about the 

 mountain of Kaseghar and to rule over it, and were at constant war 

 with the Infidels, as the neighbouring people were termed. 



* See the Kullasat-ul-Ansab. 



f Ibrahami means the Hebrew language. 



X L y t Cyil*J\ <-^-> The Sanctified or Holy Temple — the Arabic name for Jerusalem. 



