Tajiks
The name Tajik (also spelled Tadjik, Tajek) refers a group of people who are believed to be one
of the pure and close decedents of the ancient Aryans. Their country was called Aryana Vajeh
and the name "Taa-jyaan" from which came the word Tajik is mentioned in The Avesta. The
Zoroaster's Gathas were also directed to an Aryan audience and there are several references to
this community as being situated in the "home" of the Aryans.
Hearing merely the word Aryan reminds one of the Nazis, white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the
like but in the academic circles it was an issue that fascinated a great number with and ancient
peoples who called themselves Aryans whose modern descendants live mostly in what is now
called Afghanistan, central Asian countries and are called Tajiks. Persians are an offshoot the
Aryans (Tajiks) who moved from Aryana Vejahy westward.
The word Aryan or Arya found its way to Europe in 1700s when European explorers began to
learn about Sanskrit, the ancient language of the sacred text of India which mentions about the
Aryans and their migration to India. Many scholars of Western languages including Latin and
Greek noticed the close similarities between those languages and that of Sanskrit which bear a
lot of influence of migrating Aryans. In the late 18th century, Sir William Jones was the first
person to suggest a theory that those languages might have been related and have common roots.
However, to European academic the "Aryan" roots and culture was by definition white-European
which had no relation to people of Central Asia (Tajiks), or Iranians. It was assumed that the
Indo-European speaking peoples of Iran, Central Asia and India somehow deviated and were an
offshoot of Aryans.
The Rig-Veda refers to Aryans as non-native of India, the migrants who pushed their way into
India. This answer was far more attractive to European because it allowed them to explain how
the subcontinent of India came to adopt an Indo - European language. In this process the
European pushed aside the Book of Avesta which presented a very different view of the Aryans.
It was ignored because it was offering a different answer than the Europeans were looking for.
The Book of Avesta was written much earlier that of Rig-Veda and contains many references to
the Aryans and the "home" of the Aryans (Tajiks). Taking into account both the Avesta and
Rig-Veda, the migration of Aryans to the subcontinent of India did occur according to Rig Veda.
However Avesta does not mention of any migrating people from North of Central Asia. On
contrary Avesta regards Aryana Vejahe (later Bactra and then Khorasan) as the home of Aryans.
The Aryan emigration to Indian subcontinent did occur but it was rather from the home of
Aryans and not from any where else.
The Aryan civilization encompassed a large areas at the heart of which was the land of Khorasan
that covers today's Afghanistan(the word Afghanistan was coined after invasions by Afghans),
eastern Iran and Central Asian countries. The Aryan had been there from time immemorial.
They have been there at the time of Avesta and Vedas as long as anyone could remember.
People probably roamed there as early as 100,000 BC. Many evidence of definite occupation of
human occupation was found n the cave of Darra-i-Kur in Badakhshan. One of the findings is
the transitional fragment of Neanderthal skull along with Mousterian-type tools that belong to
the Middle Paleolithic and date back to 30,000 years ago. At caves near Aq Kopruk many
evidence of an early Neolithic culture which date back to c.9000-6000 BC were found.
Archaeological research discovered many Bronze Age sites which dates to a time both before
and after the Indus Valley civilization of the 3rd to the 2nd millennium BC. There are many
evidence of trade with the Bronze Age Mesopotamia and Egypt. The main exports to
Mesopotamia, Egypt were lapis and lazuli. Moreover, a site at Shortugai near the Amu River
(Oxus River) indicate of some links to Harapan civilization. This site is located to the northeast
of the city of Konduz (Kohan Dazgh: Ancient Fort).
The Tajiks were the transmitters of the Central Asian sedentary culture from the borders of
China into Iranian plateau and to an area extending up to Caspian Sea. They built villages of
flat-roofed mud or stone houses and cultivated irrigated fields of wheat, barley and millet. Their
gardens were famous for variety of fruits and melons. Their crafts were highly developed and
their towns were located along the trade routes linking China to Middle East and beyond.
Throughout history, Tajiks suffered tremendous devastations in terms of loss of life and their land. These devastation were caused by many invaders: Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Mongol, British and Russians with their Great Game which enabled Afghans to take over their land.
Tajiks are light skinned people with moderate heights, mostly soft black hair and brown eyes though blue eyes and blonde hair appear among them. They speak a language called Dari or Farsi and exactly the same as the language spoken in Iran and known as Persian. Before the advent of Islam, they were Zoroastrians, but after the introduction with Islam they became Muslims and today virtually hundred percent of the are Muslim. Most belong to Hanafi Sunni sect and there are a number of Shias.
Today the greatest concentration of Tajiks is in Afghanistan. The second largest group is in
Tajikistan and they are also scattered in other Central Asian countries. Tajiks land throughout
history was called by different names. The oldest recorded name was Aryana Vajhe, then Bactra
with different regions being called as Sogdania, Chrosima, Khwarezm. Later it was called
Khorasan until the end of 19th century when, much to the dismay of them, their country's name
was changed to Afghanistan by the Afghans.
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