Tajiks Totally Explained

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ť This article is about the Central Asian Persians known as Tajiks. Refer to Persian people regarding Persians in Iran.

Tājik (; UniPers: Tâjik; Tajik: Тоҷик) is a term generally applied to Persian-speaking peoples of Iranian origin living east and northeast of present-day Iran. The traditional Tajik homelands are in present-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and southern Uzbekistan.
Alternative names for the Tajiks are Fārsī (Persian), Fārsīwān (Persian-speaking), and Dīhgān (literally "village settlers", in a wider sense "urban"; in contrast to "nomadic").

History

Like all Iranic peoples, and also the Indic, Dard, and Nuristani peoples, the Tajiks trace their origins to the ancient Aryan nomads who settled in Central Asia as early as 4000 years ago.
The Tajiks trace their more immediate ancestry to the East Iranian-speaking Bactrians, Sogdians, and Parthians, which means that the historical ancestors of the Tajiks didn't speak Persian - the southwestern Iranian language, today known as 'Farsi' in Iran and Afghanistan. The 'Tajiks' adoption of the now dominant southwestern branch Persian language is believed to have as its root cause, the Islamic conquest of Central Asia by the Arabs. This conquest sent large numbers of Persians fleeing into Central Asia, South Asia (Pakistan) and even into southwestern China. Subsequently, many Persians, after conversion to Islam, entered Central Asia as military forces and settled in the conquered lands. As a result of these waves of Persian migration (Zoroastrian and Muslim) over the course of more than 200 years, the Tajiks have ethnic Persian ancestry in addition to their original East-Iranian ancestry. Cultural dissemination through Persian literature also helped to establish the new language, as well as intermittent military dominance. According to Iranologist Richard Nelson Frye, the Persian migration to Central Asia may be considered the beginning of the "modern" Tajik nation, and ethnic Persians along with East-Iranian Bactrians and Sogdians, as the main ancestors of "modern" Tajiks.. Sir George Abraham Grierson holds that the Tajiks of Badakshan belong to the same Aryan race as do the other Ghalcha speakers of the Tajikstan “ . George Grierson also records that the speech of Badakshan was a Ghalcha till about three centuries ago when it was supplanted by a form of Persian . It has been shown that the modern Ghalcha dialects, Valkhi, Shigali, Sriqoli, Jebaka (also called Sanglichi or Ishkashim), Munjani and Yidga , mainly spoken in Pamirs and countries on the headwaters of the Oxus, still use terms derived from ancient Kamboja verb Śavati in the sense "to go" . Furthermore, the Yagnobi dialect spoken in Yagnobi province around the headwaters of Zeravshan valley in Sogdiana, also still contains a relic "Śu" from the ancient Kamboja Śavati in the sense "to go" . The ancient Kambojas, were originally located in the Badakshan, Pamirs and northern territories including Yagnobi province in the doab of the Oxus and Jaxartes . On the east they were bounded roughly by Yarkand and/or Kashgar, on the west by Bahlika (Uttaramadra), on the northwest by Sogdiana, on the north by Uttarakuru, on the southeast by Darada, and on the south by Gandhara. Numerous Indologists have located Kamboja in Pamirs and Badakshan and the Parama Kamboja, in the Trans-Pamirian territories, comprising Zeravshan valley and north up the parts of Sogdiana/Fargana--in the Sakadvipa or Scythia of the classical writers . The Ghalcha speaking Tajik population occupy, more or less, the same territories, which in ancient time, were held by east Iranian Kambojas and the Parama Kambojas . This people are stated to have held their own in spite of centuries of Hunic, Turkish and Mongol invasions . Based on George Grierson's Sociolinguistics researches in India, eminent scholars like Dr J. C. Vidyalankara, Dr Moti Chandra, Dr S. K. Chatterjee, Dr J. L. Kamboj etc write that the Tajiks are the modern representatives of the ancient Kambojas/Parama Kambojas . Some scholars hold that the Ghalcha Tajiks are descendants both of the Kambojas as well as the Tukharas
The geographical division between the eastern and western Iranians is often considered historically and currently to be the desert Dasht-e Kavir, situated in the center of the Iranian plateau.

Other groups

The Mountain Tajiks or Pamiris of the Badakhshan region in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, as well as the smaller group usually known as "Tajik" in China's western Xinjiang region are descendants of the original East-Iranian tribes.

Origin of the term

"Tājik" is a word of Turko-Mongol origin and means (literally) Non-Turk. It has the same root as the word Tat which is used by Turkic-speakers for the Persian-speaking population of the Caucasus. In a historical context, it's synonymous with Iranian and particularly with Persian. Since the Turko-Mongol conquest of Central Asia, Persian-speakers in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran and all the way to Pakistan and Kashmir have been identified as Tājiks. The term is mainly used as opposed to "Turk" and "Mongol".

History of the name

First mentioned by the Uyghur historian Mahmoud Al-Kāshgharī, Tājik is an old Turkic expression referring to all Persian-speaking peoples of Central Asia. From the 11th century on, it came to be applied principally to all East-Iranians, and later specifically to Persian-speakers. In addition, Tibetans call all Persian-speakers (including those in Iran) Tājik.

The word "Tājik" in medieval literature

The word Tājik is extensively used in Persian literature and poetry, always as a synonym for Persian. The Persian poet Sa'adi, for example, writes:
It is clear that he, too, uses the word as opposed to Turk. The oldest known reference of the word Tajik in Persian literature, however, can be found in the writings of Djalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, himself being an Persian-speaker - and thus a "Tājik" - from Central Asia.
Other meanings of the word
At certain periods of history, the word Tājik also referred to Persian-speaking scholars and clerks of early Islamic time who were schooled in Arabic. In the Safavid Empire, Tājik referred to the Iranian administrators and nobles of the kingdom, linked to the so-called Qezelbâš movement.
   According to some old Tājik folktales, as well as old Persian books, the word "Tājik" literally refers to the "people having the crown" ("Tāj" means crown in Persian). It is believed that it initially refers to the East-Iranian people who ruled over the Bactrian, Soghdian and Badakhshan highlands and later over other areas of Central Asia and beyond - a region traditionally known as the "crown of the world".
Alternative names
As an alternative, the term Sart was also used as a synonym for Tājik and Persian in the medieval - post Genghis Khan - period. Turkic people named by this word the local East-Iranian population. However, the term was abolished by the Soviet government of the Central Asian states.
Location
Tājik are the principal ethnic group in most of Tajikistan, as well as in northern and western Afghanistan. Tajiks are a substantial minority in Uzbekistan, are found in Pakistan and a few in Xinjiang, China, as well as in overseas communities. Historically, the ancestors of the Tajiks lived in a larger territory in Central Asia than now.
Afghanistan
Tajiks comprise between 27-34% of the population of Afghanistan. They predominate three of the largest cities in Afghanistan (Kabul, Mazar-e Sharif, and Ghazni) and the northern and western provinces of Balkh, Parwan, Kapisa, Panjshir, Baghlan, Takhar, Badakhshan, and Ghor, large parts of Konduz Province, and they predominate in the city of Herat and large parts of Farah Province. In addition, Tajiks live in all other cities and provinces in Afghanistan.
   In Afghanistan, the Tajiks don't organize themselves by tribes and refer to themselves by they region, province, city, town, or village they're from; such as Badakhshani, Baghlani, Mazari, Panjsheri, Kabuli, Herati, etc. During the Soviet 'Uzbekization' supervised by Sharof Rashidov, the head of the Uzbek Communist Party, Tajiks had to choose either stay in Uzbekistan and get registered as Uzbek in their passports or leave the republic for a less developed agricultural mountainous Tajikistan. Tajiks may make up closer to 15 to 45 percent of Uzbekistan's population.
Russia
The population of Tajiks in Russia is around 500,000. Most Tajiks came to Russia during the Soviet Union.
Physical characteristics
Physically, most Tajiks resemble the Mediterranean-caucasian stock. The average Tajik has (easily) dark hair and eyes with medium to fair skin. Light hair and eyes are relatively common, particularly in northern regions such as Badakhshan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, western China and Kashmir. A small minority of Tajiks in Central Asia show an easy Turko-Mongol admixture that drived from the Uzbeks and Hazaras, while remote mountain Tajiks appear to more closely resemble the Indo-European Soghdian, Bactrian, Parthian, Persian and Scythian (Tocharian, Sacae...) populations that existed before the Turko-Mongol invasions and migrations. In addition, Tajiks are often distinguished by Pashtun nationalists and government from their Farsiwan (Persian) or the persian piece of the Chahar Aimak subgroup by religion as opposed to appearance, also the ethnic Persians of Chahar Aimaks belong to the Sunni sub-group of Islam. Nowadays, also the Tajiks of Panjsher, who are known for their bravery foughts against the nationalistic and wild Pashtun Taliban, are often count by the Pashtuns and the Pashtun government as an ethnos of own. The reason for such steps of the Pashtun government is to weak the Tajiks and settle their lands with Pashtun nomads. The Tajiks, as a whole, are a somewhat eclectic population genetically and display a wide range of phenotypes.
Culture

Language
The language of the Tajiks, as of her Persian brothers in Iran, is Persian, also called Parsi-e Darbari (Persian of royal courts/Language of royal court). The cyrillic variety written in Tajikistan is called Tajiki. Persian is an Indo-European language, more specifically part of the Iranian language group. Tajiks speak an eastern dialect of Persian, historically called Parsi-e Palavi or also Parsi-e Khorasani (see also the persian population of eastern Iran´s dialect). Historically, it was considered the local dialect of Persian spoken by the Tajik/Persian ethnic group in Central Asia, from where it spread west-ward only tp drive the arabic language out as ethnic Persian´s mothertoung. In Afghanistan, unlike in Tajikistan, Tajiks continue to use the Perso-Arabic script. However, when the Soviet Union introduced the use of the Latin script in 1928, and later the Cyrillic script, Persian dialect of Tajikistan (soghdi dialect) came to be considered a separate (Persian) language. The language remains greatly influenced by Russian because of political borders. A transcribed Tajik text can, in general, be easily read and understood by Persians outside Tajikistan, and vice versa, and both group can converse with each other. The common origin of the the language Persians (Tajiks) of central Asia and Iran share with each other is underscored by the Tajiks' claim to such famous writers as Omar Khayyám, Firdausi, Anwari, Rumi and many other famous Persian poets (Most Persians of Iran don't know Tajiks as beeing Persians). Russian is widely used in government and business in Tajikistan as well but slowly Tajikistan´s government is trying to exchange it with fully Persian.
Religion
The great majority of Tajiks follow the Sunni Islam, although small Twelver and Ismaili Shia minorities also exist in scattered pockets. Some of Sunni's famous scholars were from East-Iranian regions and therefore can arguably viewed as Tajik. They include Abu Hanifa, Al-Ghazali, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood, and Imam Bukhari amongst many others.
   In Afghanistan, Tajiks who follow Twelver Shiism are called Farsiwan. Additionally, small Tajik Jewish communities (known as Bukharian Jews) have existed since ancient times in the cities of Bukhara, Samarqand, Dushanbe, and other Tajik populated centers. Over the 20th century, the majority of these Tajik-speaking Jews emigrated to Israel and the United States. Most of these Jewish emigrants have negative views towards Tajikistan especially because of the destruction of the Dushanbe synagogue.
Recent developments
The collapse of the Soviet Union and the civil war in Afghanistan both gave rise to a resurgence in Tajik nationalism across the region. Tajikistan in particular has been a focal point for this movement, and the government there has made a conscious effort to revive the legacy of the Samanid empire, the first Tajik-dominated state in the region after the Arab advance. For instance, the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, dropped the "-ov" from his surname and directed others to adopt Tajik names when registering births. Furthermore, once conditions are fulfilled, Tajikistan will switch its alphabet from Soviet influenced Cyrillic script to Persian script thereby forging closer cultural ties with the Persian speaking nations of Iran and Afghanistan.

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