Pashayi people

Pashayi
Pashai boy wearing a Pakol
Total population
Approx. 400,000[1] (disputed between 600,000 and 1 million)
Regions with significant populations
Laghman, Kapisa, Nangarhar and northeast Kabul, Panjshir
Languages
Pashayi languages
Pashto and Persian also spoken as second languages[2]
Religion
Majority:
Sunni Islam[3][4]
Minority:
Nizari Ismailism[4]
Related ethnic groups
Other Indo-Aryan peoples, Kalash, Nuristani

The Pashayi or Pashai, formerly known as the Alina, (/pəˈʃaɪ/; Pashayi: پشه‌ای, romanised: Paṣhəy) are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group[5] living primarily in eastern Afghanistan. They are mainly concentrated in the northern parts of Laghman and Nangarhar, also parts of Kunar, Kapisa, Parwan, Nuristan, and a bit of Panjshir.[6] Many Pashai consider themselves as Pashtuns speaking a special language,[7] and many are bilingual in Pashto[2] whereas other Pashai, such as those in Panjshir and Parwan,[7][8] have been assimilated by Tajiks.[9] Some Pashayi people are also based in Central Afghanistan.

  1. ^ "What Languages do People Speak in Afghanistan?". worldpopulationreview.com.
  2. ^ a b Lehr, Rachel (2014). A Descriptive Grammar of Pashai: The Language and Speech Community of Darrai Nur (PDF). University of Chicago, Division of the Humanities, Department of Linguistics. ISBN 978-1-321-22417-7.
  3. ^ "The Pashayi of Afghanistan". Bethany World Prayer Center. 1997. Retrieved 11 April 2019. Before their conversion to Islam, the Pashayi followed a religion that was probably a corrupt form of Hinduism and Buddhism. Today, they are Sunni (orthodox) Muslims of the Hanafite sect.
  4. ^ a b West, Barbara A. (2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. p. 646. ISBN 978-1-4381-1913-7.
  5. ^ Minahan, James B. (10 February 2014). Ethnic Groups of North, East, and Central Asia: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 217. ISBN 9781610690188. Historically, north and east Afghanistan was considered part of the Indian cultural and religious sphere. Early accounts of the region mention the Pashayi as living in a region producing rice and sugarcane, with many wooded areas. Many of the people of the region were Buddhists, though small groups of Hindus and others with tribal religions were noted.
  6. ^ Ovesen, Jan (1984). "On the Cultural Heritage of the Pashai". Anthropos. 79 (4/6): 397–407. ISSN 0257-9774. JSTOR 40461864.
  7. ^ a b Pashai, Ethnic identity in Afghanistan, on nps.edu
  8. ^ Ovesen, Jan (1984). "On the Cultural Heritage of the Pashai". Anthropos. 79 (4/6): 397–407. ISSN 0257-9774. JSTOR 40461864.
  9. ^ https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Books/Linguistics/Mega%20linguistics%20pack/Indo-European/Indo-Aryan/Pashai%2C%20A%20Descriptive%20Grammar%20of%20%28Lehr%29.pdf [bare URL PDF]