82-686: The Afghan Social Democratic Party ( Pashto : افغان ټولنپال ولسواکیز ګوند , Âfgan-e Tevâlnupal-e Vâlsuakâiz-e Gund ), more commonly known as the Afghan Mellat Party ( افغان ملت ګوند – Afğān Mellat Gund ; "Afghan Nation Party" ) or simply the Afghan Mellat , is a Pashtun nationalist political party in Afghanistan . The party's leadership describes it as social democratic , although it has been historically described as 'ethno fascist ' by observers. The party's current leader
164-453: A royal decree of Zahir Shah formally granted Pashto the status of an official language, with full rights to use in all aspects of government and education – despite the fact that the ethnically Pashtun royal family and bureaucrats mostly spoke Persian. Thus Pashto became a national language , a symbol for Pashtun nationalism . The constitutional assembly reaffirmed the status of Pashto as an official language in 1964 when Afghan Persian
246-593: A device). Post-7th century borrowings came primarily from Persian and Hindi-Urdu , with Arabic words being borrowed through Persian, but sometimes directly. Modern speech borrows words from English, French , and German . However, a remarkably large number of words are unique to Pashto. Here is an exemplary list of Pure Pashto and borrowings: naṛә́i jahān dunyā tod/táwda garm aṛtyā́ ḍarurah híla umid də...pə aṛá bāra bolә́la qasidah Persian literature Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in
328-471: A glorification of Selim I. After a period of several centuries, Ottoman Turkish (which was highly Persianised itself) had developed towards a fully accepted language of literature, which was even able to satisfy the demands of a scientific presentation. However, the number of Persian and Arabic loanwords contained in those works increased at times up to 88%. The Ottomans produced thousands of Persian literary works throughout their century long lifespan. With
410-628: A literary language again of the Central Asian and West Asian lands. The rebirth of the language in its new form is often accredited to Ferdowsi , Unsuri , Daqiqi , Rudaki , and their generation, as they used pre-Islamic nationalism as a conduit to revive the language and customs of ancient Iran. So strong is the Persian inclination to versifying everyday expressions that one can encounter poetry in almost every classical work, whether from Persian literature, science, or metaphysics . In short,
492-533: A loaf of bread as fare, A joint of lamb, a jug of vintage rare, And you and I in wilderness encamped— No Sultan 's pleasure could with ours compare. The Persian poet and mystic Rumi (1207–1273) (known as Molana in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and as Mevlana in Turkey), has attracted a large following in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Popularizing translations by Coleman Barks have presented Rumi as
574-612: A number of different lands. The nucleus of the collection is formed by a Pahlavi Sassanid Persian book called Hazār Afsānah ( Persian : هزار افسان , Thousand Myths ), a collection of ancient Indian and Persian folk tales. During the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the 8th century, Baghdad had become an important cosmopolitan city. Merchants from Persia , China , India , Africa, and Europe were all found in Baghdad. During this time, many of
656-665: A promoter of the wealth and antiquity of Afghanistan's Pashto culture." From the 16th century, Pashto poetry become very popular among the Pashtuns. Some of those who wrote in Pashto are Bayazid Pir Roshan (a major inventor of the Pashto alphabet ), Khushal Khan Khattak , Rahman Baba , Nazo Tokhi , and Ahmad Shah Durrani , founder of the modern state of Afghanistan or the Durrani Empire . The Pashtun literary tradition grew in
738-571: A reliable chronological source by many experts), as well as Ata-Malik Juvayni 's famous Tarikh-i Jahangushay-i Juvaini (which spans the Mongolid and Ilkhanid era of Iran ). Attar 's Tazkerat-ol-Owliya ("Biographies of the Saints") is also a detailed account of Sufi mystics, which is referenced by many subsequent authors and considered a significant work in mystical hagiography . The oldest surviving work of Persian literary criticism after
820-522: A variety very similar to it, while others have attempted to place it closer to Bactrian . However, neither position is universally agreed upon. What scholars do agree on is the fact that Pashto is an Eastern Iranian language sharing characteristics with Eastern Middle Iranian languages such as Bactrian, Khwarezmian and Sogdian . Compare with other Eastern Iranian Languages and Old Avestan : Zə tā winə́m /ɐz dɐ wənən/ Az bū tū dzunim Strabo , who lived between 64 BC and 24 CE, explains that
902-567: Is Siyasatnama , by Nizam al-Mulk , a famous Persian vizier . Kelileh va Demneh , translated from Indian folk tales, can also be mentioned in this category. It is seen as a collection of adages in Persian literary studies and thus does not convey folkloric notions. Among the major historical and biographical works in classical Persian, one can mention Abolfazl Beyhaghi 's famous Tarikh-i Beyhaqi , Lubab ul-Albab of Zahiriddin Nasr Muhammad Aufi (which has been regarded as
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#1732782924071984-421: Is "one of the primary markers of ethnic identity" amongst Pashtuns. A national language of Afghanistan , Pashto is primarily spoken in the east, south, and southwest, but also in some northern and western parts of the country. The exact number of speakers is unavailable, but different estimates show that Pashto is the mother tongue of 45–60% of the total population of Afghanistan . In Pakistan , Pashto
1066-506: Is Stanagul Sherzad, who became the new leader after the 6th party congress on October 3, 2012. Afghan Social Democratic Party was founded on March 8, 1966, by a group of influential bureaucrats associated with the ruling elites. However, it was officially declared on March 27 of that year. Ghulam Mohammad Farhad , a German educated Pashtun intellectual, served as the first President of the party. Farhad had studied in Nazi Germany and
1148-585: Is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family , natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan . It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ( افغانی , Afghāni ). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns , it is one of
1230-695: Is esteemed more as a scientist than a poet in his native Persia, but in Fitzgerald's rendering, he became one of the most quoted poets in English. Khayyam's line, "A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou", is known to many who could not say who wrote it, or where: گر دست دهد ز مغز گندم نانی وز می دو منی ز گوسفندی رانی وانگه من و تو نشسته در ویرانی عیشی بود آن نه حد هر سلطانی gar(agar) dast dahad ze maghz-e gandom nāni va'z(va az) mey do mani ze gūsfandi rāni vāngah man-o tō neshaste dar vīrāni 'eyshi bovad ān na had-de har soltāni Ah, would there were
1312-547: Is renowned both as a poet and as the founder of a widespread Sufi order. Hafez , too, is hugely admired in both East and West, and he was inspired by Sufism if he was not actually a Sufi himself. The themes and styles of this kind of devotional poetry have been widely imitated by many Sufi and non-Sufi poets. See also the article on Sufi poetry . Many notable texts in Persian mystic literature are not poems, yet highly read and regarded. Among those are Kimiya-yi sa'ādat , Asrar al-Tawhid and Kashf ul Mahjoob . Beginning in
1394-550: Is spoken by 15% of its population, mainly in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern districts of Balochistan province. It is also spoken in parts of Mianwali and Attock districts of the Punjab province , areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and in Islamabad . Pashto speakers are found in other major cities of Pakistan, most notably Karachi , Sindh, which may have the largest Pashtun population of any city in
1476-564: Is taught poorly in schools in Pakistan. Moreover, in government schools material is not provided for in the Pashto dialect of that locality, Pashto being a dialectically rich language. Further, researchers have observed that Pashtun students are unable to fully comprehend educational material in Urdu. Professor Tariq Rahman states: "The government of Pakistan, faced with irredentist claims from Afghanistan on its territory, also discouraged
1558-619: Is the largest comprehensive Persian dictionary ever published, comprising 16 volumes (more than 27,000 pages). It is published by the Tehran University Press (UTP) under the supervision of the Dehkhoda Dictionary Institute and was first published in 1931. It traces the historical development of the Persian language, providing a comprehensive resource to scholars and academic researchers, as well as describing usage in its many variations throughout
1640-852: The Behistun Inscription . The bulk of surviving Persian literature, however, comes from the times following the Muslim conquest of Persia c. 650 CE. After the Abbasids came to power (750 CE), the Iranians became the scribes and bureaucrats of the Islamic Caliphate and, increasingly, also its writers and poets. The New Persian language literature arose and flourished in Khorasan and Transoxiana because of political reasons, early Iranian dynasties of post-Islamic Iran such as
1722-665: The Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures . It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day Iran , Iraq , Afghanistan , the Caucasus , and Turkey , regions of Central Asia (such as Tajikistan ), South Asia and the Balkans where the Persian language has historically been either the native or official language. For example, Rumi , one of
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#17327829240711804-518: The Seljuks , the Sultanate of Rum , took Persian language, art and letters to Anatolia. They adopted Persian language as the official language of the empire. The Ottomans , which can "roughly" be seen as their eventual successors, took this tradition over. Persian was the official court language of the empire, and for some time, the official language of the empire. The educated and noble class of
1886-502: The Sho'ubiyye as asserting that the pre-Islamic Iranians had books on eloquence, such as 'Karvand'. No trace remains of such books. There are some indications that some among the Persian elite were familiar with Greek rhetoric and literary criticism ( Zarrinkoub , 1947). While initially overshadowed by Arabic during the Umayyad and early Abbasid caliphates, New Persian soon became
1968-561: The Tahirids and Samanids being based in Khorasan. Persian poets such as Ferdowsi , Saadi , Hafiz , Attar , Nezami , Rumi and Omar Khayyam are also known in the West and have influenced the literature of many countries. Very few literary works of Achaemenid Iran have survived, partly due to the destruction of the library at Persepolis . Most of what remains consists of
2050-586: The Timurid era and produced the likes of Amir Khosrow Dehlavi , and Bhai Nand Lal Goya . The most significant prose writings of this era are Nizami Arudhi Samarqandi 's "Chahār Maqāleh" as well as Zahiriddin Nasr Muhammad Aufi 's anecdote compendium Jawami ul-Hikayat . Shams al-Mo'ali Abol-hasan Ghaboos ibn Wushmgir 's famous work, the Qabus nama ( A Mirror for Princes ), is a highly esteemed Belles-lettres work of Persian literature. Also highly regarded
2132-499: The epic style of poetry, with Ferdowsi 's Shahnama at the apex. By glorifying the Iranian historical past in heroic and elevated verses, he and other notables such as Daqiqi and Asadi Tusi presented the " Ajam " with a source of pride and inspiration that has helped preserve a sense of identity for the Iranian people over the ages. Ferdowsi set a model to be followed by a host of other poets later on. The 13th century marks
2214-459: The Šāh-nāma are quite popular, and the stories of Rostam and Sohrāb , or Bījan and Maniža became part of Georgian folklore. Farmanfarmaian in the Journal of Persianate Studies : Distinguished scholars of Persian such as Gvakharia and Todua are well aware that the inspiration derived from the Persian classics of the ninth to the twelfth centuries produced a ‘cultural synthesis’ which saw, in
2296-477: The Šāh-nāma that is no longer extant. ... The Šāh-nāma was translated, not only to satisfy the literary and aesthetic needs of readers and listeners, but also to inspire the young with the spirit of heroism and Georgian patriotism. Georgian ideology, customs, and worldview often informed these translations because they were oriented toward Georgian poetic culture. Conversely, Georgians consider these translations works of their native literature. Georgian versions of
2378-601: The 14th century, while it simultaneously grew in the Indian subcontinent and Ottoman Turkey, regions that were increasingly becoming Persianized. Only 4 dictionaries of Persian were compiled in Iran between the 10th and 19th centuries, while more than 66 were produced in India. Significant dictionaries from India include the Farhang-e Ghavvas, Sharafnama-ye Ebrahimi , Farhang-i Jahangiri , and Burhan-i Qati . Unlike
2460-608: The 1930s, a movement began to take hold to promote Pashto as a language of government, administration, and art with the establishment of a Pashto Society Pashto Anjuman in 1931 and the inauguration of the Kabul University in 1932 as well as the formation of the Pashto Academy (Pashto Tolana) in 1937. Muhammad Na'im Khan, the minister of education between 1938 and 1946, inaugurated the formal policy of promoting Pashto as Afghanistan's national language, leading to
2542-518: The 1950s. Currently, English-Persian dictionaries of Manouchehr Aryanpour and Soleiman Haim are widely used in Iran. Also highly regarded in the contemporary Persian literature lexical corpus are the works of Dr. Mohammad Moin . The first volume of Moin Dictionary was published in 1963. Some of Persia's best-beloved medieval poets were Sufis , and their poetry was, and is, widely read by Sufis from Morocco to Indonesia . Rumi, in particular,
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2624-458: The 20th century, for example, largely based their works on the detailed lexicography produced in India, using compilations such as Ghazi khan Badr Muhammad Dehlavi 's Adat al-Fudhala ( اداة الفضلا ), Ibrahim Ghavamuddin Farughi 's Farhang-i Ibrahimi ( فرهنگ ابراهیمی ), and particularly Muhammad Padshah's Farhang-i Anandraj ( فرهنگ آنندراج ). Persian learning was also widespread in
2706-825: The 8th century, and they use the writings found in Pata Khazana . Pə́ṭa Xazāná ( پټه خزانه ) is a Pashto manuscript claimed to be written by Mohammad Hotak under the patronage of the Pashtun emperor Hussain Hotak in Kandahar ; containing an anthology of Pashto poets. However, its authenticity is disputed by scholars such as David Neil MacKenzie and Lucia Serena Loi. Nile Green comments in this regard: "In 1944, Habibi claimed to have discovered an eighteenth-century manuscript anthology containing much older biographies and verses of Pashto poets that stretched back as far as
2788-804: The Abbasid and Samanid courts into every major Iranian dynasty . The Qasida was perhaps the most famous form of panegyric used, though quatrains such as those in Omar Khayyam 's Ruba'iyyat are also widely popular. Khorasani style , whose followers mostly were associated with Greater Khorasan , is characterized by its supercilious diction, dignified tone, and relatively literate language. The chief representatives of this lyricism are Asjadi , Farrukhi Sistani , Unsuri , and Manuchehri . Panegyric masters such as Rudaki were known for their love of nature, their verses abounding with evocative descriptions. Through these courts and system of patronage emerged
2870-649: The Balkans insofar as that it was a town where Persian was also widely spoken. However, the Persian of Vardar Yenicesi and throughout the rest of the Ottoman-held Balkans was different from formal Persian both in accent and vocabulary. The difference was apparent to such a degree that the Ottomans referred to it as "Rumelian Persian" ( Rumili Farsisi ). As learned people such as students, scholars and literati often frequented Vardar Yenicesi, it soon became
2952-546: The Islamic conquest of Persia is Muqaddame-ye Shahname-ye Abu Mansuri , which was written during the Samanid period . The work deals with the myths and legends of Shahnameh and is considered the oldest surviving example of Persian prose. It also shows an attempt by the authors to evaluate literary works critically. One Thousand and One Nights ( Persian : هزار و یک شب ) is a medieval folk tale collection which tells
3034-583: The Ottoman Empire all spoke Persian, such as sultan Selim I , despite being Safavid Iran's archrival and a staunch opposer of Shia Islam . It was a major literary language in the empire. Some of the noted earlier Persian literature works during the Ottoman rule are Idris Bidlisi 's Hasht Bihisht , which begun in 1502 and covered the reign of the first eight Ottoman rulers, and the Salim-Namah ,
3116-534: The Ottoman-held Balkans ( Rumelia ), with a range of cities being famed for their long-standing traditions in the study of Persian and its classics, amongst them Saraybosna (modern Sarajevo , Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mostar (also in Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Vardar Yenicesi (or Yenice-i Vardar, now Giannitsa , in the northern part of Greece). Vardar Yenicesi differed from other localities in
3198-529: The Pashto Movement and eventually allowed its use in peripheral domains only after the Pakhtun elite had been co-opted by the ruling elite...Thus, even though there is still an active desire among some Pakhtun activists to use Pashto in the domains of power, it is more of a symbol of Pakhtun identity than one of nationalism." Robert Nicols states: "In the end, national language policy, especially in
3280-681: The Pathan community in the city of Kolkata , often nicknamed the Kabuliwala ("people of Kabul "). Pashtun diaspora communities in other countries around the world speak Pashto, especially the sizable communities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia . Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, along with Dari Persian . Since the early 18th century, the monarchs of Afghanistan have been ethnic Pashtuns (except for Habibullāh Kalakāni in 1929). Persian,
3362-550: The Persian dictionaries of India, most dictionaries from Ottoman Turkey are bilingual (Persian-Turkish). Some significant dictionaries of the era are Oqnum-e Ajam , Loghat-e Ne'matallah , and Lesan al-Ajam. In 1645, Christian Ravius completed a Persian- Latin dictionary, printed at Leiden. This was followed by John Richardson 's two-volume Oxford edition (1777) and Gladwin-Malda's (1770) Persian-English Dictionaries, Scharif and S. Peters' Persian-Russian Dictionary (1869), and 30 other Persian lexicographical translations through
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3444-421: The Persian language in the environment of Persianate cultures. Described as one of the great literatures of humanity, including Goethe 's assessment of it as one of the four main bodies of world literature, Persian literature has its roots in surviving works of Middle Persian and Old Persian , the latter of which dates back as far as 522 BCE, the date of the earliest surviving Achaemenid inscription,
3526-680: The Society's annual meeting in 1927. In 1955, Pashtun intellectuals including Abdul Qadir formed the Pashto Academy Peshawar on the model of Pashto Tolana formed in Afghanistan. In 1974, the Department of Pashto was established in the University of Balochistan for the promotion of Pashto. In Pakistan, Pashto is the first language around of 15% of its population (per the 1998 census). However, Urdu and English are
3608-470: The ability to write in verse form was a pre-requisite for any scholar. For example, almost half of Avicenna 's medical writings are in verse. Works of the early era of Persian poetry are characterized by strong court patronage , an extravagance of panegyrics , and what is known as سبک فاخر "exalted in style". The tradition of royal patronage began perhaps under the Sassanid era and carried over through
3690-643: The ascendancy of lyric poetry with the consequent development of the ghazal into a major verse form, as well as the rise of mystical and Sufi poetry . This style is often called Araqi (Iraqi) style (Araq-e-Ajam) and is known by its emotional lyric qualities, rich meters, and the relative simplicity of its language. Emotional romantic poetry was not something new, however, as works such as Vis o Ramin by As'ad Gorgani , and Yusof o Zoleikha by Am'aq Bokharai exemplify. Poets such as Sana'i and Attar (who ostensibly inspired Rumi ), Khaqani Shirvani , Anvari , and Nizami , were highly respected ghazal writers. However,
3772-511: The backdrop to weakening Pashtun power following Mughal rule: Khushal Khan Khattak used Pashto poetry to rally for Pashtun unity and Pir Bayazid as an expedient means to spread his message to the Pashtun masses. For instance Khushal Khattak laments in : "The Afghans (Pashtuns) are far superior to the Mughals at the sword, Were but the Afghans, in intellect, a little discreet. If
3854-635: The best-loved Persian poets, born in Balkh (in modern-day Afghanistan) or Wakhsh (in modern-day Tajikistan), wrote in Persian and lived in Konya (in modern-day Turkey), at that time the capital of the Seljuks in Anatolia . The Ghaznavids conquered large territories in Central and South Asia and adopted Persian as their court language. There is thus Persian literature from Iran, Mesopotamia , Azerbaijan ,
3936-711: The commission and publication of Pashto textbooks. The Pashto Tolana was later incorporated into the Academy of Sciences Afghanistan in line with Soviet model following the Saur Revolution in 1978. Although officially supporting the use of Pashto, the Afghan elite regarded Persian as a "sophisticated language and a symbol of cultured upbringing". King Zahir Shah (reigning 1933–1973) thus followed suit after his father Nadir Khan had decreed in 1933 that officials were to study and utilize both Persian and Pashto. In 1936
4018-410: The different tribes would but support each other, Kings would have to bow down in prostration before them" Pashto is a subject–object–verb (SOV) language with split ergativity . In Pashto, this means that the verb agrees with the subject in transitive and intransitive sentences in non-past, non-completed clauses, but when a completed action is reported in any of the past tenses, the verb agrees with
4100-579: The earliest stages of written secular literature in Georgia, the resumption of literary contacts with Iran, “much stronger than before” (Gvakharia, 2001, p. 481). Ferdowsi’s Shahnama was a never-ending source of inspiration, not only for high literature, but for folklore as well. “Almost every page of Georgian literary works and chronicles [...] contains names of Iranian heroes borrowed from the Shahnama ” (ibid). Ferdowsi, together with Nezāmi , may have left
4182-703: The early 16th century, Persian traditions had a large impact on the Georgian ruling elites, which in turn resulted in Persian influence on Georgian art, architecture, and literature. This cultural influence lasted until the arrival of the Russians. Jamshid Sh. Giunashvili remarks on the connection of Georgian culture with that of the Persian literary work Shahnameh : The names of many Šāh-nāma heroes, such as Rostom-i , Thehmine, Sam-i , or Zaal-i , are found in 11th- and 12th-century Georgian literature . They are indirect evidence for an Old Georgian translation of
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#17327829240714264-443: The eighth century. It was an extraordinary claim, implying as it did that the history of Pashto literature reached back further in time than Persian, thus supplanting the hold of Persian over the medieval Afghan past. Although it was later convincingly discredited through formal linguistic analysis, Habibi's publication of the text under the title Pata Khazana ('Hidden Treasure') would (in Afghanistan at least) establish his reputation as
4346-482: The elite of this school are Rumi, Saadi , and Hafiz Shirazi . Regarding the tradition of Persian love poetry during the Safavid era, Persian historian Ehsan Yarshater notes, "As a rule, the beloved is not a woman, but a young man. In the early centuries of Islam, the raids into Central Asia produced many young slaves . Slaves were also bought or received as gifts. They were made to serve as pages at court or in
4428-526: The emergence of the Ghaznavids and their successors such as the Ghurids , Timurids and Mughal Empire , Persian culture and its literature gradually moved into South Asia too. In general, from its earliest days, Persian literature and language was imported into the subcontinent by culturally Persianised Turkic and Afghan dynasties. Persian became the language of the nobility, literary circles, and
4510-451: The field of education in the NWFP, had constructed a type of three tiered language hierarchy. Pashto lagged far behind Urdu and English in prestige or development in almost every domain of political or economic power..." Although Pashto used as a medium of instruction in schools for Pashtun students results in better understanding and comprehension for students when compared to using Urdu, still
4592-493: The ghazal. " During the same Safavid era, many subjects of the Iranian Safavids were patrons of Persian poetry, such as Teimuraz I of Kakheti . In the didactic genre one can mention Sanai 's Hadiqat-ul-Haqiqah (Garden of Truth) as well as Nizami 's Makhzan-ul-Asrār (Treasury of Secrets). Some of Attar 's works also belong to this genre as do the major works of Rumi, although some tend to classify these in
4674-709: The government as Finance Minister. The party supported Hamid Karzai in the presidential election and receives support from Karzai. The party has around 10 MPs. The party officially registered themselves in Afghanistan on May 16, 2004. Shams-ul-Huda Shams applied for recognition of his party in 2004, but it was under Ajmal Shams , his son, that it achieved official recognition in May 2007 as "Afghan Mellat Milli Motaraqi Gwand – افغان ملت ملي مترقي ګوند" (Afghan National People's Progressive Party). Pashto language Pashto ( / ˈ p ʌ ʃ t oʊ / PUH -shto , / ˈ p æ ʃ t oʊ / PASH -toe ; پښتو , Pəx̌tó , [pəʂˈto, pʊxˈto, pəʃˈto, pəçˈto] )
4756-399: The government of Pakistan has only introduced Pashto at the primary levels in state-run schools. Taimur Khan remarks: "the dominant Urdu language squeezes and denies any space for Pashto language in the official and formal capacity. In this contact zone, Pashto language exists but in a subordinate and unofficial capacity". Some linguists have argued that Pashto is descended from Avestan or
4838-409: The households of the affluent, or as soldiers and bodyguards. Young men, slaves or not, also, served wine at banquets and receptions, and the more gifted among them could play music and maintain a cultivated conversation. It was love toward young pages, soldiers, or novices in trades and professions which was the subject of lyrical introductions to panegyrics from the beginning of Persian poetry, and of
4920-426: The literary language of the royal court, was more widely used in government institutions, while the Pashtun tribes spoke Pashto as their native tongue . King Amanullah Khan began promoting Pashto during his reign (1926–1929) as a marker of ethnic identity and as a symbol of "official nationalism" leading Afghanistan to independence after the defeat of the British Empire in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919. In
5002-428: The lyrical type due to their mystical and emotional qualities. In addition, some tend to group Naser Khosrow 's works in this style as well; however true gems of this genre are two books by Saadi, a heavyweight of Persian literature, the Bustan and the Gulistan . After the 15th century, the Indian style of Persian poetry (sometimes also called Isfahani or Safavi styles) took over. This style has its roots in
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#17327829240715084-404: The most enduring imprint on Georgian literature (...) Despite that Asia Minor (or Anatolia ) had been ruled various times prior to the Middle Ages by various Persian-speaking dynasties originating in Iran, the language lost its traditional foothold there with the demise of the Sassanian Empire . Centuries later however, the practise and usage in the region would be strongly revived. A branch of
5166-420: The native elements of the lexicon are related to other Eastern Iranian languages . As noted by Josef Elfenbein, "Loanwords have been traced in Pashto as far back as the third century B.C., and include words from Greek and probably Old Persian". For instance, Georg Morgenstierne notes the Pashto word مېچن mečә́n i.e. a hand-mill as being derived from the Ancient Greek word μηχανή ( mēkhanḗ , i.e.
5248-420: The party and some leading party members were released from prison. However, the party chose to stay outside of the governing coalition. The relations with the government split the party into three factions; with one faction led by Shams-ul-Huda Shams , one by Qudratullah Hadad and the other by Mohammad Amin Wakman. It is Wakman faction that is currently led by Afghanistan's Finance Minister, Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady ,
5330-408: The party maintains that it is social democratic. In the 1969 parliamentary elections, Farhad was elected to the parliament. After the Saur Revolution in 1978, the party was banned. Farhad was imprisoned, but released in 1980. In exile in Pakistan , the party operated under the auspices of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan . In 1986–1987, dialogues took place between the government and
5412-465: The possessed in the genitive construction, and adjectives come before the nouns they modify. Unlike most other Indo-Iranian languages, Pashto uses all three types of adpositions —prepositions, postpositions, and circumpositions. *The retroflex rhotic or lateral, tends to be a lateral flap [ 𝼈 ] at the beginning of a syllable or other prosodic unit, and a regular flap [ ɽ ] or approximant [ ɻ ] elsewhere. In Pashto, most of
5494-478: The royal Mughal courts for hundreds of years. In the early 19th century, Hindustani replaced it. Under the Mughal Empire during the 16th century, the official language of the Indian subcontinent became Persian. Only in 1832 did the British army force the South Asia to begin conducting business in English. (Clawson, p. 6) Persian poetry in fact flourished in these regions while post- Safavid Iranian literature stagnated. Dehkhoda and other scholars of
5576-793: The royal inscriptions of Achaemenid kings, particularly Darius I (522–486 BC) and his son Xerxes . Many Zoroastrian writings were destroyed in the Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century. The Parsis who fled to India , however, took with them some of the books of the Zoroastrian canon, including some of the Avesta and ancient commentaries ( Zend ) thereof. Some works of Sassanid geography and travel also survived, albeit in Arabic translations. No single text devoted to literary criticism has survived from pre-Islamic Iran . However, some essays in Pahlavi , such as "Ayin-e name nebeshtan" (Principles of Writing Book) and "Bab-e edteda’I-ye" ( Kalileh o Demneh ), have been considered as literary criticism (Zarrinkoub, 1959). Some researchers have quoted
5658-541: The site of a flourishing Persianate linguistic and literary culture. The 16th-century Ottoman Aşık Çelebi (died 1572), who hailed from Prizren in modern-day Kosovo , was galvanized by the abundant Persian-speaking and Persian-writing communities of Vardar Yenicesi, and he referred to the city as a "hotbed of Persian". Many Ottoman Persianists who established a career in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul ) pursued early Persian training in Saraybosna, amongst them Ahmed Sudi . Persian literature
5740-409: The son-in-law of the NIFA leader Pir Gailani. In 1995 Anwar-ul-Haq Ahady took over the Wakman branch. Under his leadership, the party toned down its Pashtun nationalist profile and sought support amongst non-Pashtuns. The Wakman branch of the party is recognized by the Afghan government as the "Afghan Millat Party" After the fall of the Taliban government, the party leader Ahady has been included in
5822-439: The stories that were originally folk stories are thought to have been collected orally over many years and later compiled into a single book. The compiler and 9th-century translator into Arabic is reputedly the storyteller Abu Abd-Allah Muhammad el-Gahshigar . The frame story of Shahrzad seems to have been added in the 14th century. The biggest Persian dictionary is Dehkhoda Dictionary (16 volumes) by Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda . It
5904-530: The story of Scheherazade ( Persian : شهرزاد Šahrzād ), a Sassanid queen who must relate a series of stories to her malevolent husband, King Shahryar ( Persian : شهریار Šahryār ), to delay her execution. The stories are told over a period of one thousand and one nights, and every night she ends the story with a suspenseful situation, forcing the King to keep her alive for another day. The individual stories were created over several centuries, by many people from
5986-444: The subject if it is intransitive, but with the object if it is transitive. Verbs are inflected for present, simple past, past progressive, present perfect, and past perfect tenses. There is also an inflection for the subjunctive mood . Nouns and adjectives are inflected for two genders (masculine and feminine), two numbers (singular and plural), and four cases (direct, oblique, ablative, and vocative). The possessor precedes
6068-550: The tribes inhabiting the lands west of the Indus River were part of Ariana . This was around the time when the area inhabited by the Pashtuns was governed by the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom . From the 3rd century CE onward, they are mostly referred to by the name Afghan ( Abgan ). Abdul Hai Habibi believed that the earliest modern Pashto work dates back to Amir Kror Suri of the early Ghurid period in
6150-540: The two official languages of Afghanistan alongside Dari , and it is the second-largest provincial language of Pakistan , spoken mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan . Likewise, it is the primary language of the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is at least 40 million, although some estimates place it as high as 60 million. Pashto
6232-411: The two official languages of Pakistan. Pashto has no official status at the federal level. On a provincial level, Pashto is the regional language of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and north Balochistan . Yet, the primary medium of education in government schools in Pakistan is Urdu. The lack of importance given to Pashto and its neglect has caused growing resentment amongst Pashtuns. It is noted that Pashto
6314-488: The wider Caucasus, Turkey, Pakistan , Bangladesh , India , Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia, as well as the Balkans. Not all Persian literature is written in Persian , as some consider works written by ethnic Persians or Iranians in other languages, such as Greek and Arabic , to be included. At the same time, not all literature written in Persian is written by ethnic Persians or Iranians, as Turkic, Caucasian, Indic and Slavic poets and writers have also used
6396-658: The world. Other communities of Pashto speakers are found in India , Tajikistan , and northeastern Iran (primarily in South Khorasan Province to the east of Qaen , near the Afghan border). In India most ethnic Pashtun (Pathan) peoples speak the geographically native Hindi-Urdu language rather than Pashto, but there are small numbers of Pashto speakers, such as the Sheen Khalai in Rajasthan , and
6478-524: The world. He names 200 Persian lexicographical works in his dictionary, the earliest, Farhang-i Oim ( فرهنگ اویم ) and Farhang-i Menakhtay ( فرهنگ مناختای ), from the late Sassanid era of the 3rd-7th century. The most widely used Persian lexicons in the Middle Ages were those of Abu Hafs Sughdi ( فرهنگ ابوحفص سغدی ) and Asadi Tusi ( فرهنگ لغت فرس ), written in 1092. The production of Persian dictionaries declined in Iran after
6560-535: Was fascinated by some aspects of Nazism . Afghan Mellat looks after the interests of the Pashtun ethnic group and has its support only from them. The party favors the ideas of Pashtunization of Afghanistan and a Greater Afghanistan (i.e. it claims the Pashtun-speaking parts of Pakistan for Afghanistan). This has led the Afghan Mellat to be referred to as 'ethno fascist ' by observers however
6642-431: Was little known in the West before the 18-19th century. It became much better known following the publication of several translations from the works of late medieval Persian poets, and it inspired works by various Western poets and writers. Perhaps the most popular Persian poet of the 19th and early 20th centuries was Omar Khayyam (1048–1123), whose Rubaiyat was freely translated by Edward Fitzgerald in 1859. Khayyam
6724-634: Was officially renamed to Dari . The lyrics of the national anthem of Afghanistan are in Pashto. In British India , prior to the creation of Pakistan by the British government, the 1920s saw the blossoming of Pashto language in the then NWFP : Abdul Ghafar Khan in 1921 established the Anjuman-e- Islah al-Afaghina (Society for the Reformation of Afghans) to promote Pashto as an extension of Pashtun culture; around 80,000 people attended
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