IRANIANS.
The Turanian people, but especially the already mentioned
Turko-Tartaric tribes, have made themselves renowned in antiquity
by their warlike disposition, and the wild untractable rudeness of
their habits; but the Iranians, in strong contrast with these, have
always been known for the delicacy of their habits and a brilliant
state of civilisation. The former have ever appeared among their
neighbours as spoilers, destroyers, and plunderers; the latter, on
the contrary, as civilisers, propagators of the arts, and milder
social relations.
For it is not only the whole Mohamedan region which embraced
Persian civilisation, but even we Europeans have borrowed much
from these wonderful people, which, partly through the channel of
the ancient Greek and Byzantine culture, partly by a later contact
of the Western with the Eastern countries, as, for example, in
the Crusades, has naturally always reached us second hand. Iran
from time immemorial was the seat of civilisation, and in the
entire record of the civilisation of mankind we could in vain seek
for a nation which, notwithstanding grand political revolutions,
notwithstanding the copious foreign influx of the ancient spirit
of its civilisation, could preserve so long and faithfully the
character of its national existence as the Persian. There is a great
difference between the doctrine of Zoroaster and that of the Arabian
Prophet, and yet in the modern Persian almost all the features of
the former character may be discovered, which the Greek historians
trace out in the ancient Persian. In a hasty superficial glance
this will not strike the eye so easily, for, according to outward
appearance, it would be most difficult, amidst the agglomeration of
tribes in the Persia of to-day, to find out the genuine Iranian. Yet
a deeper insight would soon convince us of the truth of what has
been said, and we should see that the Iranian has not only borrowed
nothing in his customs and manner of thinking from the Semitic
and Turanian elements, which for more than a thousand years have
endangered his nationality, but has rather exerted over the latter a
powerful influence. The cradle of the Iranian nation, as asserted by
a modern ethnographer, namely, the learned Russian traveller, M. de
Khanikoff, in his Memoirs, "Sur l'Ethnographie de la Perse," is the
Eastern portion of modern Persia, and especially Southern Sigistan
or Sistan, and Khorassan, which stretches out to the north-east.
It is not only ethnography, but also history, which accords with
this assertion. As Sigistan, the native place of Rustem, and other
celebrated Iranian heroes of the classical age, is used as the
scene of action by the narrators of fiction at this day, whenever
they wish to describe something highly potent and ancient, so the
old _Belkh_ in Khorassan is declared to be the original source of
religion and polite education, and Merv is pointed out as the spot
where Adam received from the angel the first lesson in agriculture.
In a word, whatever refers to the early ages is to be met with in
the East, but never in the west.
The Iranian race, on its dispersion, as has been already remarked
in a foregoing paragraph, took a direction from East to West; the
Turanian scattered from South to North, and in two directions,
one towards the North-East the other towards the North-West. The
emigration occurred in those very ancient ages, of which we can have
hardly the faintest conception; yet even here there are features of
a common type which guide us like glittering stars through a night
of uncertainty, and though the Iranian race has suffered much in
modern times from the Turko-Tartar tribes, so superior to themselves
in number, one can nevertheless detect in the groups lying scattered
around, the separate rings of the former chain; precisely also as
one recognises in the Western remnants, though in continual contact
with Turanian and Semitic elements, the avowed Mede, so in the
Eastern remnants one may recognise the primitive genuine Iranian.
This preceding opinion formed from personal conviction, and every
one who carefully observes the Persian of modern Iran and Central
Asia must perceive the same, receives a further confirmation in the
learned investigations of our arrow-headed writings;[47] and it is
chiefly the Iranian catalogue of people in the arrow-headed writings
at Persepolis which enumerates all the nations of Iran, starting
from the centre of the empire, Persepolis, and continuing in a west
and eastern direction. Of course nothing positive will be perceived
in these with reference to higher or lower antiquity concerning
the physiognomical distinctions of one or another branch of the
families, but that a substantial difference existed already in the
early ages is hardly to be doubted. "The Semitic influences in the
west," says Fr. Spiegel, "began very early during the existence of
the Assyrian and Babylonian kingdom, and lasted through the whole
Achœmenian period. After the overthrow of the Achœmenian
kingdom occurred the amalgamation with Greeks as well as Semitics,
and so forth,"[48] As is rightly observed, for in the Southern
provinces of Farsistan, Laristan, and Luristan, where the contact of
the Iranian and Semitic elements from the earliest ages has remained
undisturbed, we find in the person of the modern Persian the same
physical characteristics that were described to us in these people
by Herodotus, and later Greek authors. The spare form, which is
more natural to the Western than to the Eastern, strongly reminds
one of the principal feature of the Arabian, who is represented by
Unsemitic tribes as _nahif_, haggard, and thin, whilst the Turk is
_kesif_, blunt, and stout, the genuine Persian _zarif_, noble, and
elegant.
[47] Ritter, _West Asia_. Vol. ii. p. 86.
[48] "The Ethnographical Position of the Iranian tribes." _Ausland_,
1866, No. 36, p. 853.
The Semitic elements have commenced in south and east Persia, from
Benderbushir until near to Kirmansah, and have especially left
behind with the inhabitants of the towns perceptible traces, which
strike the eye all the more when we compare the physiognomy and
stature of a Sigistanian with those of an Isfahanian. This is best
perceptible in the Ghebrs (fire worshippers), who sojourn among
the West Iranians, and are very different from them. As one misses
among them the predominating numbers of thin, slender forms, so
also one seldom meets with the narrow chin or the thin, small nose.
The Ghebr, in company with the Khafi, will certainly strike us less
than in the midst of a group of Isfahanians; and since the Ghebrs,
who are only sparingly scattered in the west of Persia, are to be
considered as the remnants of the primitive Iranian people, having
remained most pure from the mixture of foreign elements, one can
assert with certainty that the distinction of physiognomy between
East and West Iranian must always have existed. The Greek historians
of the Alexandrian campaign, who came in contact with the Eastern
as well as the Western nations of the then great Iranian kingdom,
have disregarded in their descriptions the ethnographical side of
the question, which is of the highest importance in our studies. In
the same way we gather but little information from the sculptures
which descend from the Sassanides. The figures on the bas reliefs
of Nakshi Rustem, Nakshi Redgeb, and, near at hand, of Kazerun, may
furnish faithful representations of the former Persian, but of the
nationality of the same there is no accurate account; and however
wide the opinion may extend with regard to stature and features,
these appear rather to belong to the West Iranian than to the East
Iranian, for the striking resemblance to the modern inhabitants of
West Iran must be apparent to the eye of every one. Recent European
travellers only cause us to observe the existing difference.
So we find that Gareia Silva Figeroa,[49] who in 1627 visited
Persia on a diplomatic mission, already calls our attention to
the difference between the East and West Iranian, though without
entering into any details of the physical characteristics. Chardin,
who travelled through this country in 1664-1677, is more explicit,
for he says that the Ghebrs, in whom he perceives the remnant of
the ancient Persian, are of a disagreeable exterior, clumsy figure,
coarse skin, and dark complexion, and form a strong contrast to
the present inhabitants of West Iran, who have a mixture of the
Chirkassian and Georgian blood in their veins. This opinion is also
positively expressed by Peter Angelus (Labrosse), a contemporary of
the former, in his "Gazophylacium linguæ Persarum," published in
1684, under the article, "Georgians."[50]
[49] Khanikoff's "Memoire sur l'Ethnographie de la Perse." Paris,
1866, page 45.
[50] Above cited work, page 47.
Since, therefore, no doubt can remain about the distinction between
the East and West Iranians, we will bring the divergence to a
common point of view, and then represent the separate branches or
members of the two powerful races in such a way as we observed the
same on our journeys, not leaving unnoticed the observations of our
predecessors with reference to this subject.
--------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------
| _a._ WEST IRANIAN. | _b._ EAST IRANIAN.
--------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------
| |
FIGURE. | In _surpassing numbers, though | Of a somewhat thick-set
| not slim, yet of a haggard and | figure; bones of a powerful
| thin form_; of a light, supple | and large construction, but
| movement, and graceful | also clumsy in movement,
| demeanour; but very rarely | although far less awkward than
| very thin or very fat, or | the Turanians.
| strikingly tall or very short. |
| |
HEAD. | Oval. narrow, and middling | Much less oval than _a_,
| high forehead, flattened at | almost to be called round; a
| the temples; _oblong_ skull | wider forehead, also larger
| and narrow chin. | jaw bones, and more _fleshy_
| | cheeks; the chin, however,
| | oblong, and less pointed than
| | the Turanians.
| |
EYES. | Large, black, with long upper | Black, oblong cut, close and
| lid, and arched eyebrows. | thick eyebrows.
| |
NOSE. | Long, thin, often arched. | Less long, sometimes thick
| | at the _root_, but never so
| | stumpy and wide as the
| | Turanians.
| |
MOUTH. | Moderate-sized; perceptibly | Often wide and thick lips.
| thin compressed lips. |
| |
HAIR. | Black, of a thick and powerful | Black, of thick growth; beard
| growth; particularly long, | thicker, but less long than
| thin beard. | the West Iranian.
--------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------
In consequence of this diversity of the physical externals, there
is also a distinction not to be mistaken in the moral _properties_
of these two races. The East Iranian, although far superior to the
Turks in vigour of mind and body, is far inferior to the Persian
of modern Iran; and it appears as if the stamp of the mental
superiority of the latter was imprinted in the symmetrical formation
of their limbs and elegance of their features.
EAST IRANIANS.
We can form the following subdivisions or branches according to
the geographical position of their north-easterly extension? 1.
Sigistani or Khafi. 2. Tchihar Aymak. 3. Tadjik and Sart; each
of which counts many subdivisions or degrees. As in our progress
towards the west we lose, in the Turanian race, the Mongolian
character in physiognomy more and more, and find in the single
branches a continually increasing mixture of races; in the same
way we discover, also, that the East Iranians become less Iranian,
and more Turanian, the farther they remove from the mother land.
The relation that exists between the Burut and the pure-blooded
Anatolian, the same is to be found between the Sigistani and the
Tadjik of Kashgar. The latter may, indeed, be called the old
inhabitant of that region, yet no one will dispute that the Turanian
elements, surrounding him in such numbers, have strongly influenced
him.
1. SIGISTANI OR KHAFI;
Or that Shiite population of East Iran which inhabit the eastern
part of Iran, from the southern borders of modern Khorassan to
beyond Bihrdjan. They are as frequently called Khafi as Sigistani,
as the principal mass occupy Khaf and its neighbourhood, Ruy,
Tebbes, and Bhirdjan; whilst the ancient, classical Sigistan, more
traversed in modern times by Afghans and hordes of Beloochees,
offers to the peaceable Persian but a very insecure retreat.
Judging by historical accounts of Merv, which, in the Vendidad, is
enumerated as the thirteenth locality under the name Mun, as the
third spot marked, one might easily conclude that the inhabitants
of modern Khorassan, especially of the northern part, might be
reckoned with the East Iranians. This was naturally more or less the
case before the Arabian occupation; but at this day the people of
Khorassan are so powerfully intermingled with Turco-Tartar elements,
that the genuine East Iranian type only begins on the other side of
the southern rocky chain, behind Shehri No. Without being furnished
with an especial ethnographical representation, the traveller
will easily perceive that the Khafi (we preserve the appellation
which is usual in the country), although brown in complexion, is
to be distinguished from the Isfahani; for example: in that his
complexion is more olive-brown, whilst that of the latter, tanned
by the sun, appears more of a dark brown. In the second place, the
afore-named difference in stature and features, but especially the
less fiery eye, will strike him. And in the third place, he will
miss, in intercourse, that sprightliness and activity which he meets
everywhere among the lively West Iranians under the same situation
of climate. It can hardly be doubted, that many will be surprised
that this relative difference should exist between such tribes as
those in question,--of common origin, language and religion, for
hundreds of years, nay, for thousands of years, of one and the same
political connection. This circumstance would be with difficulty
explained through an analagous case in other lands. We shall,
however, recognise the cause directly, when we take into nearer view
the following points:--
1st. The whole portion named of East Iran has been spared from all
times the influence of the Semitic as well as Turanian nations,
since the first extended themselves only toward the western side of
the desert; the last, on their march westward, only at intervals
passed from the high road, Merv, Nishabur, and Rei to the southern
slope of the Djagatay Hills. 2nd. East Iran herself, in an earlier
period, remained separated through the great desert, when the Shiite
sect, the chain of solid union, embraced the Persian population of
Iran; and, despite all the wildest sect-hatred, the traffic now is
as great with the Sunnite Afghans and Heratis as with their western
brethren. It is true that, despite all the fatigue of travel in the
desert, despite all fear of the Beloochees, caravans go annually
from Shiraz, Isfahan, over Yezd, Tebbes up to holy Meshed. Yet Khaf
and Bihrdjan, situated south-east, are never touched upon; and
then, as now, it was always the case. In the mutual intercourse of
nations, language assumes foreign elements easiest and preserves
them the longest. The Persian dialect of modern Iran is overloaded
with Arabian-Turkish words. Fars in the south, as well as Mazandran
in the north, is in this only a little distinctive. In East Iran,
nevertheless, the borrowed richness of language is certainly
less; and we find in much that Persian in which Firdusi, with a
premeditated rejection of Arabic, wrote his great epic. In what
concerns the use of old forms and words, the Persian of Bokhara
is of that character, and especially we may name the Tadjiks in
the first place; yet these last have too much lexicographical and
grammatical material borrowed from the Turks; and this circumstance
it is that has produced the conviction in our minds, that _in East
Iran the purest and oldest Persian is spoken_.
As for the language, I should be inclined to cite the Khafi or the
Sigistani as the primitive tongue of all the Iranians, yet, in
regard to their ethnographical position in relation to the whole
Iranian race, I would not venture to attribute that position to
them in which the Buruts stand to the whole Turko-Tartar race.
What branch of the East Iranian families may be the primitive is
one of those questions to which no one could deny a high degree
of importance, yet is the reply much more difficult as to the
Turko-Tartar race. For the appearance of the latter on the stage of
historical events is comparatively fresh, whilst the former stepped
forward in a period of which we can hardly form a conception. We
must, therefore, again repeat that the Sigistani or Khafi are named
as the first among the East Iranians, only in consequence of their
geographical position, and not from induction on the more primitive
character of their branch.
TCHIHAR AYMAK.[51]
These are the four people or races which, from the time of the
conquest of Herat, have been thus named by the Mongols. They consist
of the Timuri, Teimeni, Firuzkuhi, and Djemshidi. The whole are of
Iranian origin and Persian speech, and enough so to distinguish them
from the Hezareh,[52] who, though they speak Persian, yet show
their pure Mongolian type, their Turanian origin without a doubt. On
the spot itself there is but a confused understanding as to its name
Tchihar Aymak, because many appropriate to themselves the same, and
are again opposed by others. Our travellers have most contradictory
statements concerning these races, and especially this erroneous
idea, that the Hezareh are to be reckoned among the Tchihar Aymak,
who appeared at the Southern part of Central Asia, at a time when
the latter were already indicated by the name in question.
[51] Aimak is a Mongolian word, and signifies a people.
[52] Khanikoff seems to be in error when he considers the Hezareh,
as formerly Œzbegs; viz., as the Berlas tribe. "Memoire sur la
Patrie Meridionale de l'Asie Centrale." Paris, 1842, pp. 112, 138.
I must against this cite the following arguments:--1st. Their own
assertion,--that they were the remainder of the army of Djingis,
and, moreover, from the statement of Abul Fazl of a troop of Mangu
Khan. 2ndly. That a portion, now named the Gvbi Hezareh, which
retired into the hills in the neighbourhood of Herat, and has been
spared by the Persian elements, speaks a Mongolian dialect, as is
proved by _Von der Gabelenz_, in a periodical of the German Asiatic
Society,--vol. xx. p. 326.; and Baber affirms that in his time many
Hezareh spoke Mongolian. 3rd. There is nowhere among the Œzbegs
such a decided Mongolian type to be found as among the Hezareh,
which is the more striking, because the first remain near their old
home in more compact masses, while the latter have dwelt under a
foreign climate and foreign elements.
During my abode of six weeks in the town and neighbourhood of Herat,
I devoted considerable attention to this question. My knowledge is
grounded, not so much on hearsay touching the race, as on their
physiognomical characteristics, which are incontestably the best
proof. The _Timuri_, or the Sunnite Persians of East Iran, dwell now
partly on the western boundary of Herat, as Gurian, Kuh'sun, &c.,
and partly also in the villages and towns situated to the east of
Iran, from Turbet Sheikh Djam as far as Khaf. In the first-named
region they constitute exclusively an united population, in the
latter they are only to be found sporadic, for although two hundred
years ago the greater number were Sunnites, yet the sect-hatred
of the Shiites converted them partly by force, partly drove them
into the neighbouring Sunnite city of Herat. In consequence of
the frequent confusion of boundary, for Herat has endured in
ancient and modern times more than forty sieges, one can easily
imagine what an amalgamation has been produced by these continued
movements among the solitary branches which approach so nearly to
East Iran, and it is truly a wonder that the Timuri are still to be
distinguished from the Shiites of East Iran.
The remarkable characteristics are first, that among them more
people are to be found short and thick-set than among the
Sigistanis; also as regards colour, the latter are, on an average,
of an olive brown, and with dark black hair, whilst among the former
a whiter complexion, with chestnut brown hair, is not uncommon. As I
have said, the united number of the Timuri on the East Iran boundary
amounts now in its fullest extent to one thousand families, because
the great majority dwell in Herat.
The _Teimeni_ are hardly in any respect to be distinguished from the
latter dwelling in the Northern and Southern parts of the so-named
Djölghei Herat, from Kerrukh to Sebzewar: only a small part has
extended as far as Ferrah, and is named by the Afghans Parsivan
(Farszeban, speaking Persian). Since the Afghan rule has taken place
in the Western valleys of the Parapamisian mountains, many attempts
have been made to establish in the midst of the Persian population
Afghan colonies, yet until this day all have failed, for the discord
and strife which have wasted this neighbourhood for centuries still
continue; each member of the Tchihar Aymak knowing no greater enemy
than the Afghan. In consequence of this circumstance the Teimeni,
although an agricultural people, are of wild, warlike nature, and
there is no longer any trace of that spirit of wisdom, which in
the time of the descendants of Taimur, viz., Sultan Husein Mirza,
animated them.
The Sunnite Persians of former times contended in poetry, learning,
and music, with the Shiite confederates in the west; at the present
time they are raw barbarians in comparison with the latter.
_Firuzkuhi_ is the name of the little people that dwell on the steep
hill, north-east of Kale No, and from their inaccessible situation
afflict the whole neighbourhood with robbery and plunder. To the
traveller are narrated the most gloomy stories of Kale No on the
summit of the mountain, and the fortified places of Derzi Kutch
and Tchekseran are considered the same as the robber nests of the
Bakhtiari and Luri in the environs of Isfahan. As all dwellers in
mountains remain distinct from their nearest kindred in the valleys,
so is this the case also between the Firuzkuhi and the remaining
Aymaks, and one could almost name them the Gileki and Mazemderanis
of East Persia. On the first glance they appear to have much
resemblance with the Hezareh. It is even asserted that they came
forth from them, yet neither has their formation of the forehead and
of the chin, nor the complexion and figure of the body,--a decided
Turanian character; and although it might present a strong mixture,
yet does the Iranian element prevail, for, besides that they all
speak Persian, the names of their dwelling-places and khans are pure
Persian words.
They inhabited those hills from immemorial time, and though Taimur
settled them by force in Mazenderan, they soon returned back to
their old hilly home, and have lived since that time in constant
warfare with their neighbours, partly supporting themselves from
their scanty breed of cattle and tillage; partly also from robbery
and plunder, which they perpetrate on the caravans upon the road to
Maymene, or upon the scattered tents of the Djemshidi. Their total
number hardly amounts to eight thousand families.
The _Djemshidi_, the only tribe of the East Iranians living
exclusively in a nomadic state, inhabited from time immemorial the
shores of Murgab, whither they, according to their own statement,
settled out of Sigistan in the time of Djemshid, from whom they
derive their descent. This national myth cannot be considered
quite true, yet is it incontestable, that among all Iranians who
now inhabit Central Asia the Djemshidi have the most striking
resemblance with the Sigistani, which is so much the more to be
wondered at, because these for so long a time have led a settled
life, whilst those have led a nomadic; and the vast influence which
the difference of the two ways of life has on the development of
the body needs hardly be mentioned. Khanikoff thinks they approach
rather the Tadjiks; but I cannot coincide in this view, because, in
the first place, the Djemshidi is thinner; secondly, has a longer
face and a far more pointed chin than the Tadjik; and in the third
place, their language, as well in form as in copiousness, agrees
much more with the Persian dialect of East Iran than with that of
Central Asia. As to what concerns their method of life, they are
the only Iranians who, in every respect, have taken much from the
Turanians; that is to say, from the Salor and Sarik Turkomans living
in their neighbourhood; whilst the other half-nomadic Aymak used
a long Afghan tent, which here is named the Tent of Abraham, one
sees among the Djemshidi that round, conical tent of the Tartars
surrounded with felt and a reed matting; their clothing also and
food is Turkomanish; indeed, even in their occupation, they copy
these last. For when a flourishing position, that is, abundance of
horses and arms befalls them, they are just such fearful robbers
of mankind as the children of the desert. They enjoy also the
reputation of the best riders and warriors amongst all Aymak, and
abide, partly in service at Herat or Maymene, partly in league with
one or other of the Turkoman tribes, when the immediate question
among them is a large tchapao (razzia). In consequence of this
aforesaid connection they were transported to the banks of the Oxus
by force by Allah Kuli Khan, from Khiva, after he had conquered them
with the allied Sariks. They remained more than twelve years there;
a fruitful place, which was assigned to them as their new home, and
rendered them well to do. Yet the longing for the poorer, but old
home-like hills, was soon felt by them, and availing themselves of
the confusion which a war of the Khivians with the Turkomans called
forth, they packed up everything quickly and fled, without fearing
the danger of pursuit, across Hezaresp, Tchardjuy, Maymene, back
towards the town of Murgab. In their march one thousand Persian
slaves joined them, who, in consequence of their escape, obtained
their freedom; but, having reached Moorgab, were again taken in
a treacherous manner and sold in Bokhara. Although the Djemshidi
among all the Iranian races of the East, as well as of the West,
have most truly retained the warlike spirit of old Persia, yet
they are in proportion less rough in their customs and intercourse
with strangers than the neighbouring Turkomans, with whom they
have had relations for a long time; and, notwithstanding his wild
exterior, the Djemshidi, even in the lowest class, is polite in
word and manner:--the light and shade of the Iranian character are
not recognisable in him, and we must not be surprised if in the
customs of this nomadic people we meet with the most lively marks
of the pre-Islamite time. Islam with them has taken still less root
than among the other Turanian nomads, and the greater part of them
use it as a veil, under which lurk concealed many features of the
religion of Zoroaster; thus, for instance, fire among them is in
higher estimation than among the Tadjiks; the door of the tent is
always facing the East, and the idea of the good and evil spirit is
so universal that the lowest class of the people, especially the
women, when a sheep or goat is slaughtered, never neglect to throw
certain parts of the animal which are considered by other nomads as
delicacies, to the bad spirit as _kende_, "unclean;" and they are
only eaten by the dogs. It is worthy of remark, that among the ruins
of Martchah the same stories are in circulation, as among the Yomuts
of the old remnants of the ruins at Meshdi Misrian. Martchah was in
olden times the Kaaba of the whole region until the wicked Turkomans
appeared there, and destroyed the whole.
This is all that I can say in respect to the Tchihar Aymaks. I can,
notwithstanding all inquiries, learn nothing of their name before
their last appellation. According to all probability they were
reckoned among the Tadjiks, yet now they are distinct from these
latter, and form the second gradation of the Iranian race in its
extension to the North-East.
TADJIKS.
As the remnants of the Persian population of Central Asia are
called, whom we meet in their largest numbers in the Khanat of
Bokhara and in Bedakhshan. But there are, besides, many settled in
the cities of Khokand, Khiva, Chinese Tartary, and Afghanistan;
although here and there little deviation in their physiognomical
outward developments are observable, in consequence of the
different climacteric and social relations under which the Tadjiks
live. And thus, for example, the Tadjiks of Bokhara and the
Afghanistan towns have much more resemblance one with another than
the former with the Bedakhshanis, or the confederate races of
Chinese Tartary; notwithstanding, the leading features of one common
type are generally observable among them. They are usually of a
good middle height, broad, powerful frame of bones, and especially
wide shoulder bones. Their countenance, the Iranian type of which
immediately strikes the eye at first sight, is more oblong than that
of the Turks; but by the wide forehead, thick cheeks, thick nose,
and large mouth, we soon perceive that this most eastern branch of
the Iranian family has much that is heterogeneous, that is to say,
Turanian, in its stamp of countenance as well as in the formation of
body, and is in nowise to be regarded as the primitive type of the
Iranian race, as M. de Khanikoff imagines.
According to the statements of the Vendidad and Greek historians, it
is no longer matter of doubt that the native country of the modern
Tadjik was in those celebrated regions of ancient times, Bactria
and Sogdiana,--the most ancient seat of Iranian civilisation, the
cradle of the religion of Zoroaster, and the source of the heroic
legends of Persia. We must own, that even in the most ancient times
they were inhabitants of this region, for the ancient Khorassan,
which stretched far into Chinese Tartary, was, as is proved by
topographical nomenclature, founded and occupied by Iranian
colonies. And who is there that does not perceive the continuous
stream of Scythian-Turkish elements which has overflowed Central
Asia, from the valleys of the Altaic Mountains, that _officina
gentium_, from 700 B.C. to 400 A.D.?
No country which was situated along the chief route of these
migrations could remain unaffected by the intermingling of foreign
blood; and as the northern half of Persia, the modern district of
Maymene, Andchoi, and the western declivities of the Parapamisian
Mountains could preserve, but in a slight degree, the primitive
unity of race; so also was it equally impossible to the Iranians of
Transoxiana. The inhabitants only of the mountains of Bedakhshan,
namely, the Vakhani (in which name the learned writer of the
article, "Central Asia," in the _Quarterly Review_, July--September,
1866, believes that he has detected the origin of the Greek, [Greek:
oxos]ὀξος[53]), can have a greater claim, from their less accessible
homes, to unity of race; for all the Feizabadis[54] whom I have seen
have more indelible marks of the Iranian type than the Tadjiks: even
their very language is freer of Turanian words. And since one can
imagine that a people, though in strictest retirement, can preserve
for centuries its primitive type, the Vakhani alone, and not the
Tadjiks in general, must be considered the truest remnants of the
ancient East Iranian.
[53] From Vah (the river Vah), as the Oxus is called in Bendehesh,
may also be derived the modern name, Vachan, Vacks-as-ird, and
Vas-ab.
[54] During my sojourn in Kerki I lived with ten Feizabadis
(Feizabad is the capital of Bedakhshan) many days in one and the
same house. It was a deputation returning from Bokhara, where they
wished to raise the Emir to the place of their lately-banished
prince.
As regards the appellation Tadjik, I have always found that those
concerning whom we are speaking never use it themselves willingly;
for, if this does not sound exactly in their ears as a term of
reproach, people are yet accustomed to understand by it that
expression of contempt with which the Œzbeg conquerors regard
the subdued aborigines. By the word Tadjik, the Tartar population
of Turkestan understand a man without warlike disposition, of a
covetous, avaricious nature;[55] with crafty and vaunting ideas; in
a word, everything that stands in opposition to Œzbeg frankness,
simplicity, and uprightness. These relations are, moreover, to be
found everywhere between Turanian conquerors and the subjugated
Iranians; for as the latter, in Persia, are far inferior to the
Turks in mental endowments, so is this also the case in Central
Asia. And Bokhara has only become the head quarters of Central
Asiatic civilisation, because here, from the earliest ages, existed
the overwhelming numbers of the Tadjik population; who, continuing
their previous exertions in mental culture from the pre-Islamite
times, notwithstanding the oppression of foreign power, have
civilised their conquerors. As in the earliest ages, after the
reception of the Islam faith, all the celebrities in the field of
religious knowledge and _belles lettres_ were mostly Tadjiks; so,
to-day, one still meets in Bokhara, Khokand, and Kashgar, the most
conspicuous Mollahs and most celebrated Ishans. At the court of
Bokhara, notwithstanding the Œzbeg origin of the prince, the
chief ministers are always Tadjiks; nay, even in the rude Œzbeg
government of Khiva, the Mehter (Secretary of State), as an officer
whose qualifications must be of the highest order, is chosen
invariably from the Persian population of the place. It is truly
wonderful how the Tadjiks, notwithstanding more than a century of
co-existence with the Œzbegs, are to be distinguished from the
latter, not only in their individual nature but in their habits. A
proverb says, "Look at the Œzbeg on horseback,--the Tadjik in his
house;" for, the same care that the one bestows on his steed, arms,
saddle and horse, the other spends on his house and attire. However
poor the Tadjik, he will yet pass for a man of more substance than
he is, and will always appear rich and great in public, although
sparing and abstemious in his family circle. Nor is his conversation
less choice: the courteous expressions, the compliments of which
he makes use, sound somewhat Tartarian, to ears accustomed to
Persian refinement; yet, in contrast with the Œzbeg, he is to be
considered an accomplished gentleman. Attuned by nature to peaceful
occupations, the Tadjiks are devoted everywhere considerably to
tillage, commerce, and industrial pursuits, as they hate war; and
if they are compelled to handle weapons, they are rarely valiant,
but frequently cruel. They are also defective in that national
feeling that strikes one so forcibly among the Œzbegs. This has
best shown itself in recent occurrences in Tashkend. In a letter
from General Kryjanovsky from the town above-named, (Ausland,
December 4th, 1866, H. 1159), we see that, among the diversified
population of that place, the Sarts were the first who drew near, in
a friendly fashion, to their conquerors, and certainly rendered very
readily considerable help in hard labours of pacification; and that
probably to the dislike of all the Œzbegs, who certainly took no
part in the pretended petition to the Russian Government.
[55] Slaves prefer rather ten years in the house of an Œzbeg
than five years in the house of a Tadjik, because the last, who is
considered a man without conscience, makes use of them in every
possible way.
The Tadjiks hold well together, but this is more from the mutual
support of one with another in an oppressed race than a special
effort for Tadjik public interest; and if they wish to distinguish
themselves, which is only the case in Bokhara, then they are in the
habit of showing with pride their Arabian descent. The emptiness of
this last vaunt Khanikoff has shown sufficiently. He derives the
word Tadjik from Tadj (crown), a head-dress, which the old fire
worshippers had, and the Ghebrs wear even now;--the name Tadjik
arose from it, by which the adherents of the teaching of Zoroaster
were called at that time--before Mohamedanism, or else it was a term
of their own adoption; for the word Tadji in Huzvari, and Tazi in
Persian, which signifies Arab, has with the first no connection.
It is remarkable that the word Tadjik is even found in Western
Asia. There are Armenians who call Turks as well as Arabs, _i.e._,
Mohamedans, _Tadjik_, but only among themselves privately. And it
seems to me to be constantly a nickname affixed by the oppression of
their tyrannic rulers. Since I have found this universal among the
Armenians of Asia Minor, it appears to me that they did not wish to
express by it only Mohamedans, but also the adherents of a strange
religion, and that this, according to all appearance, old word,
has been transmitted later to the Arabians by the old inhabitants
of Persia, with whom the Armenians, under the Sassanides, were in
contact. That the name Tadjik has been missing among both Arabic and
Persian authors of the first century, after the entrance of Islam,
but existed early in Central Asia, the Uïgur MS. (Kudatku Bilig the
lucky knowledge) best shows. This bears the date of 462 Heg., and
we find there the word Tadjik often quoted in opposition to Turk.
The above-named work, which Jaubert has mentioned in the _Asiatic
Journal_, 1825, is an Uïgur version, or rather _rifacimento_ of
the Chinese original. The Turks themselves have always called the
Transoxanian aborigines Sart, a word of which I know not the origin.
M. de Khanikoff mistakes when he supposes that this is only the case
in Khiva, for he must know that in the Russian Army the Persian
population of conquered Tashkend at a later period was enrolled
under the name of Sart, and they were so called in all Khokand. Also
the above-named General Krijanovsky speaks of Tadjik and Sart as of
two different races. As to this word Sart, the derivation of which
is wholly unknown to me, it is a term of which the famous Mir Ali
Shir, in the time of Sultan Husein Mirza Baïkera, makes use in a
treaty on the Persian and Turkish language. The latter, he always
calls the Sart tili (Sart language), and not the Tadjik tili. Sart
is hence legally used for the Turkish appellation of Tadjik. Here
and there Œzbegs busy themselves in making a distinction between
Sart and Tadjik; but I cannot agree with this view, although I will
not conceal the fact, that the Sarts seen in mass differ greatly in
some physiognomical peculiarities from the Tadjiks. They are, for
instance, more slender-built, have a longer face, and, moreover, a
higher forehead than the Tadjiks; but it must also be mentioned as a
qualification of the above, that they formed frequent alliances with
the free Persian slaves of Central Asia, which the Tadjiks never or
very seldom did.