Twilight of the Sultanate c19.s3.30

c19.s3.30

In view of the facts given above it may be submitted that the Afghans have not descended from a single race. "A postulate that a group of peoples, so diversified as the Afghans and Pathans ... represent a pure and unsullied stream issuing from a single Hebrew source ... must carry its own refutation."²² They sprang from the mixture of many races including Jewish as their tradition avers, but more particularly from the Iranian, Ephthalite or Turkish, and Indian stocks. Just as in the case of Indian Christians and Muslims the origin of their name may be Jewish or Arabic, but the people are of the Indian nationality, even so in the case of Afghan and Lodī the name may be of Jewish origin but the people themselves sprang from the Iranian, Turkish and Hindu stocks the impress of whose language and culture is clearly visible in them.²³ Of all Afghan tribes the Ghaljīs and Lodīs were probably the most numerous, and possibly the most valiant.²⁴