You may have heard the myth that Pashto is the language of the Jinns or the Deozaat. Did you know that there is backstory to why Pashto is known as the Language of the Jinns?
At Turko-Persian courts across South and Central Asia, courts were home to Viziers from different ethnicities of the empire. Militarily speaking, the most important among them were the Pashtuns, for their support meant strength and their rebellion meant chaos.
Jealous of this, Persian viziers who boasted of their cultural and intellectual superiority over the “lesser-cultured” Pashtuns nobles, taunted and made of fun of them, calling them the progeny of Deos.
Legend has it that a Deo (Div in Farsi) abducted a Peri from Koh-e-Kaaf, and flew her to the mountains just north of Khorasan. Their children then spoke Pashto, the language of the Deozaat, and that of Dozakh.
This is very similar to Lord of the Rings; language of Mordor, who knows, maybe Tolkien was inspired by this very story, as the dark Lord captured, punished and mutilated Elves, turning them into Orcs who spoke the Language of Hell.
Pashtun historians reacted differently to this racism, putting forward many myths and theories of origins. However, a poet, Hamza Baba, put it beautifully in a couplet:
Wai Aghyar chi da Dozakh Jaba da Za ba Jannat ta da Pukhto sara zam
It translates to:
The enemies call it the language of Dozakh, I shall enter Jannat (Paradise) speaking/with my Pashto
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