RescueRanger, thanks for the informative posts. As far as I know, ancient Gandhar region is located in north Pakistan and Afghanistan. People in Gandhar followed Vedas, not Avesta. The famous university of Takhhashila also was located there and earned it's fame by teaching vedic knowledge. Are present day Pakhtuns are descendent of those people, or they arrived from middle east as suggested by some studies?
No incorrect, again i will come back to my first post. Afghanistan and the border belt of Pakistan is a mish mash of religions, cultures, and nations. To claim that all inhabitants of the region followed one religion is complete fallacy, even during the saracen rule, many Pathans such as the Isa-khaels followed paganism.
There is no document that corroborates the statement that there was a Major religion in this area, partly due to the cultural and tribal nature of the people, they were and still are very introvert and jealously guard what they perceive to be "their" cultures and customs.
Gandhar region is located in north Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Yes it is as described in my first post.
People in Gandhar followed Vedas, not Avesta.
You see you are now getting confused The Gandahara Civilisation flourished during the Mauryans reign in 305BC prior to that there is sufficient archaeological and cultural evidence to support the founding of Zoristrian belief in Afghanistan region during the reign of Zarathushtra in the city of Balkh and since most history of Pathans can be traced back to 550BC and Zrarthushtra propagated Zoroastrianism in 500BC.
The famous university of Takhhashila also was located there and earned it's fame by teaching vedic knowledge.
As stated earlier Taxila is in the Punjab/Hazara belt where Ashoka wrote his famous edict on the stones of Ashoka, there are two entirely different places from the tribal belts.
Are present day Pakhtuns are descendent of those people, or they arrived from middle east as suggested by some studies?
Again you are kind of jumping the gun, there is so much going on in that region that you cannot just pin it down to one culture. It would be very unwise to make such claims.
As stated earlier there is significant evidence of Zorastrian, Greco Pagan, Buddhist and Islamic influence in the region, there is no evidence to support which was the major religion at any given time in that region.
I suggest some independent reading:
The Pathans: 550 BC - AD 1957 - Sir Olaf Caroe.
))) well even that word is better than be associated with hinduism.
