of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
By Tatyana Oranskaya, St. Petersburg
This paper deals with the small ethnic groups inhabiting some areas of Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan. Not long ago these Central Asian states were republics of the Soviet
Union. The Hissar Valley occupies a large part of the territories of each of these
countries. In the south of the Hissar Valley, where it opens mto the Oxus valley,
there are no natural barriers. This geographical position favoured contacts between
the people living on the right and the left banks of the river. Few groups came to
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan from the territory of modem Afghanistan or through it.
Among them are Luii (also known as Jugi), Parya, and Kawol. The two latter groups
were foimd by I. Oranskiy in the 1950s and described by him in ethnologic and lin¬
guistic aspects.' In the social hierarchy they occupy a lower position than the local
population, though they are also Simnite Muslims. Their self-appellations are
different from the ethnonyms used by the surrounding population. All three groups
have secret languages, but these languages differ in the degree, "shades", and the
origin of their secretness. The Indo-Aryan stock of their vocabularies is presented
here with etymological notes.
The Parya group in every respect, also linguistically and anthropologically, stands
apart from the other two groups mentioned here as well as from other argotic groups.
They are agriculturalists, and they have never been nomads. To the native Tajik and
Uzbek speaking population they are known as the Afghanees; Parya is the self-
appellation. It must be related to a Changar subcaste Bharia, as a characteristic
feature ofthe Parya phonology, common also for some dialects of Panjabi and other
dialects in the North-West India, is devoicing of voiced aspirates. They have not got
an argot in the proper sense ofthe term. Their language (parydsazi) is a real language
with its own grammar and vocabulary. The major part of its basic vocabulary is
Indo-Aryan. This language became secret in the 1930s for historical and political
reasons. From Afghanistan the Parya had moved to the territory of Tajikistan and,
later, Uzbekistan at the end of the last century. The border between Tajikistan and
Afghanistan was open till the mid- 1930s. So there were constant contacts between
' I. Oranskiy: Fol'klor i yazyk Gissarskix Parya (Srednyaya Aziya). Moskva 1977; id.: Tadjiko- yazychnyye gruppy Gissarskoy doliny (Srednyaya Aziya). Moskva 1983.
the Parya who had settled in Soviet Central Asia and their relatives in Afghanistan
and, most probably, also in India (present Pakistan). But when the border was closed
the position of the Parya in Soviet Central Asia became dangerous. They had pass¬
ports where their nationality was written as Afghanese, which was a good reason to
get persecuted by the Soviet authorities. Some of them got arrested under the pretext
of being "Afghanese spies" and were sent to the camps in Siberia. There is hardly
any need to explain what happened to most of them in the Siberian climate. It is also
to be remembered that they knew no Russian. I met two persons who had come back.
They were invalids. Nobody knows how many ofthe Parya have perished. The small
group reacted to the danger in the most natiual "ethnic" way: their language became
secret. Even in the 1970s they would say to a stranger that they were Tajiks, as their
second language was a Tajik dialect spoken in some parts of Afghanistan. They in¬
habit a comparatively compact territory whereas other argotic groups, especially Luii
(Jugi), are found in the whole of the territory of Central Asia.
The Luii and the Kawol are different from the Parya. The surrounding Tajik and
Uzbek population treats them with antipathy and disdain. These groups, as also other
groups which in the past led nomadic way of life, used to be mentioned in anthropo¬
logical works under the appellation "Central Asian Gypsies", which is widely used in spite of its inaccuracy. The Luii were still nomads in the first half of this century.
Their self-appellations are mugat and yurbat "people in exile". Men were jewellers,
chandlers, and tooth-dye and chewing resin {saqyc) sellers. They also refitted
wooden and metal dishes. Women's out-of-door occupations were fortune-telling
and begging. Members of this group gave performances in the fairs. Theft, especially
horse-theft, as well as horse-breeding, were also not imknown to them. The origin of
the Luii and their roots are more obscure than those of the Parya, but they are also
connected with the territory of South Asia. Two legends about the origin of the Luii
are knovra. The first one provides an explanation of one of their appellations:
Multoni. It runs as follows: The ancestors of the Luh people lived in Multan.
Tamerlan attacked the city. Tragedy ensued. Everyone in the city fought against the
invaders. Tamerlan had never before met with so stubborn resistance. When Multan
was seized he decided to do away with those who survived. A sheikh accompanying
him in his campaign suggested that Tamerlan should spare their lives but drive them
away from their home. They should wander forever. Tamerlan followed this advice.
He gave order that the people of Multan should be dispersed all over his great
Empire and no man alive should help them.^
The second legend is of a much less heroic character. It explains the origin of the
Luii from incestuous marriage. There lived a poor man with his wife and two
children: Lu the son and Li the daughter. Once a powerflil king (in another version,
Tamerlan) invaded their country. The people ofthe country had to leave their home-
^ This legend was written down by the present author in Samarkand in 1978. Here only a short version of it is given.
land. Lu and Li were abandoned by their parents. The brother and sister decided to
set off to look for them. Lu took one way and Li another one. They were wandering
for several years all over the world but could not fmd any traces of their parents.
They grew up. By chance they met and got married, as they could not recognize each
other. MuUas cursed them and their posterity. This ciuse has been passed from one
generation to another, from coimtry to country, and from race to race. That is why
the scions of this couple, called with the combined names of Lu and Li, suffer cruel
persecutions and are looked upon with antipathy and disdain. They do not have the
right to own earth and live by farming. This is the end of the legend.^
Neither do they have a whole language system of their own. They speak Tajik dia¬
lects which are also the basis of their argot. The clandestinity of their language is at¬
tained by adding to the words special morphemes obscuring the meaning and by
using special secret words. These are mainly of Indo-Aryan and of Semitic origin.
There are also Pashto words and a considerable number of words of unknown origin.
Next follows the linguistic part of the paper.''
The Parya words
ankturu "tears". In NIA, Dar., and Nur. sr can be reflected in three ways:
1) 01. misra "mixed" > H. missa; 01. amisra > S. aiso; 2) 01. vasra > Ka. mis, mes;
3) 01. vasra > S. vahura. The first of these phonological developments is the most
common and it is present in most NIA words ascending to asru: l)sr> s/ss often in¬
volves nasalization and lengthening of a vowel: H., G. asu, M. asu; 2) quite rarely sr
> s{r): K. oi" , Kho. asru; 3) sr > h(r) is found only in WPah.: ekhu, erikhru which is the result of contamination of ak^i "eye" and asm. Besides Par., -t(h)- is found in
the middle position also in L. athrU, P. atthrü, WPah. athru. This is a rare case of
bortowing from Nur. The word probably came into NIA through Dar. In Nur., to
01. s corresponds c. This dorsal affricate may be realized through its constituents ts.
The fiicative may drop: c > t(s): Pra. siit < svasru "mother in law"; metathesis is possible: Ka. cestyur < *cacur < 01. svasura. The Nur. words for "tear" (Ka. acü.
Ash. istrü (< *astru < *atsru < *acru)) which percolated into Dar. (Kal. astru) can
be explained in the same way. The IA word meaning "tear" penetrated into Par.
through the L. dialects. The Par. three phonetic variants: ankturu, anturun (PL),
akturu are the resuh of the contamination oia(n)k "eye" and *at(u)ru "tear".
' This legend, also presented here in short, was written down in 1986, in another mahalla in Samarkand, by Raisa Polyakova, then a sUident of the Department of Indian Philology, Leningrad (Saint-Petersburg) University.
" Here, the presentation ofthe ^ilA (with the exception ofH., Par., Jugi, and Kawol), Dar., Nur., and 01. linguistic data, when not specified, follows R. L. Turner: A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages. London 1966.
ba kar- (lit.: "do ba") "low". The nominal part of the verb is obviously an onomato¬
poetic word. It is similar to the words with the same meaning in the Tajik dialects.:
ba-ba kardan (lit.: "do ba-ba"), baas zadan (lit.: "beat baas"), ba guftan (lit.: "say
ba").^ The nazalized -a in the Par. word is indicative of its belonging to the Dar.
vocabulary: Kal. bäs-, Dam. has- which ascend to 01. Vväi. In most of them the
initial 01. v- > b-, which is typical also of Par. 01. s can be reflected in NIA s, s or h.
The first two developments were demonstrated above in the Dar. verbs. The third
one (s > h) is reflected in the nouns and verbs meaning "be on heat (of animals)":
L. vahran, S. vahura, P. väharnä, etc. The dropping of A is characteristic of Par., as
well as of some other NIA. It brings about nasalization of a previous vowel:
H. pahar ~ Par. par "mountain"; H. dahi ~ Par. däi "yoghourt". So ba ascends to
01. Vväi, which reflects the development s > h. H. W. Bailey connected the Iranian
verbal bases and nouns meaning "to soimd, roar, cry (of animals), low" with
01. Vväi: Khotanese nvasa, bäsä, Awest. väi-, Sogdian w's, Ossetic üäsun, etc'
With these words should be compared also Yazghulyam. bast : bas "to bark".
g
Through it and Khot. nvass the Iranian base *vas- is linked with the stem vai- "to
speak (of the creatures of Ahura)".'
bäbar kar- "comb one's hair". It is related to H. bäbn "long locks on head", P. bäbriya "faqir's long dishevelled hair", M. bäbar "loose hair", etc. < 01. barbara-
"curly(ofhair)".
bavätä "terrible, dreadful": bavätä dev "a terrible demon". Cp. H. bäotä, Kum.
bawalo, Orya baula, etc. < 01. vatula- "attended by wind-disease, crazy", vätüla-
"mad". The Par. word, though derived from the same etymon, differs in its meaning
from all other members ofthe group.
jugal-: jugali kar- "chew the cud". Most IA verbs with this meaning have initial «-:
N. ugraunu, B. ugränä, H. ugälriä. They ascend to different stems of Vgr with the
prefix ut-. Along with Par., other languages also have this verb with the initial j-:
H. jugälnä, P. jugäli karnä, Kum. jugrano, jugälno. The earlier explanation of the
initial j- through reduplication of the stem (ju-gal- < *ju(r)-gar-/*ju(r)-gal-) is
wrong.'" The corresponding Luii argotic word hugal / yugal I hucal "cow", "bull"
eliminates the possibility of any other explanation but through prothesis: *ut-gal-/
' Tadßkslco-russläy slovar'. M. V. RaHIMI i L. V. Uspenskaya (red.). Moskva 1954; Russko- ladjikslciy slovar '. A. P. Dexoti i N. N. Ershov (red.). Moskva - Stalinabad 1949.
' Indo-Scythian Studies, being Ktiotanese texts. Vol. VI: Prolexis to the book of Zambasta. Ed. by H. W. Bailev. Cambridge 1967, S.148.
' D. I. EdELMAN: Yazgulyamsko- russkiy slovar'. Moskva 1971.
* M. Mayrhofer: Kurzgefaßtes etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen, Lief. 20. Heidelberg 1968.
' Ch. Bartholomae: Altiranisches Wörterbuch. Berlin ^1961, Sp.l392.
T. Oranskaya: Indoariyskaya glagol'naya osnova jugälljugal. In: Vostokovedeniye 5 (1977).
Uchenyye Zapiski Leningradskogo Universiteta N 396 (Leningrad), S.73-74.
*ut-gar- > *uggal-/ uggar- > 1) ugäl-/ugär- 2)*yu-gäl-/ *yu-gar-(-gra-). The change y- > j- is widely known: H., P. ju "louse" < OI. ytl^; cf. also Par. jun
"wool" < *yiirna < 01. trnä. In front of the back vowels may appear prothetic h- (as in the Luii hugal): H. hulasria "be pleased" < 01. ullasati.
karafu (kara-ru) "threshing floor". The base kara- < 01. khäla-. The second part -ru
< 01. vata- "enclosure". Cf also P., L. khal-värä "threshing floor", "bam" which provides grounds for the reeonstmction of 01. *khala-v3(a-.
lavan "kind of cereals". These are small grains of dark colour. Unfortunately, I could
not define what kind of cereals it was. The word is phonetically very strong, ascend¬
ing to 01. lavani "coarse kind of custard-apple, Anona reticulata".
lis- "slip": säbün hät mata Uske giyo "the soap slipped out of my hand"; liske is the absolutive. The H. verb lisria is originally a variant of lasnä "shine", "stick". The dif¬
ference between them is that lisria expresses only the idea of "viscosity". The Par.
word has a set of meanings: "be sticky", "be moisf, "be smeared or plastered (with)". The NIA verbs ascend to 01. *lasyati "is sticky".
mat- "live", "settle": har yek anmiyek-yek kuca-ma matyo "every man settled in one of the streets". The 01. -^mafh is found in a lot of nouns, but in a verbal stem it is at¬
tested only in Dhätupäfha: a denominative mafhaya- "build". It was regarded to be
an "invention" for the 01. matha "hut", "cottage". In NIA, nominal derivatives of 01. ma(h- are quite common: S. marhu "place of residence", P. marh "tomb",
H. madia "open hut", etc. The Par. word is peculiar, as it is the only known
evidence that the 01. verbal root math did really exist.
naxät- ; attested only once, in naxat ä- "hide", which is a compound verb. The
closest correspondences are H. n(a)hä( "flight" < 01. riäf(r> "destmction"; nahäfnä
"vanish", "disappear" < Ol.^nas "destroy", "disappear". The altemation x / h is well
known (it is especially common to the Luii slang) or it might be my hearing mistake.
It seems that only the Par. and H. words demonstrate the splitting, accompanied by
the metathesis, of the aspirate -(h- (<-?(-) into two phonemes. Other derivatives of
the 01. V«ai developed in a different way: 01. na?(a > P. na((hnä "flee", G. nafhil
"fled", etc.
neg "the upper part of women's shalwar". This part reaches approximately to the
middle of the thigh. It is not seen, being hidden under the frock (kurta). It is sewn of
the cheapest cloth, whatever fine silk be the legs of the shalwar sewn of Men are
not supposed to see neg even when shalwar is not worn. Both married women and
young girls take every kind of precaution to hide neg, when they hang their shalwars
on the line after washing them. Cf H. nihang "naked", "shameless": nihang >
*niang > *nyang > neg. The Par. and the H. words might be related to 01. nagna
"naked", but explaining -h- presents a difficulty.
tungri "buttock" (tung-ri). Cf. H. dhögä, dhugä; M. dhögä "buttock", ,Jiip". The
Par. word widenes the basis of the reconstructed 01. stem *dhög3 "projecting part of
body". The suffix -ri is attested, for example, in H. khicri "dish of peas and rice" <
01. khicca-; G. pTpun "pipe for playing" < 0\.*pippa-.
The Luii (Jugi) words
cok- "wander", stroll": kop cokim "[I] was wandering for a long time". Cf H. jhoktiä; as an intransitive verb it means "sway", "reel". There are also other Luii words demonstrating the change of initial voiced aspirates to unaspirated occlusives.
cung- "see": na cunga "that [he] would not see". In the Luii slang of Samarkand the same word has also a variant with the initial s-: sung-: sungid "[he] saw". The
altemation c / s / s known since 01. is also characteristic of NIA. Cf the 01. roots
cak / sak / sagh "be satisfied", "be strong", "be able". NIA show the tendency to spirantization of the palatal affricates: c, ch > s; J, Jh > z. The variant cung is to be
taken as the basic one. The corresponding voiced aspirated initials are found in
H.Jhakna, Kam.jhakno, N.Jhaknu, etc. "peep", "spy", "look" < 01. *Jhahkh-. It is a
usual thing for words with a depreciative shade of meaning to neutralize their
evaluative semantics, once they enter a slang vocabulary. The opposition ä / a
(unknown to the languages of Central Asia) is, in few cases, neutralized. The most
characteristic case is that of a > ä in a closed syllable: H. ph&na I phäsnd "be ensnared", khasna I khäsnä "cough". Before a consonant, -an-, -ä- tend to change to -U-, -it-: 01. kahkafa- "comb" > Waigali kuni-pru "man's comb"; 01. kanyasa-
"younger" > K. lais "yoimgest brother": cung- / sung- < 01. "Jhahkh-. It is to be noted that this change is peculiar for Dar. This is one of the traces of their influence on the languages ofthe ethnic groups in question.
luki: according to Oranskiy, "important person, chairman of a kolkhoz, chief and
is related to luk "big"." I have noted down this word in the meaning "person",
"man", in which case it is possible to relate it to the Indo-Aryan stock and to derive it from the 01. loka- "the worid", cf H. log "people".
luh "wash". As is known, the Jugi came to the Hissar valley via Afghanistan. The
Old Iranian initial d- is reflected in the Pashto /-. This change is shared by some of
the Dardic languages (Pra: luzuk < *duju- ... < jihva- "tongue") and by some
European Gypsy dialects (les < *da < pron.base ta-J. As has already been noted, the
languages under discussion must have experienced the Dardic influence. The
01. yidhav "wash" is originally coimected with the 01. "^dhu "shake". In NIA, a
number of verbs meaning "wash" are descendants of the 01. *dhuvati: e.g.
M. dhu(v)ne "wash". The strong stem: 01. dhavati > H. dhana, S. dhavanu "wash".
Splitting of aspirates is not an unusual thing: 01. sabar-dhu- / sabar-duh- "yielding
" Oranskiy: op. cit. (Tadjikoyaxychnyyegruppy... Anm.l), S.131.
milk";'^ OL Vj«5 > *nhäriä > H. nahäriä "bath". Thus luh < *duh- < *dhu- < *dho-
< *dhuva-.
pii- "cut": pitid "[he] cut". This verb ascends to 01. ^Ibhid "split". Its derivatives
with a wide range of meanings are widely spread in NIA: P. bhitt "half of double
door", Kum. bhito "raffer", G. bhJtJ "beam resting on a wall", etc. < OI. bhitta-;
M. bhidne "pierce", Sin. binduv- "break" < 01. bhindati.
The Kawol words
kugrd kun- "have sexual intercourse with a woman" (lit.: "do a girl"). Cf the Arabca slang: kungra "young girf'.The word in this variant falls clearly into the stem
ku(n)- and the suffix -gm. This suffix which occurs also as -gra /-gari is found in the
noims denoting living creatures: Kawol man-gari "lizard", gan-gre "sheep", etc. It
has already been shown (v.s. cung-) that in -an- the vowel can get labialized. The
stem ku(n)- which is related to the Pashto kanlza "maid-servant", "concubine"
ascends to 01. kanyä- "girl".
latibini "women's nose adornment with a chain passing to the ear". Cf nati with the
same meaning. In lati-bini the Tajik word bini "nose" is isolable. The first
component lati can be identified with nati. It demonstrates the altemation l/n which
is found elsewhere, e.g. Par. lango / nango. The basic form is nati, which is related
to H. nathni "nose-ring of a bullock", nath "large ring worn by women on the left nostril".
Abbreviations: languages
Ash(kun) B(engali) Dam(eh) Dar(dic) G(ujarafi) H(indi) K(ashmiri) Ka(ti)
Kal(asha) Kho(war) Kum(auni) L(ahnda) M(arathi) N(epali)
N(ew) I(ndo) A(ryan) Nur(istani)
0(ld) I(ndian) P(anjabi) Par(ya) Pra(sun) S(indhi) W(est) Pah(ari)
M. MONlER-WlLLIAMS: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Delhi, etc. 1986 (Reprmt), S. 1151.
Von Georg von Simson, Oslo
1. Der Ort des Mythos im Mahäbhärata
Die Erzählung von der Zerstörung der drei Asura-Biugen durch ^ivas Pfeil gehört zu
den großen äiva-Mythen, die sowohl im Mahäbhärata wie in den meisten Puränas
erscheinen. Wenn der Titel dieses Artikels "Der Tripuradahana-Mythos im
Mahäbhärata" heißt, so bedeutet das nicht, daß die Puräna-Versionen außer acht
gelassen werden sollen, sondem nur, daß der Mythos im Kontext des Mahäbhärata eine
Interpretation nahelegt, die sich aus den Puränas nicht ohne weiteres ergibt.
Wie sieht nun dieser Kontext im Mahäbhärata aus? Der Tripura-Mythos erscheint
im Epos an drei verschiedenen Stellen. Davon sind zwei - 7. 173.52-58 tmd 13.
145.24-29 - Kurzfassimgen von niu sechs bis sieben Slokas, die übrigens teilweise
wörtlich übereinstimmen. Dagegen bringt die dritte, in der Poona-Ausgabe 122 Slokas
umfassende Version, 8. 24.3-124, den Mythos in aller Ausführlichkeit. Von ihr soll im
Folgenden hauptsächlich die Rede sein.
Der Ort der großen Fassung des Mythos im Karnaparvan ist der Morgen des 17.
Tages der Schlacht, des Tages, an dem Karna in dem Entscheidungskampf mit Arjuna
fallen wird. Duryodhana hat äalya, den König der Madras, gebeten, als Karnas Wagen¬
lenker zu fimgieren. Als der beleidigt reagiert, weil er einem Geringeren keine Dienste
leisten will (das von einem Wagenlenker aufgezogene Findelkind Karna ist ja von
zweifelhafter Herkunft), erzählt ihm Duryodhana die Geschichte von der Vemichtung
der drei Asura-Burgen durch ^iva. Salya soll dem Vorbild Brahmans folgen, der bei
dieser Gelegenheit Siva als Wagenlenker gedient habe.' Nach meiner Interpretation des
Mahäbhärata symbolisiert die Schlacht den Jahreslauf, wobei die Seite der Pändavas,
vereinfacht ausgedrückt, den Mond und die Seite der Kauravas die Sonne
repräsentieren.^ Karna, der auf seiten der Kauravas kämpft, ist ja Sohn Süryas, des
Sonnengottes, und ft-ägt selbst deutiich solare Züge. Noch im vorausgehenden Buch,
im Dronaparvan (Mbh.7), wird geschildert, wie er seinen unfehlbaren Wurfspeer, der
ihm von Indra verliehen wurde und den er nur ein einziges Mal benutzen kann, dazu
verwendet, Ghatotkaca zu töten, den Sohn des Pändava Bhima und der Dämonin
' Siva wird hier also als geringer angesehen als Brahman! Vgl. Mbh. 8.24.96, wo §iva einen ihm überlegenen (mattaJi Srest/iataraJWngenleDkei anfordert.
^ G. V. SiMSON 1984: The mythic background of the Mahäbhärata.ln: Indologica Taurinensia 12 (1984), S. 191-223. - Ders.: Die zeitmythische Struktur des Mahäbhärata. In: R. Sternemann (Hrsg.): Bopp- Symposium 1992 der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Heidelberg 1994, S. 230-247.
