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The Pashayi or Pashai, formerly known as the Alina, (/pəˈʃaɪ/; Pashayi: پشهای, romanised: Paṣhəy) are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group living primarily in eastern Afghanistan. They are mainly concentrated in the northern parts of Laghman Province and Nangarhar, also parts of Kunar Province, Kapisa Province, Parwan Province, Nuristan, and a bit of Panjshir. Many Pashai are bilingual in Pashto language and sometimes trilingual with Persian language as a third language.Rachel Lehr (2025). 9781321224177, University of Chicago, Division of the Humanities, Department of Linguistics. . ISBN 9781321224177 Some of the Pashayi have been assimilated by Pashtuns, whereas those in Panjshir and Parwan Province, Pashai, Ethnic identity in Afghanistan, on nps.edu have been assimilated by Tajiks. Some Pashayi people are also based in Central Afghanistan, in places such as Jaghori District.
The Pasiani, a tribe described by the ancient Greek scholar Strabo (1st Century CE), as one of the Scythians peoples, were tentatively identified with the Pashayi by the pioneering archaeologist Charles Masson, in the 1830s. However, as Jeffrey Evans-von Krbek (1977) commented, Masson's research was devalued by a lack of clarity in his writing.
Religions traditionally practised by the Pashayi people (before the arrival of Islam) included corrupt forms of Buddhism and Hinduism, animism, local beliefs, or combinations of these. The Pashayi additionally practiced shamanism and sacrificed goats as part of their beliefs. In the Sifat Nima, a book written by Darvish Mohammad Khan, the Pashayi worshipped gods named Pandad, Sharway, and Lamanday. According to Russian anthropologist G.J Daushvili, the Pashayi and other Western Dards shared a syncretic religion that featured elements of hunting cults, the Nuristani Kafir religion and Shaivism.
In the 13th century, Marco Polo traveled through the region and described the locals as practitioners of sorcery and witchcraft, as well as calling them a "pestilent people" and crafty". Polo claimed that the men wore and earrings decorated with gemstones, and that the main diet of the locals consisted of rice and meat. In the 16th century, when Mughal Empire ruler Babur visited Darai Nur, a district in Nangarhar Province primarily inhabited by the Pashayi people (and later more than 99% Pashayi), he found that the eating of pork had only recently been forbidden and that the town was famous for its wine.
According to the Tabakat-i-Akbari of Nizamuddin Ahmad, Mughal Emperor Akbar had dispatched his younger brother Mirza Muhammad Hakim, who was a staunch adherent of the missionary-minded Naqshbandi Sufism order, against the infidels of Katwar in 1582. Hakim was a semi-independent governor of Kabul. The Sifat-nama-yi Darviš Muhammad Hān-i Ğāzī of Qadi Muhammad Salim who accompanied the expedition mentions its details. The Sifat-nama gives Muhammad Hakim the epithet of Dervish Khan Gazi. Muhammad Hakim's invasion fought its way from Laghman Province to Alishang, and is stated to have conquered and converted 66 valleys to Islam. After conquering Tajau and Nijrau valleys in Panjshir area, the soldiers established a fort at Islamabad at confluence of Alishang and . They continued the raid up to Alishang and made their last effort against the non-Muslims of Alingar District, fighting up to Mangu, the modern border between the Pashai and Askunu language areas.
During the 18th century, Pashtuns forced Pashayi people to convert to Islam, and conversions continued into recent history. According to Pashai oral tradition, in the mid-18th century, Deishamir Baba conquered Darai Nur and converted the people to Islam. The valley was inhabited by Kafirs who only were armed with bows and arrows, whereas Deishamir Baba and his army had . Deishamir Baba was from Kunar Valley, and he came to Darra-i Nur through Pech Valley and Aret and Shumast villages. The kafir rulers Bhim Raja of Bambakot, Shultan Raja of Sotan, and Sher Raja all surrendered to Deishamir Baba and converted to Islam. Laṇā Raja of Shemul was defeated and he fled the region. Muturu Raja of Utran fought with Deishamir Baba for a longer time, but eventually converted to Islam and became an ally of Deishamir Baba. Deishamir Baba had two sons, Ranga and Japar, and six grandsons. The six grandsons are the ancestors of the Pashai in Sotan. In Darai Nur, Deishamir decided to give permanent land settlements to family and followers instead of introducing a rotating land tenure system known as wesh, which integrated and strengthened the segmentary lineage systems of the Kohistani people, allowing them to ward off Pashtuns attempts of invasion. By not introducing the wesh system, the Darai Nur valley's economic cohesion was strengthened and was therefore more immune to "Pashtunization". He invited Aṇu and Kolalek from Kordar to settle in Kandak, and Yarukei from Chelas to settle in Shemul. In return, they had to guard the north of the valley and water supply. He also allowed the Kafir Kalautar from Wama to settle Amla with his goats, on the condition that Kalautar give Deishamir tribute of a kharwar of cheese annually. Kalautar was later expelled because he would not convert to Islam but continued to pay tribute. In the south of the valley, the remaining Kafir rajas were under pressure due to lost allies (Bhim Raja and Shultan Raja) as well as poor land due to lack of water, and thus moved to the east. Bambakot's main market known as the Hindu Quarter also declined with the going of the Hindus. According to Ovsen, these events occurred in the early 19th century.
By the early 20th century, the Pashayi were often referred to as Kohistani people, and were Sunni , while a minority are Nizari Ismaili . There have been Pashayi-speaking Sikhs, although Muslim Pashayi people do not consider them as part of the ethnic group. Pashayi people have deliberately been listed as Tajiks by census takers and government agents. This is a result of the census takers being Tajiks themselves, wanting to increase their own numbers for "consequent benefits". Although, Pashayi-speaking Nizari Isma'ili refer to themselves as Tajik.
During the 1929 Afghan Civil War, which saw the overthrow of King Amanullah Khan and fighting between the Saqqawists and anti-Saqqawist forces, Kalakani faced resistance on several fronts, including Greater Nangarhar where Pashayi rebels loyal to Mohammad Nadir Shah and other opposition leaders managed to defeat Habibullāh Kalakāni in three battles.
The last theory claims that in ancient times, a king emerged from the Pashayi ethnic group, later being named after him as kings were referred to as Pasha or Padshāh. Pashayi historians and the Ministry of Culture and Information claim that the Pashayi people were referred to as Alina, evident through the naming of Alishang and Alingar District, Alingar meaning "home of the Alina".
In the present, some Pashayi people refer to themselves as Degano (resident of the plain, additionally implying "indigenous" or "native"), Laghman Province, Nuristanis and Sha'ari, although the latter is a slur. Originally, it came from the Pashai expression šāre ke šāraman (‘let’s go’), from the verb šarik (to go, to move along).
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