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LANGUAGE AND CULTURE THE recorded cultural heritage of the Afghans dates back to the time when their country was known as Aryana. The Rigveda, "Sacred Knowledge", the most ancient book of the Aryans, was for the most part composed in the valleys of southern Hindukush around 3500 B.C. Rigveda, the first of four collections of hymns, prayers and Aryan tales, mentions various geographical names like Kobha, Gandahara, Pactya, Gomati, Kromo, Swasto, which correspond to names in south and south-eastern Afghanistan today. The contents of the Rigveda are not only descriptive of the Afghan soil, but also give a detailed picture of the physical and spiritual characteristics of the Vedic tribes of Afghanistan. It can be said that the Afghan tales of valour, their social traditions, moral and spiritual values, folklore, folk songs and folk dances have their origin in Vedic times and Vedic mentality, and in the course of several thousand years, have been modified and have come down to us in their present form. The Vedic language has been considered the oldest known Aryan language south of the Hindukush. A section of Avesta called Gath, too, speaks of the ancient habitat of the Aryans and of the peoples of Aryana, though its period is considered to be between 1000-500 B.C. The language and contents of the Gaths, moreover, show traces of similarity to Veda. Around the year 1000 B.C. Zaratrushtra appeared in Bakhdi (Bactria or Balkh) and spread his doctrine of monotheism and Good and Evil and the freedom of the will to choose between Good and Evil, between Right and Wrong. The Greeks brought their culture with them around 320 B.C., which blended with the Aryan culture over a period of 200 years. Today we have relics of this period in various forms of art, termed Greco-Bactrian. Greek script was also introduced from which later the Greco-Kushanid characters developed. Greek medicine, astronomy, mathematics and geometry spread in Aryana and got mixed with literary and social principles of Bactria and Aryana. Buddhism, too, flourished in ancient Aryana around 250 B.C., and missionaries from there went far and wide to preach the message of Buddha. The contact between the Greek and Buddhist culture produced yet another significant trend in the land of the Aryans. Effects of Greek sculpture found their way into the works of the Gandahara school of art, whose Buddhas began to show resemblances to Greek gods. The two huge statues of Buddha (120 ft. and 175 ft. tall) hewn from the cliffs of Bamyan, some distance north of Kabul, are of particular significance to students of history and tourists at large. The late Aryans' own script was actually a modified version of Aramaic script. The latter had appeared in Aryana around 800 B.C. A few samples of this script are to be found today in Kabul Museum. Around 300 B.C. Kharoshti, another script, made its appearance in Aryana and of this there are several samples on metal and clay vessels and slabs of stone. It was written from right to left and also appears to have been used by business people as well as the clergy but perhaps was not the official language. Next to that was Parakrit, another Aryan script used around the same time as Kharoshti and under the same conditions. Gandahara, in the meantime, had also cradled the Sanskrit language. During Kanishka, the great Kushani emperor, Sanskrit was given attention it had not received until then. It soon became a language rich in resources and wide and varied in use. Kanishka encouraged the arts during his time and gathered many a poet, philosopher and learned person around him. Parsawa 71