Pakhtas

{{Short description|Ancient Vedic Indo-Aryan tribe}}

{{Use Indian English|date=April 2025}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}

File:Early Vedic Culture (1700-1100 BCE).png and tribes]]

Pakthas or Pakhtas was an ancient Vedic Indo-Aryan tribe{{Cite book |last=Prasad |first=R. U. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EpTaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 |title=The Rig-Vedic and Post-Rig-Vedic Polity (1500 BCE-500 BCE) |date=6 October 2020 |publisher=Vernon Press |isbn=978-1-64889-001-7 |language=en|page=67}} living in the northern borderlands of South Asia.{{Cite book |last=Pradhan |first=Shrinivas Vasudeo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=huMxBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA114 |title=The Elusive Aryans: Archaeological Search and Vedic Research; The Origin of the Hindus |date=11 August 2014 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |isbn=978-1-4438-6592-0 |language=en|page=114}}{{Cite book |last1=Macdonell |first1=Arthur Anthony |title=Vedic Index of Names and Subjects |last2=Keith |first2=Arthur Berriedale |publisher=John Murray |year=1912 |volume=I |pages=464}} They are considered to be one of the possible ancestors of modern Pakhtun people. They are sometimes identified with the "Pactyans" of Herodotus.{{cite book |last1=Kakar |first1=Hasan Kawun |title=Government and Society in Afghanistan: The Reign of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan |date=27 August 2014 |publisher=Univ of TX + ORM |isbn=978-0-292-76777-5 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgbYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT12 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Sonawani |first=Sanjay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uYBLCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT146 |title=Origins of the Vedic Religion: And Indus-Ghaggar Civilisation |date=16 April 2015 |publisher=Booktango |isbn=978-1-4689-5713-6 |language=en|page=146}}