, the form usually found in Persian sources, early Arabic form Sid̲j̲istān, a region of eastern Persia lying to the south of K̲h̲urāsān and to the north of Balūčistān, now administratively divided between Persia and Afghanistan. In early Arabic historical and literary texts one finds as nisba s both Sid̲j̲istānī and Sid̲j̲zī, in Persian, Sīstānī.

1. Etymology.

The early Arabic form reflects the origin of the region’s name in MP Sakastān “land of the Sakas”, the Indo-European Scythian people who had dominated what is now Afg̲h̲ānistān and northwestern …