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A journalist of Pashtun origin, Amanullah Ghilzai, traced the roots of Khattak to an ancient Greek dance. According to his theory, Khatak, or Athan, is one of the earliest forms of the ancient Greek dance dedicated to Athena. The Greeks brought this dance with them to Bactria. The Greeks had bequeathed the conventional dance for ancient Pashtun-dominated regions when they had colonised this region for several centuries ago. In ancient Greece, Athena had the same definition and reverence attached to it as Pashtuns accord to Athan. Athena seems to have disappeared in Greece during the Christian era while Athan survived in Afghanistan and Pashtun parts of Pakistan. The word Kathak derives from the Khattak. Since khattak tribe was the nearest tribe towards India it might have influenced Indian culture. Kathak is a form of dance of Hindus for telling tales of Gods with dance, music and singing.

it seems to be the opposite, kathak dance is derived from word katha meaning story and is not a folk dance by any means, attan dance seems to be derived from athan which doesnt seem to have any root in persian or pashto. athan dance being declared as dance of athena from greece which greeks brought but pashtuns/ khattaks must have been buddhists not inspired by greek religion and their goddesses, but we have similar sword dances from nearby rajasthan, punjab etc, were they also athena dance. the dance may have been common to the region as is the out fit, greeks never wore stitched clothings, so how were they able to make such maneuvers in the first place like revolution, maneuvers, the drum/ dhol and the music/rhythm resemble with each other. Athena dance must have not use swords as well and used women instead of men unlike khattak dance. 202.188.53.210 (talk) 08:48, 22 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

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Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 01:22, 25 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]