The Kalash (), or Kalasha, are a small Indo-Aryan indigenous people native to the Chitral region in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. They form the smallest ethnoreligious group in Pakistan, practising what scholars consider a form of animism and ancestor worship with elements of Indo-Iranian (Vedic- or Hindu-like) religion, and as such are considered unique among the people of Pakistan.
In the past the Kalasha people inhabited several other valleys as well, including Jinjeret Kuh, Urtsun, Suwir, Kalkatak and Damel.
Geography
The Kalash are a small group of Indo-Aryan speaking people. They live in three isolated mountainous valleys located in Chitral, Pakistan: Bumburet (Kalash: ), Rumbur (), and Birir (). These valleys open towards the Chitral River, some 20 km south (downstream) of Chitral town. The Bumburet and Rumbur valleys join at (1,640 m), joining the Chitral River at the village of Ayrun (, 1,400 m) and they each rise to passes connecting to Nuristan Province in Afghanistan at about 4,500 m. The Birir Valley opens towards the Chitral River at the village of Gabhirat (, 1,360 m). A pass connects the Birir and Bumburet valleys at about 3,000 m. The Kalash villages in all three valleys are located at a height of approximately 1,900 to 2,200 m.
The region is extremely fertile, with rich oak forests on the mountainsides that support intensive agriculture, much of which is carried out by hand rather than by machinery. The powerful and dangerous rivers that flow through the valleys have been harnessed to power grinding mills and to water the farm fields through the use of ingenious irrigation channels. Wheat, maize, grapes (generally used for wine), apples, apricots and walnuts are among the many foodstuffs grown in the area, along with surplus fodder used for feeding the livestock.
The climate is typical of high elevation regions without large bodies of water to regulate the temperature. The summers are mild and agreeable with average maximum temperatures between . Winters, on the other hand, can be very cold, with average minimum temperatures between . The average yearly precipitation is .
History
Origins According to a Kalash tradition, their ancestors migrated some centuries ago to the Chitral Valley from the Waigal Valley of Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, or from a location further south called "Tsiyam" in their folk songs and epics, said to be near Jalalabad and Lughman according to Morgenstierne.
According to a tradition, the Kalash descend from the armies of Alexander who were left behind from his armed campaign, though no evidence exists for him to have passed the area.
According to Henry Walter Bellew (1834–1892), the Kalash are the descendants of Gandhari people.
The term is also used to refer to several distinct Nuristani speaking people, including the Väi, the Čima-nišei, the Vântä, plus the Ashkun- and Tregami-speakers.
Kingdom of Chitral Shah Nadir Rais (1698–1747) founded the Rais dynasty of Chitral. The Rais invaded southern Chitral, which was then under Kalasha rule. Kalasha traditions recount severe persecution and massacres at the hands of the Rais. Many Kalash fled the Chitral valley; those who remained while still practising their faith had to pay tribute in kind or with corvée labour. The term "Kalash" was used to denote "Kafirs" in general; however, the Kalash of Chitral were not considered "true Kafirs" by the Kati who were interviewed about the term in 1835.
The Kalash were ruled by the Kator dyansty from the 18th century onward. They enjoyed a cordial relationship with the major ethnic group of Chitral, the Kho, who are Sunni and Ismaili Muslims. This multi-ethnic, multi-religious State of Chitral ensured that the Kalash were able to live in peace and harmony and practice their culture and religion. They were protected from Afghan raids by the Chitralis, who also generally did not allow missionaries to Kalash. Instead, the Chitralis allowed the Kalasha to look after their matters themselves.
However, in the 1890s Amir Abdur-Rahman of Afghanistan converted the Nuristanis, neighbours of the Kalash in the region of former Kafiristan west of the border, to Islam on pain of death, and their land was renamed;Nuristan on Encyclopaedia Iranica .William Dalrymple, Dancing in the hills: a journey to meet Pakistan's Kalash people (Financial Times , 21 March 2018); earlier, the people of Kafiristan had paid tribute to the Mehtar of Chitral and accepted his suzerainty. This ended with the conclusion of the Durand Agreement, under which Kafiristan fell into the Afghan sphere of influence.
Modern period Prior to the 1940s the Kalash inhabited five valleys, the current three as well as Jinjeret Kuh and Urtsun to the south. The last Kalash person in Jinjeret Kuh was Mukadar, who passed away in the early 1940s. To perform the old rites, the people of Birir valley just north of Jinjeret came with a moving funeral procession, firing guns and beating drums as they made their way up the valley to celebrate his passing according to the old custom. The event is still remembered in the valleys where Kalash have now converted to Islam.
The Kalash of Urtsun Valley had a culture with a large Kam influence from the Bashgul Valley. It was known for its shrines to Waren and Imro, the Urtsun version of Dezau, which were visited and photographed by Georg Morgenstierne in 1929 and were built in the Bashgul Valley style unlike in other Kalash valleys. The last Shaman was one Azermalik who had been the Dehar when George Scott Robertson visited in the 1890s. His daughter Mranzi who was still alive into the 1980s was the last Urtsun Valley Kalash practising the old religion. She had married into the Birir Valley Kalash and left the valley in the late 1930s when the valley had converted to Islam. Unlike the Kalash of the other valleys the women of Urtsun did not wear the Kup'as headdress but had their own P'acek, a headress worn at casual times, and the famous horned headress of the Bashgul Valley, which was worn at times of ritual and dance. George Scott Robertson put forth the view that the dominant Kafir races like the Wai were refugees who fled to the region. The Kafirs are historically recorded for the first time in 1339.
During the 1970s, some local Muslim missionaries and militants targeted the Kalash. Several attacks by Taliban on the tribe also led to the death of many.Manzar, A. Taliban in Pakistan: A Chronicle of Resurgence (Terrorism, Hot Spots and Conflict-Related Issues). (2009). Nova Science Publishers. However, protection from the government have led to decline in violence against the Kalash. In recent times, the Kalash and Ismailis have been threatened with death by the Taliban. The Pakistani government and the Pakistani military responded by fortifying the security around Kalash villages. The Supreme Court also took judicial intervention to protect the Kalash under both the ethnic minorities clause of the constitution and Pakistan's Sharia law penal code which declares it illegal for Muslims to criticise and attack other religions on grounds of personal belief. The former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the forced conversions threat as un-Islamic.
In 2017, Wazir Zada became the first Kalasha man to win a seat in the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He became the member of the Provincial Assembly (PA) on a minority reserved seat. In November 2019, the Kalash people were visited by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as part of their Pakistan tour and they saw a traditional dance performance there.
Culture
The Kalash have gained attention from anthropologists due to their unique culture. The culture of the Kalash people differs in many ways from the many contemporary Muslim ethnic groups surrounding them in northwestern Pakistan. Nature plays a highly significant and spiritual role in their daily life. As part of their religious tradition, sacrifices are offered and festivals held to give thanks for the abundant resources of their three valleys. Kalasha Desh (the three Kalash valleys) is made up of two distinct cultural areas, the valleys of Rumbur and Bumburet forming one, and Birir Valley the other; Birir Valley being the more traditional of the two.
Language
The Kalasha language, also known as Kalasha-mun, is an Indo-Aryan language whose closest relative is the neighbouring Khowar language. Kalasha was formerly spoken over a larger area in south Chitral, but it is now mostly confined to the western side valleys, having lost ground to Khowar.
Customs
There is some controversy over what defines the ethnic characteristics of the Kalash. Although there was a larger population in the 20th century, the non-Muslim minority has seen its numbers dwindle over the past century. A leader of the Kalash, Saifulla Jan, has stated, "If any Kalash converts to Islam, they cannot live among us anymore. We keep our identity strong."Raffaele, Paul. Smithsonian Jan. 2007: page 66-68. About three thousand have converted to Islam or are descendants of converts, yet still live nearby in the Kalash villages and maintain their language and many aspects of their ancient culture. By now, sheikhs, or converts to Islam, make up more than half of the total Kalasha-speaking population.
Kalasha women usually wear long black robes, often embroidered with cowrie shells. For this reason, they are known in Chitral as "the Black Kafirs". Men have adopted the Pakistani shalwar kameez, while children wear small versions of adult clothing after the age of four.
In contrast to the surrounding culture, the Kalasha do not in general separate males and females or frown on contact between the sexes. However, menstruating girls and women are sent to live in the "bashaleni", the village menstrual building, during their periods, until they regain their "purity". They are also required to give birth in the bashaleni. There is also a ritual restoring "purity" to a woman after childbirth which must be performed before a woman can return to her husband. The husband is an active participant in this ritual.
Girls are initiated into womanhood at an early age of four or five and married at fourteen or fifteen. If a woman wants to change husbands, she will write a letter to her prospective husband informing him of how much her current husband paid for her. This is because the new husband must pay double if he wants her.
Marriage by elopement is rather frequent, also involving women who are already married to another man. Indeed, wife-elopement is counted as one of the "great customs" (ghōna dastūr) together with the main festivals. Wife-elopement may lead in some rare cases to a quasi-feud between clans until peace is negotiated by mediators, in the form of the double bride-price paid by the new husband to the ex-husband.Parkes in: Rao and Böck (2000), p. 273
Kalash lineages (kam) separate as marriageable descendants that have separated by over seven generations. A rite of "breaking agnation" (tatbře čhin) marks that previous agnates (tatbře) are now permissible affines (därak "clan partners"). Each kam has a separate shrine in the clan's Jēṣṭak-hān, the temple to lineal or familial goddess Jēṣṭak.
Music Kalasha traditional music mainly consists of flute-like instruments (usually high in pitch), singing, poetry, clapping and the rhythmic playing of drums, which include the: wãc – A small hourglass-shaped drum; this is made from 'chizhin' (pine wood), 'kuherik' (pine nut wood), or 'az'a'i' (apricot (tree) wood). It is played with a larger drum called a 'dãu' for the Kalasha dances. dãu – A large drum; this is played with a smaller drum called a 'wãc' for the Kalasha dances, the smaller drum giving a lighter counterpart to the larger one.
Genetic research