Back قبيلة الكيلاش Arabic قبيلة الكيلاش ARZ Kalaşlar Azerbaijani کالاشلار AZB Калаши Bulgarian কালাশ জনগোষ্ঠী Bengali/Bangla Kalash Catalan Kalašové Czech Калашсем CV Kalasha (Chitral) German
;_Tahsin_Shah_04.jpg) Kalash girls photographed in April 2016 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 7,466[1] (only includes those who speak Kalasha as their mother tongue) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Kalasha Valleys, Chitral District, Pakistan | |
| Languages | |
| Kalasha, Khowar | |
| Religion | |
| Majority Islam[a] Minority Animism and ancestor worship[b] with elements of ancient Indo-Iranian (Vedic- or Hindu-like) religion[c] [2][3] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Nuristanis, other Indo-Aryan peoples |
The Kalash (Kalasha: کالؕاشؕا, romanized: Kaḷaṣa), or Kalasha, are a small Indo-Aryan[d] indigenous people residing in the Chitral District of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. 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.[web 1]
According one Kalash-tradition, their ancestors migrated "some centuries ago" to Chitral Valley from the Waigal Valley,[e] of Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, or a location further south,[web 2][4] called "Tsiyam" in their folk songs and epics,[5] and possibly located near Jalalabad and Lughman in Afghanistan. Another tradition claims descent from the armies of Alexander who were left behind from his armed campaign, though no evidence exists for him to have passed the area.[web 3][web 4][f][6]
During the Muslim rule in Chitral in the 14th century most of the Kalash gradually converted to Islam, except a small number of them who upheld their religion and customs, but they were restricted to the Kalasha Valleys of Bumburet, Rumbur and Birir.[a] Prior to the 1940s the Kalash had five valleys, the current three as well as Jinjeret kuh and Urtsun to the south. [7]
They are considered unique among the people of Pakistan,[web 2][web 1][8] and form Pakistan's smallest ethnoreligious group,[web 5] practising what authors consider as a form of animism and ancestor worship[b] with elements of Indo-Iranian (Vedic- or Hindu-like) religion.[c]
- ^ "Pakistan 2023 Census" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 July 2024.
- ^ Ahmed 1986, p. 23–28.
- ^ Zaheer-ud-Din 2015.
- ^ Nicolaisen, Johannes; Yde, Jens (1963). Folk: dansk etnografisk tidsskrift. Dansk etnografisk forening.
- ^ East and West. Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente. 1992.
- ^ Cacopardo, Augusto (2011). "Are the Kalasha Really of Greek Origin? The Legend of Alexander the Great and the Pre-Islamic World of the Hindu Kush". Acta Orientalia. 72: 47–92. doi:10.5617/ao.4847.
- ^ Cacopardo, Alberto (December 1992). "The Other Kalasha. A Survey of Kalashamun-Speaking People in Southern Chitral. Part III: Jinjeret Kuh and the Problem of Kalasha Origins". East and West. 42 (2/4): 333–375.
- ^ Cacopardo 2016, p. 28.
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