http://afghanhindu.freeservers.com/
Introduction
Hindus and Sikhs have been living in Afghanistan for many centuries. The community has fled due to war in Afghanistan. Only handful of afghan hindus have left in Afghanistan, there is not enough contact with them to know how they are living under the strict rule of Taleban. Currently Afghan Hindus are living all over the globe including United States, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, India, and Pakistan. There is very little told about them in history books. We are not aware of any research done about Afghan Hindus, their origins, culture and languages.
Origins
Different communities of Afghan Hindus and Sikhs have different histories. Following are some theories:
Hindus have always lived in Afghanistan. That’s one reason why they call themselves Kandharis and not Multanis and Seraikies.
Some of the old temples in the area also point to this theory. The word Kandh in Seraiki means wall. Kandahar used to have many walls. The Hilmand river flowing in that area was labeled “Rud-e-hind-wa-sind” by Arabic manuscripts. Before the influx of Pashtoons the inhabitants of Kandahar spoke Seraiki. The Pashtoons labeled their language “Jataki”. The language spoken by Afghan Hindus in Kandahar known as Kandhari is probably “Jataki”. (Information about the word Kandh, the Hilmand river and Jataki is from a Seraiki Linguist by the name of Ijaz Bloach.)
There’s Chahbra family in Bombay who traces his ancestory back to someone from Kabul from ten generations back.
The Afghan Hindus living in Kabul (Kabulis) are descendents of Hindu Shahis.
The Asamai mountain is actually named after the Hindu Goddes Asha Mai.
Ahmad Shah Baba in the 18th century brought few Hindu families from Multan and Sind area for commerce and the community grew and never left Afghanistan. The Sindhi speaking community of Afghan Hindus must have come from Sindh at some point in history. Same would be true of Punjabis and Shikarpuris.
Some Sikhs and Hindus came to Afghanistan from Pakistan after the partition of 1947.
There are many families from India, mostly Sikh, who have the last name of Kandhari. I believe they are from Kandhar and were moved to Pakistan and India a century or more ago. Another theory is that they are descendent of Pir Vali Kandhari who was blessed by Guru Nanak.
Taliban don’t worry about non-Moslems
By Kathy Gannon
Associated Press Writer
http://www.ardmoreite.com/stories/112497/news/news10.html
Posted November 24, 1997
KABUL, Afghanistan – A holy man prays over the Guru Granth Sahib, the holiest of books for Sikhs.
Behind him a gentle voice sings an Asian classical song, called a raag. The rhythms of the harmonium and the beat of the tabla drums mingle with the whispers of early evening worshippers.
In a synagogue a rabbi sways gently before the Torah, the Jewish holy book that is wrapped in a blue shroud embossed in gold thread.
Such things happen every day in cities around the world.
But these are happening in Kabul, Afghanistan’s shattered capital where the ruling Islamic Taliban army is not known for tolerance in its hard-line approach to religion.
Its soldiers have cut off the hands of thieves, forced women off the job, publicly beat women for not wearing the mandatory burqa and staged grisly public executions.
They have banned music, most games, kite flying, videos and just about all forms of entertainment. Paper wrapping is forbidden because it might contain recycled pages of the Koran, Islam’s holy book.
But for adherents of Afghanistan’s minority religions – Sikhs, Hindus and Afghanistan’s last Jew – the Taliban has not been a source of trouble.
Taliban leaders say it is their job to keep the followers of Islam on the correct path and not to worry about those of other religions.
Abdul Rehman Ottaki, deputy minister of information and culture, said the Taliban government realizes its ‘‘responsibility to take care of them (minorities) to keep Afghanistan unified.’’
‘‘All Afghans who are our nationals, including Uzbeks, Tajiks, Shiite Muslims, Pathans, Hindus, they all have equal rights in front of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,’’ Ottaki said.
For Sikhs and Hindus, who once worshipped at five temples in Kabul, including one that was 300 years old, it was the Taliban’s opponents who caused them grief.
All but one of the temples straddled the front line during factional fighting between former defense chief Ahmed Shah Massood and his biggest rival, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
The warren of narrow streets now lies in ruins, a testament to the bitter combat that killed nearly 30,000 people in Kabul between 1992 and 1996, when Taliban troops captured the city.
In the only temple still standing, Sikhs and Hindus gather each night as the sun sets. A brightly polished harmonium, which resembles a table top accordion, and a small set of drums called tablas appear.
Musicians, wearing the turbans that identify them as Sikhs, sit on pillows at one end of the expansive marble-floored hall. The music begins softly, the sound gently caressing the listeners who sway to the rhythm.
It’s an eerie sensation to hear the strains of an evening raag in a city where listening to music is a crime that carries a mandatory lashing.
But not for Sikhs and Hindus.
They skirt the ban on music by telling the Taliban that it is their form of worship.
‘‘Like Muslims pray five times a day, we sing our songs in the afternoon,’’ said Sarang Singh. ‘‘The Taliban sometime come and just sit and listen. Some say, ‘I don’t understand it I just like it.’’’
Singh said Taliban soldiers are not a threat to them.
‘‘We are not feeling afraid of the Taliban. We are not separate people,’’ he said. ‘‘We are from this country.’’
For Afghanistan’s Jews the trouble began 20 years ago, in 1977 with the arrival of the communists and the Russian invasion two years later.
A closely knit community of barely 100 families, Afghanistan’s Jews believed the communists were a bad omen, said Rabbi Ishaq Levin, who has no proof of his age, but guesses it’s about 85.
Levin celebrates all the Jewish festivals – Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Hannukkah, Passover and Purim – alone.
He is the last Jew in Afghanistan. His family lives outside Tel Aviv in Israel and his neighbors – all Muslims – watch out for him. They shoo away would-be visitors on the Jewish sabbath admonishing them: ‘‘This is a prayer day for his religion. Come back tomorrow.’’
Levin refuses to leave Afghanistan. He says he can’t, because he is the custodian of the Torah. But the Torah isn’t his biggest worry. It’s the synagogue.
‘‘This is our holy place and all the belongings of the Jews who left are here,’’ he says.
Those possessions are meager – old pots, pans, a rusted kettle, boxes of moth-eaten clothes, ragged carpets and dusty bundles in a heap on the floor.
The synagogue is a stark cavernous cement room, but Levin says it has all it needs – a Hebrew inscription on the door that he kisses each time he passes by.
Levin has had his run-ins with the Taliban, but not for his religion. Rather it is the many women who visit his home. They come fully covered in a burqa to have their palms read. Others want the potions he prescribes to aid in love, sickness and health.
It’s a living, says Levin who has been reading palms for the better part of 50 years.
‘‘I will probably die here. This is my home,’’ he said.