KHOWAR, THE LANGUAGE OF CHITRAL, PAKISTAN
by Ismail Sloan
Khowar is spoken in Chitral, which is in the far North West corner of Pakistan. Khowar is classed as an Indo-European language of the Dardic Group. However, “Dardic” is simply a geographical collection of Indo-European languages spoken in the Hindu Kush and Himalaya Mountains. Among them, only Kalashamun, the language of the Kalash tribe, is closely related to Khowar.
Here are the reasons why one might become interested in Khowar: It is spoken as the primary language by 250,000 people in Chitral. There are also pockets of speakers in Gilgit. It is clear that the current Chitralis have lived in their mountain home for 3,000 to 4,000 years. Alexander the Great encountered them when he visited the area. The proof of this is that in the histories of Alexander the Great it is written that he encountered strange wooden boxes, which his troops chopped up to be used as firewood. These “boxes” were actually coffins for their dead following the custom which the Kalash Kafirs of Chitral still have of leaving their dead outside in wooden coffins. There is a well-known book, “Alexander of Macedon” by Peter Green (1991), which devotes a page to this.
Alexander the Great also described them as a light skinned race of European type people, which is exactly what they are. This further proves that the same people were there then as are there now. This report of light skinned European people living high in the Hindu Kush mountains was disbelieved by historians until the Chitralis were rediscovered relatively recently.
Also, the Kalash Kafir religion which is still practiced today by about 3,000 people in Chitral has a resemblance to the ancient Greek religion of gods and goddesses. This has led some to speculate that the Kalash got their religion from the invading Greeks. This is unlikely. The Greeks merely passed through in 327 B.C., probably within 50 miles of Chitral, but did not enter Chitral itself and did not stop or stay for long. What is likely is that the Kalash religion and the Greek religion have a common origin. Both came from some proto-Indo European religion which was carried along with the Indo European language when the Chitralis first got there some 3,000 to 4,000 years ago.
Interesting Article Moona..The Kalash have a vibrant culture and beautiful clothing. They not only add to the diversity of Pakistan but also give us clues to the past.
I have seen Ismail Sloans web site, the guy seems little strange if you ask me!
Anyway Next time I visit Pakistan I really want to visit Chitral, Gilgit and by road to China. It's relatively inexpensive, what's interesting about them is that they have never beene xposed to religion, so many things people from Muslim or even polythestic religions would be very surprised by some of there customs.
The Kalash area extened into Afghanistan as well, but they were converted to Islam when the Afgahanistan Emir declared a Jihad against them at the end of the 19th Century, the area is called Nuristan now.
Another rpoblem the Kalash face is the thhreat to their language and culture by overzealous Muslim and non Muslim missionaries. The lcoal schools dont teach them in their own language or anything about their own culture and they may end up becoming extinct in a generation.
Interesting article..But i have doubts about their greek origin :-)
what i know about the language khowar..is that..its a hard language to learn coz it has many variants of a same alphabet. Its hard to write khowar in roman dialect due to this problem.
I once read an urdu book not on khowar..but on people from that region..its called kafiristan..and i really enjoyed reading the book. It got lots of colored pic. The part of the religion was interesting indeed...
Zakk, what do mean by strange?
What i don't understand is kay..when he says..only natives can learn the language properly but not the outsiders..I think that if you put your heart and soul into a task..you can do it.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by aravamudhan: *
Kailash is the abode of Lord Siva. And yes it's a mountain supposed to be with white snow.
Looking at the topic name I thought you may be somehow connecting Kalash with this but except in title there is no mention of Kailash!
[/QUOTE]
Ok I apologize in advance for what I am going to say, if you find it offensive. Since you've brought religion into this I have to say it, despite that, I do not intend to insult Hinduism.
Why is that Hindus find Lord Shiva, Ram, Khrisna and the rest EVERYWHERE? I mean in Lanka theres Hunaman, in Kashmir theres Shiva etc. I understand that Hinduism being polytheistic may be much much more flexible in beliefs, however it is mind boggling to hear about a gods connection to a place. Am I to expect Hindu god living in and thus a claim on Edison, NJ and Artesia, CA (Places with heavy Indian-Americans)?
I mean from our Islamic perspective God is everywhere and only certain places in the Mid-East are sacred and have always been so for centuries.
Interesting read. I would really want this thread to be focused more on teh cultural and linguistic heritage of Chitral. Kindly, do not divert the topic.
Ok I apologize in advance for what I am going to say, if you find it offensive. Since you've brought religion into this I have to say it, despite that, I do not intend to insult Hinduism.
Why is that Hindus find Lord Shiva, Ram, Khrisna and the rest EVERYWHERE? I mean in Lanka theres Hunaman, in Kashmir theres Shiva etc. I understand that Hinduism being polytheistic may be much much more flexible in beliefs, however it is mind boggling to hear about a gods connection to a place. Am I to expect Hindu god living in and thus a claim on Edison, NJ and Artesia, CA (Places with heavy Indian-Americans)?
I mean from our Islamic perspective God is everywhere and only certain places in the Mid-East are sacred and have always been so for centuries.
[/QUOTE]
that's because hinduism is the sum-total of the subcontinent's aboriginal beliefs. kailash, gandhara, lanka, and other ancient kingdoms all find mention in hindu mythology for obvious reasons.
Ok I apologize in advance for what I am going to say, if you find it offensive. Since you've brought religion into this I have to say it, despite that, I do not intend to insult Hinduism.
Why is that Hindus find Lord Shiva, Ram, Khrisna and the rest EVERYWHERE? I mean in Lanka theres Hunaman, in Kashmir theres Shiva etc. I understand that Hinduism being polytheistic may be much much more flexible in beliefs, however it is mind boggling to hear about a gods connection to a place. Am I to expect Hindu god living in and thus a claim on Edison, NJ and Artesia, CA (Places with heavy Indian-Americans)?
I mean from our Islamic perspective God is everywhere and only certain places in the Mid-East are sacred and have always been so for centuries.
[/QUOTE]
No need for apology - I only see a question, no insult in what you wrote.
We also believe God is everywhere in everything and in every being. Plus there is a very well laid out basis of 14 worlds. There are earthly and heavenly abodes. There are concepts - physical and virtual - that connect planes and worlds. There is tremendous exposition of quantum physics and time space. For various missions at various times the Gods take abode in specific places and many of them become shrines.
Each such location has an account of why what who etc. However there are some base locales - for Lord Shiva, it is Kailas. For Lord Brahma it is a place called Sathyalog and for Lord Vishnu it is the Ksheerasgar (ocean of milk) in Vaikundam.
No need for apology - I only see a question, no insult in what you wrote.
We also believe God is everywhere in everything and in every being. Plus there is a very well laid out basis of 14 worlds. There are earthly and heavenly abodes. There are concepts - physical and virtual - that connect planes and worlds. There is tremendous exposition of quantum physics and time space. For various missions at various times the Gods take abode in specific places and many of them become shrines.
Each such location has an account of why what who etc. However there are some base locales - for Lord Shiva, it is Kailas. For Lord Brahma it is a place called Sathyalog and for Lord Vishnu it is the Ksheerasgar (ocean of milk) in Vaikundam.
[/QUOTE]
Got it. Thanks for clearing it up. Outlaw, no more diversions :D
Ignoring the Indians who tried to infuse negative impact on this great topic as usual.. the Kalash Greek tribes that broke away from Alexander's army and took refuge in the valleys of Kalash.. this miracle of hidden tribes for more than 2000 years have been a topic of great interest by world community.. its been reported so many times in National Geographic and other magazines and numerous documentary movies.. a lot of books are also written on Kalash people..
I visited the place 8 years back when I was in Pakistan.. its merely 16 miles south-east of Chitral but even people of Chitral never knew of their existance and interestingly some British Geological surveyer found them in late 19th century.. their language was so different that it took so many years to found out their origin! A german linguistic professor spend 5 years in that remote area with those people and finally got the clue from a couple of words that resembled greek gods.. there was no written record as writing wasnt their way of communications..
We rented a jeep to get there.. those 16 miles are deadly.. and reaching even Chitral is a huge task over clay roads in mountains .. even when one is close enough one cant notice their villages as they have camoflaged the houses in rocks to avoid any intruders.. but the view is breathtaking.. dark black houses .. black clothes and faces so different.. most of the tourists in that area are foregners.. we were lucky enough to visit a house as we befriended a group of Danish tourists who paid tehm to take photographs from inside their homes.. inside is even more primitive.. I heard these people get Greek nationality automatically as Greek Govt have recognized them as their own people.. I met a greek guy there and he told us many greek visit the place every year..
There are 3 main villages.. Birir, bambur and I forgot the last one.. Govt of Pakistan have declared teh area as self-rules and out of jurisdiction of Pakistani Law so wine is still brewed openly with grapes.. there are many shops and the area have become commercialized.. there are many motels.. they ahve several festivals relating to moon.. they love to dance .. we attended one of the dance..
Few interesting things I remember from them are: they used to leave tehir dead in graveyards openly and didnt bury.. one can still see old graveyards.. women are considered dirty due to periods, they dont like chiken.. married couple to to a remote place and live there for some time.. women cant go after some height in mountains..
Its a great adventure to visit that remote area but u should first try a flight from Peshawar to avoid that Lowari Pass! its neck breaking..
Degas, thank you for the interesting information relating to your trip to the region. Indeed the Kailash fascinate me tremendously and one day I intend to visit the area as well.
Are these folks truly displaced remnants of Alexander the Great's army or are they merely Caucasians that have existed on that land for many thousands of years? They're truly very beautiful people save for their rather distinct rituals and customs. Too bad they're kafir.
earliar post for this topic.. yes they are original Greek people..very different from local chitralis.. Govt of Pakistan actually banned to make them muslims.. since it would had deprived a lot of tourist attraction..
