Kalash people and religion

[SangasCoverDrive]

Some people believe that they are descendants of Alexander The Great while the historians suggest that they are actually indigenous to Nuristan and Chitral in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Their religion seems to be quite similar to Hinduism as well.


Are Kalash people under threat? Because I have never heard of them outside Chitral and there is not even a single famous Kalash in Pakistan and it seems like they are estranged from the rest of Pakistan.

 

[street cricketer]

They are Dardic people with possibly the most "white people" features in the subcontinent (maybe due to less intermarriage). They follow pagan practises and are a very small community in Pakistan, and apparently becoming smaller. I remember seeing a documentary about them a few years back which was very interesting. Oh and they eat something that is made similar to how a dosa would be made, only they do so with their bare hands rather than the ladle!

The Nuristanis are also related people, living in the Nuristan region of Afghanistan. One interesting trivia about the region is that Nuristan was historically called "Kafiristan" in the distant past as it was the only region that had not yet islamicised and were following pagan practices similar to the Kalash people in Pakistan. But that all changed when one of the emperors of Afghanistan conducted a military campaign and forcefully converted the population. Now they are all muslim but do have certain residual pagan practices. They apparently were huge on wine making on mountains before their conversion but that all stopped as wine drinking was deemed unislamic. And the places where wines used to be made in the steep mountains are still there.

 

[Giannis]

Kalash don't have a religion, they call their philosphy or "belief system" their 'dastur' which has influences of Iranian paganism and animism . They're not under threat because their community and their villages are protected by the Government of Pakistan against any prosletyizing, the reason their numbers are shrinking are because they're a liberal community that gives their women a lot of freedom so a lot of Kalash women and to a lesser extent Kalash men, have been marrying Muslims (Mostly Pashtuns), converting and moving out of the valley.

They have no connection to the Greeks, they're a Dardic/Indo-Aryan people related to the other groups in the region and most likely have Scythian origin.

 

[SangasCoverDrive]

Kalash don't have a religion, they call their philosphy or "belief system" their 'dastur' which has influences of Iranian paganism and animism . They're not under threat because their community and their villages are protected by the Government of Pakistan against any prosletyizing, the reason their numbers are shrinking are because they're a liberal community that gives their women a lot of freedom so a lot of Kalash women and to a lesser extent Kalash men, have been marrying Muslims (Mostly Pashtuns), converting and moving out of the valley.

They have no connection to the Greeks, they're a Dardic/Indo-Aryan people related to the other groups in the region and most likely have Scythian origin.

Do they choose to marry or are forced to marry? Bc forced marriages/conversions is not something unheard of in Pakistan

 

[King-Misbah]

Do they choose to marry or are forced to marry? Bc forced marriages/conversions is not something unheard of in Pakistan

They are not forced to marry, I never heard a case. They live their own way in their community.

 

[PetroDollars]

There religion is Animism, known as one of the first religions ever, it pre dates hinduism by many thousand of years, so its the other way, hinduism is similar to animism.

 

[guna]

Kalash culture and religion will not exist in the future. Their women are marrying Muslims and the rest are being converted. Very sad to see this happening.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...187be6-dd22-11e8-8bac-bfe01fcdc3a6_story.html

 

[guna]

There religion is Animism, known as one of the first religions ever, it pre dates hinduism by many thousand of years, so its the other way, hinduism is similar to animism.

Hinduism encapsulates everything. From Monotheist to Polytheist, from nature and animal worship to Supreme Creator worship. Hinduism is just an umbrella term for the culture and practices of subcontinent.

 

[PakLFC]

They worship a nearby mountain and nature. The belief of these people is very different to Hinduism.

 

[PetroDollars]

Kalash culture and religion will not exist in the future. Their women are marrying Muslims and the rest are being converted. Very sad to see this happening.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...187be6-dd22-11e8-8bac-bfe01fcdc3a6_story.html

So a bit like how Zoroastrianism went and we ended up with bukahri.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Kalash culture and religion will not exist in the future. Their women are marrying Muslims and the rest are being converted. Very sad to see this happening.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...187be6-dd22-11e8-8bac-bfe01fcdc3a6_story.html

Dont be sad, they dont know you. They can willfully do what they wish. Amazing people with great culture & history. Im looking forward to visiting them in the future.

 

[Tubs]

Pretty sure they are animists. But I have also heard some of their beliefs being referred to as ancient Hinduism. Since modern Hinduism is the amalgamation of various Vedic religious traditions spanning thousands of years, it makes sense for an isolated tribe to be following an ancient form of Hinduism.

Their cultural erasure sure is a shame, though.

 

[Giannis]

Pretty sure they are animists. But I have also heard some of their beliefs being referred to as ancient Hinduism. Since modern Hinduism is the amalgamation of various Vedic religious traditions spanning thousands of years, it makes sense for an isolated tribe to be following an ancient form of Hinduism.

Their cultural erasure sure is a shame, though.

It isn't an ancient "form of hinduism", their dastur (as they call it) stems from Proto-Vedic beliefs and Iranic paganism

 

[Giannis]

Hinduism encapsulates everything. From Monotheist to Polytheist, from nature and animal worship to Supreme Creator worship. Hinduism is just an umbrella term for the culture and practices of subcontinent.

It's got nothing to do with Hinduism, their belief system existed long before Hinduism. There are similiarities but that's because all ancient Indo-European religions from Nordic, Slavic, Greek and Iranic religions all shared very similar mythologies and beliefs so the Kalash tradition is under the Indo-European umbrella. Putting them under a "hinduism category" is disingenious and reeks of Hindu nationalism, I remember similar attempts of Indians claiming Yazidism as a branch of Hinduism back in 2014 when the whole ISIS seige of the Yazidis happened.


All ancient Indo-European religions are related to each other, they shouldn't be put under the "umbrella" of another.

 

[Tubs]

It isn't an ancient "form of hinduism", their dastur (as they call it) stems from Proto-Vedic beliefs and Iranic paganism

Yeah, I did say it has been referred to as such, but I shouldn't have worded my last line like that, I happily concede that. But as I said, proto-Vedic is what I meant by 'ancient Hinduism', as I explicitly said how Hinduism is the amalgamation of many ancient Vedic practices.