Kho people: Difference between revisions
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==History== |
==History== |
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The Kho people are likely descendants of those who migrated to their present location in Chitral from the south.<ref name="Cacopardo1991">{{cite journal |last1=Cacopardo |first1=Alberto |title=The Other Kalasha A Survey of Kalashamun-Speaking People in Southern Chitral: Part I: The Eastern Area |journal=East and West |date=1991 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=273-310 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29756980 |accessdate=25 January 2020 |publisher=Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO) |language=English |quote=... the language even today, while the rest are Kho people who have moved in from the south.}}</ref> Prior to their Islamisation, the Kho people followed a culture that is described to be of the [[Paristan|Peristani]]-type, and akin to that observed by the Kalash today,<ref name="CacopardoCacopardo2001">{{cite book|last1=Cacopardo|first1=Alberto M.|last2=Cacopardo|first2=Augusto S.|title=Gates of Peristan: history, religion and society in the Hindu Kush|year=2001|publisher=[[Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente]]|language=English|page=48}}</ref> which academics classify as [[ancient Hinduism]] or [[animism]].<ref name="West2010">{{cite book|last=West|first=Barbara A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA357|title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania|date=19 May 2010|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]]|language=English|isbn=9781438119137|page=357|quote=The Kalasha are a unique people living in just three valleys near Chitral, Pakistan, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan. Unlike their neighbors in the Hindu Kush Mountains on both the Afghani and Pakistani sides of the border the Kalasha have not converted to [[Islam]]. During the mid-20th century a few Kalasha villages in Pakistan were forcibly converted to this dominant religion, but the people fought the conversion and once official pressure was removed the vast majority continued to practice their own religion. Their religion is a form of Hinduism that recognizes many gods and spirits ... given their Indo-Aryan language, ... the religion of the Kalasha is much more closely aligned to the Hinduism of their Indian neighbors that to the religion of Alexander the Great and his armies.}}</ref><ref name="Bezhan2017">{{cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/28439107.html|title=Pakistan's Forgotten Pagans Get Their Due|last=Bezhan|first=Frud|date=19 April 2017|publisher=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]|language=English|accessdate=11 July 2017|quote=About half of the Kalash practice a form of ancient Hinduism infused with old pagan and animist beliefs.}}</ref><ref name="Jamil2019">{{cite web |last1=Jamil |first1=Kashif |title=The Joshi Festival and the rich Kalash culture |url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/393360/the-joshi-festival-and-the-rich-kalash-culture/ |publisher=[[Daily Times (Pakistan)|Daily Times]] |accessdate=25 January 2020 |language=English |date=13 May 2019 |quote=Some people are of the view that these people are the followers of ancient type of Hinduism called “snatan dharm” and according to some people they are animist even some people have declared them German and Albanian. ... It seems that there is a reflection of ancient Hindu culture on the civilisation of Kalash people, as Mahadev who is the most gigantic and the strongest lord in Hindu religion. In the same way he is known as Mahan-deo or Maloosh in the Kalash tribe who accepts the offerings of goats. The Joshi Festival is celebrated in the spring season in Kalash in the same way Hindu celebrate Holi festival in the spring. The way in boys and girls of bawaria Hindu tribe visit door to door by beating drum, eat butter and bread with cheese. The same ceremony is repeated on the event of joshi. Just like Hindus the people of Kalash don’t marry in blood relations and in same caste, rather they don’t marry if the caste is same in five or six races.}}</ref> After the arrival of [[Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent|Muslim rule in India]], many of the Kho converted to [[Islam]] in the fourthteenth century, though some previous customs continue to persist.<ref name="Bashir1996">{{cite book |last1=Bashir |first1=Elena |title=Proceedings of the Second International Hindukush Cultural Conference |date=1996 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-577571-6 |page=140 |language=English |quote=This was a pre-Islamic custom in Kho society which has continued to exist even after the people converted to Islam in the fourteenth century, even though there is not any room for such beliefs in the religion.}}</ref> With respect to Islam, the Kho are primarily [[Ismaili Muslim]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Olson |first1=James Stuart |title=An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China |date=1998 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-28853-1 |language=English |page=177 |quote=In the Upper Chitral region, most Kho are Ismaili Muslims, who the Hanafi Sunnis consider to be an inferior people.}}</ref> |
The Kho people are likely descendants of those who migrated to their present location in Chitral from the south.<ref name="Cacopardo1991">{{cite journal |last1=Cacopardo |first1=Alberto |title=The Other Kalasha A Survey of Kalashamun-Speaking People in Southern Chitral: Part I: The Eastern Area |journal=East and West |date=1991 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=273-310 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29756980 |accessdate=25 January 2020 |publisher=Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO) |language=English |quote=... the language even today, while the rest are Kho people who have moved in from the south.}}</ref> Prior to their Islamisation, the Kho people followed a culture that is described to be of the [[Paristan|Peristani]]-type, and practiced a faith akin to that observed by the Kalash today,<ref name="BashirUddin1996">{{cite book |last1=Bashir |first1=Elena |last2=ud-Din |first2=Israr |title=Proceedings of the Second International Hindukush Cultural Conference |date=1996 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-577571-6 |page=viii |language=English |quote=Before conversion, the Kho people had the same beliefs as the Kalasha have even to this day.}}</ref><ref name="CacopardoCacopardo2001">{{cite book|last1=Cacopardo|first1=Alberto M.|last2=Cacopardo|first2=Augusto S.|title=Gates of Peristan: history, religion and society in the Hindu Kush|year=2001|publisher=[[Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente]]|language=English|page=48}}</ref> which academics classify as [[ancient Hinduism]] or [[animism]].<ref name="West2010">{{cite book|last=West|first=Barbara A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA357|title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania|date=19 May 2010|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]]|language=English|isbn=9781438119137|page=357|quote=The Kalasha are a unique people living in just three valleys near Chitral, Pakistan, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan. Unlike their neighbors in the Hindu Kush Mountains on both the Afghani and Pakistani sides of the border the Kalasha have not converted to [[Islam]]. During the mid-20th century a few Kalasha villages in Pakistan were forcibly converted to this dominant religion, but the people fought the conversion and once official pressure was removed the vast majority continued to practice their own religion. Their religion is a form of Hinduism that recognizes many gods and spirits ... given their Indo-Aryan language, ... the religion of the Kalasha is much more closely aligned to the Hinduism of their Indian neighbors that to the religion of Alexander the Great and his armies.}}</ref><ref name="Bezhan2017">{{cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/28439107.html|title=Pakistan's Forgotten Pagans Get Their Due|last=Bezhan|first=Frud|date=19 April 2017|publisher=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]|language=English|accessdate=11 July 2017|quote=About half of the Kalash practice a form of ancient Hinduism infused with old pagan and animist beliefs.}}</ref><ref name="Jamil2019">{{cite web |last1=Jamil |first1=Kashif |title=The Joshi Festival and the rich Kalash culture |url=https://dailytimes.com.pk/393360/the-joshi-festival-and-the-rich-kalash-culture/ |publisher=[[Daily Times (Pakistan)|Daily Times]] |accessdate=25 January 2020 |language=English |date=13 May 2019 |quote=Some people are of the view that these people are the followers of ancient type of Hinduism called “snatan dharm” and according to some people they are animist even some people have declared them German and Albanian. ... It seems that there is a reflection of ancient Hindu culture on the civilisation of Kalash people, as Mahadev who is the most gigantic and the strongest lord in Hindu religion. In the same way he is known as Mahan-deo or Maloosh in the Kalash tribe who accepts the offerings of goats. The Joshi Festival is celebrated in the spring season in Kalash in the same way Hindu celebrate Holi festival in the spring. The way in boys and girls of bawaria Hindu tribe visit door to door by beating drum, eat butter and bread with cheese. The same ceremony is repeated on the event of joshi. Just like Hindus the people of Kalash don’t marry in blood relations and in same caste, rather they don’t marry if the caste is same in five or six races.}}</ref> After the arrival of [[Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent|Muslim rule in India]], many of the Kho converted to [[Islam]] in the fourthteenth century, though some previous customs continue to persist.<ref name="Bashir1996">{{cite book |last1=Bashir |first1=Elena |title=Proceedings of the Second International Hindukush Cultural Conference |date=1996 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-577571-6 |page=140 |language=English |quote=This was a pre-Islamic custom in Kho society which has continued to exist even after the people converted to Islam in the fourteenth century, even though there is not any room for such beliefs in the religion.}}</ref> With respect to Islam, the Kho are primarily [[Ismaili Muslim]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Olson |first1=James Stuart |title=An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China |date=1998 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-28853-1 |language=English |page=177 |quote=In the Upper Chitral region, most Kho are Ismaili Muslims, who the Hanafi Sunnis consider to be an inferior people.}}</ref> |
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==Demographics== |
==Demographics== |
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Revision as of 13:46, 27 January 2020
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2018) |
کھو | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| 332,200[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Chitral District, Ghizer District, Gilgit-Baltistan, Jammu and Kashmir | |
 Pakistan | 313,000 (2016)[1] |
| Languages | |
| Khowar | |
| Religion | |
| Hanafi Sunni Islam,[2] Ismaili Islam[2] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Kalasha people, other Indo-Aryan peoples | |
The Kho (/koʊ/,[3] Khowar: کھو) or Chitrali people are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Dardistan region.[2] They speak Khowar, which is a member of the Dardic subgroup of the Indo-Aryan language family.[2] Many Kho people live in the Chitral, Ghizer and Gilgit-Baltistan districts of Pakistan.[1]
History
The Kho people are likely descendants of those who migrated to their present location in Chitral from the south.[4] Prior to their Islamisation, the Kho people followed a culture that is described to be of the Peristani-type, and practiced a faith akin to that observed by the Kalash today,[5][6] which academics classify as ancient Hinduism or animism.[7][8][9] After the arrival of Muslim rule in India, many of the Kho converted to Islam in the fourthteenth century, though some previous customs continue to persist.[10] With respect to Islam, the Kho are primarily Ismaili Muslims.[11]
Demographics
Historically the Kho people reside in the Dardistan region. As such, they are a Dardic ethnic group located primarily in South Asia. Many of the Kho people live in the Chitral District of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a smaller number also live in Ghizer District of Gilgit Baltistan (including the Yasin Valley, Phandar Ishkoman and Gupis). They are also found in few numbers in northern Afghanistan, where the majority of them live in the northern provinces of Badakhshan.[1]
Culture
Kho culture places heavy emphasis on poetry, song and dance. Kho people also have a great respect of law and order. Much of this can be attributed to Chitral being a stable kingdom for most of its history,[12] where the rule of law and the will of the ruler came before tribal concepts such as revenge and isolationism. Many Kho believe that their customs and language is much more rich, polite, and sophisticated in comparison to their neighbours.[13]
Polo is a popular sport and pastime for the Kho people. The polo traditionally played by the Kho has little rules or organisation.[13]
Dance and music play a large role in Kho society. Common clothing include the salwar kameez (long tunic and trousers) and headwear includes the pakol (chitrali hat).[13]
Because of Chitral's location at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia, the Kho display a wide variety of cultures, largely depending upon their ancestral ethnic group and family history.
Languages
The Kho people speak the Khowar language, a member of the Dardic subgroup of the Indo-Aryan language family. The ethnologists Karl Jettmar and Lennart Edelberg noted, with respect to the Khowar language, that: "Khowar, in many respects [is] the most archaic of all modern Indian languages, retaining a great part of Sanskrit case inflexion, and retaining many words in a nearly Sanskritic form.”[14]
Khowar is spoken by about 247,000 Kho people in northern Pakistan,[15] Some of the Kho people use Urdu as a second language.[16]
Genetics
The western Eurasian haplogroups were observed predominantly and mostly shared in Kho samples with overall frequency of 50%. These include HV8, H19, H57, H24, C and, C4a haplogroups. The South Asian haplogroups and its relevant subgroups including U4, U4c, U6, U5a, and W were also found in Kho samples with overall 37.5% frequency. The haplogroups and haplotypes specify the origin and linkages of an individual and population. The haplogroup analysis eventually demonstrates the western Eurasian ancestral origin of Kho samples. Another South Asian haplogroup, M30 was also identified for Kho samples with frequency of 6.2%. This indicates the genetic affiliation of Kho with the South Asian populations.[17]
Folk music
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Folk singers and reed instrument players have a special respect in the Kho society and are featured in their festivities. The most common instruments are Surnai Shehnai, Sitar, and reed instruments. The Kho sitar is a popular musical instrument in Chitral. It is made out of mulberry wood with five steel strings arranged in three courses, the outer ones have double strings, tuned in unison, while the inner course is single. Popular music of the area includes:
- Shishtoo-war (Sauz), a popular folk music played with shehnai on happy occasions, mostly at marriages.
- Shab-daraaz (Dani) is a sad tone based on heartbroken love poems.
- Ghalhwar is a combination of Dani and Sauz. This is a mixture of fast and classical music played at the starting of a polo match.
Notable people from Chitral
See also
References
- ^ a b c d "Khowar". Ethnologue. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
- ^ a b c d Olson, James Stuart (1998). An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 177. ISBN 9780313288531.
- ^ O'Leary, Clare F.; Rensch, Calvin Ross; Decker, Sandra J. (1992). Sociolinguistic Survey of Northern Pakistan: Languages of Chitral. National Institute of Pakistan Studies at Quaid-i-Azam University. p. 22.
- ^ Cacopardo, Alberto (1991). "The Other Kalasha A Survey of Kalashamun-Speaking People in Southern Chitral: Part I: The Eastern Area". East and West. 41 (1). Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO): 273–310. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
... the language even today, while the rest are Kho people who have moved in from the south.
- ^ Bashir, Elena; ud-Din, Israr (1996). Proceedings of the Second International Hindukush Cultural Conference. Oxford University Press. p. viii. ISBN 978-0-19-577571-6.
Before conversion, the Kho people had the same beliefs as the Kalasha have even to this day.
- ^ Cacopardo, Alberto M.; Cacopardo, Augusto S. (2001). Gates of Peristan: history, religion and society in the Hindu Kush. Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente. p. 48.
- ^ West, Barbara A. (19 May 2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. p. 357. ISBN 9781438119137.
The Kalasha are a unique people living in just three valleys near Chitral, Pakistan, the capital of North-West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan. Unlike their neighbors in the Hindu Kush Mountains on both the Afghani and Pakistani sides of the border the Kalasha have not converted to Islam. During the mid-20th century a few Kalasha villages in Pakistan were forcibly converted to this dominant religion, but the people fought the conversion and once official pressure was removed the vast majority continued to practice their own religion. Their religion is a form of Hinduism that recognizes many gods and spirits ... given their Indo-Aryan language, ... the religion of the Kalasha is much more closely aligned to the Hinduism of their Indian neighbors that to the religion of Alexander the Great and his armies.
- ^ Bezhan, Frud (19 April 2017). "Pakistan's Forgotten Pagans Get Their Due". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
About half of the Kalash practice a form of ancient Hinduism infused with old pagan and animist beliefs.
- ^ Jamil, Kashif (13 May 2019). "The Joshi Festival and the rich Kalash culture". Daily Times. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
Some people are of the view that these people are the followers of ancient type of Hinduism called "snatan dharm" and according to some people they are animist even some people have declared them German and Albanian. ... It seems that there is a reflection of ancient Hindu culture on the civilisation of Kalash people, as Mahadev who is the most gigantic and the strongest lord in Hindu religion. In the same way he is known as Mahan-deo or Maloosh in the Kalash tribe who accepts the offerings of goats. The Joshi Festival is celebrated in the spring season in Kalash in the same way Hindu celebrate Holi festival in the spring. The way in boys and girls of bawaria Hindu tribe visit door to door by beating drum, eat butter and bread with cheese. The same ceremony is repeated on the event of joshi. Just like Hindus the people of Kalash don't marry in blood relations and in same caste, rather they don't marry if the caste is same in five or six races.
- ^ Bashir, Elena (1996). Proceedings of the Second International Hindukush Cultural Conference. Oxford University Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-19-577571-6.
This was a pre-Islamic custom in Kho society which has continued to exist even after the people converted to Islam in the fourteenth century, even though there is not any room for such beliefs in the religion.
- ^ Olson, James Stuart (1998). An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 177. ISBN 978-0-313-28853-1.
In the Upper Chitral region, most Kho are Ismaili Muslims, who the Hanafi Sunnis consider to be an inferior people.
- ^ "chitral". Royalark.net. 1 June 1937. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
- ^ a b c Winston, Robert, ed. (2004). Human: The Definitive Visual Guide. New York: Dorling Kindersley. p. 433. ISBN 0-7566-0520-2.
- ^ Jettmar, Karl; Edelberg, Lennart (1974). Cultures of the Hindukush. F. Steiner Verlag. p. 3. ISBN 9783515012171.
- ^ "Khowar Language". 25 January 2012.
- ^ Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D. (2017). Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Twentieth Edition. Dallas: SIL International.
- ^ Aziz, Shahid; Nawaz, Mehwish; Afridi, Sahib Gul; Khan, Asifullah (1 April 2019). "Genetic structure of Kho population from north-western Pakistan based on mtDNA control region sequences". Genetica. 147 (2): 177–183. doi:10.1007/s10709-019-00060-8. ISSN 1573-6857. PMID 30887215.