Dardic peoples
The Dards are various ethnic groups living in north eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China.[1] The term Dard is due to Herodotus who described a land of the Dardikae the areas of north eastern Afghanistan.
Geographic distribution
The term "Dard" is an outdated one that has been used to describe various groups of often unrelated mountain tribesmen who inhabit a region between Badakhshan and Kashmir. The vast majority of Dardic peoples are to be found in Pakistan's northern areas as well as settled in many of the country's urban centres such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Although the Dardic languages do show similarities they are mostly very distinct from one another. The cultures of the Dardic peoples are also quite varied but they do share similarities due to their common mountainous environment and intertwined history.
The Shina language is spoken, apart from Gilgit, in Punial, Darail, Tangair, Astore and Gurez and Drass in Pakistan. It has many dialects, including Gilgiti Shina, Astori Shine, Ponyali Shina, Chilasi Shina and Gurezi Shina. The pronunciation of this language is very different. It is very important to make changes in the script of this language to make it easy.
Khowar is spoken in the Pakistani regions of Chitral, Yasin, Gupis, Koh-o-ghizar and Ishkoman.
Two non-Dardic languages which are spoken in the region are Balti, a Sino-Tibetan language and Burushaski a language isolate and still the topic of considerable interest for Pakistani linguists.
Dards in Afghanistan
There are also Dardic groups in north eastern Afghanistan such as the Pashai and the Kohistanis. The Nuristanis were previously considered to be Dards but are today classified as a distinct group.
Dards in Kashmir
Dards also inhabit Kashmir, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Shina speaking communities are located to the North of the Kashmir Valley in Gurez (District Baramulla) and in Drass in Kargil District. A further Dardic group known as the Brokpa reside in a few scattered villages in the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir and speak a distinct form of Shina. They profess the Islamic faith.
Dards in Pakistan
The people of Northernmost Pakistan are mostly Dards, including the people of Chitral, Gilgit, Kohistan and upper Swat.
Dards in China
Dardic groups like the Burusho of the Hunza valley, are found in small numbers in China. Periodically these groups enter China often for the purposes of business and trade.[2]
Religion
The vast majority of Dardic peoples are Muslims (Sunni, Shia and Ismaili) though a tiny percentage practice Hinduism and Buddhism. The Dards of Dah Hanu are nominally Buddhist but also worship their own Pantheon of gods, while the Kashmiri Pandits follow a brand of Saivaite Hinduism that has remained influential in the region for centuries. They have an Indo-European appearance in contrast to the predominantly Tibeto-Burman inhabitants of most of Ladakh. They live in very primitive conditions even when judged by the standards of Ladakh. The Kalash are exceptional in having retained their ancestral polytheistic religion.
Origin
Parpola (1999) identifies "Proto-Dardic" with "Proto-Rigvedic", suggesting that the Dards are the linguistic descendants of the bearers of early Rigvedic culture ca. 1700 BC, pointing to features in certain Dardic dialects that continue peculiarities of Rigvedic Sanskrit, such as the gerund in -tvī (p. 189).
See also
References
- Dards, Dardistan, and Dardic: an Ethnographic, Geographic, and Linguistic Conundrum
- Asko Parpola, 'The formation of the Aryan branch of Indo-European', in Blench and Spriggs (eds), Archaeology and Language III, London and New York (1999).