Kalasha Valleys
Kalash وادی کیلاش | |
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;_Tahsin_Shah_01.jpg) The three remote valleys are home to the animist Kalash people
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The Kalasha Valleys (
Birir
), is a side valley of the Kunar Valley south of Bumburet.
Geography and Natural Environment
Kalasha Valley is located at an elevation of over 6,500 feet above sea level, and is characterized by steep slopes, narrow gorges, and rocky terrain. The area is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna, including rare species such as the snow leopard and the Himalayan black bear.
The Three Valleys
The inhabitants of the valleys are the
Birir
), is a side valley of the Kunar Valley south of Bumburet.
Kalash people
The Kalash people are a small religious and ethnic minority of Pakistan. The Kalash religion is
Hinduism and the people offer sacrifices for their gods. Their culture is interlinked with their religion and includes several unique festivals and celebrations. The people generally do not intermarry or cohabit regions with local Muslims but neither are they hostile towards them. The people are under legal and constitutional protection of the State of Pakistan as a scheduled tribe.[citation needed
]
Gallery
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Typical homes in the Kalasha Valleys -
A school in the Kalasha Valleys -
A Kalasha woman
See also
- Ancient Greeks
- Alexander the Great
- Kaghan Valley
- Neelam Valley
- Naltar Valley
- Hunza Valley
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kalasha Valleys.
References
- ^ ISBN 9781438119137. Archivedfrom the original on 11 May 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
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 and has been related to the religion of the ancient Greeks, who mythology says are the ancestors of the contemporary Kalash… However, it is much more likely, given their Indo-Aryan language, that the religion of the Kalasha is much more closely aligned to the Hinduism of their Indian neighbors than to the religion of Alexander the Great and his armies.
- ^ ISBN 9781610690188.
Living in the high mountain valleys, the Nuristani retained their ancient culture and their religion, a form of ancient Hinduism with many customs and rituals developed locally. Certain deities were revered only by one tribe or community, but one deity was universally worshipped by all Nuristani as the Creator, the Hindu god Yama Raja, called imr'o or imra by the Nuristani tribes.
- ^ "The Kalasha Valleys". Kalasha Heritage Conservation. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
- ^ Kalash Valley Archived 2019-07-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Invisible Landscape Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Kalasha Valleys". Kalasha Heritage Conservation. Archived from the original on 11 November 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
- ^ "Kalash Valley". Archived from the original on 2019-07-27. Retrieved 2014-09-08.
- ^ "The invisible landscape. Chapter 2" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2014-09-08.