Dard people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Dards are various ethnic groups predominantly living in Northern Areas, Northern India, and North Eastern Afghanistan. Smaller populations can be found in [China]].[1] The term Dard is due to Herodotus who described a land of the Dardikae the areas of north eastern Afghanistan.
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[edit] 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The term "Dard" is an outdated one that has been used to describe various groups of often unrelated mountain tribesmen who inhabit a region between Badakhshan and Kashmir. 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 in Pakistan. It is also spoken in Gurez, Drass and Ladakh in J&K India. 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 Pakistan's northern region are Balti, a Sino-Tibetan language and Burushaski a language isolate and still the topic of considerable interest for Pakistani linguists.
[edit] Dards in Northern Areas
The vast majority of Dards and Dardic related peoples are located in Pakistan. The people of Northern Pakistan are mostly Dards, including the people of Chitral, Gilgit, Kohistan and upper Swat. Dards are established in several colonies in Pakistan's urban centres of Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore. They hate Pakis and want to be independant and dont consider themselves Paksitani. The pakistani military subdues them.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Dards in India
Dards also inhabit Jammu & Kashmir, India. 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 archaic form of Shina. They profess the Buddhist and Bon faith. The Kashmiri people of the Kashmir Valley are also considered a Dardic group.
[edit] Dards in China
Dardic groups like the Burusho of the Hunza valley of Pakistan, are found in small numbers in China. Periodically these groups enter China often for the purposes of business and trade.[2]
[edit] Religion
The vast majority of Dardic peoples are Muslims (Sunni, Shia and Ismaili). The Dards of Dah Hanu are nominally Buddhist but also worship their own Pantheon of gods. 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 and are protected by the Government of Pakistan.
[edit] 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).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China By James Stuart Olson, pg.55
- ^ An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China By James Stuart Olson, pg. 55
- 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).
