History & Science

Kalash people (note the beautiful shade of blue in all the eyes)
It’s said that when Alexander the Great and his army reached the Hindu Kush mountains and found the Kalash they were amazed to find a people with whom they had no previous contact or knowledge that seemed to worship many similar and/or the same gods as the Macedonian Greeks.

“The Kalash (Nuristani: Kasivo) or Kalasha, are indigenous people of the Hindu Kush mountain range, residing in the Chitral district of the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. They speak the Kalash language, from the Dardic family of the Indo-Iranian languages, and are considered a unique tribe among the Indo-Aryan stock.”

“The culture of Kalash people is unique and differs drastically from the various ethnic groups surrounding them. They are polytheists and nature plays a highly significant and spiritual role in their daily life. As part of their religious tradition, sacrifices are offered and festivals held to give thanks for the abundant resources of their three valleys. Kalash mythology and folklore has been compared to that of ancient Greece, but they are much closer to Indo-Iranian (Vedic and pre-Zoroastrian) traditions.”

“…Kalash women usually wear long black robes, often embroidered with cowrie shells. For this reason, they are known in Chitral as “The Black Kafirs”. Men have adopted the Pakistani shalwar kameez, while children wear small versions of adult clothing after the age of four.

In contrast to the surrounding Pakistani culture, the Kalash do not in general separate males and females or frown on contact between the sexes. However, menstruating girls and women are sent to live in the “bashaleni”, the village menstrual building, during their periods, until they regain their “purity”. They are also required to give birth in the bashaleni. There is also a ritual restoring “purity” to a woman after childbirth which must be performed before a woman can return to her husband. The husband is an active participant in this ritual.

Marriage by elopement is rather frequent, also involving women who are already married to another man. Indeed, wife-elopement is counted as one of the “great customs” (ghōna dastūr) together with the main festivals.

Girls are usually married at an early age. If a woman wants to change husbands, she will write a letter to her prospective husband offering herself in marriage and informing the would-be groom how much her current husband paid for her. This is because the new husband must pay double if he wants her. For example, if the current husband paid one cow for her, then the new husband must pay two cows to the original husband if he wants her.

Wife-elopement may lead in some rare cases to a quasi-feud between clans until peace is negotiated by mediators, in the form of the double bride-price paid by the new husband to the ex-husband.

Kalash lineages (kam) separate as marriageable descendants have separated by over seven generations. A rite of “breaking agnation” (tatbře čhin) marks that previous agnates (tatbře) are now permissible affines (därak “clan partners). Each kam has a separate shrine in the clan’s Jēṣṭak-hān, the temple to lineal or familial goddess Jēṣṭak.”

“The Kalash are known as indigenous people of Chitral, and their ancestors migrated to Chitral from Afghanistan in the 2nd century BC. It is thought the Kalash descendants migrated to Afghanistan from a distant place in South Asia, which the Kalash call “Tsiyam” in their folk songs and epics…

…Allegations of “immorality” connected with their practices have led to the forcible conversion to Islam of several villages in the 1950s, which has led to heightened antagonism between the Kalash and the surrounding Muslims. Since the 1970s, schools and roads were built in some valleys.

Rehman and Ali (2001) report that pressure of radical Muslim organizations is on the increase…” -enWikipedia