In the mid-1890s, after the establishment of theDurand Line when Afghanistan and theBritish Indian Empire reached an agreement regarding the Indo-Afghan border as the region of Kafiristan became part ofthe Great Game and for a period of time,EmirAbdur Rahman Khan conducted a military campaign to secure the eastern regions and followed up his conquest by imposition of Islam;[7][8] the region thenceforth being known asNuristan, the "Land of Light".[9][10][11][12] Before their conversion, the Nuristanis practised an Indo-Iranian (Vedic- orHindu-like) religion.[a][4][13][3] Non-Muslim religious practices endure in Nuristan today to some degree as folk customs. In their native rural areas, they are often farmers, herders, and dairymen.
The Nuristan region has been a prominent location for war, which has led to the death of many indigenous Nuristanis.[14][15] Nuristan has also received abundance of settlers from the surrounding Afghan regions due to the borderline vacant location.[16][17]
Before their conversion to Islâm the Nuristânis practiced a form ofancient Hinduism, infused with accretions developed locally.[18]
They acknowledged a number of human-like deities who lived in the unseen Deity World (Kâmviri d'e lu; cf. Sanskritdeva lok'a-).[18]
Mitch Weiss and Kevin Maurer describe the Nuristanis of having traditionally practising a "primitive" form ofHinduism, up until the late nineteenth century, before their conversions toIslam.[3]
Certain deities were revered only in one community or tribe, but one was universally revered as the creator: the Hindu godYama Râja called imr'o in Kâmviri.[18] There is a creator god, appearing under various names, as lord of the nether world and of heaven:Yama Rājan, orMāra ('death', Nuristani),[19] orDezau (ḍezáw) whose name is derived fromIndo-European *dheiǵh- i.e. "to form" (Kati Nuristani dez "to create", CDIAL 14621); Dezauhe is also called by thePersian termKhodaii. There are a number of other deities, semi-gods and spirits. The Kalash pantheon is thus one of the few living representatives of Indo-European religion.
They believed in many deities, whose names resembled those ofIranian and oldVedic sources. There was a supreme deity named Mara orImra, plus a multitude of lesser gods and goddesses known locally as Mandi orMoni, Wushum or Shomde,Gish or Giwish, Bagisht,Indr, Züzum,Disani, Kshumai or Kime etc. According to Michael Witzel, some of these gods, especially Disani, Moni, and Gish, have direct parallels inShinto, the native religion ofJapan, indicating a shared history dating back to 2000 BCE.[20][21]
Each village and clan had its guardian deity, withshamans advising those seeking help and priests officiating at religious services. The cult centered on the sacrifice of animals, mostly goats.[22]
The area extending from modern Nuristan to Kashmir was known as "Peristan", a vast area containing a host of Nuristani cultures and Indo-European languages that became Islamized over a long period. Earlier, it was surrounded byBuddhist states and societies which temporarily extended literacy and state rule to the region. The journey to the region was perilous according to reports of Chinese pilgrimsFa-hsien andSung Yun. The decline of Buddhism resulted in the region becoming heavily isolated. The Islamization of the nearbyBadakhshan began in the 8th century and Peristan was completely surrounded by Muslim states in the 16th century. TheKalash people of lowerChitral are the last surviving heirs of the area.[23]
The region was calledKafiristan because while the surrounding populations were converted toIslam, the people in this region retained their traditional religion, and were thus known as "Kafirs" to the Muslims. The Arabic word"Kufr" means disbelief and the related word"Kafir" means one who does not believe in Islam. The majority were converted to Islam duringAbdur Rahman Khan's rule around 1895. The province is now known as Nuristan and the people as Nuristanis. However, among the rural population many old customs and beliefs like occasional production of wine have continued.[24][25]
In the 4th century BC,Alexander the Great encountered them and finally defeated them after they put up a stubborn and prolonged resistance, describing them as being distinct culturally and religiously from other peoples of the region.[1]
Nuristanis were formerly classified into "Siah-Posh (black-robed) and "Safed-Posh (white-robed)/Lall-Posh (Red-Robed).[26]Timur fought with and was humbled by the Siah-Posh.[27]Babur advised not to tangle with them.Genghis Khan passed by them.[28]
Another jihad against idolatry was at length resolved on; and Mahmud led the seventh one against Nardain, the then boundary ofIndia, or the eastern part of theHindu Kush; separating, asFerishta says, the countries of Hindustan andTurkistan and remarkable for its excellent fruit. The country into which the army ofGhazni marched appears to have been the same as that now called Kafirstan, where the inhabitants were and still are, idolaters and are named the Siah-Posh, or black-vested, by the Muslims of later times. In Nardain there was a temple, which the army of Ghazni destroyed; and brought from thence a stone covered with certain inscriptions, which were according to the Hindus, of great antiquity.[29]
The first reference to Siah-Posh Kafirs occurs in Timur's invasion ofAfghanistan in 1398 CE. Timur's autobiography (Tuzak-i-Timuri) amply attests that he had battled both with the Katirs as well as the Kam sections of the Siah-Posh (black-robed) Kafirs of theHindu Kush mountains.Timur invaded Afghanistan in March 1398. On the basis of local complaints of ill-treatment and extortions filed by theMuslims against theKafirs, Timur personally attacked theKators of the Siah-Posh group located north-east ofKabul in eastern Afghanistan. The Kators left theirfortNajil and took refuge at the top of the hill. Timur razed the fort to ground, burnt their houses and surrounded the hill where the Kator had collected for shelter. The relic of the historic fort is said to still exist a little north to Najil in the form of a structure known asTimur Hissar (Timur's Fort). After a tough fight, some of the Kators were defeated and were instantly put to death while the others held out against heavy odds for three days. Timur offered themdeath orIslam. They chose the latter, but soon recanted and attacked the regiment of Muslim soldiers during night. The latter being on guard, fought back, killed numerous Kators and took 150 as prisoners and put them to death afterwards.Next day, Timur ordered histroops to advance on all four sides tokill all men, enslave the women and children and plunder or lay waste all their property. In his autobiography calledTuzak-i-Timuri, Timur proudly boasts of thetowers of the skulls of the Kators which he built on the mountain in the auspicious month ofRamazan A.H. 800 (1300 CE)[30]
Again, according to Timur's autobiography (Tuzak-i-Timuri), a military division of ten thousand Muslim soldiers was sent against the Siah-Posh (Kam) Kafirs under the command of General Aglan Khan to either slay these infidels or else to convert them into Islam. Tuzak-i-Timuri frankly admits that the regiment was badly routed by a small number of Siah-Posh Kafirs. The Muslim forces had to flee from the battle-field leaving their horses and armour. Another detachment had to be sent under Muhammad Azad which fought gallantly and recovered the horses and the armour lost by General Aglan and came back home, leaving the Siah-Posh alone.[31]
Timur does not boast of any killings or imprisonment of the Siah-Poshes as he does for the Katirs and numerous other communities of India proper. He gives no further details of his conflict with the Siah-Poshes in his Tuzak-i-Timuri after this encounter, which suggests the outcome of the fight against the Siah-Poshes was very costly and shameful for Timur.[32][33]
Other references to these Kafirs are made in the fifteenth and later in sixteenth century during theMughal period.
In 1839, the Kafirs sent a deputation to Sir William Macnaghten in Jalalabad claiming relationship with the fair skinned British troops who had invaded the country[34]
At the time of the Afghan conquest of Kafiristan, a small number of Kom and Kati Kafirs fled east toChitral (modern Pakistan) where they were allowed to settle by the Mehtar. There they practised their faith for a few more decades, before finally converting to Islam as well. The final known non-converted Kafir was settled in a Chitrali village known as Urtsun.[35] This Kafir's name was Chanlu, and he converted in 1938, several months after being interviewed about the cosmology of the Kati.[36]
In Chitral, the Nuristanis are known either as Bashgalis (as most migrated from a valley of Nuristan called Bashgal in the ChitraliKhowar language), or alternatively as Sheikhan (a generic term for recent converts to Islam). The exact population size of Nuristanis in Chitral is unknown, but members of the community estimate that they number at least 12 000.[37] All of them are speakers of theKamkata-vari language, also known locally asSheikhani.
Prior to 1895, the Kafirs of theHindu Kush were classified into two groups: the Siah-posh (black clad) and the Safed-posh (white clad) Kafirs, also known as the Lal-posh (red-clad), so-called because of the colour of the robes they wore. But the British investigatorGeorge Scott Robertson who visited Kafiristan and studied the Kafirs for about two years (1889–1891) improved upon the old classification by recognising that the Safed-posh Kafirs were actually members of several separate clans, viz, the Waigulis, Presungulis or Viron, and the Ashkuns.[38] The later three groups of the Kafirs used to be collectively known as Sped-Posh Kafirs.
The term Siah-posh Kafirs used to designate the dominant group of Hindu Kush Kafirs inhabiting theBashgal Valley. The Siah-posh Kafirs have sometimes been confused withKalasha people of the neighbouringChitral region inPakistan.
The Siah-Posh tribe was divided into Siah-posh Katirs or Kamtoz, Siah-poshMumans or Madugals, Siah-posh Kashtoz or Kashtan, Siah-posh Gourdesh or Istrat, and Siah-posh Kams or Kamoze. The Siah-posh Katirs were further divided into the Katirs, who occupied twelve villages of the lower Bashgul (Kam) country, the Kti or Katawar, who lived in two villages in the Kti Valley, the Kulam, and the Ramguli, the most numerous group, living in twenty four villages in the Ramgul Valley, in the westernmost part of Kafiristan on theAfghan frontier.[39]
All Siah-posh groups of Kafirs were regarded as of common origin. They all had a common dress and customs and spoke closely related dialects ofKati.[40] Nicholas Barrington et al. reported that the Waigulis and Presungulis referred to all Siah-posh Kafirs as Katirs.[41]
While the Kamtoz of the lower Bashgul valley were the most numerous, the Kam of the upper Bashgul valley were the most intractable and fierce and dreaded for their military prowess.[42]
Some earlier writers had speculated and propagated the myth that the Kafirs of the Hindu Kush may have descended from the army ofAlexander the Great. The Pakistani Tourist Bureau still continues to propagate that the peoples in the mountains are descendants of soldiers from the army of Alexander[43] but Greek descent of Kafirs has been discounted byH. W. Bellew,George Scott Robertson and many later scholars.[44][45][46][47] However some other people do believe in their authenticity of this tale that some of the Kalash themselves claim as being descendants of Alexander's army.[48] This list of people who propagate the Kalash's ancestry claim is true includes Sir George Scott Robertson,[49] andEric S. Margolis.[50]
The Siah-Posh Kafirs themselves claim to have descended from certain Koresh (Gurashi/Gorish or Goraish) a name linked toQurayshtribe ofArabs[51][52][53][54][55] but this is merely a fashionable fiction.[56] H. W. Bellew relates name Gurish/Gorish or Koresh of the Kafirs accounts to Kurush and writes that Koresh or Kurush is thenational designation of the Kafir tribes of Kafiristan, north of Laghman.[57] Bellew further speculates that Koresh (or Kurush) may have been the family name of theCyrus, king ofPersia who was born in theCabul country.[58] Keruch, according to Bellew is the name of a Rajput clan which may have been adopted into the Rajput nation though of different race and descent.[59] Thus, Bellew seem to relate Siah-Posh Kafirs to theIranians.
George Scott Robertson also rejects Greek origin of the Kafirs. According to him, the present dominant clans ofKafirstan viz. the Katirs (Kamtoz), the Kams (Kamoz) and the Wais are mainly descended from the ancientIndian population of easternAfghanistan who refused to embraceIslam in tenth century, and fled for refuge from victorious Muslims to the hillyfastnesses ofKafirstan. There they probably found other races already settled, whom they vanquished, drove away, or enslaved, or with whom they amalgamated.[60]
According to Donald Wilber and other recent writers,anthropological data suggests that the Kafirs are not the tenth century migrants to Kafirstan but are a remnant of the original population of the area which according to some wasDravidian but according to the othersIndo-Aryan. They appear to bea mixture of an extremely ancient element related to oldest known population of centralHimalayas (the Presuns), the element with resemblance to theKurds and a type withNordic andDinaric traits (the Siah-Posh/Wai groups) which goes back to the ancient prototype of these races preserved in the midst ofIndo-Aryan ascendancy.[61][62][63][64]
GeneralIssa Nuristani was second in command following the King during theSoviet invasion of Afghanistan, being the commander of the 1st Central Army Corps. Before his assassination, General Issa called the Nuristani people in a "Jihad" against the Soviet Army and theAfghan Armed Forces. Led by theKoms tribe, the Nuristani were the first citizens ofAfghanistan to revolt againstSaur Revolution in 1978. They played an important role in the conquering of some provinces, includingKunar,Nangarhar,Badakhshan, andPanjshir. Thereafter, Nuristan remained a scene of some of the bloodiest guerrilla fighting with the Soviet forces from 1979 through 1989. Following the withdrawal of the Soviet troops in 1989, theMawlawi Ghulam Rabbani was declared as governor of the Kunar Province. The Nuristanis inspired others to fight and contributed to the demise of theDemocratic Republic of Afghanistan in 1992.[65]
Most Nuristanis are from the Kata Family and Janaderi Branch. However, there are other Nuristani tribes as well, some of the Kata of Janaderi people live in Ozhor (nowKarimabad), Gobor, Buburat, Ayun, Broze andMastuj. There is a very popular rock associated with this tribe located in Karimabad (Juwara) calledkata bont (Kata is the name of the tribe;bont meaning "stone" in theChitrali language).
The Nuristani do not have a formal tribal structure as thePashtuns do, however they do designate themselves by the names of the local regions they are from.[1]
In total, there are 35 such designations: five from the north–south valleys and 30 from the east–west valley.
Witzel (2004, p. 2) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFWitzel2004 (help):
"an ancient, common substrate (TUITE 2000, cf. BENGTSON 1999, 2001, 2002). These must be separated from whatmay appear to be Vedic."
"A few key features that highlight the position of Hindukush religion in between the IIr. [Indo-Iranian], BMAC and Vedic religions will be summarized and discussed in some detail, as they by and large even now remain unknown to Vedic specialists, in spite of BUDDRUSS 1960 and the selective summary "d'un domaine mal connu des indianistes" by FUSSMAN (1977: 21-35), who, even with an "esprit hypercritique comme le nôtre" (1977: 27), overstresses (post-Vedic) Indian influences (1977: 69; for a balanced evaluation of the linguistic features, see now DEGENER 2002). However, both Hindukush and Vedic mythology, ritual, and festivals, in spite of many layers of developments and mutual influences, tend to explain each other very effectively; cf. the similar case of Nepal (Witzel 1997c: 520-32)."
Ruhland (2019, p. 107) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFRuhland2019 (help): "Their traditional shamanic religion is probably rooted in Indo-Iranian, pre-Zoroastrian Vedic traditions."
Vinogradov & Zharnikova (2020, p. 182) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFVinogradovZharnikova2020 (help): "... the pagan Kafir pantheon, which has preserved the relics of the most ancient Indo-Iranian mythological concepts."
Richard Strand,Peoples and Languages of Nuristan: "Before their conversion to Islâm the Nuristânis practised a form of ancient Hinduism, infused with accretions developed locally. They acknowledged a number of human-like deities who lived in the unseen Deity World (Kâmviri d'e lu; cf. Sanskrit deva lok'a-)"
West (2010, p. 357) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFWest2010 (help): "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 neighbours in the Hindu Kush Mountains on both the Afghani and Pakistani sides of the border the Kalasha have not converted toIslam. 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 ofHinduism that recognises 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 neighbours than to the religion of Alexander the Great and his armies.
Witzel (2004, p. 2) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFWitzel2004 (help): "There is the prominent role of shamans (pshur, wrear, deal N., dehar K., LIEVRE & LOUDE 1990) and related items: the use of flat circular drums, of various types of psychopharmaca (wine, fly agaric, rhubarb, mead, Pashto hum ~ Kalash sámani; cf. also NYBERG 1995), and a general pattern of goat sacrifice (already seen at Mehrgarh, near Quetta, 6500 BCE), with sprinkling of the blood of the victim. There also is a general pattern of belief in mountain fairies, now often called by their Persian name, Peri, but still called Apsaras in the Rājatara ṅgi ṇī (3.465, 468-471 for King Ra ṇāditya's entering and disappearig in a mountain cave into the company of Daitya women)."
Searle (2013, p. lxxvii) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFSearle2013 (help): "Kafiristan, the 'Land of the unbelievers', is a tiny enclave of pagans, who practice animism and ancestor worship, and remain unconverted to Islam."
Pelton (1997) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFPelton1997 (help): "The Kalash (which means 'black' because of the black garments they wear) are an animist tribe who live in a region sometimes called Kafiristan."
Ruhland (2019, p. 107) harvtxt error: no target: CITEREFRuhland2019 (help): "Their traditional shamanic religion is probably rooted in Indo-Iranian, pre-Zoroastrian Vedic traditions."
^abcWeiss, Mitch; Maurer, Kevin (31 December 2012).No Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan. Berkley Caliber. p. 299.ISBN9780425253403.Up until the late nineteenth century, many Nuristanis practised a primitive form of Hinduism. It was the last area in Afghanistan to convert to Islam—and the conversion was accomplished by the sword.
^abMinahan, James B. (10 February 2014).Ethnic Groups of North, East, and Central Asia: An Encyclopedia.ABC-CLIO. p. 205.ISBN9781610690188.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, calledimr'o orimra by the Nuristani tribes.
^Ewans, Martin (2002).Afghanistan: a short history of its people and politics. Harper Perennial. p. 103.
^A Former Kafir Tells His 'Tragic Story'. Notes on the Kati Kafirs of Northern Bashgal (Afghanistan) / Max Klimburg, East and West, Vol. 58 – Nos. 1–4 (December 2008), pp. 391–402
^Reflections of the Islamisation of Kafiristan in Oral Tradition / Georg Buddruss Journal of Asian Civilizations — Volume XXXI — Number 1-2 – 2008, Special Tribute Edition, pp. 16–35
^'The pacification of the country was completed by the wholly gratuitous conquest of a remote mountain people in the north-east, the non-Muslim Kalash of Kafiristan (Land of the Unbelievers), who were forcibly converted to Islam by the army. Their habitat was renamed Nuristan (Land of Light).' Angelo Rasanayagam,Afghanistan: A Modern History, I.B. Tauris, 2005, p.11
^Barrington, Nicholas; Kendrick, Joseph T.; Schlagintweit, Reinhard (18 April 2006).A Passage to Nuristan: Exploring the Mysterious Afghan Hinterland.I.B. Tauris. p. 111.ISBN9781845111755.Prominent sites include Hadda, near Jalalabad, but Buddhism never seems to have penetrated the remote valleys of Nuristan, where the people continued to practise an early form of polytheistic Hinduism.
^Hauner, M. (1991).The Soviet War in Afghanistan. United Press of America.
^Ballard; Lamm; Wood (2012).From Kabul to Baghdad and back: The U.S. at war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
^Cacopardo, Alberto M. (2016). "Fence of Peristan - The Islamization of the "Kafirs" and Their Domestication".Archivio per l'Antropologia e la Etnologia: 69, 77.
^Holdich, Thomas Hungerford.The Gates of India. p. 270.
^Majumdar, Dr Ramesh Chandra; Pusalker, Achut Dattatraya; Majumdar, Asoke Kumar. "Tuzak-i-Timuri", inThe History and Culture of the Indian People, Vol VI. 1977. p 117.
^History & Culture of Indian People, Vol VI, p 117, R. C. Majumdar, A. D. Pusalkar, K. M. Munshi.
^Memoir of William Watts McNair - J. E. Howard, 2003, A Visit to Kafiristan on Internet Archive, Evening Meeting, 10 December 1883, Processing of the Royal Geographical Society .
^The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, 1896, p 74 sqq., George Scott Robertson,Arthur David McCormick.
^Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh, 1977 edition, p 127, John Biddulph; An Inquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan, 1891, p 146, Henry Walter Bellew; The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, 1896, pp 71, 74 sqq., George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick.
^The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, 1896, pp 74, 76 George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick.
^A passage to Nuristan: exploring the mysterious Afghan hinterland, 2006, p 80, Nicholas Barrington, Joseph T. Kendrick, Reinhard Schlagintweit, Sandy (FRW) Gall.
^The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, 1896, pp 2,3, 76, George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick - Nuristan.
^Aryan idols: Indo-European mythology as ideology and science, 2006, p 53, fn 109, Stefan Arvidsson, Sonia Wichmann - Social Science.
^See also:Thesaurus craniorum, 1867, p. 137,Joseph Barnard Davis; Afghanistan, 2002, p 8, Martin Ewans.
^Aryan idols: Indo-European mythology as ideology and science, 2006, p 53, Stefan Arvidsson, Sonia Wichmann.
^Appletons' Annual Cyclopædia and Register of Important Events of the Year, 1897, p 8, Published by D. Appleton & Co.
^Cf: The New International Encyclopaedia edited by Daniel Coit Gilman, Harry Thurston Peck, Frank Moore Colby 1911.
^P. 39Empire of Alexander the Great By Debra Skelton, Pamela Dell
^P. 162 The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush by Sir George Scott Robertson
^P. 64War at the top of the world: the struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Tibet By Eric S. Margolis
^Central Asia, 1985, p 118, Published by Area Study Centre (Central Asia), University of Peshawar.
^An Inquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan: Prepared and Presented to the Ninth International Congress of Orientalists (London, September 1891) pp 35, 47, 87, 134, 141, 144, 195, Henry Walter Bellew - Afghanistan.
^H. W. Bellew: "...the Kafir (Infidel) of theSanskritKambojia are said to be Koresh from a people of that name (Kuresh Perian, and Keruch Rajput) known to have anciently inhabited these eastern districts of the Paropamisus of the Greeks" (See: An Inquiry Into the Ethnography of Afghanistan: Prepared and Presented to the Ninth International Congress of Orientalists (London, September 1891), p 195).
^H.W. Bellew: "The name Koresh or Kurush is said to be national designation of Kafir tribes north of Lughman; and it is not impossible that it may have been family name ofCyrus, king of Persia who was born in Cabul country" (See: An Inquiry Into the Ethnography of Afghanistan: Prepared and Presented to the Ninth International Congress of Orientalists (London, September 1891)p 134, Henry Walter Bellew - Afghanistan.
^Cf:The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, 1896, p 158, George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick; The Cyclopædia of India and of eastern and southern Asia, commercial industrial, and scientific: products of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, useful arts and manufactures, 1885, p 202, Edward Balfour.
^The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, 1896, p 158, George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick.
^An Inquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan: Prepared and Presented to the Ninth International Congress of Orientalists (London, September 1891), 1891, p 134, Henry Walter Bellew - Afghanistan.
^An Inquiry Into the Ethnography of Afghanistan: Prepared and Presented to the Ninth International Congress of Orientalists (London, September 1891), 1891, p 134, Henry Walter Bellew - Afghanistan.
^The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, 1896, pp 75, 76, 157, 165, 168, George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick.
^Afghanistan: its people, its society, its culture, 1962, p 50, Donald Newton Wilber, Elizabeth E. Bacon.
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