Kalash وادیِ کیلاش | |
|---|---|
%3b_Tahsin_Shah_01.jpg) The three remote valleys are home to the animist Kalash people  | |
  Kalash وادیِ کیلاش Kalash Valley | |
| Coordinates:35°42′2″N71°41′29″E / 35.70056°N 71.69139°E /35.70056; 71.69139 | |
| Country | Pakistan |
| Province | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |
| District | Chitral District |
| Area | |
• Total | 456.58 km2 (176.29 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,670 m (5,480 ft) |
| Population (2003) | |
• Total | 9,000 |
| • Density | 20/km2 (51/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+5 (PST) |
TheKalasha Valleys (Kalasha-mondr:Kaĺaśa Desh;Urdu:وادی کیلاش) are valleys inChitral District in northernPakistan. The valleys are surrounded by theHindu Kush mountain range. The inhabitants of the valley are theKalash people, who have their own culture and language, and follow a religion similar to theHistorical Vedic religion.[1][2] There are three main valleys.[3][4][5] The largest and most populous valley isBumburet (Mumuret), reached by a road fromAyun in theKunar Valley.Rumbur is a side valley north of Bumburet. The third valley, Biriu (Birir), is a side valley of the Kunar Valley south of Bumburet.
The inhabitants of the valleys are theKalash people, who have a unique culture, language and follow a form of religion that is associated with their surroundings like the mountains and rivers.[1][2][6][7][8] The largest and most populous valley isBumburet (Mumuret), reached by a road fromAyun in theKunar Valley.Rumbur (Rukmu) is a side valley north of Bumburet. The third valley, Biriu (Birir), is a side valley of the Kunar Valley south of Bumburet.
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.
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.