Nuristanis

Ethnic group of Afghanistan and Pakistan

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Ethnic group

NuristanisTotal population

c. 125,000–300,000[1][2]
Regions with significant populations
Nuristan, Kunar, Afghanistan
Chitral, Pakistan
Languages
Nuristani languages,
Pashto, serving as the lingua franca and widely understood as a second language
Religion
Sunni Islam
[3][4]
Related ethnic groups
Kalash, Kho, Pashayi
Kautiak villagers in Nuristan province with U.S. Navy commander (right)

The Nuristanis are an Indo-Iranian ethnic group native to the Nuristan Province (formerly Kafiristan) of northeastern Afghanistan and Chitral District of northwestern Pakistan.[5] Their languages comprise the Nuristani branch of Indo-Iranian languages.[6]

In the mid-1890s, after the establishment of the Durand Line when Afghanistan and the British Indian Empire reached an agreement regarding the Indo-Afghan border as the region of Kafiristan became part of the Great Game and for a period of time, Emir Abdur 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 as Nuristan, the "Land of Light".[9][10][11][12] Before their conversion, the Nuristanis practised an Indo-Iranian (Vedic\- or Hindu-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]

## Pre-Islamic religion

[edit]

See also: Kalash people

Kati priest (deblole): Kareik. The last singing priest.  Kati sacrificing goat to the God Imra Kati ancestor statues - Brumotul, Bumboret Valley, Chitral; picture by Georg Morgenstierne in 1929 Kati Hymn: Ut'äya de'bulā̃ 'ye! Tu pycüř sun mol O Priestess, (to-) the-dance come ! Your on head golden garland is

The Nuristanis practised what authors consider as a form of animism and ancestor worship[b] with elements of Indo-Iranian (Vedic\- or Hindu-like) religion.[a] Noted linguist Richard Strand, an authority on Hindu Kush languages, observed the following about pre-Islamic Nuristani religion:

> Before their conversion to Islâm the Nuristânis practiced a form of ancient 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. Sanskrit deva lok'a-).[18]

Mitch Weiss and Kevin Maurer describe the Nuristanis of having traditionally practising a "primitive" form of Hinduism, up until the late nineteenth century, before their conversions to Islam.[3] The names of multiple Nuristani deities resembled those of Iranian and old Vedic sources.

Certain deities were revered only in one community or tribe, but one was universally revered as the creator: the Hindu god Yama 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, or Māra ('death', Nuristani),[19] or Dezau (ḍezáw) whose name is derived from Indo-European *dheiǵh- i.e. "to form" (Kati Nuristani dez "to create", CDIAL 14621); Dezauhe is also called by the Persian term Khodaii.

In addition to the supreme deity named Mara or Imra, the Nuristani worshipped a multitude of lesser gods and goddesses known locally as Mandi or Moni, 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 in Shinto, the native religion of Japan, indicating a shared history dating back to 2000 BCE.[20][21]

Each village and clan had its guardian deity, with shamans 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 by Buddhist 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 pilgrims Fa-hsien and Sung Yun. The decline of Buddhism resulted in the region becoming heavily isolated. The Islamization of the nearby Badakhshan began in the 8th century and Peristan was completely surrounded by Muslim states in the 16th century. The Kalash people of lower Chitral are the last surviving heirs of the area.[23]

The region was called Kafiristan because while the surrounding populations were converted to Islam, 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 during Abdur 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]

## History

[edit]

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]

In 1014, Mahmud of Ghazni attacked them:

> Another jihad against idolatry was at length resolved on; and Mahmud led the seventh one against Nardain, the then boundary of India, or the eastern part of the Hindu Kush; separating, as Ferishta says, the countries of Hindustan and Turkistan and remarkable for its excellent fruit. The country into which the army of Ghazni 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]

### Timur's encounter with Katirs/Kators

[edit]

The first reference to Siah-Posh Kafirs occurs in Timur's invasion of Afghanistan 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 the Hindu Kush mountains. Timur invaded Afghanistan in March 1398. On the basis of local complaints of ill-treatment and extortions filed by the Muslims against the Kafirs, Timur personally attacked the Kators of the Siah-Posh group located north-east of Kabul in eastern Afghanistan. The Kators left their fort Najil 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 as Timur 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 them death or Islam. 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 his troops to advance on all four sides to kill all men, enslave the women and children and plunder or lay waste all their property. In Tuzak-i-Timuri, Timur proudly boasts of the towers of the skulls of the Kators which he built on the mountain in the auspicious month of Ramazan A.H. 800 (1300 CE)[30]

### Timur's encounter with Kam Kafirs

[edit]

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 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 the Mughal 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]

### Settlement in Chitral

[edit]

Main article: Shekhani dialect

At the time of the Afghan conquest of Kafiristan, a small number of Kom and Kati Kafirs fled east to Chitral (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 Chitrali Khowar 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 the Kamkata-vari language, also known locally as Sheikhani.

### Pre-1895 Kafir society

[edit]

Prior to 1895, the Kafirs of the Hindu 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 investigator George 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 the Bashgal Valley. The Siah-posh Kafirs have sometimes been confused with Kalasha people of the neighbouring Chitral region in Pakistan.

The Siah-Posh tribe was divided into Siah-posh Katirs or Kamtoz, Siah-posh Mumans 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 the Afghan 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 of Kati.[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]

#### Origin hypotheses

[edit]

* Some earlier writers had speculated and propagated the myth that the Kafirs of the Hindu Kush may have descended from the army of Alexander 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 by H. 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] and Eric S. Margolis.[50]
* The Siah-Posh Kafirs themselves claim to have descended from certain Koresh (Gurashi/Gorish or Goraish) a name linked to Quraysh tribe of Arabs[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 the national 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 the Cyrus, king of Persia who was born in the Cabul 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 the Iranians.
* George Scott Robertson also rejects Greek origin of the Kafirs. According to him, the present dominant clans of Kafirstan viz. the Katirs (Kamtoz), the Kams (Kamoz) and the Wais are mainly descended from the ancient Indian population of eastern Afghanistan who refused to embrace Islam in tenth century, and fled for refuge from victorious Muslims to the hilly fastnesses of Kafirstan. 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 was Dravidian but according to the others Indo-Aryan. They appear to be a mixture of an extremely ancient element related to oldest known population of central Himalayas (the Presuns), the element with resemblance to the Kurds and a type with Nordic and Dinaric traits (the Siah-Posh/Wai groups) which goes back to the ancient prototype of these races preserved in the midst of Indo-Aryan ascendancy.[61][62][63][64]

### Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989)

[edit]

General Issa Nuristani was second in command following the King during the Soviet 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 the Afghan Armed Forces. Led by the Koms tribe, the Nuristani were the first citizens of Afghanistan to revolt against Saur Revolution in 1978. They played an important role in the conquering of some provinces, including Kunar, Nangarhar, Badakhshan, and Panjshir. 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, the Mawlawi Ghulam Rabbani was declared as governor of the Kunar Province. The Nuristanis inspired others to fight and contributed to the demise of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in 1992.[65]

## Genetics

[edit]

In a 2012 research on Y-chromosomes of five Nuristani samples, three were found to belong to the Haplogroup R1a, and one each in R2a and J2a.[66]

## Tribes

[edit]

Nuristan, in light green

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 (now Karimabad), Gobor, Buburat, Ayun, Broze and Mastuj. There is a very popular rock associated with this tribe located in Karimabad (Juwara) called kata bont (Kata is the name of the tribe; bont meaning "stone" in the Chitrali language).

The Nuristani do not have a formal tribal structure as the Pashtuns 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.

Some of these tribes include:

* Askunu
* Dungulio
* Gramsana
* Jench
* Kata
* Kom
* Kshto
* Mumo
* Sanu

## See also

[edit]

* Kho people
* Dardic people
* Burusho people
* Gurjar
* Dogan (deity)

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b Elements of ancient Indo-Iranian religion:
* 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 what may 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 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 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.
2. ^ Animism and ancestor worship:
* 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."

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Afghanistan - Nuristani". countrystudies.us.
2. ^ "Afghanistan population statistics". GeoHive. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
3. ^ a b c Weiss, Mitch; Maurer, Kevin (31 December 2012). No Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan. Berkley Caliber. p. 299\. ISBN 9780425253403. "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."
4. ^ a b Minahan, James B. (10 February 2014). Ethnic Groups of North, East, and Central Asia: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 205\. 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."
5. ^ Karl Jettmar. Cultures of the Hindukush (PDF). Franz Steiner Verlag. p. 51.
6. ^ "Kalash Religion" (PDF). people.fas.harvard.edu. Harvard University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
7. ^ "Wlodek Witek (CHArt 2001)". chart.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011.
8. ^ Motamedi, Ahmad; Edelberg, Lennart (1968). "Persée: A Kafir goddess". Arts Asiatiques. 18 (1): 3–21\. doi:10.3406/arasi.1968.1603.
9. ^ Ewans, Martin (2002). Afghanistan: a short history of its people and politics. Harper Perennial. p. 103.
10. ^ 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
11. ^ 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
12. ^ '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
13. ^ Barrington, Nicholas; Kendrick, Joseph T.; Schlagintweit, Reinhard (18 April 2006). A Passage to Nuristan: Exploring the Mysterious Afghan Hinterland. I.B. Tauris. p. 111\. ISBN 9781845111755. "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."
14. ^ Hauner, M. (1991). The Soviet War in Afghanistan. United Press of America.
15. ^ Ballard; Lamm; Wood (2012). From Kabul to Baghdad and back: The U.S. at war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
16. ^ "Nuristan a Safe Passage for Taliban to Enter North and North-Eastern Parts of Afghanistan". Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
17. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2013.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
18. ^ a b c Strand, Richard F. (31 December 2005). "Richard Strand's Nuristân Site: Peoples and Languages of Nuristan". nuristan.info. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
19. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2011.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
20. ^ Witzel, Michael (2012). The Origin of the World's Mythologies.
21. ^ Witzel, Michael (2005). Vala and Iwato: The Myth of the Hidden Sun in India, Japan, and beyond (PDF).
22. ^ Klimburg, M. "Nuristan". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
23. ^ Cacopardo, Alberto M. (2016). "Fence of Peristan - The Islamization of the "Kafirs" and Their Domestication". Archivio per l'Antropologia e la Etnologia: 69, 77.
24. ^ Thesiger, Wilfred (1957). "A Journey in Nuristan". The Geographical Journal. 123 (4): 457–464\. Bibcode:1957GeogJ.123..457T. doi:10.2307/1790347. JSTOR 1790347.
25. ^ "Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture" (PDF). nanzan-u.ac.jp.
26. ^ Holdich, Thomas Hungerford. The Gates of India. p. 270.
27. ^ Majumdar, Dr Ramesh Chandra; Pusalker, Achut Dattatraya; Majumdar, Asoke Kumar. "Tuzak-i-Timuri", in The History and Culture of the Indian People, Vol VI. 1977. p 117.
28. ^ Albinia, Alice (2010). Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 225.
29. ^ K̲h̲ān̲, ʻAlī Muḥammad (1835). The Political and Statistical History of Gujarát. Translated by Bird, James. London: Richard Bentley. p. 29.
30. ^ 'See: Tuzak-i-Timuri, III, pp 400.
31. ^ History & Culture of Indian People, Vol VI, p 117, R. C. Majumdar, A. D. Pusalkar, K. M. Munshi.
32. ^ Ref: Tuzak-i-Timuri, pp 401-08.
33. ^ History & Culture of Indian People, Vol VI, p 117, R. C. Majumdar, A. D. Pusalkar, K. M. Munshi.
34. ^ 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 .
35. ^ Allen, Nicholas Justin (1991). "Some gods of Pre-Islamic Nuristan". Revue de l'histoire des religions. 208 (2): 141–168\. doi:10.3406/rhr.1991.1679.
36. ^ Shahzada, Hussam-ul-Mulk. "The Cosmology of the Red Kafirs" (PDF). Beiträge zur Südasienforschung: 26.
37. ^ Admin (25 October 2019). "Survey conducted on identity, literacy of Kataviri language". Chitral Today. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
38. ^ The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, 1896, p 74 sqq., George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick.
39. ^ 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.
40. ^ The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, 1896, pp 74, 76 George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick.
41. ^ A passage to Nuristan: exploring the mysterious Afghan hinterland, 2006, p 80, Nicholas Barrington, Joseph T. Kendrick, Reinhard Schlagintweit, Sandy (FRW) Gall.
42. ^ The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, 1896, pp 2,3, 76, George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick - Nuristan.
43. ^ Aryan idols: Indo-European mythology as ideology and science, 2006, p 53, fn 109, Stefan Arvidsson, Sonia Wichmann - Social Science.
44. ^ See also: Thesaurus craniorum, 1867, p. 137, Joseph Barnard Davis; Afghanistan, 2002, p 8, Martin Ewans.
45. ^ Aryan idols: Indo-European mythology as ideology and science, 2006, p 53, Stefan Arvidsson, Sonia Wichmann.
46. ^ Appletons' Annual Cyclopædia and Register of Important Events of the Year, 1897, p 8, Published by D. Appleton & Co.
47. ^ Cf: The New International Encyclopaedia edited by Daniel Coit Gilman, Harry Thurston Peck, Frank Moore Colby 1911.
48. ^ P. 39 Empire of Alexander the Great By Debra Skelton, Pamela Dell
49. ^ P. 162 The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush by Sir George Scott Robertson
50. ^ P. 64 War at the top of the world: the struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir, and Tibet By Eric S. Margolis
51. ^ Central Asia, 1985, p 118, Published by Area Study Centre (Central Asia), University of Peshawar.
52. ^ 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.
53. ^ H. W. Bellew: "...the Kafir (Infidel) of the Sanskrit Kambojia 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).
54. ^ 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 of Cyrus, 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.
55. ^ 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.
56. ^ The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, 1896, p 158, George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick.
57. ^ North of Laghman or Lamghan.
58. ^ 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.
59. ^ 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.
60. ^ The Káfirs of the Hindu-Kush, 1896, pp 75, 76, 157, 165, 168, George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick.
61. ^ Afghanistan: its people, its society, its culture, 1962, p 50, Donald Newton Wilber, Elizabeth E. Bacon.
62. ^ Afghanistan, 2002, p 8, Martin Ewans
63. ^ Cf: Afghanistan, 1967, p 58, William Kerr Fraser-Tytler, Michael Cavenagh Gillett.
64. ^ Country Survey Series, 1956, p 53, Human Relations Area Files, inc.- Human geography.
65. ^ "Richard Strand's Nuristan Site OLD LOCATION". Users.sedona.net. Archived from the original on 22 August 2005. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
66. ^ Haber, Marc; Platt, D.E.; Ashrafian Bonab, M.; Youhanna, S.C.; Soria-Hernanz, D.F.; Martínez-Cruz, Begoña; Douaihy, Bouchra; Ghassibe-Sabbagh, Michella; Rafatpanah, Hoshang; Ghanbari, Mohsen; Whale, John; Balanovsky, Oleg; Wells, R. Spencer; Comas, David; Tyler-Smith, Chris; Zalloua, Pierre A.; et al. (2012). "Afghanistan's Ethnic Groups Share a Y-Chromosomal Heritage Structured by Historical Events". PLOS ONE. 7 (3): e34288. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...734288H. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0034288. PMC 3314501. PMID 22470552.

### Bibliography

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* Burnes, Elexander (1838). "On the Siah-posh Kafirs" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal.
* The Kafirs of the Hindukush, 1896, by George Scott Robertson, Arthur David McCormick, (Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints) - Online :online, 8 copies at Internet Archive.
* Nuristan, 1979, by Lenart Edelberg and Schuyler Jones, Graz, Austria - Online :[1].
* Afghanistan: its people, its society, its culture (Survey of world cultures), 1962, by Donald Newton Wilber.
* Tribes of the Hindu Kush (Calcutta, 1880) by John Biddulph.
* Kafiristan (Lahore, 1881), Gottlieb William Leitner.
* Aus dem westlichen Himalaya (Leipzig, 1884), K.E. von Ujfalvy.
* The gates of India: Being an historical narrative by Thomas Hungerford Holdich (Unknown Binding - 1977).
* The Indian Borderland, 1880-1900 by Thomas Hungerford Holdich (Paperback - 12 April 2001).
* An account of the Kingdom of Caubul and its dependencies in Persia, Tartary, and India, (comprising a view of the Afghaun nation, and a history of the ... Entdeckungsgeschichte und Geographie Asiens), 1969 Edition, by Mountstuart Elphinstone.
* Proceedings (1869, 1879, 1881, 1884...)... by Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain), Norton Shaw, Francis Galton, William Spottiswoode.
* The Religions of the Hindukush: The Religion of the Kafirs : The Pre-Islamic Heritage of Afghan Nuristan (The Religions of the Hindukush) by Karl Jettmar (Paperback - Mar 1986).
* A History of Kafferistan: Socio-economic and Political Conditions of the Kaffers, 1989, Amar Singh Chohan.
* Journal of the United Service Institution of India (Simla, 1881), Gottlieb William Leitner.
* Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, O.S., vol. xix. (London, 1862), Trumpp.
* Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischcn Gesellschaft, vol. xx. (Leipzig. 1800).
* The New International Encyclopaedia edited by Daniel Coit Gilman, Harry Thurston Peck, Frank Moore Colby 1911.
* The Encyclopædia Britannica, 1888, Thomas Spencer Baynes.
* Afghanistan, 1956, Donald Newton Wilber - Afghanistan.
* Afghanistan: A Study of Political Developments in Central and Southern Asia, 1967, William Kerr Fraser-Tytler, Michael Cavenagh Gillett - Afghanistan.
* Afghanistan: its people, its society, its culture, 1962, Donald Newton Wilber, Elizabeth E. Bacon - Juvenile Nonfiction.
* Country Survey Series, 1956, Human Relations Area Files, inc - Human geography.
* Geographical and economic studies in the Mahābhārata: Upāyana parva, 1945, Moti Chandra - History.
* The London quarterly review, 1973.
* Memoir on Cuneiform Inscription, 1949, Henry Creswicke Rawlinson.
* Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 1849, RAS Great Britain and Ireland.
* Die Voelker des oestlichen Asien: Studien und Reisen, 1869, Adolf Bastian, Heinrich Kiepert.
* Ancient geography of India, 1971, Anundoram Borooah.
* Political History of Ancient India, 1996, H. C. Raychaudhury, B. N. Banerjee.
* The Indian historical quarterly, 1949, S Chattopadhyaya, India.
* The Achaemenids and India: By Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya. 2d Rev. Ed, 1974, Sudhakar Chattopadhyaya.
* India as described in early texts of Buddhism and Jainism, 1980, B. C. Law - Tripitaka.
* The geographical dictionary of ancient and mediaeval India, 1979, Nundo Lal Dey - Social Science.
* The Indian historical quarterly, 1936, India.
* Ancient Indian tradition & mythology: Purāṇas in translation, 1969, Jagdish Lal Shastri.
* Ancient Indian Tradition & Mythology: Purāṇas in Translation, 1970, Jagdish Lal Shastri, Arnold Kunst, G. P. Bhatt, Ganesh Vasudeo Tagare.
* Vishnu Purana, H. H. Wilson.
* The Sun and the Serpent: A Contribution to the History of Serpent-worship, 1905, Charles Frederick Oldham.
* Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, 1856, Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
* Indian Caste, 1877, p 286, John Wilson; India of To-day, 1906, Walter Del Mar.
* On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629-645 A.D., 1904.
* Publications, 1904, Published by Oriental Translation Fund (Editors T. W. Rhys Davis, S. W. Bushel, London Royal Asiatic Society).
* Ancient Buddhist Monasteries: India and Nepal, 1998, S. Gajrani.
* Journal of Indian History, 1963, University of Kerala Dept. of History, University of Allahabad Dept. of Modern Indian History, University of Travancore, University of Kerala - India.
* Census of India, 1961, India Office of the Registrar General, Office of the Registrar General, India.
* Transaction, Indian Institute of World Culture, Indian Institute of World Culture, Published by Indian Institute of World Culture.
* Journal of Uttara Pradesh Historical Society, Vol XVI, Part II.
* Kāṭhakasaṅkalanam: Saṃskr̥tagranthebhyaḥ saṅgr̥hītāni Kāṭhakabrāhmaṇa, Kāṭhakaśrautasūtra, 1981, Surya Kanta.
* The Contemporary Review, Vol LXXII, July-Dec 1897, A. Strahan (etc.), London.
* Bhārata-kaumudī; Studies in Indology in Honour of Dr. Radha Kumud Mookerji, 1945, Radhakumud Mookerji - India).

### Further reading

[edit]

* Halfmann, Jakob. "Nuristani Theonyms in Light of Historical Phonology". In: Roots of Peristan: The Pre-Islamic Cultures of the Hindukush/Karakorum. Proceedings of the International Interdisciplinary Conference ISMEO, Rome, Palazzo Baleani, 5-7 October 2022. Part I. Edited by Alberto M. Cacopardo & Augusto S. Cacopardo. Rome: ISMEO, 2023. pp. 317-358. ISBN 978-88-66872-65-8.

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nuristani people.

* Nuristani Tribal Tree – US Naval Postgraduate School Note: this source has been evaluated as "totally unreliable" by the leading scholarly authorities on Nuristan.
* Strand, Richard F. (1997). "Nuristan: Hidden Land of the Hindu Kush".
* Strand, Richard F. (2001). "Peoples and Languages of Nuristân". Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
* Strand, Richard F. (1999). "Lexicons of the Hindu-Kush".
* Richard Strand's Nuristân Site: [2]

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