Pakistan: Kalash valley people's unique culture

[roadrunner]

Oye chal nikal. I am a dogra rajput from Jammu. My bum is probably paler than your face. Some Pakistanis are pale, only because of us and the Pathans, if you know what I mean. We have a word for Pakistanis, but if I say that here might get banned. So watch what you say son.

not really true. rajputs are a common subethnic group in Punjab in Pakistan. The ones in Jammu might be a little more kashmiri looking than the ones in Rajasthan or Punjab.

 

[roadrunner]

i might also like to add, turks iranians and arabs, as is the case with the karachites

some people just took arab surnames, but werent actually arab if you know what i mean.

you can see some better examples in india of this surname adoption tradition.

 

[krash]

Also I think Kalash people should expand and join Pakistani civil society. Become a significant ethnic group in Pakistan like Kashmiris... They seem like wonderful people.

There is a problem to that. The Kalasha population is roughly estimated at around 4000 people and when you form such a minuscule part of the larger society it becomes very important to cordon your self off a little so as not to promote amalgamation and then eventually loosing ones own culture to the stronger and more dominant culture just outside your borders. They have been pretty successful in doing that so far but the recent conversions to Islam of many young tribesmen and women has panicked the Kalasha quite allot. And yes they indeed are very wonderful people.

Genetic testing has been done on them which suggests that the Kalasha are in fact a native aboriginal people. But then theres everything else about them. Their culture, their language, their religion, their customs, their art, etc are all very much ancient Greeko-Macedonian. Whatever might their origins be they have some serious Greeko/Macedonian influences in them.

@ Dhruv V Singh: No they dont look anything like that. Their looks are a world apart from us. (I am also a Kashmiri hailing from the Srinagar valley.)

ps: Alexander's historians have recorded encountering two groups of people who talked, practiced and looked all things Greek/Macedonian. The first group they encountered was outside Samarkand (which were the Greek tribes who had betrayed them during the Persian invasion and were then mercilessly all executed while Alexander sat inside their chief's house enjoying his hospitality). And the second group they encountered was near Chitral. These people claimed to be the decedents of the Greek god Dionysus who according to Greek mythology lived at the eastern edge of the world. These people in contrast to the first group were met with overwhelming joy by Alexander's army. The stories the Kalasha tell of their Greek and Macedonian heritage are simply marvelous.

 

[A1Kaid]

^ You used one of my favorite words for the past week "amalgamation" in a post related to Kalash. Post thanked. Also interesting take on Kalash being hesistant to join Pakistan civil society, I think they can possibly join civil society and still hold onto the things that make their culture vital. If Kalash play a bigger role in Pakistan they can improve their living standard and the are they live.

4,000 people is a very small population. It may be necessary for Kalash to marry into Kashmiris, that would help to promote a healthy and sizeable Kalash community. Kashmiris and Kalash have physical similarities and perhaps genetic as well and seem like closest or compatible matches.