The Kalasha Valleys (Kalasha-mondr: Kaĺaśa Desh; Urdu: وادی کیلاش) are valleys in Chitral District in northern Pakistan. The valleys are surrounded by the Hindu Kush mountain range. The inhabitants of the valley are the Kalash people, who have a unique culture, language and follow a religion similar to the Historical Vedic religion.[1][2] There are three main valleys.[3][4][5] The largest and most populous valley is Bumburet (Mumuret), reached by a road from Ayun in the Kunar 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.
Geography and Natural Environment
Kalasha Valley is located at an elevation of over 6,500 feet above sea level, and is characterized by steep slopes, narrow gorges, and rocky terrain. The area is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna, including rare species such as the snow leopard and the Himalayan black bear.
The Three Valleys
The inhabitants of the valleys are the Kalash 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 is Bumburet (Mumuret), reached by a road from Ayun in the Kunar 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.
There are only about 3000 Kalash people, a small religious and ethnic minority of Pakistan. The Kalash religion is polytheist faith similar to paganism and ancient forms of Hinduism and the people offer sacrifices for their gods. Their culture is interlinked with their religion and includes several unique festivals and celebrations. The people generally do not intermarry or cohabit regions with local Muslims but neither are they hostile towards them. The people are under legal and constitutional protection of the State of Pakistan as a scheduled tribe.[citation needed]
^ abWest, Barbara A. (19 May 2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. p. 357. ISBN9781438119137. Archived from the original on 11 May 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024. 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.
^ 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, called imr'o or imra by the Nuristani tribes.
;_Tahsin_Shah_01.jpg)
