Kalash
The Kalash are an Indo-Aryan indigenous people residing in the Chitral District of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistn
They are considered unique among the people of Pakistan. They are also
considered to be Pakistan's smallest ethnoreligious group,[12] and traditionally
practice what authors characterise as a form of animism.[13][4][5][c][6][d]
During the mid-20th century an attempt was made to force a few Kalasha villages
in Pakistan to convert to Islam, but the people fought the conversion and, once
official pressure was removed, the vast majority resumed the practice of their
own religion.[10] Nevertheless, some Kalasha have since converted to Islam,
despite being shunned afterward by their community for having done so.[7][14]
The term is used to refer to many distinct people including the Vi, the
Čima-niei, the Vnt, plus the Ashkun- and Tregami-speakers.[10] The Kalash are
considered to be an indigenous people of Asia, with their ancestors migrating to
Chitral valley from another location possibly further south,[9][15] which the
Kalash call "Tsiyam" in their folk songs and epics.[16]
They claim to descend from the armies of Alexander who were left behind from his
armed campaign, though no evidence exists for him to have passed the
area.[17][18][e] They are also considered by some to have been descendants of
Gandhari people.[19]
The neighbouring Nuristani people of the adjacent Nuristan (historically known
as Kafiristan) province of Afghanistan once had the same culture and practised a
faith very similar to that of the Kalash, differing in a few minor
particulars.[20][21]
The first historically recorded Islamic invasions of their lands were by the
Ghaznavids in the 11th century[22] while they themselves are first attested in
1339 during Timur's invasions.[19] Nuristan had been converted to Islam in
189596, although some evidence has shown the people continued to practice their
customs.[23] The Kalash of Chitral have maintained their own separate cultural
traditions.
Some Kalash Girls
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img src="https://www.travel-culture.com/images/kalash-girl7.jpg" width="1197" height="1600">
img src="https://www.travel-culture.com/images/kalash-girl6.jpg" width="1197" height="1600">
img src="https://www.travel-culture.com/images/kalash-girl4.jpg" width="1006" height="1600">
img src="https://www.travel-culture.com/images/kalash-girl3.jpg" width="1002" height="1336">
img src="https://www.travel-culture.com/images/kalash-girl2.jpg" width="902" height="1280">
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