Nuristanis


The Nuristanis are an ethnic group native to the Chitral District of northwestern Pakistan and Nuristan Province of northeastern Afghanistan, who speak Indo-Iranian languages, chiefly Nuristani. In the mid-1890s, after the establishment of the Durand Line when Afghanistan reached an agreement on various frontier areas to the British Empire for period of time, Emir Abdur Rahman Khan conducted a military campaign in Nuristan and followed up his conquest with forced conversion of the Nuristanis to Islam; the region thenceforth being known as Nuristan, the "Land of Light". Before their conversion, the Nuristanis practised a form of ancient Hinduism. 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 Nuristanis are distinguished from the Kalash and a segment of the Kho people of Chitral by their adoption of Islam, territory within Afghanistan, and consolidation with other Afghans. The Nuristan region has been a prominent location for war scenes that have led to the death of many indigenous Nuristanis. Nuristan has also received abundance of settlers from the surrounding Afghanistan regions due to the borderline vacant location.

Pre-Islamic religion

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".

They acknowledged a number of human-like deities who lived in the unseen Deity World.

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. There is a creator god, appearing under various names, as lord of the nether world and of heaven: Yama Rājan, or Māra, or Dezau whose name is derived from Indo-European *dheig'h i.e. "to form" ; Dezauhe is also called by the Persian term Khodaii. There are a number of other deities, semi-gods and spirits. The Kalash pantheon is thus one of the few living representatives of Indo-European religion.
They believed in many deities, whose names resembled those of Iranian and old Vedic sources. There was a supreme deity named Mara or Imra, plus 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.
Each village and each clan had its guardian deity, with shamans advising the help-seekers and priests presiding at religious services. The cult centered on the sacrifice of animals, mostly goats.
The area extending from modern Nooristan 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 perilious 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.
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. Thus "Kafir" here is used to refer to their being non-Muslims; the province was therefore known as Kafiristan. 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.
"Kafir" has also been traced to Kapiś, the ancient Sanskrit name of the region that included historic Kafiristan; which is also given as "Ki-pin" in old Chinese chronicles. That name, unrelated to the Arabic word, is believed to have mutated at some point into the word Kapir. Kapiś, the name of the people of Kapiś/Kapiśa, is believed to have changed to Kapir and then Kafir, because of the lack of 'p' in Arabic. This is similar to how Parsi changed to Farsi.

History

In the 4th century BC, Alexander the Great encountered them and reduced them after a stubborn and prolonged fight, describing them as being distinct culturally and religiously from other peoples of the region.
Nuristanis were formerly classified into "Siah-Posh and "Safed-Posh /Lall-Posh. Timur fought with and was humbled by the Siah-Posh. Babur advised not to tangle with them. Genghis Khan passed by them.
In 1014, Mahmud of Ghazni attacked them:

Timur's encounter with Katirs/Kators

The first reference to Siah-Posh Kafirs occurs in Timur's invasion of Afghanistan in 1398 CE. Timur's autobiography amply attests that he had battled both with the Katirs as well as the Kam sections of the Siah-Posh Kafirs of the Hindukush 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. 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 his autobiography called 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

Timur's encounter with Kam Kafirs

Again, according to Timur's autobiography, a military division of ten thousand Muslim soldiers was sent against the Siah-Posh 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 armor. Another detachment had to be sent under Muhammad Azad which fought gallantly and recovered the horses and the armor lost by General Aglan and came back home, leaving the Siah-Posh alone.
It is notable that 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. Also, he gives no further details of his conflict with the Siah-Poshes in his Tuzak-i-Timuri after this encounter, which clearly shows that the outcome of the fight against the Siah-Poshes was very costly and shameful for Timur.
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

19th century scholarship

Siah-Posh Kafirs used to designate the major and dominant group of the Hindu Kush Kafirs inhabiting the Bashgul valley of the Kafiristan, now called Nuristan. They were so-called because of the color of the robes they wore. They were distinguished from the Sped-Posh Kafirs by reason of the color of their dress as also because of their language, customs and other characteristics. The Siah-Posh Kafirs have sometimes been erroneously confused with Kalasha people, though they are not directly related to the Kalash of the neighboring Chitral Province in Pakistan.

Pre-1895 (''un-Islamized'') Kafir society

Prior to 1895, the Kafirs of Hindukush were classified into two groups as Siah-Posh and Safed-Posh. But the British investigator George Scott Robertson who visited Kafiristan and studied the Kafirs for about two years had improved upon the old classification and re-classified the Kafirs more scientifically into Siah-Posh, Waigulis, Presungulis, or Viron people and Ashkuns. The Ashukuns are probably allied to the Waigulis. The later three groups of the Kafirs used to be collectively known as Sped-Posh Kafirs.

Siah-Posh sub-divisions

The Siah-Posh tribe was further sub-divided into Siah-Posh Katirs, Siah-Posh Mumans, Siah-Posh Kashtoz, Siah-Posh Gourdesh and Siah-Posh Kams . The Siah-Posh Katirs further comprise the Katirs who occupy twelve villages of the lower Bashgul country, the Kti or Katawar Siah-Posh Kafirs live in the Kti valley possessing two villages. the Kulam Siah-Posh Katirs living in the Kulam country and controlling four villages. and the Ramguli Katirs, the most numerous among the Siah-Posh Kafirs living in the most western part of Kafiristan on the Afghan frontier. The Ramgulis Katirs control twenty four village of the Ramgul valley from which they derive their name
All Siah-Posh groups of Kafirs are regarded as of common origin. The Siah-Posh Katirs themselves admit of common origin and general relationship to each other. They all have a common dress and customs and they do not speak precisely same language, but the difference in their speech is more a difference of dialect than radical distinction of language. The Kati language or its dialects are spoken by various Siah-Posh communities.
Nicholas Barrington et al. report that the Sped-Posh Kafirs refer to all Siah-Posh Kafirs as Katirs and regard them of the same stock linguistically and ethnographically.
According to American ethnographer Richard Strands, the Bashgul valley Kafirs have various designations like Kata, Kom, Mumo, Ksto, Bini, Jamco and Jasi etc. But they are also called by other names like Kamtozi/Kantozi, Kamozi, Kam, Katir etc.
While the Siah-Posh Kamtoz Katirs of the lower Bashgul valley are the most numerous, the Siah-Posh Kam or Kamoz/Kamoje Kafirs of the upper Bashgul valley were the most intractable and fierce and to be most dreaded for their military prowess.

Probable racial origin

General Issa Nuristani was second in command following the King during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Before his assassination, General Issa called the Nuristani people in a "Jihad" against the Soviet Army. Led by the Koms tribe, the Nuristani were the first citizens of Afghanistan to revolt against the Communist takeover in 1978. They played an important role in the conquering of some provinces, including Kunar, Nangarhar, Badakhshan, and Panshir. 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 Mawlavy Ghulam Rabani was declared as governor of the Kunar Province. The Nuristanis inspired others to fight and contributed to the demise of the Afghan Communist regime in 1992.

Genetics

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.

Tribes

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, Gobor, Buburat, Ayun, Broze and Mastuj. There is a very popular rock associated with this tribe located in Karimabad called kata bont.
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. 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: