THE KALASHA CHIEFDOM OF THE EASTERN HINDUKUSH (CHITRAL-PAKISTAN): A MEDIEVAL HISTORICAL ACCOUNT (10TH TO EARLY 16TH CENTURY AD)
Abstract
The Kalasha of Chitral is Pakistan's only tribe that practises its century-old beliefs and tradition while still attempting to survive. Though the Kalasha are now a small ethno-religious minority, once they had their own rajas (chief or rulers). This article is an attempt to probe the Kalasha history focusing on the era (10th century to the early 16th century AD when they had their rajas. This period of the Kalasha rule will be examined with the assistance of the Kalasha oral traditions and with secondary sources. Folk traditions of the community are one of the most important sources of events and indigenous history. The Kalasha continually asserts in folklores that they were the rulers and that they were prosperous in past. The Kalasha ruled from Mastoj (upper Chitral) to Nagar (lower Chitral), encompassing the Yasin valley in the east and a tiny area of Afghanistan's former Kafiristan, now Nuristan.