Hindukush Kafir people
Kautiak villagers in Nuristan province with U.S. Navy commander (right)
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (ca. 125,000–300,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Nuristan Province | |
| Languages | |
|
Nuristani languages, Dari and Pashto also understood widely as second languages |
|
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Kalash |
The Nuristanis are an ethnic group native to the Nuristan region of eastern Afghanistan, who speak Indo-Iranian languages, including Nuristani. In the mid-1890s, after the establishment of the Durand Line when Afghanistan ceded various frontier areas to the British Empire, Emir Abdur Rahman Khan conducted a military campaign in Nuristan (then known as Kafiristan) and followed up his conquest with conversion of the Nuristanis to Islam; the region thenceforth being known as Nuristan, the "Land of Light". Before their conversion, the Nuristanis (then known as "Kafiristanis") practiced 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 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.
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 (Kâmviri d'e lu; cf. Sanskrit deva lok'a-).
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Wikipedia