Posted on 06/03/2008 11:51:20 AM PDT by swarthyguy
BATRIK — bordering Afghanistan's Nuristan province, inaccessible Chitral district has long been thought to be a refuge for Osama bin Laden. With the high peaks of the Hindu Kush range and narrow valleys, ... easy to dodge through secret mountain routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
home of the Kalasha, a unique pagan civilization that's lived in the area for 2,000 years or more, boxed in by an increasingly militant Islam.
According to locals, bin Laden lived with a Kalasha family in Chitral for some time during his first Afghan jihad, . With his now much more severe ideology, the al Qaida leader wouldn't be able to easily live among these polytheistic people, whose men and women mix freely.
the Kalasha celebrated their spring festival, Joshi, with a verve and passion Men and women danced tirelessly to a pounding, primeval drumbeat, haunting singing and rituals so old that their meaning is almost lost.
Dots and tattoos are painted on their cheeks. The Kalasha men are losing their customs more quickly. There are only about 3,000 Kalasha left now, pushed into three tiny valleys within Chitral by the advancing tide of settlers and spread of Islam. Kalasha traditions remain strong and utterly unlike anything in the rest of Pakistan, perhaps unlike any in the world.
"This is a religious ceremony; it celebrates spring. It is not a festival; it is much more than that. There is a spiritual meaning behind it," said Tach Sharakat,
descendants of the army of Alexander the Great, No one knows their origins. Their religion may be one of the early beliefs of the Indo-Persian area, embodying an early Hinduism and pre-Zoroastrian faith. don't have a written language, the joyous dancing, These are a people who love drinking wine — banned in Islam —
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
Shame to see the dying of the light with these people, they were basically safe until early in the 20th century when Islamis first started their jihad against them.
According to locals, bin Laden lived with a Kalasha family in Chitral for some time during his first Afghan jihad, against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. With his now much more severe ideology, the al Qaida leader wouldn't be able to easily live among these polytheistic people, whose men and women mix freely.
Big Assumption!
Chitrali!
Worth reading the whole thing, I severely edited it....
Descendents of Alexander's entourage...
Some of these outfits, like some Tibetan hats, bear an uncanny resemblance to some of the outfits out of Eastern Europe and it’s mountains.
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Thanks CarrotAndStick. There's some nice footage of these "black pagans of Hindu Kush" in Michael Wood's "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great". |
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Or these guys,
How did this group manage to keep their tribal beliefs going if they didn’t have a nearly impenetrable defensible border?
A beautiful pictorial of these people, descendants of Greeks:
>descendants of Greeks
The post Alexander Indo Greek kingdoms did last for some time, contemporaneously with the Seleucids, and in Central Asia and towards the Indus, creating some unique artwork and synthesis of Greek and Indian culture.
And in those days, sometimes they were quite adept at adopting and transposing each other’s deities.
A great movie, and the legendary Kafiristan.
There were rumors of Buddhist valleys up in the Pamirs up until British times, and though Kipling may have gone to Kabul, it’s doubtful he made it into this place, because the gauntlet of Pathani tribes was a daunting one to run.
I don’t know. They have the beliefs somehow and the impenetrability is obviously non existent or declining fast now.
But the history must have been horrible, with jihadi mullahs, rampaging over their lands over the past 100 years at least since their numbers have experienced so preciptous a drop.
One of the most under-appreciated movies of all time.
Have you heard of the Nestorian Christians in the mountains that might be known as Assyria?
Sure, even Marco Polo encountered colonies of them, IIRC.
They survived as well in Central Asia for centuries.
As far as Assyria, the name of the country as such was pretty much absorbed into the Persian Empire, and seems rather nebulous after that period.
Guess I don’t quite understand your question “might be known as Assyria”?
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