| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Swat | |
| Languages | |
| Torwali | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Indo-Aryan peoples |
The Torwali people are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group located in the Swat district of Pakistan. The Torwali people have a culture that values the telling of folktales and music that is played using the sitar. [1] They speak an Indo-Aryan language called Torwali. [2]
The Torwalis inhabit the Swat River valley between Laikot (a little south of Kalam) down to and including the village of Bahrein (60 km north of Mingora). The Torwalis live in compact villages of up to 600 houses, mainly on the west bank of the Swat River. Fredrik Barth estimated that they constituted about 2000 households in all in 1956. All the Torwalis he met were bilingual, speaking Pashto and Torwali. [3]
The Torwali people are believed to be among the earliest natives to the region of Swat. [2] The Torwali language is the closest modern Indo-Aryan language still spoken today to Niya, a dialect of Gāndhārī, a Middle Indo-Aryan language spoken in the ancient region of Gandhara. [4] [5] The Torwalis were native to a more extensive area, such as towards Buner, from where they were expelled into mountainous tracts by successive aggressive migration by Pashtuns. [6] They are referred by pashtuns as "Kohistanis", which was the name given by them to "All other Muhammadans of Indian descent in the Hindu Kush valleys". [7]
By the 17th century, in the aftermath of Yusufzai Pashtun invasions in the region, most of the Torwalis had converted from Hinduism and Buddhism to Islam; however, the strand was mostly superficial and elements of traditional culture were still heavily practised. [8] [9]
The Torwali people speak the Torwali language, an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic (Kohistani) subgroup; the language was first documented by colonial archaeologist Aurel Stein in around 1925, and the records were published by George Abraham Grierson as 'Torwali: An Account of a Dardic Language of the Swat Kohistan' in 1929. [2] [10]
It had approximately 102,000 speakers in 2016 [10] and by 2017, eight schools with instruction in the Torwali language had been established for Torwali students. [11] Before 2007, the language did not have a written tradition. [11]
Unique to the Torwali people are traditional games, which were abandoned for more than six decades. [11] A festival held in Bahrain known as Simam attempted to revive them in 2011. [11] The Torwali people have a tradition of telling folktales. [12]
The Torwali people play music using the traditional South Asian instrument known as the sitar. [1] Modern Torwali songs influenced by Urdu or Pashtu music are known as phal. [1]
The Indo-Aryan languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated east of the Indus river in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal. Moreover, apart from the Indian subcontinent, large immigrant and expatriate Indo-Aryan–speaking communities live in Northwestern Europe, Western Asia, North America, the Caribbean, Southeast Africa, Polynesia and Australia, along with several million speakers of Romani languages primarily concentrated in Southeastern Europe. There are over 200 known Indo-Aryan languages.
The Yusufzai or Yousafzai, also referred to as the Esapzai, or Yusufzai Afghans historically, are one of the largest tribes of Pashtuns. They are natively based in the northern part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to which they migrated from Kabul during the 16th century, but they are also present in parts of Afghanistan, including Kunar, Kabul, Kandahar and Farah. Outside of these countries, they can be found in Ghoriwala District Bannu, Balochistan Sibi (Akazai), Chagai (Hassanzai) and Rohilkandh.
Gāndhārī was an Indo-Aryan Prakrit language found mainly in texts dated between the 3rd century BCE and 4th century CE in the region of Gandhāra, located in the northwestern Indian subcontinent. The language was heavily used by the former Buddhist cultures of Central Asia and has been found as far away as eastern China, in inscriptions at Luoyang and Anyang.
The Dardic languages, or Hindu-Kush Indo-Aryan languages, are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, northwestern India and parts of northeastern Afghanistan. This region has sometimes been referred to as Dardistan.
Swat District, also known as the Swat Valley, is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Known for its stunning natural beauty, the district is a popular tourist destination. With a population of 2,687,384 per the 2023 national census, Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Dardistan refers to a region where Dardic languages are spoken. The terms "Dardic" and "Dardistan" are not indigenous to the region, and were coined by Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner. The legitimacy of the term has been called into question. The region also includes a number of non-Dardic peoples and languages.
Shina is a Dardic language of Indo-Aryan language family spoken by the Shina people. In Pakistan, Shina is the major language in Gilgit-Baltistan spoken by an estimated 1,146,000 people living mainly in Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan. A small community of Shina speakers is also found in India, in the Guraiz valley of Jammu and Kashmir and in Dras valley of Ladakh. Outliers of Shina language such as Brokskat are found in Ladakh, Kundal Shahi in Azad Kashmir, Palula and Sawi in Chitral, Ushojo in the Swat Valley and Kalkoti in Dir.
The pakol or pakul also called a Chitrali hat, is a soft, flat, rolled-up, round-topped men's cap, usually worn in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was originally worn by the Chitrali people in Northern Pakistan, and it forms a major part of their traditional attire. It is typically made of wool and found in a variety of earthy colours, such as brown, black, grey, ivory, or dyed red using walnut.
Torwali, also known as Bahrain Kohistani, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Torwali people, and concentrated in the Bahrain and Chail areas of the Swat Kohistan in northern Pakistan. The Torwali language is said to have originated from the pre-Muslim communities of Swat. It is the closest modern Indo-Aryan language still spoken today to Niya, a dialect of Gāndhārī, a Middle Indo-Aryan language spoken in the ancient region of Gandhara. Torwali and Gawri languages are collectively classified as "Swat Kohistani".
Gawri (ګاوری), also known as Kalami (کالامي), Kalam Kohistani and Bashkarik, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Swat Kohistan region in the upper Swat District and in the upper Panjkora river valley of Upper Dir District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Gawri and Torwali are collectively classified as "Swat Kohistani".
Indus Kohistani or simply Kohistani is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the former Kohistan District of Pakistan. The language was referred to as Maiyã (Mayon) or Shuthun by early researchers, but subsequent observations have not verified that these names are known locally.
Tirahi are Indo-Aryan people who are native and original inhabitants of Tirah valley. They are closely related to their Dardic neighbours and speak Tirahi language, a nearly extinct if not already extinct Indo-Aryan language which may still be spoken by older adults, who are likewise fluent in Pashto, in a few villages in the southeast of Jalalabad in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. They were the previous inhabitants of Tirah and the Peshawar Valley in modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
The Shina or Gilgitis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group primarily residing in Gilgit–Baltistan and Indus Kohistan in Pakistan, as well as in the Dras Valley and Kishenganga Valley (Gurez) in the northern region of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in India. They speak an Indo-Aryan language, called Shina and their geographic area of predominance is referred to as Shenaki.
Shaikhdara or Shaikh Dara is the most popular locality of Union Council Dubair Bala in Lower Kohistan District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Shaikh is Arabic for 'Islamic scholar' and Dara means valley so Shaikhdara means 'the valley of Islamic scholars'.
Hazarewal or Hazarawals refer to the multi-ethnic community inhabitants of the Hazara region in Northern Pakistan. This region is known for its multi-ethnic population, comprising various ethnic groups with diverse origins.
Tirahi is a nearly extinct if not already extinct Indo-Aryan language spoken in a few villages in the southeast of Jalalabad in the Nangarhar Province of eastern Afghanistan. It is spoken by older adults, who are likewise fluent in Pashto.
Indus Kohistanis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group speaking the Indus Kohistani language. They mainly reside in Indus Kohistan, Hazara Division in northern Pakistan.
Behrain, also known as Swat Kohistan, is a tehsil located in Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The population is 270,620, according to the 2023 census. Behrain has an area of 2,899 km2, and is part of the larger Kohistan region. It is known for alpine valleys such as Kalam and is home to a number of Indigenous Indo-Aryan peoples, including Gujar, Kho and Gawri.
Yaghistan was a key frontier region between Afghanistan and British India.
Kohistan is a mountainous region located in the northern Pakistan. It consists of Indus Kohistan, Swat Kohistan and Dir Kohistan in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with a total area of 11,531 km2.
... It might be going too far to say that Torwali is the direct lineal descendant of the Niya Prakrit, but there is no doubt that out of all the modern languages it shows the closest resemblance to it. A glance at the map in the Linguistic Survey of India shows that the area at present covered by "Kohistani" is the nearest to that area round Peshawar, where, as stated above, there is most reason to believe was the original home of the Niya Prakrit. That conclusion, which was reached for other reasons, is thus confirmed by the distribution of the modern dialects.
...they must have once occupied some extensive valley like Boneyr, from whence they, like the rest, have been expelled and thrust up into the more mountainous tracts by the aggressive Afghans. By the Afghans they are called Kohistanis, a name given everywhere by Pathans to Mussulmans of Indic descent, living in the Hindoo Koosh Valleys.
According to the 13th century Tibetan Buddhist O rgyan pa forms of magic and Tantra Buddhism and Hindu cults still survived in the Swāt area even though Islam had begun to uproot them (G. Tucci, 1971, p. 375). Islam finally established itself in Swāt only with the invasion of the Yusufzai in the 16th century, (Bellew, 1864, pp. 65-67; Raverty, 1878, p. 206); ... it must nevertheless have been an Islam superficially accepted by the local population, some of the ancient traditions still being very much alive: ... The Torwali of upper Swāt would have been converted to Islam during the course of the 17th century (Biddulph, p. 70).