After spending about a week exploring Gandharan Buddhist sites and art in Northern Pakistan in September 2021, I had the unexpected opportunity to visit an area that I thought was closed to foreign visitors, namely the Kalash Valley. This valley is famous for the indigenous matriarchal religion that persists even in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. When I expressed my interest in the Kalash culture my guide, Amyn, and driver, Iqbal suggested we detour to Chitral and then to Kalash rather than heading directly to Hunza, which was our next scheduled stop. I jumped at the chance. Neither of them had been there either, so this was going to be an adventure for all of us. After a long day of driving north from Mingora through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province along the Afghan border we finally arrived in Chitral towards dusk. We stayed in the very pleasant Mountain Inn, with separate cabins and a large garden with a tree whose leaves are supposed to be good for dealing with diabetes. Locals use much of the vegetation from the surrounding hills and mountains for herbal cures, and this tree was just one example of how ancient wisdom is maintained even in tourist areas. The young man running the hotel came from Kalash Valley and was helpful in giving us information on the people and culture that we were going to visit the following day. Before heading up to Kalash, however, I wanted to stop at the Chitral Museum, which is located by their polo field. Polo is a national pastime in this region, even more than soccer or cricket. (Well, perhaps equal to cricket…). The museum is small, just a few rooms, but it did have a number of Kalash artifacts including some Gandau effigies. These are carved from a single piece of wood and are said to represent the soul of the person who has died. When an important person dies, a gandau is placed on the grave. The term is also used for the three day ceremony to install the effigy. Family members select the best piece of wood from the forest to carve the image and the name of the deceased is constantly recited during the carving process. After the image is complete, a procession takes it to the Jestakhan, where they dance for twenty-four hours before heading on to the cemetery. There are three kinds of gandaus: standing, sitting and those on horseback. Sometimes the horses have two heads, which supposedly means that the deceased was quite powerful and/or influential. Women are usually represented in a sitting position on ornately carved chairs wearing caps with four horns. According to Kalash tradition, a goat with four horns is seen as an auspicious omen. This may harken back to the earlier pre-historic traditions, as this valley was cut off for centuries.
There were a number of other interesting artifacts in the museum, including one where help is needed to identify the script. There is a stone with an unknown ancient inscription, and it would be helpful if someone could identify it and let me, or the Chitral Museum, know. It would also be helpful if we could have the name and contact of a scholar who might be able to decipher it. Here is a photo of the stone:
After the museum we headed up to the Kalash Valley. We had to change cars in a small village near the base of the windy narrow hilly road as the Toyota Corolla we were driving wouldn’t make it up the jeep track. The driver of an old broken down, but drivable, vehicle we hired was from Kalash, spoke the language and was able to act as a local guide. There are fourteen small villages in the Kalash Valley, each with somewhat unique traditions, but all within the same general framework. They, like many in Hunza are said to be relatives of the troops who left Alexander’s army to stay put where they were. After seeing all the mountains they had to cross, I can completely empathize with their decision. The valley is lush with water from the surrounding glaciers, fruit trees grow in abundance, as well as grapes for wine and apricots for fruit and schnaps. We visited a room where three centenarians were in the process of making the latter. It seems if one can survive the winters when young, a hearty long life is entirely possible. I was surprised that the valley is known for its wine as alcohol is not permitted in the Islamic Republic. It seems that the tribe has a special exemption as wine and schnaps are used in their sacred rituals. It is said that the cultivation of wine stems from Alexander’s Dionysian legacy. The red wine was quite good as were the grapes that people would pluck off the vines for us. The exemption is for their entire cultural heritage, not just for wine and schnaps.
The people of the Kalash Valley have a different language and the elder generation did not speak Urdu, so the conversation had to be translated from English to Urdu to Kalash and back again. How much was lost in translation, I can’t begin to guess. The translators were quite reluctant to ask my questions or provide any responses to questions regarding the Kalash sacred traditions. Most of what I could gather was from the museum descriptions, the plaques near some of the buildings and from the internet. What I did understand was that their funeral rites entail giving the soul back to the creator; life is temporary and there is another life after this one. There are a number of annual festivals according to an agricultural calendar, and the festival of Madaik is equivalent to the Catholic All Souls Day. The departed souls live forever. The bed of the deceased is turned over on their grave so that they have their resting place in the life beyond. Time is cyclical, not linear, as are the seasons. The festivals are celebrated in the community square that is decorated with streamers, flowers and other colorful objects.
The winter solstice festival of Chaumos is the only one that takes place indoors, in the Jestakhan. The Jestakhan is a temple dedicated to Goddess Jestak, the protector of the life force, hearth, family and generations. The altar is always oriented to the west, the origin of the Kalash people. Each house has an altar dedicated to Jestak and each village has its own temple. The Jestakhan is the only roofed temple in the valley. All other sacred sites have open-air altars.
(To be continued)