Resilience or Assimilation: A Critical Analysis of the Burial Practices of the Kalasha in Pakistan

 Resilience or Assimilation: A Critical Analysis of the Burial Practices of the Kalasha in Pakistan

Muhammad Kashif Ali

Abstract

This paper investigates the burial practices and death rituals of the Kalasha tribe of Chitral, Pakistan and explores the process of change or development in the burial practices and decline of gandau (Kalashamon: burial memorial effigy) and gundurik (Kalashamon: burial memorial effigy) making. Once the whole of Chitral Valley was inhabited by the indigenous and pre-Islamic Kalasha people and Chitral was their chiefdom, later they were ousted from the rule when the Chitral was taken by the Muslim rulers. The people, later, concentrated themselves in the southern valleys of Chitral and gradually lost their grandeur. Though they are struggling for their survival, but gradually are losing their cultural traits. Their burial practices have been hit badly for various reasons. Sharuga (Kalashamon: feast of merit) and installing the ancestral effigies were a central portion of their tradition which they had almost deserted. They changed burial practices and follow their Muslim neighbours, though there are some old traditional graveyards but in pathetic condition.

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https://www.researchgate.net/publication/389691183_Resilience_or_Assimilation_A_Critical_Analysis_of_the_Burial_Practices_of_the_Kalasha_in_Pakistan