Hindkowans

Hindkowans (Hindko: هِندکوان) or known locally as "Chachi's" are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group native to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces of Pakistan. However, an indeterminate number have left the region and now live in other parts of South Asia,^[9] such as the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir and Pakistani Azad Kashmir.^[4]

Hindkowans speak Hindko, a Lahnda language,^[10] and is native to the northern regions of Pakistan primarily concentrated in the Hazara division, and urban centers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan such as Peshawar, Kohat, Nowshera and Swabi. It is for this reason that alternatively, the term "Kharian/Kharay or city-dweller" maybe sometimes be used for the Hindkowan.

Origin

H.A. Rose, author of Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North West Frontier has defined Hindkowans or Hindkis as follows:

Those who speak the Hindko Language are collectively called Hindkowan.

The NWFP Imperial Gazetteer of India (1905) regularly refers to their language as Hindko, which means "Indian mountains."^[12] According to the publication Hindko and Gujari:

"More than one interpretation has been offered for the term Hindko. Some associate it with India, others with Hindu people, and still others with the Indus."^[13][14]

The term may well be the Persic reference meaning "Indus mountains" since the words "Hind" and "koh" mean Indus/Indic and mountains respectively in Persian. The term is also found in Greek references to the mountainous region in eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan as Καύκασος Ινδικός (Caucasus Indicus, or the Hindu Kush).^[15]

Hindkowans who are sometimes referred to as Punjabi Pathans. While literally, the term Punjabi Pathan can only be more correctly used to refer to Afghan/Pashtoon/Pathan tribes settled in Punjab, for example the Niazis of Mianwali and speak Seraiki language and those living in Attock district of Punjab who speak Hindko language. Outside of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the term "Pathan" may however, simply be used for anyone belonging to the area (whether they be Pashto, Hindko, Gujjari/Gojri, Turwali, Kohistani etc. speaking), since the people are perceived by others to share similar cultural traits such as the "pathanwalgi" among the Chach and Hazarawal considered analogous to pashtunwali.

In Afghanistan, a group of Hindus still continue to speak Hindko and are referred to as Hindki which according to Grierson is a variant of the term Hindko.^[16][17][18] However, in Pakistan the term is considered slightly pejorative and hence Hindkowan or Hindkun is preferred on par with the term Pashtun (the dominant and more numerous ethnic group in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province).^[16]

Long before the partition of British India, Grierson, in the Linguistic Survey of India, employed the term Hindko to mean "the language of Hindus" (viii, 1:34).^[10] However, this is hotly disputed in Pakistan.^[16] Farigh Bukhari and South Asian language expert and historian Christopher Shackle believe that Hindko was a generic term applied to the Indo-Aryan dialect continuum in the Pakistani northwest frontier territories and the adjacent district of Attock in the Punjab, Pakistan province to differentiate it in function and form from Pashto. Linguists classify the language into the Indic group.

Religion

Hindkowans, like other Indo-Aryan peoples originally practiced Hinduism; for this reason, the term "Hindko" itself is defined as the "language of the Hindus."^[19] As such, there are a number of Hindu Hindkowans.^{[20][21][22][23][24]} Some of these Hindu Hindkowans are traders and over time, have settled in areas as far as Kalat, Balochistan.^[25][26] Other Hindu Hindkowans migrated to India from their native region of Sarhad after the partition of India in 1947.^[9] During the Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent, which took place from the 12th century A.D. onwards, many of the Hindkowans converted to Islam. Today, most of the Hindkowan population is Sunni Muslim.^[5] Later, with the spread of Sikhism and the rise of the Sikh Empire beginning in the eighteenth century A.D., some Hindkowans, both Hindu & Muslim, became Sikhs.^{[20][21][22][23][24]} Like the Hindus, many Sikh Hindkowans migrated to Hindustan after the partition of India in 1947.^[9]

Demographics

There are no fresh and authentic figures on the speakers of Hindko language. However, according to indirect method of household rate employed in the 4th Population Census of 1981, an estimated 2.4 per cent of the total population of Pakistan and estimated 22.8 per cent of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa speak Hindko as their mother language, with more rural than urban households reporting Hindko as their household language.No information was gathered on the Hindko language in the 5th Population Census carried out in 1998 as Hindko language column was removed from the census form much to the dismay of Hindkowans.

The largest geographically contiguous group of Hindko-speakers is concentrated in the districts of Peshawar, Abbottabad, Kohat, Attock District, Nowshera, Haripur, Mansehra and Mardan of Pakistan

Tribal Communities

People here tend to associate themselves with larger families instead of a language per se. The major tribes of Hazara include the Gujjar, Awan, Bib, Bomba, Dhund Abbasi, Gakhar, Karlal, Mughals, Ghaznavis, Maliar, Parachas, Sarrara, Qazis, Sayyids, Mashwanis, Swatis, Tanolis, Dilazaks, Shilmanis, Jadoons, Khattak, Barakzai, and Kakar.^[27] The Pashtun tribes who settled in Districts like Abbotabad, Haripur and Mansehra, Peshawar and Kohat adopted Hindko as their first language and gained political power in these areas during the British rule. . The Hindko speaking people living in major cities Peshawar, Kohat, Nowshera and chhachh area of Attock are bilingual in Pashto and Hindko. Similarly many Pashto speaking people in districts like Mansehra especially in Agror Valley and northern Tanawal (Shergarh), have become bilingual in Pashto and Hindko.^[28]

Prominent writers

There are many Hinko writers, among them Aurangzeb Hussamhur Syed Mehboob,Aurangzeb Ghaznavi. Riffat Swati from Mansehrah is called madre hindko for her promotion of Hindko language. A monthly farogh is published from Peshawar by Aurangzeb Ghaznavi. Dr. Syed Mehboob is working for the promotion of Hindko language in Karachi and Sindh. His many articles has been published in various newspapers including Farogh Peshawar.

Hindko poets

Some of the prominent Hindko poets/writers are:

• Professor Dr Elahi Bakhsh Awan,
• Haider Zaman Haider,
• Sultan Sakoon
• Sabir Hussain Imdaad,
• Sheen Shaukat
• Zaffar Iqbal Athar
• Mohammad Ziauddin
• Ahmad Nadeem Awan
• Sikandar Hayat Sikandar
• Mr. Asif Saqib,
• Afzal Chishti
• Raza Hamadani
• Bushra Farukh
• Qudsia Qudsi
• Hassam Hurr
• Hilal Jamid
• Iftikhar Tashna
• Aslam Taraq
• Khawaja Yaqoob Akhtar
• Maqbool Ejaz Ejazi
• Malak Arshad Hussain
• Masoom Shah Masoom
• Sabeeh Ahed
• Rani Bano
• Sadaq Saba
• Saeed Gilani
• Zaffar Naveed Jani
• Prof. Sufi Abdur Rasheed,
• Col. Fazal-e-Akbar Kamal,
• Mr. Sultan Sakoon,
• Mr. Sharif Hussain Shah,
• Prof. Muhammad Farid,
• Prof. Yahya Khalid,
• Mr. Nazir Kasalvi,
• Muhammad Hanif,
• Ahmad Ali {Khayali}
• Shoaib shahid
• Prof. Bashir Sooz
• Muhammad Hanif
• Ahmad Hussain Mujahid
• Mohammed Khan (NCSU)

Distribution

The speakers of Hindko live primarily in seven districts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa: Mansehra, Swabi, Abbottabad, Haripur, Peshawar, Nowshera and Kohat in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as well as the Attock and Rawalpindi districts in the Punjab and parts of Kashmir; Jonathan Addleton states that Hindko is the most significant linguistic minority in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, represented in nearly one-fifth of the province's total households." In Abbotabad, 98 per cent of households reported speaking Hindko, in Mansehra District 77 per cent, in Haripur District around 85 per cent, in Peshawar District 35 per cent, and in Kohat District 40 per cent (1986). Testing of inherent intelligibility among Hindko dialects through the use of recorded tests has shown that there is a northern (Hazara) dialect group and a southern group. The southern dialects are more widely understood throughout the dialect network than are the northern dialects. The dialects of rural Peshawar and Talagang are the most widely understood of the dialects tested. The dialect of Balakot is the least widely understood.

Bilingualism

In most Hindko-speaking areas, speakers of Pashto live in the same or neighbouring communities (although this is less true in Abbottabad and Kaghan Valley than elsewhere). In the mixed areas, many people speak both languages. The relationship between Hindko and Pashto is not one of stable bilingualism.

Notable Hindkowans

• Dilip Kumar, Nishan-e-Imtiaz, an Indian film actor in Bollywood and a member of the Rajya Sabha^[29][30][31]
• Prithviraj Kapoor, famous Indian Actor, Theatre Artist
• Shashi Kapoor, famous Indian Actor, Director, Producer
• Shammi Kapoor, famous Indian Actor, Director, Producer
• Raj Kapoor,Famous Indian Actor, Director, Producer
• Pran Sikhand, Padma Bhushan, a multiple filmfare awards and BFJA award winning Indian Bollywood actor^[32]
• Anil Kapoor,Famous Indian Actor.
• Prithviraj Kapoor,Famous Indian Actor.
• Akhtar Abdur Rahman, ISI Chief.
• Humayun Akhtar Khan, prominent politician.
• Ayub Khan, Pakistan Army General.
• Yasir Hameed, Pakistani Crickter.
• Jehangir Khan, former World champion, Squash player.
• Vinod Khanna,Famous Indian Actor.
• Shah Rukh Khan,Famous Indian Actor.
• Ranbir Kapoor, famous India Actor

See also

• Hazarewal
• Chhachi
• Gojri

References

• Districts of Afghanistan#Faryab Province Andkoi, the real place of Migration from Afghanistan.
• [1], Travel & tour information of Afghanistan .