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40-465: The Katë language is spoken by 40,000–60,000 people, from the Kata , Kom , Mumo, Kshto and some smaller Black-Robed tribes in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan . The most used alternative names for the language are Kati or Bashgali . A descriptive grammar of this language was written by Jakob Halfmann in 2024. The name, pronounced [kaˈtɘ] , is the ethnonym of the Kata people . Cognates of

80-795: A Nuristani tribe in Afghanistan and Pakistan . The Katir [ka 'tɘ] or Kata Kafir group was numerically the most dominant group of the Siah-Posh (Persian "Black Wearer/Clothed") tribes. They owned approximately forty villages in the Bashgul valley and numbered about 40,000 (1890). The upper part of the Bashgul Valley of Nuristan ( Afghanistan ) is known as Katirgul. It is called Lutdeh in Chitrali and Kantozi in Pashto . According to George Scott Robertson,

120-484: A distinctive culture, language and religion. The area extending from modern Nooristan to Kashmir was known as "Peristan", a vast area containing a host of "Kafir" cultures and Indo-European languages that became Islamized over a long period of time, which eventually led them to become Muslim on the orders of Emir Abdur Rahman Khan who conquered the territory in 1895–96. The region was earlier surrounded by Buddhist states that temporarily brought literacy and state rule to

160-459: A generation . The Kafirs were converted to Islam and resettled in Laghman while the region was settled by veteran soldiers and other Afghans. Kafiristan was renamed as Nooristan . The former Kafiristan's people were renamed Nuristani (The Enlightened Ones) from the proper noun Nuristan (Land of Enlightenment). Presently they are known by Nuristani Kata or simply Kata. Georg Morgenstierne visited

200-403: A long period. Earlier, it was surrounded by Buddhist states and societies which temporarily extended literacy and state rule to the region. The journey to the region was perilous according to reports of Chinese pilgrims Faxian and Song Yun . The decline of Buddhism resulted in the region becoming heavily isolated. The Islamization of the nearby Badakhshan began in the 8th century and Peristan

240-462: A person refusing to accept Islam as his faith; it is commonly translated into English as a "non-believer". However, the influence from district names in Kafiristan of Katwar or Kator and the ethnic name Kati has also been suggested. Kafiristan was inhabited by people who followed a form of Paganism before their conversion to Islam in 1895–1896. Ancient Kapiśa janapada , located south-east of

280-440: A variety of cereals, many kinds of fruits, and a scented root called yu-kin , probably of the grass khus, or vetiver . The people used woollen and fur clothes; also gold, silver and copper coins. Objects of merchandise from all parts were found here. The area extending from modern Nooristan to Kashmir was known as "Peristan", a vast area containing a host of "Kafir" cultures and Indo-European languages that became Islamized over

320-518: Is a historical region that covered present-day Nuristan Province in Afghanistan and its surroundings. This historic region lies on, and mainly comprises, the basins of the rivers Alingar , Pech (Kamah) , Landai Sin river and Kunar , and the intervening mountain ranges. It is bounded by the main range of the Hindu Kush on the north, Pakistan's Chitral District to the east, the Kunar Valley in

360-628: Is commonly referred to as Shekhani in Chitral . In older literature, Southeastern Katë is split into Kamviri and Mumviri. Literacy rates are low: below 1% for people who have it as a first language and between 15% and 25% for people who have it as a second language . The Kata-vari dialect can be heard on radio in Afghanistan. This Indo-European languages -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Kata (people) The Katir (also spelled Kati , Kator and Kata ) are

400-560: Is the tribe lives in Gram; gram is a Nuristani word (of Indo-Aryan origin) meaning "village" (as a "community"). In ancient times, people were considered rich according to their ownership of animals or land. As the Kata tribe in Chitral was considered to be relatively rich, over time, Chitrali speakers began to use kata to mean "rich" or "big". Kafiristan is a mountainous region of the Hindu Kush that

440-602: The Bumboret Valley in 1929 during his field work on Nuristani (Kafir) languages . He encountered the two last remaining unconverted "Kafir" priests of the region, called Bagashai and Kareik. Bagashai deceased after 1935. Around 1890, the Katir Kafir division was further sub-divided as under: · کشمکش های تاریخی و سرنوشت قبیله الکته ۱۴۰۰ Kafiristan Kāfiristān , or Kāfirstān ( Pashto : کاپیرستان ; Persian : کافرستان; lit.   ' Land of Infidels ' ),

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480-626: The Dasas . That their ancestors were pre-Rigvedic Aryans can be inferred from linguistic, ethnological and theological evidence. The Kafiri/Nuristani languages contain certain phonetic features not found in Indo-Iranian languages . Their chief deity is Imra i.e. Yamaraja which was brought there by the Dasas who worshipped Asuras especially Yama and Varuna . Their primary goddess was Disani. They also worshipped Indra or Inder. On his way to India, Timur attacked

520-513: The Durand Line . The territory between Afghanistan and British India was demarcated between 1894 and 1896 . Part of the frontier lying between Nawa Kotal in the outskirts of Mohmand country and Bashgal Valley on the outskirts of Kafiristan was demarcated by 1895 in an agreement reached on 9 April 1895. Emir Abdur Rahman Khan wanted to force every community and tribal confederation to accept his single interpretation of Islam due to it being

560-487: The Hindukush , included and is related to Kafiristan. The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang who visited Kapisa in 644 AD calls it Kai-pi-shi(h) (迦畢試; standard Chinese : Jiābìshì < Middle Chinese ZS : * kɨɑ-piɪt̚-ɕɨ ). Xuanzang describes Kai-pi-shi as a flourishing kingdom ruled by a Buddhist kshatriya king holding sway over ten neighbouring states, including Lampaka , Nagarahara , Gandhara and Bannu . Until

600-555: The Kunar Valley while returning from Yarkand. In 1883, William Watts McNair , a British surveyor on leave, explored the area disguised as a hakim. He reported on the journey later that year to the Royal Geographical Society . George Scott Robertson , medical officer during the Second Anglo-Afghan War and later British political officer in the princely state of Chitral , was given permission to explore

640-464: The 9th century AD, Kapiśi remained the second capital of the Shahi dynasty of Kabul . Kapiśa was known for goats and their skin. Xuanzang talks of Shen breed of horses from Kapiśa ( Kai-pi-shi ). There is also a reference to Chinese emperor Taizong being presented with an excellent breed of horses in 637 AD by an envoy from Chi-pin (Kapisa). Further evidence from Xuanzang shows that Kai-pi-shi produced

680-657: The Black Kafirs. Only this group in the five valleys of Birir , Bumburet, Rumbur, Jineret and Urtsun escaped conversion, because they were located east of the Durand Line in the princely state of Chitral . However, by the 1940s the southern valleys of Urtsun and Jingeret had been converted. After a decline in population caused by forced conversion in the 1970s, this region of Kafiristan in Pakistan, known as Kalasha Desh, has recently shown an increase in its population. In early 1991,

720-610: The Kabul Museum were badly damaged under the Taliban but have since been restored. A few hundred Kati Kafirs , known as the "Red Kafirs" of the Bashgal Valley, fled across the border into Chitral but, uprooted from their homeland, they converted by the 1930s. They settled near the frontier in the valleys of Rumbur , Bumburet and Urtsun , which were then inhabited by the Kalash tribe or

760-704: The Kafirs would pay an annual tribute of slaves. Numerous scholars have connected the names Katir/Kator/Kata and Kam / Kom with ancient Kambojas and identified the Kafirs , especially the Siah-Posh Kafirs, as having descended from ancient. The Kata Tribe also lives in Chitral and very much mixed with Chitralies. There is a popular stone by the name of Kata Boht situated in Ozhore (Juwara) Valley Chitral. The Kata Tribe also lives in Ozhore and also other part of Chitral. The other fact

800-780: The Katir Siah-Posh clan settled in Katirgul valley was called Kamtoz (or Camtoz ) in Pashto and Lutdehhchis in Chitrali ( The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush , p 71 ). But American investigator Richard Strand's website suggests that the name Kamtoz/Kamtozi may apply to all Katirs of the former Siah-Posh group, including the Ramguli and Kulam Katirs [1] . Alternative names for Kamtoz are Camtozi , Kantozi . Despite their fiercely independent nature,

840-595: The Katis, together with the Kom tribe, were tributary to the Mehtar of Chitral . The nature of this tributary relationship was inconsistent because the Katis and Koms would often raid Chitrali territory for livestock and head-hunting. In retaliation the Mehtars would invade the Bashgul Valley and enslave entire villages. During the reign of Mehtar Aman-ul-Mulk the relationship was formalized and

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880-507: The Siyah-Posh in 1398 A.D. after receiving complaints from the trading city of Andarab by raids from Kafirs. He penetrated it from Khawak pass and restored an old fortress there. Timur personally proceeded against the Kator/Katwar and sent a detachment of 10,000 soldiers against Siyah-Poshas under Burhan Aglan and had the fort of Kator/Katwar deserted by Kafirs destroyed while the houses of

920-567: The army of Ghazni marched appears to have been the same as that now called Kafirstan, where the inhabitants were and still are, idolaters and are named the Siah-Posh , or black-vested, by the Muslims of later times. In Nardain there was a temple, which the army of Ghazni destroyed; and brought from thence a stone covered with certain inscriptions, which were according to the Hindus, of great antiquity. The first European recorded as having visited Kafiristan

960-437: The city were burnt. The Kafirs took refuge on top of a hill and many were killed in the ensuing clash. Some held out for three days but agreed to convert after Timur offered them the choice between death and Islam. They however soon apostatised and ambushed Muslim soldiers in the night. They were however repelled and a number of the Kafirs were killed, with 150 taken prisoner and later executed. Timur ordered his men "to kill all

1000-583: The country of the Kafirs in 1890–91. He was the last outsider to visit the area and observe these people's polytheistic culture before their conversion to Islam . Robertson's 1896 account was entitled The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush . Though some sub-groups such as the Kom paid tribute to Chitral, the majority of Kafiristan was left on the Afghan side of the frontier in 1893, when large areas of tribal lands between Afghanistan and British India were divided into zones of control by

1040-906: The country under a centralised Afghan government. He had similarly subjugated the Hazara people in 1892–93. In 1896 Abdur Rahman Khan, who had thus conquered the region for Islam, renamed the people the Nuristani ("Enlightened Ones" in Persian ) and the land as Nuristan ("Land of the Enlightened"). Kafiristan was full of steep and wooded valleys. It was famous for its precise wood carving, especially of cedar-wood pillars, carved doors, furniture (including " horn chairs ") and statuary. Some of these pillars survive, as they were reused in mosques, but temples, shrines, and centers of local cults, with their wooden effigies and multitudes of ancestor figures were torched and burnt to

1080-424: The east through Asmar . A small column also came from south-west through Laghman . The Kafirs were resettled in Laghman while the region was settled by veteran soldiers and other Afghans. The Kafirs were converted and some also converted to avoid the jizya . A few years after Robertson's visit, in 1895–96, Abdur Rahman Khan invaded and converted the Kafirs to Islam as a symbolic climax to his campaigns to bring

1120-610: The ethnonym in other Nuristani languages include Waigali Kā̃ta [kãːˈta] . According to Halfmann (2024, p. 3), the names descend from a Proto-Nuristani form *Kānta-ka- . It belongs to the Indo-European language family and is in the Nuristani group of the Indo-Iranian branch. There are three main dialects according to Halfmann (2024): Western Katë, Northeastern Katë, and Southeastern Katë (including Kamviri and Mumviri). The dialects are sometimes erroneously defined as separate languages. The Northeastern Katë dialect

1160-400: The frontier lying between Nawa Kotal in outskirts of Mohmand country and Bashgal Valley on outskirts of Kafiristan were demarcated by 1895 with an agreement reached on 9 April 1895. Emir Abdur Rahman Khan invaded Kafiristan in the winter of 1895-1896 and captured it in 40 days according to his autobiography. Columns invaded it from the west through Panjshir to Kullum, the strongest fort of

1200-618: The ground. Only a small fraction brought back to Kabul as spoils of this Islamic victory over infidels. These consisted of various wooden effigies of ancestral heroes and pre-Islamic commemorative chairs. Of the more than thirty wooden figures brought to Kabul in 1896 or shortly thereafter, fourteen went to the Kabul Museum and four to the Musée Guimet and the Musée de l'Homme located in Paris . Those in

1240-465: The influence from district names in Kafiristan of Katwar or Kator and the ethnic name Kati has also been suggested. The Kafirs were divided into Siyah-Posh , comprising five sub-tribes who spoke Katɘ language while the others were called Safed-Posh comprising Paruni, Waigeli, Wamai and Ashkun. The Nuristani/Kafir people practiced a form of ancient Hinduism, infused with accretions developed locally. Kafirs represent non-Rigvedic Aryans, identical with

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1280-429: The men, to make prisoners of women and children, and to plunder and lay waste all their property." His soldiers carried out the order and he directed them to build a tower of skulls of the dead Kafirs. Timur had his expedition engraved on a neighboring hill in the month of Ramazan. His detachment sent against Siyah-Posh however met with disaster with Aglan routed and fleeing. A small detachment of 400 men under Muhammad Azad

1320-471: The mountains; the decline of Buddhism heavily isolated the region. It was surrounded by Muslim states in the 16th century. Kafiristan or Kafirstan is normally taken to mean "land [ -stan ] of the kafirs " in the Persian language , where the name کافر kafir is derived from the Arabic كافر kāfir , literally meaning a person who refuses to accept a principle of any nature and figuratively as

1360-401: The only uniting factor. After the subjugation of Hazaras , Kafiristan was the last remaining autonomous part. Abdur Rahman Khan's forces invaded Kafiristan in the winter of 1895–96 and captured it in 40 days according to his autobiography. Columns invaded it from the west through Panjshir to Kullum, the strongest fort of the region. The columns from the north came through Badakhshan and from

1400-550: The region. The columns from the north came through Badakhshan and from the east through Asmar . A small column also came from south-west through Laghman . A small number of Kati refugee's escaped across the border into Kalash territory which was on the British side . Villages were founded in a number of valley's with Brumbutal in the Bumboret valley and Kunisht in a neighbouring Kalash valley, however these to would become Islamic within

1440-497: The south and the Alishang River in the west. Kafiristan took its name from the enduring kafir (non-Muslim) Nuristani inhabitants who once followed a distinct form of ancient Hinduism mixed with locally developed accretions; they were thus known to the surrounding predominantly Sunni Muslim population as Kafirs , meaning "disbelievers" or "infidels". They are closely related to the Kalash people , an independent people with

1480-487: Was isolated and politically independent until the conquest by Afghan conquest of 1896. The region became a refuge of an old group of Indo-European people probably mixed with an older substratum, as well as a refuge of a distinct Kafiri group of Indo-Iranian languages , forming part of the wider Dardic languages . The inhabitants were known as " kafirs " due to their enduring polytheism (closely related to Vedic religion) while other regions around them became Muslim. However,

1520-501: Was sent and defeated the Kafirs, retrieving the horses and armour Aglan lost. Timur captured a few places later, though nothing more is stated, presumably he left the Siyah-Posh alone. He then proceeded to exterminate the rebellious Afghan tribes and crossed the Sindhu river in September 1398. The territory between Afghanistan and British India was demarcated between 1894 and 1896 . Part of

1560-447: Was surrounded by Muslim states in the 16th century. The Kalash people of lower Chitral are the last surviving heirs of the area. Another jihad against idolatry was at length resolved on; and Mahmud led the seventh one against Nardain, the then boundary of India, or the eastern part of the Hindu Kush; separating, as Ferishta says, the countries of Hindustan and Turkistan and remarkable for its excellent fruit. The country into which

1600-621: Was the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Bento de Góis , SJ . By his account, he visited a city named "Capherstam" in 1602, during the course of a journey from Lahore to China . American adventurer Colonel Alexander Gardner claimed to have visited Kafiristan twice, in 1826 and 1828. On the first occasion, Dost Mohammad , the amir of Kabul , killed members of Gardner's delegation in Afghanistan and forced him to flee from Kabul to Yarkand through west Kafiristan. On his second visit, Gardner briefly sojourned in northern Kafiristan and

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