Thread on Vedic Hindu Archaisms in Kalasha Tribe

The Kalasha have a winter solstice festival called čawmós that lasts for 12 holy days. This name is actually derived from the Sanskrit चतुर्—मास्य caturmāsya because Kalasha also speak a language derived from Vedic Sanskrit.

During these 12 days, the Kalasha avoid all ritual impurities and focus on austerities. They avoid *all* contact with muslims (who are ritually impure) & refrain from marital relations.

During this time, they have a ceremony of feeding their ancestors called mandáik.

Every čawmós the Kalasha say dewalók [Vedic – dēvalōkya] come to earth.

They construct a makeshift fort called कोट [ Sanskrit-कोट्ट ] and make a huge fire for the dead to see. They call this fort "Indra's fort"

Kalasha women do not eat honey because it is ritually pure, quite similar to the Hindu belief of old. (Nīlamata Purāṇa of Kaśmīra says to offer honey to the Goddess Śyāmā)

Kalasha preserve a very rare name prabazón for Indra Deva.

This name in Sanskrit is प्रबभ्र and can be found in the maitrayani saṃhitā of the kṛṣṇa yajurveda

They also have the word "déwa" for a 'spirit being' –– recent islamization has replaced god-words with "khuda"

Kalasha also have very rare words such as indōcik (lightning) which is from 'ndradyotya'

Earthquake in Kalasha is called *indreṣṭi / indríṣṭ "impulse from Indra"

In the Nuristani tongue, a daring hero by the name of Giwīṣ/Gyīṣ appears. This means "wishing for cows"

One of the most stupefying archaisms is that in the Kalasha language, the past tense is formed just like the Sanskrit imperfect. With an "a-augment"

In Kalasha, kārim "I do", akārim "I did"

In Sanskrit – karomi, akaravam

@sudarshanhs
ayaM pazyatu Arya

I concur it's a ghastly misfortune that this tribe in the Chitral Valley found itself in Pakistan, a maniacal Islamic state built on the erasure of minorities and their oppression. If they were in India, their religion, language would be safe.

Below linked documentary shall provide some insight on the mundane life of the tribe in their ancestral home and consequent toils faced by rampant islamic evangelism due to a multitude of societal-pressures causing them to pick Urdu & Islam.