Hindki

Hindkowans
Total population
300,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Pashtu, Gojri, Hindko, Urdu, Kandhari, Sindhi[2][3]
Religion
Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism[4]
Related ethnic groups
other Indo-Aryan peoples

Hindki (Pashto: هندکي‎) is the name given to an ethnic group who inhabit Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan. They are found all over the country.[1] H. W. Bellew, in his Races of Afghanistan, estimated their number at about 300,000.[1] The name Hindki is also loosely used by Pathans on the upper Indus, in Dir and Bajour, to denote the speakers of Punjabi or any of its dialects.[1][5] It is sometimes applied in a historical sense to the Buddhist inhabitants of the Peshawar Valley north of the Kabul River, who were driven thence about the 5th or 6th century C.E. and settled in the neighbourhood of Kandahar.[1]

The terms Hindki and Hindko are terms Pashtuns use to denote Indians, and Hindkowan can mean "Indian speaking" just as Farsiwan can mean "Persian speaking". In the extreme sense, Hindko can literally mean "Indian" in Pashto. However, after the partition of India and Pakistan, the term "Hazarawal" is preferred in order to discourage Pashtuns and others from associating Indo-Aryans with the republic of India, and instead associate them with the nation of Pakistan.

Origins

British anthropologist Horace Arthur Rose says:

Hindki, a generic term, half contemptuous, applied to all Muhammadans who being of Hindu origin speak Hindko and have been converted to Islam in comparatively recent times. In Bannu the term usually denotes a Jat cultivator, but in a wider sense it includes all Muhammadans who talk Hindi, Panjabi or any other dialect derived from them.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Wikisource Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hindki". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  2. ↑ "Introduction". Afghan Hindus and Sikhs. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  3. ↑ "Hindus Abandon Afghanistan". Hinduism Today. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  4. ↑ Majumder, Sanjoy (2003-09-25). "Sikhs struggle in Afghanistan". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  5. ↑ "Castes, Tribes, and Leading Families - Excerpts from the Gazetteer of the Kohat District". Khyber Gateway. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  6. ↑ A glossary of the tribes and castes of the Punjab and North-West provinces, compiled by H A Rose, vol II Page 333
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