Hindkowans

Hindkowans (Punjabi: هندکوان (Shahmukhi), ਹਿੰਦਕੋਵਾਨ (Gurmukhi), lit. "Hindko-speakers") are an Indo-Aryan linguistic-cultural group,[4][5] which is native to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pothohar Plateau and Azad Kashmir regions of Pakistan. Hindkowans speak various Hindko dialects of the Punjabi language, in contrast to Pashto.[4][5][6]

Hindkowans
Regions with significant populations
 Pakistan
 India[1]
 Afghanistan[2]
Languages
Hindko
Religion
Predominately: Islam (predominantly Sunni),[3] Minorities: Hinduism and Sikhism[2]
Related ethnic groups
Other Punjabi subgroups

They were originally settled in the northern parts of the historical Punjab region. At present, Hindkowans can be found in the Pakistani cities of Peshawar, Nowshera, Swabi, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur and Attock.[7] Those who reside in urban centers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan such as Peshawar, Kohat, Nowshera and Swabi are alternatively termed as "Kharian/Kharay" or city-dweller. Other Hindko-speakers, mostly of the Hindu and Sikh faiths, have been living in Afghanistan for centuries and are known as Hindki.[2] Those Hindko speakers, who after the partition of India migrated to the independent republic, identify with the broader Punjabi community;[1] these Hindkowans reside the Indian states of East Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.[1][8][9]

Origin

A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province has defined Hindkowans (also historically known as Hindkis) as follows:[10]

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 an Awan or Jat cultivator, but in a wider sense it includes all Muhammadans who talk Hindi, Panjabi or any other dialect derived from them.[10]

The NWFP Imperial Gazetteer of India (1905) regularly refers to their language as Hindko, which means "Indian mountains."[11] 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."[12]

In Afghanistan, a group of Hindu Hindkowans who speak Hindko are referred to as Hindki,[13] which according to Grierson is a variant of the term Hindko.[14][15] The Hindkis are also 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.[13]

Religion

The Hindu Hindkowans, prior to the partition of India exercised economic power in the North-West Frontier Province and because they spoke Hindko, this was perceived as an opposition to the influx Pashto-speaking Pashtuns in the region.[16][17][5][18][19] Some of these Hindu Hindkowans are traders and over time, have settled in areas as far as Kalat, Balochistan.[20][21] Other Hindu Hindkowans migrated to India from their native region of the NWFP after the partition of India in 1947.[22]

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.[10] Today, most of the Hindkowan population in Pakistan is Sunni Muslim.[3]

Later, with the spread of Sikhism and the rise of the Sikh Empire beginning in the eighteenth century A.D., some Hindkowans became Sikhs.[16][17][5][18][19] Like the Hindus, many Sikh Hindkowans migrated to Hindustan after the partition of India in 1947.[5][22]

Demographics

Hindko speakers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa include the Dhunds, Karlals, Tanolis, Mashwanis, Sayyids, Mughals, Turks, Awans, Qureshis, and Gujjars.[23]

There are a substantial number of Hindko speakers in Peshawar, Nowshera, and Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Prior to the formation of Pakistan, these areas were dominated by Hindko speakers. Typically, Pashtu speakers were predominant in the rural areas while Hindko speakers dominated the urban areas. The majority status of the Hindkowans however, changed as a higher number of Pashtu speakers started settling in urban centers resulting in the Hindko speakers of these cities in becoming a minority. The Awans form the majority of Hindkowans in these urban centers.[23]

Hindkowans of District Attock, Punjab, reside in and form a majority of Attock Tehsil and Pindi Gheb Tehsil. Most of these Hindkowans are Awan, Khattar, and Muslim Rajputs.[23][24]

Hindko is the dominant language and spoken in the whole of Northern Kashmiri Neelum District as well as parts of Muzaffarabad District. [25]

Hundreds of thousands of Hindkowans, mostly from Hazara Division, reside in Karachi. Most of these Hindkowans migrated to Karachi in the early 1960s during the Ayub Khan era. However, lack of job opportunities and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake has also caused a large-scale migration from the Hazara division to Karachi. [26]

Notable Hindko-speakers

See also

References
  1. Venkatesh, Karthik (6 July 2019). "The strange and little-known case of Hindko". Mint. Retrieved 24 September 2019. In India, Hindko is little known, and while there are Hindko speakers in parts of Jammu and Kashmir as well as among other communities who migrated to India post Partition, by and large it has been absorbed under the broad umbrella of Punjabi.
  2. Venkatesh, Karthik (6 July 2019). "The strange and little-known case of Hindko". Mint. Retrieved 24 September 2019. Besides Pakistan, Hindko is also spoken in Afghanistan, where it is referred to as Hindki and largely understood to be the language of its non-Muslim population, i.e. Afghan Hindus and Sikhs.
  3. "Hindko, Southern". SIL International. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  4. West, Barbara A. (2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. p. 285. ISBN 9781438119137. The term Hindko as used in Pakistan refers to speakers of Indo-Aryan languages who live among the primarily Iranian Pashtuns of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). The origins of the term refer merely to "Indian speaking" rather than to any particular ethnic group.
  5. The rise and development of Urdu and the importance of regional languages in Pakistan. Christian Study Centre. p. 38. Shackle suggests Hindko simply means "Indian language' and describes it as a "collective label for the variety of Indo-Aryan dialects either alongside or in vicinity of Pushto in the northwest of the country'. Hindko is the most significant linguistic minority in the NWFP, represented in nearly one-fifth (18.7%) of the province's total households. ... The Influence of Pushto on Hazara appears to have become more pronounced, due in part to an Influx of Pashtuns replacing the Hindko-speaking Sikhs and Hindus who formerly held key trading positions and who departed at independence.
  6. Masica, Colin P. (1993). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge University Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 9780521299442. The worst of the latter is "Hindko", a term (basically meaning 'the language of the Indians' - as contrasted with Pathans) applied not only to several forms of "Northern Lahnda" but also to the Siraiki dialects of Dera Ghazi Khan and Mianwali Districts (also called Derawali and Thali respectively), and of Dera Ismail Khan (Northwestern Frontier Province).
  7. Qadeer, Mohammad A. (2006). Pakistan: Social and Cultural Transformations in a Muslim Nation. Taylor & Francis. p. 40. ISBN 978-0415375665.
  8. Sardar, Ziauddin; Yassin-Kassab, Robin (2012). Pakistan?. Oxford University Press. p. 71. ISBN 9781849042239. Peshawar, the oldest living city in South Asia, has developed in four phases which correspond to the city's major settlements. The inner city -- ander shehr -- has been inhavited constantly since at least 539 BCE. People here mostly speak Hindko, which after Pashto is the region's most widely spoken language -- a language that also attests to the city's Indo-Aryan origin. Hindko-speakers from the inner city have supplied some of Bollywood's most celebrated screen talent. Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapur, Vinod Khanna; they were all born here. ... The whole Kapur family, which has a long history in Bollywood cinema, traces its origins to the inner city. Peshawar also gave India one of its greatest English language novelists in Mulk Raj Anand.
  9. "Peshawarites still remember the Kapoor family". Daily Times. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
  10. Ibbetson, Sir Denzil; Maclagan, Sir Edward (1911). A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province: Based on the Census Report for the Punjab, 1883. Indian Civil Service. p. 333.
  11. C. Shackle (1980). "Hindko in Kohat and Peshawar". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 43 (3): 482–510. doi:10.1017/s0041977x00137401. JSTOR 615737.
  12. Hindko and Gujari: Volume 3 of Sociolinguistic survey of northern Pakistan. National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University. 1992. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
  13. Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). "Hindki". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  14. Shackle, C. (1980). "Hindko in Kohat and Peshawar". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 43 (3): 482–510. doi:10.1017/s0041977x00137401. JSTOR 615737.
  15. "Ethnologue Report for Hindko". Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
  16. Papers in language and linguistics, Volume 1. Bahri Publications. 1986. p. 50. Essentially, what has occurred is an occupation by Pashto-speaking Pathans of key areas in the urban economy of the province which before 1947 were traditionally exercised by Hindko- speaking Hindus and Sikhs.
  17. Language forum, Volume 9. Bahri Publications. 1984. p. 50. Essentially, what has occurred is an occupation by Pashto-speaking Pathans of key areas in the urban economy of the province which before 1947 were traditionally exercised by Hindko- speaking Hindus and Sikhs.
  18. Journal of Asian history, Volumes 35-36. O. Harrassowitz. 2001. The real opposition to Pashto came, however, from the speakers of Hindko. A large number of Sikhs and Hindus, all speaking Hindko, lived in the cities of N.W.F.P. and had a voice in the legislative assembly, this was often perceived as the non-Muslim opposition to Pashto.
  19. Language, ideology and power: language learning among the Muslims of Pakistan and North India. Oxford University Press. 2002. p. 367. The real opposition to Pashto came, however, from the speakers of Hindko. A large number of Sikhs and Hindus, all speaking Hindko, lived in the cities of N.W.F.P. and had a voice in the legislative assembly, this was often perceived as the non-Muslim opposition to Pashto.
  20. The social organization of the Marri Baluch. Indus Publications. 1966. p. 11. ...is in the hands of a small caste of Hindu merchants. These Hindus are Hindko-speaking and regard Kalat as their homeland, where they generally keep their families and go for some months every year to visit and to obtain supplies. While in the Marri area, they must be under the protection of a local Marri chief or the sardar himself.
  21. Viking fund publications in anthropology, Issue 43. Viking Fund. 1966. p. 11. ...is in the hands of a small caste of Hindu merchants. These Hindus are Hindko-speaking and regard Kalat as their homeland, where they generally keep their families and go for some months every year to visit and to obtain supplies. While in the Marri area, they must be under the protection of a local Marri chief or the sardar himself.
  22. "Peshawarites still remember the Kapoor family". Daily Times. 29 December 2003.
  23. RASHID, Haroon Ur; AKHTAR, Raja Nasim (31 December 2014). "A Phonemic and Acoustic Analysis of Hindko Oral Stops". Acta Linguistica Asiatica. 4 (1): 9–28. doi:10.4312/ala.4.1.9-28. ISSN 2232-3317.
  24. Shackle, Christopher (1980). "Hindko in Kohat and Peshawar". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 43 (3): 484–86. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00137401. ISSN 0041-977X.
  25. Akhtar Raja, Nasim, "Aspectual Complex Predicates in Punjabi", The Yearbook of South Asian Languages and Linguistics (2003), Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-020775-0, retrieved 8 March 2020
  26. "Hazarawals key to scoring high in Karachi - Pakistan Today". www.pakistantoday.com.pk. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  27. Patel, Reply to All | Aakar (25 November 2011). "Does Pakistan have a saviour in Imran Khan?". Livemint. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
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