Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Swat | |
Languages | |
Torwali | |
Religion | |
Predominantly Islam | |
Related ethnic groups | |
other Dardic peoples |
The Torwali people are an ethnic group located in the Swat district of Pakistan.[1] The Torwali people have a culture the values the telling of folktales and music that is played using the sitar.[2] The tongue of the Torwali belongs to the Dardic sub-group of the Indo-Aryan language family.[3]
History
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Raja_Gira_Castle.jpg/220px-Raja_Gira_Castle.jpg)
The Torwali people are believed to be among the earliest migrants to the region of Swat.[3][5] However, doubts exist.[5]
The Hindu Shahi king of Swat, Raja Gira, was attacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in the early 11th century during the Islamic conquest of mediaeval India; as he was defeated, a mosque was constructed (third-oldest in Pakistan) and Islam went on to replace the Hinduism and Buddhism of the Torwali people.[5][6] The historical evidence documenting the details of pre-Islamic phase in Swat, its encounters with Islam and subsequent Islamisation remains scarce; in 1983, Umberto Scerrato said that the conquest of the Torwali by the Ghaznavid Muslims has been passed down through oral tradition and may be legendary.[1][6] In any case, by the 17th century, in the aftermath of Yusufzai invasions, most of the Torwalis had converted from Hinduism and Buddhism to Islam; however, the strand was mostly superficial and elements of traditional culture were still heavily practiced.[1]
Language
The Torwali people speak the Torwali language, an Indo-Aryan language of the Dardic (Kohistani) branch; the language was first documented by colonial archaeologist Aurel Stein in around 1925, and the records were published by George Abraham Grierson as 'Torwali: An Account of a Dardic Language of the Swat Kohistan' in 1929.[3][7]
It had approximately 102,000 speakers in 2016[7] and by 2017, eight schools with instruction in the Torwali language had been established for Torwali students.[8] Before 2007, the language did not have a written tradition.[8]
Culture
Unique to the Torwali people are traditional games, which were abandoned for more than six decades.[8] A festival held in Bahrain known as Simam attempted to revive them in 2011.[8] The Torwali people have a tradition of telling folktales.[9]
Music
The Torwali people play music using the traditional South Asian instrument known as the sitar.[2] Modern Torwali songs influenced by Urdu or Pashtu music are known as phal.[2]
References
- ^ a b c Scerrato, Umberto (1983). "Labyrinths in the Wooden Mosques of North Pakistan. A Problematic Presence". East and West. 33 (1/4): 21–29. ISSN 0012-8376.
- ^ a b c Torwali, Zubair (12 February 2016). "Fading songs from the hills". The Friday Times. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
- ^ a b c Shah, Danial (30 September 2013). "Torwali is a language". Himal Southasian. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- ^ Khaliq, Fazal (6 March 2016). "Castle of last Hindu king Raja Gira in Swat crumbling". Dawn. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
- ^ a b c ur-Rahim, Inam; Viaro, Alain M. (2002). Swat: An Afghan society in Pakistan: Urbanisation and Change in a Tribal Environment (PDF). Graduate Institute of Development Studies. p. 34, 36, 60-61.
The conquest of the Peshawar basin in 1001 marks the beginning of the Muslim invasions into northern India. The Peshawar plain was annexed to the Ghaznavid kingdom, and the Afghan tribesmen in the Bannu area were soon subdued. Swat, Dir and Bajour, cut off from the eastern Hindu Shahi territories succumbed quickly to Mahmud's army (1021?). Two thousand feet above the plain at Udigram in Swat stands a massive ruined fort. The grand staircase leading up to Raja Gira, the last Hindu defender of Swat, who was defeated after a long siege, built the fort. According to local tradition, Mahmud's commander Khushhal Khan died during this siege and is buried where the shrine of Pir Khushhal Khan Baba stands in a grove of trees. After the conquest of Swat, the Ghaznavids strengthened and extended the defences at Udigram. Other local forts and castles were also turned into garrison towns. The Hindu and Buddhist local population had no choice, either to convert to Islam or to be killed. The part of population, which did not convert to Islam, was driven into the mountains north of Madyan. Dilazak Afghans, allied to Mahmud, took over the land and settled there.
- ^ a b Bagnera, Alessandra (2006). "Preliminary Note on the Islamic Settlement of Udegram, Swat: The Islamic Graveyard (11th-13th century A.D.)". East and West. 56 (1/3): 205–228. ISSN 0012-8376.
- ^ a b Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2020). "Torwali". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (23 ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
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: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c d Torwali, Zubair (18 February 2019). "Early Writing in Torwali in Pakistan". In Sherris, Ari; Peyton, Joy Kreeft (eds.). Teaching Writing to Children in Indigenous Languages : Instructional Practices from Global Contexts. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781351049672-3. ISBN 978-1-351-04967-2.
- ^ Torwali, Zubair (12 February 2016). "Fading songs from the hills". The Friday Times. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
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