The Shina (
Shina: ݜݨیاٗ, ) or Gilgitis
are an
Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group
An ethnolinguistic group (or ethno-linguistic group) is a group that is unified by both a common ethnicity and language. Most ethnic groups share a first language. However, "ethnolinguistic" is often used to emphasise that language is a major bas ...
primarily residing in
Gilgit–Baltistan and
Indus Kohistan in
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, as well as in the
Gurez (
Kishenganga Valley) and
Dras regions of
Jammu and Kashmir and
Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...
in India. They speak an
Indo-Aryan language, called
Shina and their geographic area of predominance is referred to as
Shenaki.
Geography
In Pakistan, the Shina, who are also known as Gilgitis there, is the major ethnic group of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Shina language is spoken by an estimated 600,000 people living mainly in
Gilgit-Baltistan
Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative units of Pakistan, administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has b ...
and
Kohistan.
People belonging to the Shina community people are also settled in the upper
Neelum Valley in Pakistan, as well as in
Dras, in the far northwest of the
Kargil district of
Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...
and in the
Kishenganga Valley (
Gurez) of northern
Jammu and Kashmir in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
Outliers of Shina such as
Brokskat speakers are found in
Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...
,
Palula and
Sawi speakers in
Chitral,
Ushojo speakers in the
Swat Valley, and
Kalkoti speakers in
Dir.
Many Shina people have also migrated to
Karachi
Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...
and
Islamabad
Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...
for employment, carrying out business, and education purposes, and many of them have permanently settled in these cities.
History
The Shina people are believed to have expanded into the
Gilgit
Gilgit (; Shina language, Shina: ; ) is a city in Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan, Gilgit–Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kas ...
region from their original homeland in
Shinkari, located in the Kohistan region along the
Indus River
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayas, Himalayan river of South Asia, South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northw ...
, around the
6th century or
7th century CE.
Following their migration to Gilgit, Shina-speaking communities gradually settled in parts of Chitral, the Nagar Valley, Baltistan, and areas of Ladakh, including
Kargil
Kargil or Kargyil is a City in Indian-administered Ladakh in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the WP:TERTIARY, tert ...
. Some accounts suggest that the Shina were among the early settlers of Ladakh and ruled parts of the region prior to the Tibetan invasions. The last king of Shina ethnicity in Ladakh is said to have been
Tatah Khan (also known as Tratryi). A number of place names in the Kargil region are believed to have Shina linguistic origins, and some historians propose that the name "Kargil" itself may be derived from a Shina personal name, "Kargi". Today, Shina-speaking communities in Ladakh are primarily found in the Drass region, Kargil town, and the Batalik sector.
The Shina people historically practised
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
,
as well as
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
.
However, both Hinduism and Buddhism were relegated to being the religion of the ruling and upper class although Hinduism had more success among the masses.
Their chief peculiarity was their feeling towards the cow, which they held in abhorrence and was considered by them as unclean. Even after the majority of the ethnic group's conversion to Islam, orthodox Shins would continue to neither eat beef, drink cow's milk nor touch any vessel containing it, because a dead cow or a suckling calf is considered especially unclean, so that purification was necessary even if the garments touched it. In Gilgit,
Hunza and Nagar, the Hindu Shins formerly practised sati, which ceased before A.D. 1740.
1877, in that region, marked the last year that Shina men underwent Hindu
cremation rites.
The Shina were exposed to Islam around the 12th century. Waves of conversions occurred during the 14th, 16th and 17th centuries. By the late 19th century, most Shina were adherents of Islam.
Many castes of the Shina people, such as the Açar'îta caste, converted to
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
in the 19th century coinciding with
Pashtunization and this faith is now observed by the majority of the ethnic group.
A small minority of related ethnic groups, chiefly the
Brokpa community, continue to practice Buddhism and Hinduism, though the majority of them are adherents to Islam.
Genetics
Mah Noor ''et al.'' (2019) found west Eurasian
mtDNA in 89% (8/9) of Shina samples, which included 11.1% (one sample each) from the following
haplogroup
A haplotype is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent, and a haplogroup (haploid from the , ''haploûs'', "onefold, simple" and ) is a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor with a sing ...
s, H14a, T1a, H2a, T2, U7, U5b and HV2. Besides, 11.1% (1/9) of the samples belonged to haplogroup M54, which is of South Asian origin. The obtained mtDNA sequences of Shina were compared with surrounding north-western Pakistani population groups. The haplogroups frequencies, phylogenetic tree and network analysis identified the west Eurasian ancestral origin of Shina group with nearby maternal ancestral relationships with the
Kashmiri population. However, no close genetic relationship of Shina was depicted with nearby residing
Kho population group.
Festivals
The Shina festival of ''Chili'' marks the commencement of wheat sowing, as with other celebrations in the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
, including
Lohri and
Makar Sakranti. ''Chilli'' also formerly had a connection with the worship of the
cedar. Cedar worship is prevalent among historic the Hindu communities of
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
, from the Hindu Kush region to
Himachal and
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...
. It is known as
Deodar, which is derived from the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
word ''Devadaru'', which means "wood of the gods" and is a compound of the words ''deva'' (god) and ''dāru'' (wood, etym. tree). The Cedar is also sacred in
Kafiristan.
[The making of a frontier Five years' experiences and adventures in Gilgit By Algernon George Arnold Durand Page 209]
Notable people
*
Hasan Raheem, singer-songwriter
*
Usman Wazeer, International Boxer
*
Ali Sadpara, mountaineer
See also
*
Shina language
Shina ( , ) is a Dardic languages, Dardic language of Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language family spoken by the Shina people. In Pakistan, Shina is the major language in Gilgit-Baltistan spoken by an estimated 1,146,000 people living mainl ...
*
Gilgit Scouts
References
{{Ethnic groups in Pakistan
Social groups of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Social groups of Jammu and Kashmir
Social groups of Gilgit Baltistan
Dardic peoples
Ethnic groups in India