The Palula, or Dangerik (in Khowar), also known as the Ashreti or Biori (, ) are an
Indo-Aryan ethnic group
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
who inhabit
Ashret
Lower Chitral District (; ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is mainly populated by the ethnic Kho people.
Demographics
As of the 2023 census, Lower Chitral district has 46,028 household ...
and parts of the former
Chitral district
Chitral District (; ) was a district in the Malakand Division of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from 14 August 1947 to 2018. It was the largest district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, covering an area of 14,850 km2, before spl ...
, primarily in the south.
History
The Palula people claim to be from
Chilas
Chilas () is a city in Pakistani-administered Gilgit–Baltistan 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 tertiary sou ...
, though this cannot be confirmed. They migrated over 500 years ago to Ashret, and brought their language, which at the time was the Chilas variety of
Shina, which later diverged into
Palula. It was said that the ''
Mitar
Mitar (Cyrillic: Митар) is a masculine given name. It is a Serbian variant of a Greek name Demetrius. Notable people with the name include:
* Mitar Lukić (born 1957), former Bosnian Serb footballer and current manager of FK Sloga Doboj
* Mit ...
'' of
Chitral
Chitral () is a city situated on the Kunar River, Chitral River in northern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Lower Chitral District, and was previously the capital of Chitral District, and before ...
had let them buy land in Ashret in which they agreed to the offer. Many Palulas left Ashret to
Dir to fight in their armies.
Many of the Palula's in
Biori Valley are tribal. The Palulas have been historically known by the
Khos as the ''Dangarik'', with the Ashreti Palulas despising the name and the Biori Palulas accepting the name, some even calling themselves ''Dangarik''. Ashreti Palulas also live isolated unlike the Biori who welcome the Kho and other
Dards
The Dardic languages (also Dardu or Pisaca), or Hindu-Kush Indo-Aryan languages, are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, northwestern India and parts of northeastern Afghanistan. This region has sometimes been r ...
.
Between 1820 and 1840, the Palula people stopped giving their children native pre-Islamic names, and began giving their children
Pashto
Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
Islamic names.
Language
The Palula speak Palula, which in Ashret is known as Ashreti. Palula is a
Dardic language
The Dardic languages (also Dardu or Pisaca), or Hindu-Kush Indo-Aryan languages, are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, northwestern India and parts of northeastern Afghanistan. This region has sometimes been r ...
of the
Shina branch and is closely related
Kalkoti
Kalkoti, also known as Goedijaa, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Kalkot Tehsil, in the Upper Dir district in Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries a ...
, primarily the Biori variety.
References
{{reflist
Social groups of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Indigenous peoples of South Asia
Lower Chitral District
Indo-Aryan peoples
Dardic peoples