Indus-Kohistan Entwurf einer historischen Ethnographie

Indus-Kohistan, i.e., the valleys on both sides of the gorges of the Indus north of Tarbela, was never conquered by the Britishers and remained a blank spot on the linguistic and cultural map of Asia. In 1954 Fredrik Barth was allowed a short trip through the valleys west of the Indus. His report is...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Anthropos 1983-01, Vol.78 (3/4), p.501-518
Main Author: Jettmar, Karl
Format: Article
Language:ger
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Indus-Kohistan, i.e., the valleys on both sides of the gorges of the Indus north of Tarbela, was never conquered by the Britishers and remained a blank spot on the linguistic and cultural map of Asia. In 1954 Fredrik Barth was allowed a short trip through the valleys west of the Indus. His report is surprisingly exact in many details but he failed to understand that the "wesh"-system, i.e., the practice of periodical reallotment of land, is by no means an heritage from a hoary past "shared with many Indo-European peoples." During conversion to Islam it was introduced by Pashtun missionaries as part of a political and social Utopia. It needs the foregoing grouping of the lineages of landowners in segments of equal size forming together close-knit "republics." By this organization the Kohistanis were able to repel the invading Pashtun tribesmen.
ISSN:0257-9774