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Balti people

Ethnolinguistic group native to the Kashmir region of South Asia

Summary

Ethnolinguistic group native to the Kashmir region of South Asia

FieldValue
groupBaltis
native_namekargili
native_name_langbft
imageFile:Kids of Tarashing.jpg
captionBalti children photographed in Tarishing, Gilgit−Baltistan in September 2008
population
popplaceGilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan
Ladakh, India
rels[[File:Star and Crescent.svg15pxlink=]] Islam
(Predominantly Shia Muslims, with small minorities of Noorbakshia Muslims and Sunni Muslims in Pakistan and India)
langsL1: Balti (native language)
L2: Urdu (national language of Pakistan)
relatedTibetans, Purigpas, Ladakhis, Dardic

Ladakh, India (Predominantly Shia Muslims, with small minorities of Noorbakshia Muslims and Sunni Muslims in Pakistan and India) L2: Urdu (national language of Pakistan)

The Baltis are a Tibetic ethnic group who are native to the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit−Baltistan and the Indian-administered territory of Ladakh, predominantly in the Kargil district with smaller concentrations present in the Leh district. Outside of the Kashmir region, Baltis are scattered throughout Pakistan, with the majority of the diaspora inhabiting prominent cities such as Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Origin

The origin of the name Balti is unknown. The first written mention of the Balti people occurs in the 2nd century BCE by the Alexandrian astronomer and geographer Ptolemy, who refers to the region as Byaltae. The Balti people themselves refer to their native land as Balti-yul (); the modern name of the Baltistan region is the Persian rendering of this name.

Language

The Balti language belongs to the Tibetic language family. A.F.C.Read (1934) considers it to be a dialect of Ladakhi, while Nicolas Tournadre (2005) instead considers it to be a sister language of Ladakhi. The Balti language remains highly archaic and conservative, closer to Classical Tibetan than other Tibetan languages.

Religion

The Baltis still retain many cultural traits of pre-Islamic Bön and Tibetan Buddhist rituals within their society, making them a unique demographic group in Pakistan.

Bön and Tibetan Buddhism were the dominant religions practiced by the Balti people until the arrival of Islam in Baltistan around the 14th century CE, predominantly through Sufi missionaries such as Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani. The Noorbakshia Sufi sect further propagated the Islamic faith in the region, and most of the Balti had converted to Islam by the end of the 17th century. While Shia Islam had a presence in Baltistan since the late 16th century, Shia along with Sunni missionaries began actively proselytizing among the Balti around the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Around 60% of the Baltis are Shia Muslims, while some 30% practice Noorbakshia Sufi Islam, and 10% are Sunni Muslims.

References

References

  1. Ahmed, Musavir. (29 January 2021). "Balti: Protecting the language".
  2. (2013-07-01). "In pictures: Life in Baltistan". BBC News.
  3. Bakshi, S.R.. (1997). "Kashmir: History and People". Sarup & Sons.
  4. "Census of India Website : Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India".
  5. (1992). "Languages of Northern Areas". National Institute of Pakistani Studies.
  6. Afridi, Banat Gul. (1988). "Baltistan in history". Emjay Books International.
  7. Kazmi, Syed Muhamad Abbas. (1996). "Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh: Linguistic predicament". Har-Anand Publications.
  8. ''Balti Grammar'', by A. F. C. Read. London: The Royal Asiatic society, 1934.
    • N. Tournadre (2005) "L'aire linguistique tibétaine et ses divers dialectes." ''Lalies'', 2005, n°25, p. 7–56 [http://tournadre.nicolas.free.fr/fichiers/2005-aire.pdf]
  10. Zeisler, Bettina. (2005). "On the Position of Ladakhi and Balti in the Tibetan Language Family". Brill.
  11. "The Nurbakhshi religion in Baltistan". Baltistan Foundation.
  12. (1998-04-30). "Little Tibet: Renaissance and Resistance in Baltistan".
  13. Rieck, Andreas. (1995). "The Nurbakhshis of Baltistan — Crisis and Revival of a Five Centuries Old Community". Die Welt des Islams.
  14. (2021). "The Development of the Nūrbakhshī Sufi Order in Gilgit-Baltistan". Islamic Studies.
  15. Bakshi, S. R.. (1997-01-01). "Kashmir: History and People". Sarup & Sons.
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

balti-people ethnic-groups-in-india ethnic-groups-in-pakistan himalayan-peoples muslim-communities-of-india shia-communities social-groups-of-gilgit-baltistan social-groups-of-jammu-and-kashmir tibetan-people
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