DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36956#0029
PETER ALFORD ANDREWS
A SURVEY OF SAZIN, INDUS-KOHISTAN
A fortified village of the Shin in the Western Himalayas
Introduction
Sazin is one of a series of villages situated in the tributary valleys to the
north and south of the Indus, where it flows from east to west between
Rondu and Kandia in northern Pakistan Dwg. 7). The village
lies just within the eastern boundary of the area administered from
Dassu, and thus within Indus-Kohistan, though most of the others in the
group are in the Northern Areas administered from Gilgit. The region is
inhabited predominantly by people speaking a Dardic Indo-European
language, Shina, and number perhaps 150,000; it is characterised, how-
ever, by its division into smaller communities within each valley, in
which each village was, and to a varying extent still is, governed by its
own democratic council. The rivalry between the valleys, particularly
over the rights to summer pasture in the mountain spurs, led to the
protection of these villages as fastnesses of densely-packed houses pre-
senting high, unpierced walls to the outside world. To outsiders, in fact,
the region came to be regarded as so intractably independent that it was
known as Yaghistan, meaning 'Land of the Free', or 'Rebel Country',
depending on one's point of view; locally it is known as Shinaki.
The British never sought to extend their rule from Gilgit further down
the river beyond Gor and Chilas, taken in 1892, and the region remains
exempt from tax, and without land registers, to this day. However, the
two largest and most important valleys on the northern side of the Indus,
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A SURVEY OF SAZIN, INDUS-KOHISTAN
A fortified village of the Shin in the Western Himalayas
Introduction
Sazin is one of a series of villages situated in the tributary valleys to the
north and south of the Indus, where it flows from east to west between
Rondu and Kandia in northern Pakistan Dwg. 7). The village
lies just within the eastern boundary of the area administered from
Dassu, and thus within Indus-Kohistan, though most of the others in the
group are in the Northern Areas administered from Gilgit. The region is
inhabited predominantly by people speaking a Dardic Indo-European
language, Shina, and number perhaps 150,000; it is characterised, how-
ever, by its division into smaller communities within each valley, in
which each village was, and to a varying extent still is, governed by its
own democratic council. The rivalry between the valleys, particularly
over the rights to summer pasture in the mountain spurs, led to the
protection of these villages as fastnesses of densely-packed houses pre-
senting high, unpierced walls to the outside world. To outsiders, in fact,
the region came to be regarded as so intractably independent that it was
known as Yaghistan, meaning 'Land of the Free', or 'Rebel Country',
depending on one's point of view; locally it is known as Shinaki.
The British never sought to extend their rule from Gilgit further down
the river beyond Gor and Chilas, taken in 1892, and the region remains
exempt from tax, and without land registers, to this day. However, the
two largest and most important valleys on the northern side of the Indus,
13