The Arts and Culture of Parun, Kafiristan's « Sacred Valley »

Abstract

Among the former "Kafirs of the Hindu Kush" in northeast Afghanistan, who were reputed as savage and "bloodthirsty" kafir [heathen] in the surrounding Islamic world until their forced-upon Islamization in 1896, the Paruni had a special position. Living in six small villages in the Parun Valley located between the areas of the more militant and competitive Kati, Waigal and Ashkun Kafirs, they had established a sacred notion about their region and their culture. The valley was dotted with temples and village-based clan-houses, amel, where a great number of deities, most of them also known under the same or other names to their neighbours, was worshipped and invoked under the guidance of priests, münd. Inmidst the valley, in Kushteki, once stood the famous great temple of the top deity Mara, who was revered as Imra and Yamrai by the Kati and Waigali. It was the religious and thus also the pilgrimage centre of Kafiristan, renamed Nuristan or "Land of Light" after the Islamization. In all the temples and clan-owned amel, deities were represented as statues and figures carved into the pillars. Many of them have survived the sudden, highly destructive culture change 106 years ago.