The word Dard is derived from a Sanskrit word "Daradas". means people who lives in mountainous region. the dards people are known for their unique physical features, social life, ethnic culture, language.
AS PER 2011 CENSUS-: population of dards community
- Jammu & Kashmir - 48,440
- Ladakh- 4,000
- In ladakh DARD-ARYAN inhabited in these village-:
- Dha
- Hanu
- Beema
- Darchik
- Garkone
- the village are together called Aryan valley.
- The Dards are a group of INDO-ARYAN peoples.
- Inhabited area of various Dards coined by Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner as Dardistan.
- Inhabited area of the Dards people are-:
- Northern Pakistan
- Indian Kashmir
- N-E Afghanistan
- the Kashmiri people are the largest Dardic group.
RELIGION :-
- The Dards people historically followed Hinduism and Buddhism.
- The vast majority of Dards people are now is Sunni(branch of Islam).
- some significant minority of Ethnic Kashmiris are still Shaivite Hindus (Kashmiri pandits).
- In Ladakh, the vast majority of people follow Buddhism.
BOOKS:-
- KALHANA in his book Rajatarangini mentions about region of dardistan.
- Kalhana describe dards people in his book as warlike mountainous.
- More than 75% of dardistan is located in mountainous region.
INITIATIVES TO PRESERVE DARD-ARYAN CULTURE:-
During the seminar at IGNCA on 16-21 Jan,2019,dard-aryan raised the issues that due to modernization, migration and religious conversion etc, their tradition and culture are at threat.
IGNCA TAKEN UP THE FOLLOWING INITIATIVES:-
- IGNCA(Indra Gandhi national centre for arts) support DARD-ARYAN for setting up a few museums in the regions of DARD-ARYAN in Ladakh, Leh, Kargil etc with the help of the local community.
- A festival of DARD-ARYAN was organised by the IGNCA during 16-21 jan,2019 at IGNCA. five days festival included-
- a full day seminar.
- arranging their visit to Mahakumbha at Prayagraj.
- IGNCA had Organized a seven day long workshop at Dha-Hanu, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir from 9 to 15 june,2018.
