# Kho people

The Kho (/koʊ/, Khowar: کھو), or Chitrali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group native to the Chitral District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and the Gupis-Yasin and Ghizer districts of Gilgit-Baltistan. They speak an Indo-Aryan language called Khowar.

## History

The Kho people are likely descendants of those who migrated to their present location in Chitral from the south. The Kho people spread throughout Chitral from the northern part of the region, specifically from the Mulkhow and Torkhow Valley. According to Morgenstierne, the original abode of the Kho was northern Chitral in the valleys around Mastuj. The Kho started expanding into southern Chitral around the early 14th century under the Rais Mehtars. Later on, the Kho expanded eastwards into the Yasin and Ghizer valleys under the Khushwaqt dynasty in the 17th century.
In ancient times the Kho people practised a faith akin to that observed by the Kalash today. In the 14th century, many of the Kho converted to Islam though some previous customs continue to persist. With respect to Islam, the Kho are primarily Hanafi Sunni Muslims although there exists a substantial population of Ismaili Muslims in the Upper Chitral region.

## Language

The Khowar language shares a great number of morphological characteristics with neighbouring Iranian languages of Badakhshan, pointing to a very early location of proto-Khowar in its original abode in Upper Chitral, although from its links with the Gandhari language, it likely came from further south in the first millennium BC, possibly through Swat and Dir.
The ethnologists Karl Jettmar and Lennart Edelberg noted, with respect to the Khowar language, that: "Khowar, in many respects [is] the most archaic of all modern Indian languages, retaining a great part of Sanskrit case inflexion, and retaining many words in a nearly Sanskritic form.”
Khowar is spoken by around 800,000 people in Pakistan. Most of the Kho people also use Urdu as a second language.

## Culture

Chitrali folklore lays great emphasis upon supernatural beings, and the area is sometimes called "Peristan" because of the common belief in fairies (peri) inhabiting the high mountains. The Barmanou is a popular local legend, often referred as the indigenous equivalent of the Yeti of the Himalayas.
Polo is a popular sport and pastime for the Kho people. Polo traditionally played by the Kho has little rules or organisation. The Shandur Polo Festival is a sports festival held annually from 7 to 9 July in the Shandur Polo Ground. The polo tournament is played between the teams of Gilgit-Baltistan Districts and Chitral District, under freestyle rules. The tournament is held at Shandur Top which is the world highest polo ground at an altitude of 3,700 meters (the pass itself is at 3,800 meters).
Traditional Chitrali clothing includes the Shalwar Kameez and the Pakol (Chitrali hat).

## Genetics

According to Aziz et al. 2019, the western Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups were observed predominantly and mostly shared in Kho samples with overall frequency of 50%. These include HV8, H19, H57, H24, C and, C4a haplogroups. The South Asian haplogroups and its relevant subgroups including U4, U4c, U6, U5a, and W were also found in Kho samples with overall 37.5% frequency. Another South Asian haplogroup, M30 was also identified for Kho samples with frequency of 6.2%. The haplogroups and haplotypes specify the origin and linkages of an individual and population. The mtDNA haplogroup analysis eventually demonstrates the western Eurasian ancestral origin of Kho samples. However, the presence of few South Asian haplogroups with a minor proportion revealed that Kho might be an admixed population of western Eurasian and South Asian genetic component.