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Hindko (, romanized: , ) is a cover term for a diverse group of Lahnda dialects spoken by several million people of various ethnic backgrounds in several areas in northwestern Pakistan, primarily in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northwestern regions of Punjab.For the heterogeneity of the dialects, see ; ; . For the ethnic diversity, see
The name "Hindko" means "the Indian language" or "language of Hind", (2025). 9781843311492, Anthem Press. ISBN 9781843311492 and refers to the Indo-Aryan speech forms spoken in the northern Indian subcontinent, in contrast to the neighbouring Pashto, an Iranian language spoken by the Pashtun people.; An alternative local name for this language group is Hindki. A speaker of Hindko may be referred to as Hindki, Hindkun, or Hindkowan ( Hindkuwan).; .
Like other Lahnda varieties, Hindko is derived from the Shauraseni Prakrit. Hindko to some extent is mutually intelligible with Punjabi language and Saraiki language, and has more affinities with the latter than with the former.
There is a nascent language movement, and in recent decades Hindko-speaking intellectuals have started promoting the view of Hindko as a separate language. There is a literary tradition based on Peshawari, the urban variety of Peshawar in the northwest, and another one based on the language of Abbottabad in the northeast. In the 2023 census of Pakistan, million people declared their language to be Hindko, while a 2020 estimate placed the number of speakers at 7 million.
The central dialect group comprises Kohati (spoken in the city of Kohat and a few neighbouring villages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and the three closely related dialects of Attock District, Punjab: Chacchi (spoken in Attock Tehsil and ), Ghebi (spoken to the south in Pindi Gheb Tehsil) and Awankari dialect (spoken in Talagang Tehsil, now part of Chakwal District). Rensch's classification based on lexical similarity also assigns to this group the rural dialects of Peshawar District. Shackle, however, sees most of them as closely related to the urban variety of Peshawar City.
In a group of its own is Peshawari, the prestigious urban variety spoken in the city of Peshawar and the one that is promoted as a standardised literary language.For its literature and status in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, see ; for the emerging prestige of Peshawari in Hazara, see . It has a wide dialectal base and has undergone the influence of Urdu and Standard Punjabi.
A separate group is formed in the northeast by the relatively homogeneous dialects of the Hazara region, which are collectively known as Hazara Hindko or Northern Hindko, with the variety spoken in Kaghan Valley known as Kaghani, and the variety of Tanawal Tehsil known variously as Tanoli Hindko, Tanoli or Tinauli.
Hindko is also spoken further east into Kashmir. It is the predominant language of the Neelum Valley, in the north of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir, where it is locally known as Parmi (or Pārim; the name likely originated in the Kashmiri word apārim 'from the other side', which was the term used by the Kashmiris of the Vale of Kashmir to refer to the highlanders, who spoke this language). This variety is also spoken across the Line of Control into Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
The whole dialect continuum of Hindko is partitioned by Ethnologue into two languages: Northern Hindko (ISO 639-3 code: hno) for the dialects of Hazara, and Southern Hindko (ISO 639-3: hnd) for the remaining varieties. This grouping finds support in the results of the intelligibility testing done by Rensch, which also found out that the southern dialects are more widely understood throughout the Hindko area than are the northern ones.
Hindko dialects gradually transition into other varieties of Lahnda and Punjabi to the south. For example, to the southwest across the Salt Range are found dialects of Saraiki, and at least one of these – the one spoken in the Dera Ismail Khan District – is sometimes also referred to as "Hindko". To the southeast, Hindko is in a dialect continuum with Pahari–Pothwari, with the Galyat region of Abbottabad district and the area of Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir approximately falling on the boundary between the two.
There are Hindko in major urban centres like Karachi,See for a study of a community of Hazara Hindko speakers in Karachi. as well as in some neighbouring countries.
Before partition of India in 1947, a substantial population of Hindkowans were Hindus and Sikh. This population migrated en masse to India. These Hindkowans have completely assimilated into larger Punjabi-speaking and Hindi in India, with only few elders identifying as hindokowans.
There was also a small Sikh and Hindu Hindkowans diaspora in Afghanistan, who became established there during the Sikh Empire in the first half of the 19th century. Most of them emigrated to India or western countries since the war and subsequent rise of the Taliban, and the total population, being not more than 60 (as of 2024).
The most common second language for Hindko-speakers in Pakistan is Urdu and the second most common one is Pashto. In most Hindko-speaking areas, speakers of Pashto live in the same or neighbouring communities (although this is less true in Abbottabad and Kaghan Valley). The relationship between Hindko and its neighbours is not one of stable bilingualism. In terms of Language domain and number of speakers, Hindko is dominant and growing in the north-east; in Hazara for example, it is displacing Pashto as the language in use among the Swati Pathans, and in the Neelam Valley of Azad Jammu & Kashmir it is gaining ground at the expense of the minority languages like Kashmiri. In the cities of Kohat and Peshawar, on the other hand, it is Hindko that is in a weaker position. With the exodus of the Hindko-speaking Hindus and Sikhs after Partitition and the consequent influx of Pashtuns into the vacated areas of the urban economy, there have been signs of a shift towards Pashto.; .
Hindko contrasts stop consonants at the labial consonant, alveolar, retroflex, palatal and velar consonant places of articulation. The palatals have been described as pure stops (/ /) in Awankari, but as affricates () in the varieties of Hazara.; ; . For the stop consonants of most varieties of Hindko there is a three-way contrast between voiced (), voiceless () and aspirated ().; ; . Awankari, Kohati, and the varieties of Neelum Valley of Kashmir also distinguish voiced aspirated stops (). The disappearance of the voiced aspirates from most Hindko varieties has been linked to the development of tone (see below).
Fricatives like , and are found in loans (for example from Persian), but also in native words, often as positional allophones of the corresponding stop. Some documented instances include:
Apart from and , Hindko dialects distinguish a varying number of other .
The retroflex nasal is overall shorter than the other nasals,See for example . and at least for the Hindko of Abbottabad it has been described as a nasalised Flap consonant: . For the Hindko of Kashmir it has been asserted to be an allophone of the alveolar nasal , but it is phonemic in Awankari and Tanoli; in both dialects it can occur in the middle and at the end of a word, as illustrated by the following examples from Tanoli: 'straight', 'pride'. The velar nasal is phonemic in Tanoli: 'prayer call', 'fiancée', and in the Hindko of Kashmir, and in both cases it is found only in the middle or at the end of the word. In the main subdialect of Awankari, the velar nasal is only found before velar stops, and similarly, it is not among the phonemes identified for the Hindko of Abbottabad.
Hindko varieties have a single lateral consonant: the alveolar , unlike Punjabi, which additionally has a retroflex lateral . for Hazara Hindko, for Kohati. The Awankari dialect, as spoken by Muslims (and not Hindus) and described by Bahri in the 1930s, has a distinctive retroflex lateral, which, however, appears to be in complementary distribution with the alveolar lateral. There are two rhotic sounds in Hindko: an alveolar trill (with a varying number of vibrations dependent on the phonetic context), and a retroflex flap .; ; .
Hindko has three short vowels , and , and six long vowels: , , , , and .
The vowels can be illustrated with the following examples from Tanoli: 'big stone', 'pain', 'yesterday', 'button', 'what', 'piece of meat', 'Sunday', 'thief', 'filth'.
Length is strongly contrastive and the long vowels are generally twice as long as the corresponding short vowels.; ; ; has a more elaborate classification of vowels by length.
The Awankari dialect distinguishes between open and close "o" ( 'soft' vs. 'shoe').
Varieties of Hindko also possess a number of diphthongs (like ). Which of the many (typically around a dozen) overt vowel combinations should be seen as representing an underlying single segment (a diphthong) rather than simply a sequence of two separate underlying vowels, has varied with the analysis used and the dialect studied. features a phonemic analysis for the Hazara Hindko of Tanawal; a similar analysis with different conclusions is carried out by for a variety of Azad Kashmir; presents an acoustic analysis of the same variety with yet different results. An exhaustive catalogue of vowel sequences is found in .
Additionally, vowels get nasalised when adjacent to a nasal consonant. In the varieties of Tanawal and Kashmir both long and short vowels can be nasalised in this way, but only if they precede the nasal consonant: 'washing', 'crying'.; In the Hindko of Abbottabad, a vowel at the end of some words can be nasalised if it follows a nasal consonant. In the Awankari dialect, vowels can be allophonically nasalised both before and after a nasal consonant, but in either case the effect will depend on the position of stress (see for more details).
The variety spoken to the north-east, in Neelam Valley, has preserved voiced aspirates at the start of the word, so presumably the low tone is not established there. However, there are observations of its appearance in the speech of the residents of the main villages along the highway, likely under the influence of Majhi and Hazara Hindko, and it has similarly been reported in the villages on the Indian side.
The southern Hindko varieties have similarly developed tone, but only when the voiced aspirate followed the stressed vowel; voiced aspirates preceding the stress have remained unchanged: thus 'more' (< ), but 'daughter'. This tone is realised as high falling in Kohati and the eastern subdialect of Awankari, but as high in the northwestern Awankari subdialect.In the analysis by . But see also . Like Kohati, the variety of Peshawar has high falling tone before historic voiced aspirates. However, it has also developed a distinct tone on stressed vowels after historic voiced aspirates, like northern Hindko and Majhi, with a similar loss of aspiration and voicing. But in contrast to Majhi, this tone is also high falling, and it is distinguished by the accompanying glottalisation: 'daughter', 'congratulations'.This is the interpretation in . presents a different, much more detailed analysis, where tone is treated as a feature of the whole phrase, not the individual word, and where the exact phonetic realisation may vary significantly.
In 2003 the Gandhara Hindko Board published first a Hindko dictionary which was compiled by a prominent linguists from Abbottabad, Sultan Sakoon. The board published a second more comprehensive Hindko dictionary in 2007 prepared by Elahi Bakhsh Awan of the University of London. He is the author of Sarzamin e Hindko, and Hindko Sautiyat. His three booklets on Hindko phonology were published by the University of Peshawar in the late 1970s.
The Idara-e-Faroghe Hindko based in Peshawar is another body that is promoting Hindko. Riffat Akbar Swati and Aurangzeb Ghaznavi are main people of this organisation. The Idara has published the first Hindko translation of the Quran by Haider Zaman Haider and the first Ph.D. thesis on Hindko by E.B.A. Awan. A monthly magazine Faroogh is also published regularly from Peshawar under supervision of Aurangzeb Ghaznavi. In Karachi Syed Mehboob is working for the promotion of Hindko. His articles are frequently published in Farogh monthly. He is organiser of Hindko Falahi Forum.
Many organisations like Bazm-e-Ilm-o-Fun Abbottabad and Halqa-e-Yaraan Shinkyari promote Hindko and literature. Asif Saqib, Sufi Abdur Rasheed, Fazal-e-Akbar Kamal, Sharif Hussain Shah, Muhammad Farid, Yahya Khalid, Nazir Kasalvi, and Muhammad Hanif have contributed a lot in this regard. Sultan Sakoon has written the First Hindko dictionary that has been published by Gandhara Hindko Board. Sultan Sakoon stands out for his literary contribution as he is a prolific writer and his books including those on Hindko proverbs and Hindko riddles have been published.
2=
Transliteration: Alif-Awal hai Alam e hast sī o
Translation: "He is the foremost from the world of existence
2=
Transliteration: Jidur sir udur sarhanra
Translation: "Good person gains respect everywhere."
Social setting
There is no generic name for the speakers of Hindko because they belong to diverse ethnic groups and tend to identify themselves by the larger families or Caste. However, the Hindko-speaking community belonging to the Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is sometimes recognised collectively as Hazarewal, while the urban settlers in the cities of Peshawar and Kohat are simply known as Peshawaris and Kohatis, respectively. A large number of Hindko speakers in the Hazara Division are Pashtuns. Some of those speak Hindko as their mother tongue while others as a second language. These include the Tahirkheli, Swatis, Yusufzai, Jadoon and Tareen. The other Hindko speakers include the Sayyid, Awans, Mughal tribe, Tanoli, Turks, Qureshis and Gurjar.
Phonology
Consonants
+ Awankari and Kohati + Hazara Hindko
Generally, the fricatives can be found in all positions: at the start, the middle, or at the end of the word (Tanoli Hindko: 'spoilt', 'small stick', 'branch'), with relatively few exceptions (one being the restriction on word-final in the Hindko of Kashmir).. There is no such restriction in the Hindko of Tanawal: 'plough' . The labio-dental has been explicitly described as the fricative for the Hindko of Kashmir, and Tanawal, but as the approximant // in Awankari.
Vowels
+ Vowels; . states that phonetically the most accurate IPA symbol for the central vowel is not but .
!
!Front vowel
!
!Central vowel
!
!Back vowel
Nasalised vowels
Hindko dialects possess phonemic nasal vowels (here marked with a tilde above the vowel: ). For example, in the Hindko of Azad Kashmir 'animal disease' contrasts with 'arm', and 'meat cutters' with 'hindrances'. In this variety of Hindko, as well as in the Hindko of Tanawal, there are nasal counterparts for all, or almost all, of the long vowels, but none for the short vowels.; . In Awankari and the Hindko of Abbottabad, on the other hand, there is contrastive nasalisation for short vowels as well: 'make one play' contrasts with 'scatter' (in Awankari), 'mixing' contrasts with 'knot').
Peshawari and Kohati presumably follow the pattern of Awankari but have historically lost nasalisation from the round vowels (like or ) at the end of the word.
Tone
Unlike many Indo-Aryan languages, but in common with other Punjabi varieties, Hindko dialects have a system of pitch accent, which is commonly referred to as tone.For the characterisation of Punjabi tone as pitch accent, see . In Punjabi, pitch accent has historically arisen out of the loss of voiced aspirates (. Thus in Standard Punjabi, if a voiced aspirate preceded the stressed vowel, it would lose its aspiration and cause the appearance of a high tone on that vowel: > 'tongue'. If it followed the stressed vowel, then it would lead to a high tone and lose its aspiration and, if word-initial, its voicing: > 'horse'. The same pattern has been reported for Hazara Hindko, with a low rising tone after historically voiced aspirates ( 'horse' < ), a high falling tone before historic voiced aspirates ( 'leper' < ), and level tone elsewhere ( 'bitter'). According to preliminary observations on the Hazara Hindko variety of Abbottabad, the low tone is less prominent than in Majhi dialect, and a trace of the aspiration is preserved: for example 'horse' would be .
Alphabet
Hindko is generally written in a variety of the Nastaliq. It was created by Rehmat Aziz Chitrali at Khowar Academy Chitral.
+Hindko Perso-Arabic alphabet
! Letter !! Name of Letter !! Transcription !! IPA , , , , , , , , ,
Literature
The Gandhara Hindko Board is a leading organisation that has been active in the preservation and promotion of the Hindko and culture since 1993. The board was launched in Peshawar in year 1993 to preserve and promote Hindko —the second most spoken of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. It brings out four regular publications— Hindkowan, The Gandhara Voice, " Sarkhail" and "Tarey" and a number of occasional publications. Late professor Zahoor Ahmad Awan of Peshawar city, the author of 61 books and publications, was the founding-chairman of the board. Now the board is headed by Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi. The board has published first Hindko dictionary and several other books on a variety of topics. With head office in Peshawar, the organisation has regional offices in other cities of the province where Hindko is spoken and understood.
Poetry example
An excerpt from the Kalām of Ahmad Ali Saayein:
Hātif āp pukārā Bismillah
Fīr Qalam nū̃ hukum e Nawišt hoyā
Hus ke qalam sir māriyā Bismillah
Naqšā Loh e Mahfūz dai wic sine
Qalam sāf utāriyā Bismillah
Is Tahrīr nū̃ paṛah ke Farištiyā̃ ne
Sāiyā̃ Šukar guzāriyā Bismillah
Voice of the unseen exclaimed Bismillah
The pen was ordered to write
Pen carried out the order to write Bismillah
When angels read this composition
Saaieaan, they showed their thankfulness with Bismillah"
Proverbs
Hindko has a rich heritage of proverbs (Hindko matlaan, sg. matal). An example of a proverb:
Notes
Bibliography
(1992). 9789698023133, National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University and Summer Institute of Linguistics. ISBN 9789698023133
Further reading
External links
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