Are the Kalasha really of Greek origin? The Legend of Alexander the Great and the Pre-Islamic World of the Hindu Kush1
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5617/ao.4847Abstract
The paper refutes the claim that the Kalasha may be the descendants of the Greeks of Asia. First, traditions of Alexandrian descent in the Hindu Kush are examined on the basis of written sources and it is shown that such legends are not part of Kalasha traditional knowledge. Secondly, it is argued that the Kalasha were an integral part of the pre-Islamic cultural fabric of the Hindu Kush, and cannot be seen as intruders in the area, as legends of a Greek descent would want them. Finally, through comparative suggestions, it is proposed that possible similarities between the Kalasha and pre-Christian Europe are to be explained by the common Indo-European heritage rather than by more recent migrations and contacts.Downloads
Issue
Section
License
1. Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
2. English
Copyright Notice
Contents published in editions of Acta Orientalia in volumes predating 2016 are protected by the Norwegian Copyright Act (http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/details.jsp?id=3232). Text and other material published in these journal volumes can only be shared and republished with written permission from article rights holders. Starting from 2017, the content published in Acta Orientalia is - unless otherwise is stated - licensed through Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Through this licence content can be copied and distributed but also remixed, transformed and built upon for any purpose under the following conditions: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit to the creators of materials published in Acta Orientalia, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notice: No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
Authors who publish in Acta Orientalia accept the following conditions: Author(s) retains copyright to the article and give Acta Orientalia right to first publication while the article is licensed under the Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. This license allows sharing the article for non-commercial purposes, as long as the author and first publishing place Acta Orientalia are credited. The license does not allow others to publish adapted versions of the article without the author's permission. The author is free to publish and distribute the work/article after publication in Acta Orientalia, as long as the journal is referred to as the first place of publication. Submissions that are under consideration for publication or accepted for publication in Acta Orientalia cannot simultaneously be under consideration for publication in other journals, anthologies, monographs or the like. By submitting contributions, the author accepts that the contribution is published in both digital and printed editions of Acta Orientalia.
