Fourteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

The paper describes the evolution in the conception of time amongst the 4,200 remaining indigenous agro-pastoral Kalasha community dwelling in North Western Pakistan. The Kalasha follow a unique system of temporal classification carried out through observation of celestial bodies. Suri Jagek i.e., “observing the sun” is the traditional meteorological and astronomical practice of observing the sun, moon, stars and shadows in reference to the local topography. The sun rising from particular locations on mountains are a primary reference point. The positions of the rising and setting sun are observed from observatories known as “Suri Jagaekein”. Village elders announce times for important social events as the sun rises from particular locations on mountains. Being a transhumant agro-pastoral society, Suri Jagek is used to decide times for sowing and harvesting of crops, travelling with livestock from summer to winter pastures, and announcing times for feasts, festivals, and rituals. Being a tourist haven in summers and particularly during festivals, the Kalasha find themselves in a moral quandary to either set in stone the dates according to the Gregorian calendar, thus catering to the needs of outsiders and reaping financial benefits or following their traditional and comparatively fluid time categorization, which still holds spiritual and utilitarian significance. The paper analyses the process through which time has diachronically been categorized and transferred to the coming generation and explores a challenge that one of the smallest ethno-religious minorities of the region faces today.