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The Dards are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group found predominantly in northern Pakistan, north-west India, and eastern Afghanistan. They speak the Dardic languages, which belong to the Indo-Aryan family. The largest populations are in Gilgit–Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and in Kashmir, India. There are smaller populations in Ladakh, India and eastern Afghanistan. The Kashmiri people are the largest group, with a population of over 5.5 million.
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History
Parpola identifies "Proto-Dardic" with "Proto-Rigvedic", suggesting that the Dards are the linguistic descendants of the bearers of proto Rigvedic culture ca. 1700 BC, pointing to features in certain Dardic dialects that continue peculiarities of Rigvedic Sanskrit, such as the gerund in -tvī.
During Swati rule, the Dard people predominantly followed a form of ancient Hinduism and "frequent small-scale jihad against Dards might have been a routine".
Religion
The vast majority of Dardic peoples are Muslim. They follow a number of different sects. The Kashmiri, Pashayi, Kohistani, and Kho peoples are majority Sunni, while the Shina and Burusho peoples are majority Shia Ismaili and Twelver. Some in Gilgit-Baltistan follow Sofia Noorbakhshia, a Sufi order. The Kashmiri Pandits are Hindu, mostly of the Saivaite sect.
A minority in Chitral are polytheistic Kalash. They are exceptional in having retained their ancestral polytheistic Dardic religion and are officially protected by the Government of Pakistan.
The Brokpa of Ladakh are nominally Buddhists. However, they still retain marked traces of their pre-Buddhist animistic religion, Bon-chos.
Languages
They speak Indo-European branch of Dardic languages. There are total seven major dardic languages.
There are some similarities between these languages without Kashmiri.
Social status
As of 2001, the Brokpa were classified as a Scheduled Tribe under the Indian government's reservation program of positive discrimination.