Eurasian Studies Balkans, Anatolia, Iran, Caucasus and Central Asia Studies Notebooks

Series | Eurasian Studies
Edited book | Borders
Chapter | Transregional Intoxications

Transregional Intoxications

Wine in Buddhist Gandhara and Kafiristan

Abstract

The essay deals with the wine culture of the Hindu Kush area, which is believed to be among the oldest vinicultural regions of the world. Important traces and testimonies can be found in the Gandharan Buddhist stone reliefs of the Swat valley as well as in the wine culture of former Kafiristan, present-day Nuristan, in Afghanistan, which is still in many ways preserved among the Kalash Kafirs of Pakistan’s Chitral District. Kalash represent a very interesting case of ‘pagan’ cultural survival within the Islamic world.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Language: en

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