Bách khoa toàn thư nền nông nghiệp thế giới - Vùng Nam Á - Vần P | Pahari 219 Pahari ETHNONYMS none Orientation Identification. Pahari can refer to any mountaindwelling people but in north India it generally designates the Indo-European-speaking peoples of the Himalayas who however generally prefer regional ethnic designations. In India these include among many others from west to east Churachi Gaddi Kinnaura Sirmuri all in Himachal Pradesh Jaunsari Garhwali Kumauni all in Uttar Pradesh etc. Crosscutting these are terms distinguishing religions . Hindu Muslim caste categories . for low castes Dom Kilta Shilpkar for high castes Khas Khasiya and specific castes . for low castes Bajgi Lohar Mochi etc. for high castes Brahman Baman Rajput Chhetri Thakur . There are also terms associated with specific noncaste ethnic groups and livelihoods such as Gujjar transhumant cattle herders some groups of which are Hindu others Muslim . In Nepal distinctions among Paharis are more often reported to refer to caste than to region that is the high-caste category Khas and the low-caste category Dom or Damai with their specific caste names. These caste names distinguish them from Tibeto-Burman-speaking neighbors whom they identify by ethnic terms . Magars Gurungs . The term Pahari comes from the Hindi word pahar meaning mountain and so literally it means of the mountains. Location. The Pahari occupy the outer lower ranges of the Himalayas generally between about 600 and 2 100 meters above sea level adjacent to the Indo-Gangetic Plain in a 1 600-kilometer crescent not more than 80 kilometers wide stretching from Kashmir in the northwest to central Nepal in the southeast. These geologically young mountains are the result of the Indian tectonic plate pushing under the Asian one. This upthrust results in frequent landslides and rapid erosion creating precipitous topography with sharp peaks and V-shaped ravines rather than alluvial valleys or lakes. The massive scarp which even the lower Himalayas present to the flat Indo-Gangetic Plain forces
