Homepage of Razwal Kohistani

Lesser Known Tribes of Indus Kohistan

 Gaba:ri (Gabaari, Gawro)

            The community of Gaba:ra caste living in Maharin and Bela of Kolai speaks this dialect. Its accent is close to Kohistani and Gawari dialects. This dialect is also vanishing gradually. Not much study has been done on this dialect either. Very little works and reviews have come up on it so far. The Gabara people who have migrated to Gilgit, Chilas and Mardan, have almost forgotten it. But those who live in Gilgit can still speak it because they usually visit their native land. John Biddulph has given a word list of Chilsio and Gabara dialects in his book "Tribes of Hindukush". It may be remembered that he never visited these areas. But he had obtained those words from the Chilis and Gabara people who lived in Gilgit at that time and received grants from the Government of Kashmir of that time. Biddulph himself has written that he had never been to their native areas.