Dardistan (داردستان) refers to the linguistic area where Dardic languages are spoken. The region also includes many non-Dardic peoples and languages. The legitimacy of the term has been questioned.
The 19th-century Hungarian-born British orientalist Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner is generally credited with coining the term Dardistan. Leitner traced the first reference to "the country of the Dards" to the writings of the Greek historian and geographer Herodotus, who placed it on the frontier of Kashmir near Afghanistan. However, some scholars, such as Wolfgang Holzwarth, note that a Persian chronicle, Tarikh-i-Badakhshan (written in 1810), describes Chitral as part of Dardistan long before him, and that the term Dard, at least as an exonym, had also been used sporadically in the region.
The British initially grouped almost all the people and languages of the upper Indus River, between Kashmir and Kabul, into a single category. This led to the creation of distinct identities for all other groups in the region, giving rise to terms such as Dard, Dardistan, and Dardic.
However, the names Dards and Dardistan are not common in the region. Dard is not recognized in any local language, except Khowar, where it translates to 'way of the language' or 'dialect'. The broad application of this term has been criticised by many scholars. The languages and peoples are often referred to as "Kohistani", mostly by the Pashtuns. In academic linguistic contexts, however, Kohistani refers to a subgroup of Dardic languages mainly spoken in the Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In a historical context, Herodotus (4th century B.C.), in one of his stories, mentioned warring people named Dadikai on India's frontier. Later, Strabo and Pliny referred to the warlike tribe known as Dardae. Alexander, whose journeys contribute significantly to the classical geography of the subcontinent, did not encounter any Dard people. However, he did visit a place called Daedala, where he reportedly fought a group known as the Assakenoi.
Herodotus' Dadikai appears to be the Persian name for the Daradas mentioned in the Puranic sources. Rather than identifying a specific group, the term described a fierce population living in the northwest, beyond the confines of established society. In Rajatarangini, Kalhana refers to the Darads as inhabitants of the area north of Kashmir, known for their frequent attempts to invade and plunder Kashmir.
The term eventually gained acceptance through frequent use. GW Leitner introduced the labels 'Dard' and 'Dardistan' even though no local population identified as 'Dard'. John Biddulph, who resided in Gilgit for an extended period, also noted that none of the tribes typically referred to as 'Dard' recognized the term. Biddulph acknowledged that Leitner's label 'Dardistan' was based on a misunderstanding, but he accepted it as a useful term for referring to the complex, diverse, and largely unexplored Karakoram region between Kashmir and the Hindu Kush. This usage mirrors Sanskrit interpretation, where it refers to unspecified fierce outsiders residing in the mountainous regions beyond the area's borders.
Recent discussions about the terms "Dardistan", "Dards" and "Dardic" are those by Clark (1977), Jettmar (1982b) and Mock (1997a), which contain abundant further references. We find Clark's argument against the validity of these terms, partly echoed by Mock, scarcely convincing. Jettmar has patiently shown that the term "Dards" was, until recent times, a heteronym applied to Shina-speakers by many of their neighbours. On the other hand, we learn from Wolfgang Holzwarth that, contrary to the general belief, the toponym "Dardistan" was not Leitner's invention, but was used in the Iranian world long before him: "around 1810 for example [...] the author of the Persian Tarikh-i Badakhshan tells that Chitral forms part of Dardistan". Since Auguste Court heard the term "Dourdi" applied to the Kafirs of Nuristan around 1840, we may conclude that "Dardistan" must have been, at least in that period, a designation for something very similar to our Peristan. The ethnonym "Dards", which already appears since over two millenia ago in Greek, Iranian and Sanskrit sources, seems to be one of the most ancient and long-lasting ever recorded: it definitely deserves an updated and extensive research before we can fully understand its significance.
The terms Dardic or Dardestān are not, however, in common use in the region; rather, they were adopted by Western scholars after G. W. Leitner used them in his books in the late 19th century (1877, 1887, 1893, 1894, 1895).
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) . The Pathans call them, and all other Muhammadans of Indian descent in the Hindu Kush valleys, Kohistanis.Different ancient sources vaguely place the Dards (the Dadikai of Herodotus; the Daradas of the Puranic lists; the Daedalae of Curtius Rufus; the Derbikes of Ctesia) in the north of modern-day Pakistan. Today, the term Dardic survives in linguistic science as an extended geographic reference that embraces all the Indo-Arian languages spoken in this region. However, the ancient land of the Dards has not yet acquired any defined historical, geographical and cultural characterisation.
The name "Dard" itself was not claimed by any of the race that I met . If asked whether they were "Dards" they said "certainly", thinking I mispronounced the word "dáde" of the Hill Panjabi...
The name "Dard" is not acknowledged by any section of the tribes to whom it has been so sweepingly applied.
His scanty opportunities, however, have caused him to fall into the error of believing that the tribes which he has classed under the name of Dard are all of the same race, and he has applied the term of Dardistan, a name founded on a misconception, to a tract of country inhabited by several races, speaking distinct languages, who differ considerably amongst themselves. As, however, there is no one name which will properly apply to the peoples and countries in question, it will be perhaps convenient to retain the names of Dard and Dardistan when speaking collectively of the tribes in question and the countries they inhabit.