Once everyone was pagan.

Today we're not.

So: if paganism was so great in the first place, why did we lose out?

It's a question that every thoughtful contemporary pagan wrestles with. Most often, our answers present us as having been victims, of coercion or of out-maneuvering.

These are stories of agency from without.

The Kalasha—the last remaining pagans of the Hindu Kush—tell a different story.

A story of broken taboos and failed leadership.

A story from within.

 

 The Last King of the Kalasha

 

In the old days, the kings of the Kalasha ruled over all of Chitral.

That was until one king committed incest with his daughter.

He went to the court dehár (shaman) and said: I have committed incest with my daughter. What can I do to be clean of this?

And this is what the dehár told him.

There is nothing that you can do to be clean of this. Of this, you will never be clean.

Moreover, your crime will harm not only yourself and your children, but all the Kalasha people.

Shortly thereafter, in 1570, the Rais Mehtar of Gilgit invaded. The Kalasha army was defeated, and the king and all his sons were killed. Many Kalasha were also killed, or forcibly converted to Islam.

Those who remained true to the Old Ways were forced out of their territory and into the three valleys which they inhabit to this day.

Since then, the Kalasha have had no kings.

 

So, why did we lose in the first place?

Maybe it isn't all on someone else after all.

Maybe we weren't true to our own ways. Maybe we messed up, too.

It's a truism of pagan thought that what leaders do in private affects everyone.

Let those of us in leadership reflect on this, and act accordingly.

 

Above: Kalasha women celebrate the feast of Joshi