Pahari people (Kashmir)

The Pahari people or Pahari-speaking people is a cover term for a number of heterogeneous communities inhabiting the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Azad Kashmir administered by Pakistan. Pahari is an ambiguous term used to describe a variety of Northern Indo-Aryan languages, most of which are found in the lower Himalayas. They are divided into Eastern Pahari, Central Pahari, and Western Pahari, consisting of a number of different languages. The broadly named Pahari is among the regional languages listed in the sixth schedule of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir.