Pahari Language: Where It Is Spoken and Useful Words

The Pahari language, also called Pahari-Pothwari, is the main home language of Azad Kashmir and of the hills around Murree and the northern Pothohar plateau. It belongs to the western group of Punjabi varieties and is understood by most Punjabi and Hindko speakers. In Mirpur it is often called Mirpuri, and it is the dialect carried to Britain by the families who left the district in the 1950s and 1960s.

You will not need Pahari to travel anywhere in the region, because Urdu works everywhere. This guide explains what the language is, where each form of it is spoken, why so many British Pakistanis speak it, and a handful of words that will help you follow what is going on around you.

What is the Pahari language?

Pahari means "of the mountains", and the name is used loosely for several hill languages across the Himalaya. The one spoken in Azad Kashmir is the language linguists call Pahari-Pothwari: a dialect continuum that runs from the Pothohar plateau near Rawalpindi north into the hills of Azad Kashmir and the Murree and Abbottabad Galyat. Over a century ago the linguist George Grierson grouped it under "Northern Lahnda", and it is still classed with the western varieties of Punjabi.

It sits between standard Punjabi and Hindko and is mutually intelligible with both. Speakers often do not use a single name for it. Depending on the area, people call it Pahari, Pothwari, Mirpuri, Hindko or simply Punjabi, and a researcher working with British speakers found many simply call it apni zaban, "our language". That is one reason census figures for it are unreliable: in Pakistan's census, speakers in Punjab usually return their language as Punjabi.

Where is Pahari spoken in Azad Kashmir?

The language changes gradually as you travel north, and the three main forms are mutually intelligible, though speakers from the far south and the far north can have trouble following each other.

Mirpur, Dadyal and the south

In Mirpur district, the language is close to the Pothwari of the neighbouring Pothohar plateau in Punjab, across the Jhelum and Mangla Lake. This is the form usually called Mirpuri, and it is what you will hear in New Mirpur city, Dadyal and the villages around Chakswari. Our guide to places to visit in Mirpur covers the town itself.

Poonch, Bagh and the central hills

Further north, around Rawalakot, Bagh and the rest of Poonch division, the dialect is usually called Pahari or Poonchi. The name Poonchi is applied sometimes to the variety of Poonch district alone and sometimes to the speech of the whole northern half of Azad Kashmir. Linguistic surveys found the Bagh dialect shares 86 to 88 per cent of its basic vocabulary with the Pahari of Murree.

Muzaffarabad and the Neelum road

In Muzaffarabad district the speech is still close to central Pahari, but many speakers there call it Hindko. Up the Neelum Valley it becomes closer again to Hindko, which is the common language of the valley. Our guide to Neelum Valley culture covers the mix of languages there, including Kashmiri, Gojri and Shina.

Outside Azad Kashmir

The same continuum carries on across the Line of Control into the Poonch and Rajouri districts of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, and south and east into Rawalpindi, Murree and the Galyat. If you have driven to Murree and heard shopkeepers talking among themselves, there is a good chance it was Pahari.

Why do so many British Pakistanis speak Pahari?

Most British Pakistanis trace their roots to Azad Kashmir, and Mirpur district in particular. Estimates in the sources vary, but they agree the share is large: Wikipedia's article on the language puts it at between two thirds and 80 per cent of people classed as British Pakistani.

Migration from Mirpur to Britain began in the 1950s and sped up with the Mangla Dam. Construction began in 1961, and the reservoir submerged more than 280 villages along with the old towns of Mirpur and Dadyal, displacing over 110,000 people. Some of those displaced were given work permits for Britain by the Government of Pakistan, and many found work in the textile and steel industries of northern England and the Midlands. Our guide to Mirpur's links with Britain explains how that money and migration shaped the town you see today, and the ruins of old Mirpur still appear when the lake level drops.

The result is that Pahari-Pothwari has well over half a million speakers in the UK, and some researchers argue it is the second most common mother tongue in Britain after English, ahead of Welsh. It rarely shows up as such in official figures, because many speakers record their language as Punjabi or Urdu. In the 2021 census of England and Wales, Birmingham (195,102) and Bradford (139,553) had the largest Pakistani populations, and both have large Mirpuri communities.

This matters on the ground in Mirpur. In summer and around weddings and Eid, you will hear British-accented English mixed with Pahari in the bazaars, and many families switch between the two in the same sentence.

Is Pahari a written language?

Mostly not. Pahari is a spoken, home language. Newspapers, road signs, school books and official notices in Azad Kashmir are in Urdu and English. When Pahari is written, it uses Shahmukhi, the same Perso-Arabic script used for Punjabi in Pakistan, and there is no agreed written standard yet.

Its best-known poet is often claimed by Punjabi literature as a whole. Mian Muhammad Bakhsh (about 1830 to 1907), born and buried at Khari Sharif near Mirpur, wrote Saif ul Malook, finished in 1863, in a Punjabi that draws on Pothohari and Hindko speech. Lines from it are still recited and sung across the region, and his shrine is a short drive from Mirpur. Our Khari Sharif guide covers a visit.

How is Pahari different from Punjabi and Urdu?

If you speak Punjabi you will follow a lot of Pahari, and if you speak only Urdu you will catch the general sense. A few features stand out, and recognising them makes conversations around you much easier to follow.

• "Of" is nā, not dā. Where standard Punjabi uses dā (Urdu kā), Pahari uses nā. It is one of the quickest ways to tell the two apart by ear.
• The object marker is kī, not nū̃. Where Punjabi says nū̃ (Urdu ko), Pahari says kī.
• The future tense uses -s. Karsā̃ means "I will do", where Punjabi says karāṅgā and Urdu karūṅgā.
• Different verbs for coming and going. You will hear acchṇā for coming and gacchṇā or julṇā for going.

Useful Pahari words

These words come from published descriptions of the language. Pronunciation varies between Mirpur, Poonch and Muzaffarabad, so treat them as a guide to listening rather than a script.

For greetings and thanks, use Urdu. Assalam o alaikum is the standard greeting everywhere, and shukriya or meharbani for thank you is understood by everyone. Our Urdu phrases for travellers covers what you are more likely to need: asking directions, prices and rooms.

Should you learn Pahari before a trip?

For a holiday, no. Urdu gets you through every hotel, checkpost, restaurant and jeep stand in Azad Kashmir, and English is common in Mirpur in particular. Spending an evening learning Pahari words will not change how your trip goes.

It is worth knowing about the language for other reasons. If you are visiting family in Mirpur or Kotli, or travelling with British-Pakistani relatives, a few words of Pahari are warmly received, especially by older people. And if you are interested in how the region fits together, the language explains a lot: why Mirpur feels so connected to Jhelum and the Pothohar, and why Rawalakot and Bagh feel closer to Murree than to Lahore. Our travel guide covers the practical side of planning a trip, and the Kashmir destination page covers where to go.

Frequently asked questions