The Dard-Shin tribe, which once ruled large parts of Kashmir in the 16th Century and is now nestled in the Gurez valley with Pakistan border posts in the backyard, has found an archiver in Basheer Ahmad Teroo.
For the past three years, Mr. Teroo, 48, has been travelling the length and breadth of what was once known as Dardistan, collecting vestiges of his community’s culture – items that he has begun storing and displaying at his home in Dawar town.
In 2022, just as India was coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Teroo said his mother had gifted him 75 items – jewellery, kitchen utensils, footwear, clothing among others. “I remember she said it was for safekeeping. These were things that reminded her of our community and how we have lived. I just thought one morning, why not do something with it,” he recalled.
He started displaying the items whenever he would visit the Dard-Shin people across the Gurez region, including Tulail, where the community is concentrated. In three years, Mr. Teroo has amassed 457 antique items – ranging from a woman’s 20-year-old wedding pheran to a 107-year-old wooden horse saddle – all donated or sold by people of the community, most of whom have found Mr. Teroo instead of him seeking them out.
