Bourouchos

The Burusho, or Brusho, also known as the Hunzukuch, are an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the Yasin, Hunza, Nagar, and other valleys of Gilgit–Baltistan in northern Pakistan, with a tiny minority of around 350 Burusho people residing in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Their language, Burushaski, has been classified as a language isolate. Although their origins are unknown, it is claimed that the Burusho people "were indigenous to northwestern India and were pushed higher into the mountains by the movements of the Indo-Aryans, who traveled southward sometime around 1800 B.C." Prior to the modern era, the area in which most Burusho now live was part of the princely state of Hunza under the British Raj, until becoming part of Pakistan. The Burusho are known for their love of music and dance, along with their progressive views towards education and women. Clark and Lorimer reported frequent violence and starvation in Hunza. A widely repeated claim of remarkable longevity of the Hunza people has been refuted as a longevity myth, citing a life expectancy of 53 years for men and 52 for women, although with a high standard deviation. There is no evidence that Hunza life expectancy is significantly above the average of poor, isolated regions of Pakistan. Claims of health and long life were almost always based solely on the statements by the local mir (king). An author who had significant and sustained contact with Burusho people, John Clark, reported that they were overall unhealthy. A group of 350 Burusho people also reside in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, being mainly concentrated in Batamalu, as well as in Botraj Mohalla, which is southeast of Hari Parbat. This Burusho community is descended from two former princes of the British Indian princely states of Hunza and Nagar, who with their families, migrated to this region in the 19th century A.D. They are known as the Botraj by other ethnic groups in the state, and practice Shiite Islam. Arranged marriages are customary.