Some Historical Aspects of Funeral Rites among People of Western Pamir T. S. Kalandarov and А. А. Shoinbekov Abstract: his article describes some aspects of funeral rites among indigenous people of the Badakhshan autonomous region in Tajikistan, for most of whom the religious denomination is Ismailism. he ceremonies focus on ritual puriication and seeing of the soul of the deceased person into another world. A set of obliga- tory rituals and rites are described, including lamp lighting, mourning rules, and memorial foods and celebrations. Ater analysing a wide range of data, the authors conclude that Western Pamir Ismailites believe that a dead body is inhabited by a corpse demon that brings harm to people. Although the described customs and rituals are generally Muslim and relect features of the traditional Pamir world view, they are most probably part of the region’s pre-Islamic heritage. Keywords: funeral ceremony, lamp lighting, memorial rite, ritual cleaning, sheep sacriice, Western Pamir Introduction In spite of the fact that the great Silk Road of ancient times ran through its valleys, Western Pamir was on the periphery of the cultural world of the East. he small princedoms of Vakhan and Shugnan that had existed in this region for many centuries remained in vassal dependence on their neighbours. his dependence, however, was purely nominal. High, mountainous Pamir remained isolated from the plains world almost until the late nineteenth cen- tury. Its scientiic development did not begin until the region became involved in a number of conlicts between the British and Russian empires. According to the terms of an 1895 British-Russian agreement on the delimi- tation of spheres of inluence in the Pamir, the dividing line was drawn from the Zor-Kul Lake along the Eastern Pamir and the Panj River. One part of the Pamirian princedoms’ territories appeared to be attached to Afghanistan, Anthropology of the Middle East, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2008: 67–81 © Berghahn Journals doi:10.3167/ame.2008.030107