The Dardic languages (also Dardu or Pisaca) or Hindu-Kush Indo-Aryan languages, are a group of several Indo-Aryan languages spoken in northern Pakistan, northwestern India and parts of northeastern Afghanistan. The term "Dardic" is only a geographic convention used to denote the northwesternmost group of Indo-Aryan languages rather than any ethnic or linguistic basis. There is no ethnic unity among the speakers of these languages nor can the languages can be traced to a single ancestor. The languages and peoples are often referred to as Kohistani, mostly by the Pashtuns and also by themselves. History Early British efforts placed almost all the peoples and languages of the upper Indus River between Kashmir and Kabul into one unitary group, coining the distinct identities of all other peoples in the region, resulting in the formation of terms such as Dard, Dardistan, and Dardic. No people in the region refer to themselves as Dards, their country as Dardistan, or their language as Dardic. The word Dard itself is unknown in any languages of the area, except as a loan word from Persian via Urdu, in which it means "pain". The broad application of this term have been criticised by many scholars. In a historic context, Herodotus (4th century B.C.), in one of his stories, mentioned a war-like people by the name of Dadikai on the frontier of India. Much later, Strabo and Pliny mentioned the war-like people Dardae. Alexander, whose travels provide much of the data for classical geography of the subcontinent, did not meet any Dard people, but he did go to a place called Daedala, where he was reported to have fought against people called Assakenoi. Herodotus Dadikai appears to be the Persian name derived from the Daradas given in the Puranic sources. Rather than a specific people, they were referred to characterize a fierce people, residing in the northwest, outside the boundaries of civilization. Kalhana, in Rajatarangini, mentions the Darads as residing to the north of Kashmir, and as frequently attempting to invade and loot Kashmir. The term later became accepted through repeated usage. G.W. Leitner coined the terms Dard and Dardistan, even though the name 'Dard' was not claimed by any people in the region. John Biddulph, who spent many years in Gilgit, also stated the name Dard was not acknowledged by any section of the tribes to whom it was commonly applied. Biddulph recognized Leitner's term Dardistan as founded