Parpola identifies "Proto-Dardic" with "Proto-Rigvedic", suggesting that the Dards are the linguistic descendants of the bearers of proto Rigvedic culture ca. 1700 BC, pointing to features in certain Dardic dialects that continue peculiarities of Rigvedic Sanskrit, such as the gerund in -tvī [REF].
During Swati rule, the Dard people predominantly followed a form of ancient Hinduism and "frequent small-scale jihad against Dards might have been a routine" [REF].