The Dards are an Aryan people living in a few scattered villages in a remote region of Ladakh district, itself a remote region of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. They are nominally Buddhist but also worship their own Pantheon of gods. They are descendants of the ancient Aryan invaders of the Indian subcontinent. They have a Caucasian appearance in contrast to the predominant Tibeto-Mongol inhabitants of most of Ladakh. They live in very primitive conditions even when judged by the standards of Ladakh.
Dards, Dardistan, and Dardic: an Ethnographic, Geographic, and Linguistic Conundrum
In Clark's view, the ethnographic construction of the country of Dardistan, populated by Dards, is "the genesis of a pedigree" which operates by positing "a continuity between a past literature and a present people that is assumed rather than demonstrated".
Dards are next mentioned during the reign of Shankaravarman, A.D. 883 to A.D. 902 (Stein 1979:V, 152-155, 206).
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