Gawarbati (gwt) is an Indo‑European language spoken by around 15,000 people in the mountainous and partly inaccessible border region between northern Pakistan and northeastern Afghanistan. Locally known as Aranduyiwar in Pakistan, it belongs to the Dardic branch of the Indo‑Aryan family and is closely related to Shumashti, Dameli, and Grangeali. Although primarily a spoken language, some documentation exists in Arabic script. Estimates of its speaker population range between 9,000 and 75,000, however, less than 7000 live in Pakistan.

In 2016, the Forum for Language Initiatives (FLI) implemented a one‑year preliminary documentation project on four languages of the region, including Gawarbati. The project produced initial publications, recorded ten folktales, and trained community researchers in language documentation. Since then, Gawarbati researchers have continued to actively develop literature in their language. FLI has further published four books, including a poetry collection of a late community poet, ensuring his work was preserved for future generations.

Gawarbati is primarily spoken along the Kunar River in Afghanistan’s Narai and Ghaziabad districts, and in Pakistan’s Chitral district, particularly in Arandu village.