Sacred Texts Islam Index Previous Next
Buy this Book on Kindle
Selections from the Poetry of the Afghans, by H.G. Raverty, [1868], at sacred-texts.com
Khushḥāl Khān, the renowned chieftain of the powerful Afghān tribe of Khattak—alike a warrior and a poet—was born in the year 1022 of the Hijrah (a.d. 1613). Shāh-bāz Khān, his father, having received a wound in a battle with the Yūsufzīs—one of the most numerous and powerful of all the Afghān tribes—from the effects of which he shortly after died, Khushḥāl, who had also been severely wounded in the head and knee, in the same battle, in the year h. 1050 (a.d. 1640), with the unanimous consent and approbation of his relations and friends, became chief of his tribe. His father's fief was confirmed to him by the Mughal Emperor, Shāh Jahān, together with the charge of protecting the royal road from Attak, on the Indus, to Pes’hāwar; and other duties were entrusted to him by that sovereign, in whose estimation Khushḥāl stood high. He accompanied Ṣult̤ān Murād Baksh, the son of that monarch, on his expedition to Badakhshān in 1645, and was also engaged in other wars of that period.
On the death of Shāh Jahān, Khushḥāl continued to serve his son and successor, Aurangzeb, in the same capacity as formerly; but after some time, through the machinations of his enemies, among whom was Amīr Khān, Ṣūbah-dār, or governor of the province of Kabūl, he fell under the displeasure, or rather suspicion of the monarch, and was sent prisoner to the strong hill fortress of Gwalior, in Upper India, where he remained in captivity about seven years; and there it was that many of the following poems were written. At length, at the recommendation of Muḥabbat Khān, the second of that name, Aurangzeb released
[paragraph continues] Khushḥāl, and sent him, along with the noble just referred to—who had been lately appointed Ṣūbah-dār of Kabūl—for the purpose of settling the affairs of the Pes’hāwar district, which had fallen into a very distracted state. But the iron had entered the soul of Khushḥāl, and on reaching his native country, he kept as retired as possible; ceased to hold any intercourse with the governor of the province, and other subordinate officers; and declined rendering any assistance to the troops of the Emperor.
Khushḥāl's tribe had been long at feud with many of the other Afghāns around Pes’hāwar, amongst whom were the Yūsufzīs—fighting against whom, as before mentioned, his father lost his life—and was generally engaged in hostilities with one or other of them; but with the Afrīdīs, who were also powerful, the Khattaks maintained a close alliance. Matters, at length, went so far between the Khattak chieftain and the Mughal authorities, as to produce an open rupture. Khushḥāl now girded his loins with the sword of courage; and in concert with Ae-mal Khān, and Dar-yā Khān, chiefs of the Afrīdīs, carried on, for seven or eight years, a determined and destructive war with the Mughals, in which the latter were generally defeated.
The whole of the Afghān tribes from Banū to Jalālābād, seeing the success of their countrymen over the hated Mughals, had been drawn, by degrees, into the confederacy, which now aimed at no less than the total expulsion of the Mughals from Afghānistān. But the Yūsufzīs, who could have aided so effectually, held aloof; mid would render no assistance to their countrymen, through enmity to the Khattaks, notwithstanding that Khushḥāl went in person, even as far as the Suwāt valley, to endeavour to instil into them some of his own and his confederates’ patriotic spirit, but without effect—they were deaf to the voice of the charmer. These events he refers to, in the first of the following poems, written on that occasion.
Affairs at Pes’hāwar had assumed such a serious aspect, that Aurangzeb considered it necessary to appear in person on the scene; and for about two years he remained encamped at Attak, superintending the prosecution of the war; and that wily monarch, finding force unavailable in such a difficult country, began to try the effect of gold. In this he met with the success he desired; and some of the petty clans of the confederacy became fascinated with the gold of the Mughals, and submitted to the government; whilst others of Khushḥāl's friends began either to desert him, or to give him cause to doubt their sincerity; and Ae-mal Khān and Dar-yā Khān, his most powerful, and most trusty supporters, having previously been removed, by death, from the scene, such an effect was produced upon the fine spirit of Khushḥāl—as the following pages testify—that he became disgusted, and sought to find peace in retirement.
At length, he resigned the chieftainship of the Khattak tribe, in favour of his eldest son Ashraf, and devoted himself to books and literature. On Ashraf's becoming chief of the clan, Bahrām, another son, who appears to have been always regarded with aversion by his father for his degenerate acts, succeeded in gaining over a considerable party to his side, and appeared bent upon bringing misfortune upon his brother. They met in battle several times; and on one occasion, Bahrām was taken prisoner, but succeeded, by his artfulness and duplicity, in exciting the pity of his injured brother, who set him at liberty. Khushḥāl, well aware of the disposition of Bahrām, was highly incensed with Ashraf for allowing him to escape so easily, and, as it turned out, not without reason; for no sooner was Bahrām free, than he again commenced his intrigues against Ashraf; and at length, in the year n. 1093 (a.d. 1681), he succeeded in betraying him into the hands of the Mughals. Aurangzeb sent him prisoner to the strong fortress of Bejāpūr, in Southern India, where, after lingering in captivity for about ten years, he died. A further account of this unfortunate chieftain, will
be found prefixed to his poems; for, like other sons of Khushḥāl, as well as numbers of his descendants, he was a poet as well as his father.
Afẓal Khān, the young son of Ashraf, now took up arms in his father's cause, and was installed in the chieftainship by his grandfather, who was still regarded as their natural and rightful chief, by the majority of the tribe; but the youth and inexperience of Afẓal—for he was only seventeen years of age—could not yet cope with the wily Bahrām, who was also aided and upheld by the Mughals. Khushḥāl, therefore, taking Afẓal's youth into consideration, and in order to prevent his clansmen from shedding the blood of each other, interfered between the contending parties, fearing that the tribe might hesitate to obey one of such inexperience, and allowed Bahrām to enjoy the chieftainship, advising Afẓal to bide his time, and not lengthen his father's captivity by opposition for the present. Afẓal, therefore, retired with his family into the friendly country of the Afrīdīs.
Not content with this success in all his schemes, Bahrām would not allow his aged father to end his days in peace. Several times he made attempts upon his life. He once despatched his son Mukarram Khān, with a body of troops, to endeavour to secure the old man's person. Mukarram went, as directed, against his grandfather; but the brave old chieftain, who had attained his 77th year, having discovered the party from the place of his retreat, advanced to meet them with his drawn sword in his hand, at the same time—to quote the words of Afẓal Khān, his grandson, already alluded to, who subsequently wrote a history of these events—exclaiming, "Whoever are men amongst you, come to the sword, if you dare; but veneration for the aged chieftain was so predominant in every one's breast, that no one would make any attempt to lay hands on him;" and Mukarram, ashamed, returned as he went. Bahrām, his father, enraged at his son's failure, ordered him to
return, with directions to kill Khushḥāl with his own hand, if he should refuse to deliver himself up. On Mukarram's return, to carry out this inhuman order of a degenerate son, the old chief again advanced from his place of shelter, and taking his stand upon the crest of the hill, with his good sword in his hand, again dared them to approach; and in this manner is said to have remained on the watch for several days. But no one amongst the party had either the inclination or the courage to face him, whom they still regarded as their natural chief.
Bahrām, however, thinking the prey in his toils, had despatched a message to the Mughal governor at Pes’hāwar, to the effect that the old lion was at length at bay; and requested him to send a sufficient escort to take charge of him, and conduct him to Pes’hāwar. Khushḥāl, however, having been warned, as soon as night set in, made his escape, after two of Bahrām's party had lost their lives, and by the next morning succeeded in reaching the boundary of the Afrīdī tribe—who had always been his friends—a distance of 90 miles from Akorrah, the scene of the occurrences just related.
Khushḥāl took up his residence in the Afrīdī country, and returned no more to the home of his fathers, which he loved so well. He died as he had lived, free, among the mountains of his native land, in the 78th year of his age. Before taking his departure from a world, in which he had drunk so deeply of the bitter cup of treachery and unfaithfulness, he particularly charged those few of his children and friends, who had remained faithful to him through all his trials and misfortunes, that they should bury him where—to use his own words—"the dust of the hoofs of the Mughal cavalry might not light upon his grave;" and that "they should carefully conceal his last resting-place, lest the Mughals might seek it out, and insult the ashes of him, at whose name, whilst in life, they quailed; and by whose sword, and that of his
clansmen, their best troops had been scattered like chaff before the gale." A third request was, that in case any of his faithful children should succeed, at any time, in laying hands upon Bahrām the Malignant, they should, divide his body into two parts, and should burn one half at the head of his grave, and the other at the foot. He was buried, accordingly, at a place named I-surraey, a small hamlet in the Khattak mountains, where his tomb may still be seen; and, according to his dying request, his last resting-place was kept concealed, till all danger of insult from the Mughals had passed away.
Khushḥāl Khān was the father of fifty-seven sons, besides several daughters; but, with the exception of four or five of the former, they do not appear to have been particularly worthy of their parent's affection.
Khushḥāl, from all accounts, was a voluminous author, and is said to have composed about three hundred and fifty different works. This, however, must be greatly exaggerated; nevertheless, he is the author of numerous works, which I have myself seen, both in Persian, and in the Pus’hto, or Afghān, consisting of Poetry, Medicine, Ethics, Religious Jurisprudence, Philosophy, Falconry, etc., together with an account of the events of his own chequered life. It is greatly to be regretted, however, that his descendants, after his death, had not the opportunity to collect all his writings together; and the upshot is, that many are known only by name. Amongst those which have thus been lost or dispersed is, I fear, the autobiography I have referred to.
Some of Khushḥāl's poetical effusions, written during his exile in India, and whilst struggling against the power of Aurangzeb, will, I think, be considered highly of, even in the form of a literal translation, and in an English dress, as coming from the pen of an Afghān chief, cotemporary with the times of our Charles I., evincing, as they do, a spirit of patriotism, and love of hone and
country, not usual in the Oriental heart, but such as we might look for in the Scottish Highlander, or Swiss mountaineer, of bygone days, whom the hardy Afghāns strongly resemble. A more extended account of Khushḥāl's writings, and those of his descendants, will be found in the Introductory Chapter to my Afghān Grammar, published last year, together with an account of the Afghāns and their literature.
Up to the time of Khushḥāl's chieftainship, the bounds of the Khattak country were not well defined; that is to say, each family of the tribe had no fixed lands allotted to them. Khushḥāl caused a survey to be made of all available land; fixed the boundaries; entered them in a register; and, according to the number of each man's family, assigned a corresponding quantity of land for cultivation. This arrangement is still in force, and hitherto has not, that I am aware of, been deviated from; and many small towers of stone, erected to mark the different boundaries, still remain.