Ghani khan and His Contribution to Pashto Literature

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Early life

Ghani Khan was born in 1914, in the Frontier Tribal Areas of British India—roughly located in the modern-day village of Utmanzai in Charsadda District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. He was the son of Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a prominent Indian independence activist, and was the elder brother of Abdul Wali Khan.

Khan’s wife, Roshan, was from a Parsi family and was the daughter of Nawab Rustam Jang, a prince of Hyderabad. He went to study at the art academy at Rabindranath Tagore’s University in Shantiniketan, where he developed a liking for painting and sculpture. He visited England and studied sugar technology in the United States, after which he returned to British India and started working at the Takht Bhai Sugar Mills in Takht Bhai in 1933. Largely owing to his father’s influence,

Khan was also involved in politics, supporting the cause of the Pashtuns of British India. Due to his activism, Khan was arrested by the Government of Pakistan in 1948—although he had given up politics by then—and remained in prison till 1954, in various jails all over the country. It was during these years that he wrote his poem collection, Da Panjray Chaghaar, which he considered to be the best work of his life. His contribution to literature was ignored by the Pakistani government for much of his life; although near the end of his life, his works did receive much praise and as well as an award—for his contributions to Pashto literature and painting, the then-President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, conferred on him the Sitara-i-Imtiaz on 23 March 1980.  

Ghani Khan dedicated his masterpiece, The Pathans, to his father, the indomitable Badshah Khan by writing, “I dedicate this book to the first Pathan I knew and the finest I have ever known”. I would like to take the liberty of generalizing the same line for my father, my Baba, the first human being I knew and the finest I have ever known; whose entire life revolved around embodying traits of human excellence. Out of which the three that he deeply espoused were humility, kindness, and erudition. 

Humility 

Baba used to say that humility is the key to becoming a good human being. Like a Buddhist monk throughout his life, he put the needs and comforts of others above his own. Carl Jung once wrote that “Modern man can’t see God because he doesn’t look low enough”. This, for my father meant dedicating his life to serving others as his creed. This was the primary reason he chose to become a civil servant — to serve the common man. He never turned anyone away from his office regardless of their background or social standing. True to character, he had a diverse set of friends, from politicians and industrialists to cobblers and watchmen. Post-retirement, to solidify that bond, he used to make tea himself for anyone who came to visit him. 

Kindness 

The great novelist Henry James famously said, “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind”. My father manifested such kindness on a daily basis. Instead of being embittered due to hardship early in life, Baba replaced the hardship with compassion and generosity towards others. There’s an African proverb that states that “it takes a village to raise a child”, my father flipped that on its head. In his case, it would be safe to say that it takes one man to raise an entire village. He funded education, weddings, and employment for hundreds of individuals. He had a big heart with deep empathy. One cold night in the dead of winter, he came home from his regular walk and took his own blanket and went to give it to a homeless person that he ran into. His life was full of such random acts of kindness. 

Erudition 

In his youth, my father met Ghani Khan as both of them were from the same village of Charsadda. He had the pleasure of exploring Ghani Khan’s famed library which inspired him to start collecting books himself. He ended up amassing over 30 thousand books throughout his life. He was a big proponent of the sanctity of the written word and its power to improve the human condition.

Reminiscent of this quote from Oscar Wilde, one of his favorite authors: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”. For him erudition was essential to climb out of the gutter and reach for the stars. Friends and acquaintances always referred to him as a gentleman and a scholar. In spite of his humble beginnings, my father was able to make something of himself in life. Frank McCourt in his wonderful autobiographical book, Angela’s Ashes (Baba had 3 copies of it in his library) wrote,

“Stock your mind, stock your mind. You might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace”. My father’s mind was indeed a palace. That epitome of human excellence is with us no more. It has been a year since his passing. I used to wake up to him listening to Gulon Mein Rang Bhare by Mehdi Hassan every Sunday morning. The Gul and Rang have now withered away. My Sunday mornings are now full of silence. I miss him dearly. 

Contributions towards Pashto Literature:

Due to the influence of his father, he started interfering in Politics and joined his father’s party known as “Awami National Party” or “Sur-Sailab (Red Flood)” for supporting and promoting the cause of Pashtuns, due to which he spent 6 years in different jails all over the country. He was arrested in 1948 and remained in the prison of Government of Pakistan till 1954. During his incarceration, he wrote his collection of poems

“Da Panjray Chaghaar”(The Chirping of the Cage), which according to him is the best work of his entire life. His other poem collections include Panoos, Palwashay, Kuleyat-e-Ghani and Latoon. The Pathans, his first book published in English in 1947, before Independence, is a delightful sketch of the Pathans, their social customs and practices, their superstitions, their enmities, feuds, and their attitudes to life.

This was followed in 1956 by the Da Panjray Chaghar (Chirpings of the Cage) which contains poems written between 15th October 1950 and 27 October 1953 during the periods of his incarceration. In 1960-61 there appeared from Kabul, Palwashay (Beams of Light) containing a number of poems from the Panjray Chaghar along with new compositions. Panoos (Chandelier), containing selections from earlier works and a number of new poems, was published in 1978. This was succeeded in 1985 by the Kulleyaat( Collected Works)-a compendium of his published verse. Ten years later, in 1995, came Latoon (Search), which contains all his poems published to date.

A translation of Pashto to English of some selected 141 poems called The Pilgrim of Beauty has been written by Imtiaz Ahmad Sahibzada, a friend and admirer of Ghani Khan. The book was printed in 2014 in Islamabad, Pakistan. It also contains some paintings by Ghani Khan. The launch of the book took place in the Pak-Afghan Pukhtoon Festival in March 2015. 

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Ghani Khan’s love for nature and the local habitat of the Pashtun people is visible in his work. He wrote 

“Pashtun is not merely a race but, in fact, a state of mind; there is a Pashtun lying inside every man, who at times wakes up and overpowers him.” 

“The Pashtuns are a rain-sown wheat: they all came up on the same day; they are all the same. But the chief reason why I love a Pashtun is that he will wash his face and oil his beard and perfume his locks and put on his best pair of clothes when he goes out to fight and die.” 

As a progressive and intellectual writer, he wrote, “I want to see my people educated and enlightened. A people with a vision and a strong sense of justice, who can carve out a future for themselves in harmony with nature.” 

Let death overtake me 
Whenever it will; 
It will find me prepared, 
With a flower in hand, 
Or mounted upon 
A snorting steed; 
Or a gun in hand, 
Or quill and ink; 
And drowned in laughter 
The cares of the world; 
Whatever's in store, 
Is enough, no more! 
Let death overtake me 
Whenever it will. 

Most of Ghani Khan’s contribution to literature remained unpublished for the most part of his life, although in his years he was appreciated for his work and contribution. In reference to which the President of Pakistan at that time was General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq who awarded Ghani Khan with “Sitara-e-Imtiaz” on 23rd March 1980 for his marvelous contribution in Pashto Literature and Painting. 

Conclusion:

Ghani Khan died on 15th March 1996 in Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar, on the next day of his death he was buried alongside his mother’s grave in their ancestral graveyard as per his desire. 

After his death, in recognition of his outstanding contributions, the Government of KPK Province built a public library and park as a memorial to him on about 8 acres of land, naming it “Ghani Derai” (Pashto word Derai means “mound”). The place is very near to his home, Dar- ul-Aman (The Abode of Peace), on the main highway from Razzar to Takht-I-Bhai (Mardan).