The Pathan By Ghani Khan Baba. A Book On Pashtun's History. Book Review Of The Pathan.
The Pathan is a vivid sketch, story and picture of Pathans by the great Pathan poet and philosopher, Khan Abdul Ghani Khan, published in 1947. The book contains about sixty pages, but the pearls of wisdom, and history spread upon them are inestimable and invaluable.
Ghani Khan starts the book with a logical statement and states that "the most difficult part of writing is to know where to begin, just as the most difficult part of speaking is to know where to stop". Just after reading this sentence, I felt that I am going to read a masterwork, and at the end, it proved so.
Ghani khan has put the history, customs, and mindset of Pathans in the form of stories, that are interesting and informative at the same time. About the history and origin of Pathans, he says that "Pathan was a Budhist before he became a muslim and was a Hindu, before he became a Budhist".
He also says that "racially Pathan is clearly Greek, crossed with something, and that something I don't know". He talks about Herodotus, the great Greek historian and his opinion about the origin of Pathans. In this regard, it seems clear that Ghani Khan has well researched his topic and material.
He talks about the way Pathans live, treat their own people, and others. About the strict code of conduct adapted by Pathans, he says that "for cruel and oppressive as the customs and laws are, they are the only binding force of our culture. A strong horse needs thick ropes to save him and the world from its mischievous youth and destructive strength".
As about the failure of Pathans as a developed and prosperous nation, he says that "Pathans have not succeeded in being a great nation because there is a Jinnah in every home, who would rather burn his own house than see his brother rule it". This shows how self-centered Pathans are, as he says "every Pathan imagines he is Alexander the Great and wants the world to admit it". He says " Pathan loves his own freedom but hates to give freedom to anyone else".
Ghani Khan has given a view of how Pathans were bribed and corrupted by the Britishers and their Khans and Mullas were bought up by them in order to break this strict and faithful nation from within, and they succeeded ultimately because Pathans were too busy in killing their own brothers and had no time to think about anything else. There were stories of "Revenge and death, death and revenge, always and forever".
At the later part of the book, a sketch of Khan Adbul Ghafar Khan is portrayed and as far as I think, it is given as a model for Pathans to follow. His tireless efforts for the Pathans of the Frontier, his imprisonments, his non-violence movement, and his personality as a whole is a model worth to be followed.
"He tried to make the Pathan think", a tough job really.
Following are some of my favorite quotations from the book:
"Reading is the civilized form of listening and writing a complicated way of talking".
"The only way to be brave is to be right"
"A man must rule or be ruled. There is no third way unless you are a poet or a lunatic".
"A pathan cannot think of love without marriage".
"Don't be so sweet that people may swallow you up, nor so bitter that people may spit you out".
"You cannot understand velvet from a description of it".
"A pathan may shoot the lover of his daughter but he will sing to the glory of love".
Almost every line of the book contains something witty, special, logical, and unique. I am astonished that how can someone put wisdom of such a degree in so less words and such a short book.
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