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Pakistan
World & History
The warrior-poet of the Pashtuns; father of Pashto literature
Khushal Khan was born at Akora, the home of the Khattak tribe, and became its chief after his father was killed in a tribal battle in 1641. Under the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan he was given the duty of guarding the road between Attock and Peshawar.
Relations soured under Emperor Aurangzeb, who imprisoned him for several years, including in the fortress of Ranthambore in Rajasthan. After his release he turned against the Mughals and joined the Afridi leaders Aimal Khan and Darya Khan in the Pashtun uprisings of the 1670s.
His last years were bitter, as some of his own sons sided with the Mughals. He died in 1689 and, it is said, asked to be buried where the dust raised by Mughal horsemen would never fall on his grave.
Pashtun honour (nang), courage, freedom from foreign rule, the unity of the Pashtun tribes, love, and the beauty of nature and hunting. His poetry joins the sword and the pen.
Khushal Khan is honoured as a national poet by Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Allama Iqbal admired him and wrote the poem 'Khushal Khan ki Wasiyat' ('Khushal Khan's Will') in Bal-e-Jibril. A university in Karak is named after him.