what is Pashtuni literature?

​The Pashtuns (sometimes also called Pathans according to Indian tradition) are quite a large ethnic group, numbering at least 40 million, although they never had a state of their own. They live on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border, especially along the mountainous frontier historically known as Pashtunistan or "Pashtun belt", creating a sort of tribally structured society. Their identity is a combination of this tribal structure, ethical code, language, and a long-standing literary tradition. This peculiar ethical code is called Pashtunwali. It emphasises values such as honour (nang), hospitality (melmastia), asylum (nanawatai), and justice or revenge (badal). Tribal affiliation and lineage also play a crucial role, with identity often structured around extended kinship networks. 
Pashto literature spans both oral and written forms. Oral poetry—especially the tappa, a short, two-line lyrical form—has historically been central to expressing themes of love, exile, heroism, and social values. This oral tradition remains vibrant even nowadays and continues to shape collective memory and identity.
Written literature among the Pashtuns began seriously in the 16th century, with Pir Roshan, a Sufi poet. Yet between the 16th and 18th centuries, Pashto literature began to flourish. Among its most celebrated figures is Khushal Khan Khattak, whose poetry combines themes of tribal pride, ethics, and resistance. Another key figure is Rahman Baba, known for his mystical and humanistic verse, which reflects Sufi influences and emphasises inner spirituality over tribal conflict. 
Contemporary Pashtun literature remains rooted in the Pashto language and classical poetic heritage; it has expanded in form, theme, and medium, engaging with issues such as war, displacement, identity, gender, and globalisation across regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as within diaspora communities. Contemporary poets often draw on classical figures like Rahman Baba while experimenting with free verse and modernist imagery. The work of Ghani Khan, for example, represents an important bridge between tradition and modern philosophical reflection, combining lyrical intensity with scepticism, individuality, and a critique of rigid social norms.
Although poetry still predominates in Pashtun literature, there are also attempts at creating a local novelistic expression. Curiously, women's writing appeared already in the mid-20th century. For example, Zaitoon Bano wrote novels as well as short stories, often focusing on women’s experiences and social constraints in Pashtun society. 
More recently, Nasir Ahmad Ahmadi is particularly known in Afghanistan for writing novels in Pashto that depict everyday life, social tensions, and moral dilemmas in a clear, accessible style. His work is often praised for its “local colour” and its ability to represent ordinary Pashtun society. Another significant figure is Sher Zaman Taizi, who helped develop the modern Pashto novel, especially through the use of symbolism and more complex narrative techniques. His novels mark an important step in moving Pashto prose beyond simple storytelling toward more literary experimentation. 
​Finally, in the diaspora, writers like Jamil Jan Kochai write prose fiction (often in English) that engages with Pashtun identity, memory, and displacement, bringing elements of this tradition into a global literary context.

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the love of hawks

Certainly, there is little Pashtun literature commonly read in the world, although Pashto is a major language spoken by some 50 million people. I have in my collection a rarity once brought from the Emirates: an English translation of The Book of Falconry, written in 1674 by Khushal Khan Khattak, a poet from Akora Khattak in modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Khushal Khan Khattak (1613-1689) is usually considered a major author of the Mughal period, writing both in Pashto and in Persian; his Pashto baaz nama, or falconry treatise, is in verse, although he also mentions having written a similar treatise in Persian prose (a text that seems to be lost today). For the rest, he was a chieftain of the Khattak tribe appointed by Shah Jahan, the same who built the Taj Mahal. After the advent of the Shah's son, Aurangzeb, Khushal fell out of favour, was imprisoned, and re-emerged, several years later, as a leader of the resistance fighting against the Mughal hegemony in the Pashtun belt. As he proudly mentions in the introduction to his Falconry book, “It's been four or five years / Since the start of the strife / As the Mughals are bleeding / By the Pashtun knife”. Exiled, he roams the mountains as an ibex, but war cannot detain him from his hunting passion: “Even in this state / You'll find me undeterred // Small or great, there are still / New tidings in store / The love of hawks lured me / To the Swat Valley floor” (p. 2-3).
The treatise, in spite of being written in mathnavi verse (two-line couplets rhyming the endings of both lines), is very precise as a way of transmission of falconry lore. The first part is dedicated to the usual basis of the falconry practice, describing all aspects of taming and training; the second, sort of advanced one, deals with diseases and specialised treatments for birds.




Khushal Khan Khattak, The Book of Falconry, trans. By Sami Ur Rahman, Islamabad, PanGraphics, 2014.