The man in the poet
By Zafar Ali Yousafzai
Ghani Khan's life passed through various phases and almost all of them
are
reflected in his writings
Most people know little about Ghani Khan. For many, he is only a poet
who
wrote about love, music, pleasure, wine and sensuality. For some, he is
a
rebel while for others he is a heretic. It, therefore, makes sense to
talk
about his life and times instead of discussing his poetry in isolation.
Ghani Khan was born in January 1914, at Utmanzai village in District
Charsadda. He was the eldest son of Bacha Khan who founded the Khudai
Khidmatgar Movement and who rose to prominence because of his
relentless,
non-violent struggle against the British rule in the subcontinent. When
Ghani was five, his mother died of influenza and his paternal
grandmother
took charge of his upbringing. But she died in 1923.
Ghani Khan received his early education from a traditional religious
teacher
at an Utmanzai mosques. He was then sent to the National High School in
Peshawar. After he had studied there for one year, his father set up
Azad
Islamic Madrassa in his hometown Utmanzai in 1921 and Ghani Khan was
admitted to it. At the age of 14, he started composing poetry while he
was
still at school. But it was in December 1928 that his first poem
appeared in
Pakhtoon, a monthly journal launched by his father as the organ of the
Khudai Khidmatgar Movement for the promotion of the Pashto language.
In 1929, Bacha Khan sent him to London for higher education where he
also
came to learn about Christianity. Even in those years of adolescence,
he was
able to impress others with his body and bent of mind. While in London,
he
got involved in a love affair with an eminent film actress but Bacha
Khan
did not approve of it. Ghani Khan was told by his father to depart for
the
United States of America to study of sugar technology at the University
of
Southern Louisiana.
But though Ghani Khan went to America his heart was in London. It was
then
that he wrote many verses on the liberalism of the western society. He
also
wrote about his emotional deprivation.
He did Chemical Engineering from the US and on his return was appointed
in a
sugar mill in Uttar Pradesh province as chief chemist.
It was also during these days that, deeply moved by the atrocities
committed
by the British government against his father's Khudai Khidmatgars,
Ghani
Khan sought Bacha Khan's permission for an armed struggle. Instead he
was
sent to Allahabad where he stayed with Jawaharlal Nehru. In February
1934
Ghani Khan and Indra Gandhi were admitted to Tagore's Shantiniketan
College
of Arts where, along with journalism, he started studying sculpture and
painting. His stay at Shantiniketan had a profound effect on him. In
his own
words, "it was in Shantineketan that I discovered myself and the past
greatness of my own culture and civilisation which has produced several
men
of versatile geniuses, who have been appreciated by historians and
scholars
of the West."
In December 1934 he went to Bombay where, at a friend's house, he met
and
instantaneously fell in love with Roshan (1907-1987), a Parsi lady of
noble
birth and the youngest daughter of Nawab Rustum Jang Faridoonji of
Hyderabad
Deccan. They married on November 24, 1939.
In 1940, he joined Frontier Sugar Mills, Takht-i-Bhai in Mardan
District as
cane manager. In February 1943, he resigned. But soon the circumstances
compelled him, much against his natural inclinations, to actively
associate
himself with electoral politics.
Ghani Khan was against non-violence preached and practiced by Bacha
khan. He
believed in struggle through any means possible. This was what prompted
him
to set up an armed organisation named Zalmey Pakhtoon (Pakhtoon Youth)
to
protect Khudai Khidmatgars and members of the Congress Party from
violence
by the state. But despite his belief in an armed political struggle, he
took
part in electoral politics. At 32, he was elected as the youngest
member of
the Central Legislative Assembly of India in December 1945 on the only
general seat for the Frontier province.
Zalmey Pakhtoon was banned after Pakistan came into being and Ghani
Khan was
put behind the bars for allegedly subversive activities. His
agricultural
land was also confiscated by the provincial government. He remained in
different jails for six years and was finally released in 1954.
He devoted the rest of his life entirely to poetry. In 1987 a peasant
killed
Ghani's only son Fareedon Khan. Though the incident shook him greatly,
he
pardoned his son's killer.
Atrocities by the state, plight of the Pathans and death of his only
son
gave his poetry a philosophical colour which became a hallmark of his
literary persona.
Ghani Khan's first poetic collection was Da Penjery Chaghaar (Chirpings
of
the Cage) which he wrote from 1947 to 1954 while he was in jail. His
other
books include Palwashey (Beams of Light), Panoos (Chandelier), Latoon
(Search) and Kulyat-e-Ghani (A collection of Ghani's poetry).
It is because of his varied and colourful personality that one can see
so
many shades -- ranging from freedom, love of God, land and people,
nationalism, fate, the mysteries of life and death, the joys of
communion,
and the woes of separation to beauty -- in his poetry.
According to him, it is the duty of the poets to turn man's attention
to
those higher centres of his being where he might see the reflection of
his
own perfection and the face of his eternal beloved -- beauty. A poet,
therefore must worship beauty -- in thought, in word and in deed. Ghani
Khan
was of the view that beauty is the essence of civilisation and culture
which
includes almost all human creative activities like painting, sculpture
and
music. "Without the search for beauty in thought, word and deed we
cannot
have any kind of civilisation."
Beauty and love are the foundation upon which the building blocks of
his
poetry are lying. Beauty, according to him, is present everywhere. If
one is
beautiful from within, then the whole universe would be beautiful. But
if
one were hypocritical and ugly from within, then the whole world would
be
dark and unattractive.
Love for him is the divine gift of God. It is far more superior to
beauty
because physical beauty is mortal and would perish while the spirit of
love
is immortal. The beauty of the beloved is essential but it is the
passion of
the lover which makes love eternal.
Ghani khan possessed such a great wisdom that he could see things in
their
true colours. His poetry at times reads like the description of the
secrets
and mysteries of life.
For him, life without an objective has no meaning. Death is the
manifestation of the kindness of the Creator for man. It is death,
which
unites man with God and is proof of God's love and mercy for mankind.
Apart from Pashto, Ghani Khan also wrote in English. His first English
book,
The Pathans, was published in 1947. It is a description of history,
culture,
traditions and customs of Pakhtoons. It also depicts their feuds,
enmities
and their attitudes to life. "Pathan is not merely a race but in fact,
a
state of mind; there is a Pathan lying inside every man, who at times
wakes
up and overpowers him," he once wrote. He was very proud of his being a
Pakhtoon and thanked God that he was born among Pakhtoons.
Ghani Khan died on March 15, 1996 in Peshawar and was buried by the
side of
his mother in his ancestral graveyard near Utmanzai.
Back to Poetry and Poets of Pakhtu