V «. .Aligarfe

FgRSljat LlflBUTBRg W AfGHAHISTAS 1747-1935 KHAS SASSB HAHID, B. A. (HOBS)., II, A. # &.B.* the Musliis llsiirersity, '*v «. .Aligarfe. ULI P 8 E y A c s The history of the young kingdom of &f#isnistan has been a record of wars which followed one another so ^losely and surely that the brief intervening breathing spaces had always Men darkened by the gloom of the preceding and the shadow of the succeeding catestrophies. Yet Afghanistan *s literary history tin til the middle of the 18th century, was just & pari of the eosjpreheusitre Iranian tale, aradaally when this long and coatiiraums history adopted its independent course, the path of its glory m$r%$& into the confusion of wars and its is&îfieenee was lost in the d&riats©ss of cen-turies, and even then what was m exact image of the past* was left only m the symbol of a great thing^now gone* It was a colossal poem yet, whose music thinned away before the din and dast of clashing swords and fighting stallions. Urns the results of the interest spared for peacetime pursuits, during these spells of fatigue m& preparation, ha?e almost intatiably heen forgotten. Priceless manuscripts were stored away in abysses where worm and was te^ beyond any hope of return, turned them to dust. Efforts hay© no doabt been ss&de to rescue 1 7 portions of these works from obscurity, bait these hate been the efforts of those few wbo in the first place ^ had an andean ted confidence in the worth of their taskjand in the second, h&& the rare courage to face those powers whose hatreds those works celebrated m& who hardly spared life or property of persons suspected of harbouring thoughts or materials against'themselves or in fa?o«r of their foes. Ihas mmj possessors wedtd deny the searching student,, eight of a work, and aany 2 evade Mai even by a denial of possession. Gur authorities m& other works incl&ded is the book are, therefore, the result of ipreat painstaking and inhere we have obtained or isissed any, we could sot improve or isend oar fortene or misfortae. from generation to generation, the dust of fri^t and foolishness has fallen upon this history and in obscurity and oblivion the adventurers have ggsne their way. Mke buildings, built according to the architectural caprice of each epoch, whose dark crumbling masses are a pleasure to scholars alone, this survey would drive commentators and wranglers • over facts and words and dates to desparation. flats any literary or linguistic survey of Afghanistan necessitates a reference to the effect on it,of its continuously turbulent state, of which however, the influence, it is necessary to understand in soise detail fro® its history, for,unlike Japan which after a peaceful rule of 26r00# years under one dynasty^ has just heen brought to her knees, Afghanistan has been under the sway of disastrous political tests and ravishing social revolutions. h couple of typical instances, oat of a heap, would suffice to elucidate the circumstances under which priceless volumes of manuscripts were ®f JUJLO>. broadcast or buj^^^n the air or under the earth, and thus permanently lost beyond any hope of recovery. *In the time of Soir Afedur Behraan Khan, when capital criae was visited with the penalty of capital to be. paid hy those in whose territory it was committed and when the smrderer absconded ,,his tribe had &> disb&rse the deathhill', the people, to waive it, usually 3 destroyed their ge&eologiea asd family Ms lories*, (I) In the reijgfi of the f&ter-earrier*s son, orders were issued, thai an? hotss© containing asy hook with a -ohotograph ôald be bamt dtr^n; and a eruel and stringent search was sade to enforce these orders, 1 personally remember families drives to desi>sratio8 in their aaxiety to "baru heaps of mluasle smrks. the see&ee in our owa homes when two Mg oTeiae oestiatioasly devoured with their f lasses as iseoecei mole mrmber of hooks sad papers of usimaginable yalae* ar# ouly a corroding metsory. Afghanistan was thus a literary froy* several times hur#t, but there were the shoulders of a© Assies to es$rry #ray to safety the jtoehises of literature from $ie flames of war and the fires of destruction. So the searching student* after ramisagisg and ran sacking all possible repositories^, meets the fate of the ssilere in yoking the lest Hylaa ou the Syeian shores« Afghanistan h&s been of late the sabjset of endless histories chiefly by authors fro© Isdia; stupendous wlmses of stupid mines, these books are} all vain attempts at essalatiug Jasii, iaw&i, or fafcsaf* with very few exceptions, all of them hopeless failures. The present -pork has been, ho ire ter, based on these few exeeptious in part, although the others had also to he ôBe through with* 1. *A few Phases of the &fghaz*s* - P.21. UaUuador, 1937) 4 3h$ *fe£^%i lutaf&rriiji &dabi,Afghani* (by A Hrrkanssad Huaaiu E&SB, $smi3i3ll@h B$aa«*8 Birsotor Several of Hdaoaiiofi} has boon dealt with in the oh&pter 0*3 authorities. Besides recoterijjg many of ih% lout wamweripts and other norfca of poets a»d froseisri tors like fas tar. Shah, Ayaha, Hamid, S&rwar, and Sher gahgasad^Bamiag lesser personalities like Kadeocst &idai6eb, a&d others, this ^©rk asd its author have helped us £s Hhe greatest authority of the greatest parties of this *orJt*. Ifeeir help has ala© b«eu invaluable ^specially in dereloping all tho' oha#tors on the languages m& tho dialects. the additions to the irew literature of Afghimist&n ^lich tfe« present m?k claims as ©rigiaal awd stilqso ar# i- / Ihe *$cbar Sameh* of Hamid of Kashmir? y Ute igunaddas of Maulati SaTwar of âudahar; • Ihs *Tarikbi Sfal*aki ilishaij* of Ah&ad Yadg4r~/-Afghaa; v th« *Taqwe8m«-ttd-Siii* of i&sir Ahdar Rehmais Khans reign; fhe History of toad shah Durrani by Msfemad-sl- / Mys^Baa b« Ibrahi® &l~Mussy&i, and 1h$- Be was of Uaheer Wasil. Frost usioBg these poets whose uritings are still inaccessible, this mrk deals with s- Sirdar Mehrdil" gha© liashriqi, Mirza Ldl Mohamad ICbas Ajis, iir Hotak Khan Afghan, Tinrar Shah Durrani, Wali %m and isdaleob far 21* Mmg the works ksown, but oat of print m& obscure almost to the point of extinction, are th$ diwans of Ay aha, Has^tas Shah, Shah Shuja and those of mariy other lessor ôets, and the publications of § Sher fsha^ss^d Afghan m& the *6uide to Qataân gnd Bad&khshas* by the late <3eaaralJ&&dir fi&as. Majority of other authors have been treated or* the basis of $seir writiijgs obtained fro® Kabul, from the Museass or pergonal collections, tfeey are all maimstsriptSj zealously sr*d disorderly preserved -<- & zeal i&ioh is ofteu tinged with jealeasy asd a disorder *?hich is fretj&ently iutepsified iato a ess fusion | both the zeal a»d the disorder, eeeuriag fortunately the safety, and imfortunntslj the obscurity of these works. the chapters on the laugaages as& the glossary are all absolutely original £ asd for® a Tirgia ground which no o&e has so far feutared to set his foot upon, l&e varieties of the Persian l^gaage itself* m spokes in lahul, Herat, Ehost and B&z&rajat and the description of'the dialeste, have sever bees regalarly or irregularly toaehed upon, the pato4a of the mountain passes and the yalleys beyond them had neirer tiskled is the ears of a stadest who read out from works is libraries and museums, their description and a view of Persia iaflueose oa this©, has bees the original theme of this work. fh« saae to some extent applies to the description of Paahto of which the m?4& m adopted ttQvn other languages ha?» botn selected with the help of the *£wraa-i«fat&farriq-i-Adah-i-Afghani*. I had to râd assy books with Fashto scholars and rerbally acquire from them instances of its reaction on Persian. For a knowledge of theseAl had to find, oat those whose mother to&gaes those dialeets were* from all par tit of the country, from distant pa&Bes 6 and di&irlet«* tfcere its &fRestates &ud kere i'xLlsdia* j|t & waiter of f &ei, si &e« t the lafcear &s?d fell of yesta sskieti hga to- fee ttitdergpse is s«#r<§h of tbese pssfl® and tbeir f&teie, elide e so4*u bad to be tFeapared "• fr§m tfee te tii»e with cm© anethere* stu3$ as autJie&tic prmm%&%im as I clai«t veaid hate l>a«s iapo**i?&e» ill these notes were eorro berated with the iB'feraatiea o.et&iaed t^raaâ friends a&d tr&v&llere is L*adi&» Ifee S&x&ra lasîsê with its farteie end Itosgal eorde, as well alt ot&$r dielects, hating bees ©arrest is if^banieian for ee&ktries sad tlie lieigaeoiariisg la&gaagea ef Isdia aisd 1&e fsetsry, of o$a?£e,ce&tribated s&ny expreeeiezia* idiese* &$d *e>rds te the Afghan iêruias. the knowledge of <fee ferwer is e$«@£ti&l & understand the latter fully. the eelleetiet* #f Afgês Pareian isords is s utiitpe SB4 irari vailed eampeBdi^sg of * T&eabslsry ef ehle-h the $ei*»Afgâ&s e&d eves tbe &f#«s ?*rei*e»a are not cosec2*83£** they feeT« so iste&eely and finally e&sse&feed theKeelvee OB the Afghan taugae, ffeeir reeo&rch l**e involved a leJbeur sad their presentation i?oaId pr£?i4e a benefit $£ irfeie& the decree it is diffi trait to measure* Xn tptm aisd is sesner it ie the first $f its fci&d* Use mTk having cesse to an e&d, I leek with .gr&iit&de f#r its couple tioa to friends is India a»d in - *fg£»esistefi espeei&lly t# Mohamad ifereHitt &&&&•& revered sld friend &s& his brilliant pr^mislisg aoa, Br.

Load more