Pashto Literary Criticism

Pashto literary criticism (تنقید / tanqeed) is a relatively young academic discipline with deep traditional roots in tazkira writing and sharh (commentary). It can be traced through four phases: (1) classical tazkira and sharh (18th c.), (2) orientalist scholarship (1850–1940), (3) Pashto Academy academic criticism (post-1955), and (4) contemporary progressive and comparative tanqid.

Classical tazkiras and sharhs

The first indigenous Pashto criticism is the tazkira — a biographical anthology of poets with critical notes on their work. The principal early tazkira is Pata Khazana (پټه خزانه, 1729, attributed to Mohammad Hotak), which lists pre- and early-modern Pashto poets going back to the seventh century. Although its authenticity is disputed by some Western scholars (notably Lucia Serena Loi), it remains the foundational indigenous source. Other classical tazkiras include Riyaz-ul-Mahabbat by Afzal Khan Khattak (early 18th c.).

Manuscript sharhs on Khushal's Kulliyat and Rahman Baba's Diwan circulated widely among the religious schools.

Orientalist scholarship

European scholarship on Pashto literature began in the mid-nineteenth century:

• H. G. Raverty — Selections from the Poetry of the Afghans (1862); translated Khushal, Rahman Baba and Hamid Mohmand into English.
• T. P. Hughes — Notes on Mohammedanism (1875); included Pashto material.
• James Darmesteter — Chants Populaires des Afghans (1888–1890) — translated and theorised the Pashto folk tappa.
• Sir Olaf Caroe — The Pathans (1958), with critical chapters on Khushal and Pashtun cultural literature.

Pashto Academy criticism (1955–)

The Pashto Academy at Peshawar (founded 1955) and the Pashto Tolana at Kabul (founded 1937, refounded 1953) institutionalised academic criticism. Major critics include:

• Olaf Caroe / Evelyn Howell — The Poems of Khushhal Khan Khattak (Pashto Academy, 1963), an Anglo-Pashto critical edition.
• Dost Mohammad Khan Kamil (1915–1981) — critic and historian; Khushal Khan Khattak (English, Karachi 1966) is a major monograph.
• Qalandar Momand (1930–2003) — modernist critic; editor of the journal Pashto Adab.
• Pareshan Khattak (1932–2007) — short-story writer who also wrote critical introductions; chaired the Pashto Academy.
• Olfat Hussain Habib — literary historian.
• Sayed Anwarul Haq Jeelani, Sahibzada Habib, Hamesh Khalil — practising critics.

Approaches in modern Pashto criticism

Approach	Representative	Concern
Tazkira-biographical	Mohammad Hotak (attrib.)	Lives and chronologies
Orientalist-philological	Raverty, Darmesteter	Editing, translation, prosody
Academic-historicist	Kamil, Olfat Habib	Periodisation of Pashto literature
Modernist-formal	Qalandar Momand	Aruz, metre, diction
Marxist-nationalist	Ajmal Khattak (in essays)	Class, anti-colonial struggle
Feminist	Zaitoon Bano, Salma Shaheen	Pashto women's writing
Comparative	Sayed Anwarul Haq, Munir Buneri	Pashto with Urdu, Persian, English

Translation as criticism

Modern Pashto criticism has been heavily mediated by translation. Raverty's nineteenth-century English versions, Olaf Caroe's anthology, and the Pashto Academy's bilingual editions all double as critical interventions. Olfat Aman and Wakeel Ahmad have translated European literary theory into Pashto for university teaching.

Debates in contemporary tanqeed

Several debates animate the field:

1. The authenticity of Pata Khazana — does seventh-century Pashto literature exist?
2. The Yusufzai/Kandahari standard — which dialect should anchor critical editions?
3. The relation of literary Pashto to oral tappa — should criticism focus on the formal canon or on folk genres?
4. Diaspora and cross-border identity — Peshawar versus Kabul scholarship after 1979.
5. Women's voice — recovering forgotten women poets, e.g. Nazo Tokhi (Nazo Ana) and Rabia Balkhi.

Conclusion

Pashto literary criticism today combines the tazkira-sharh tradition with rigorous philology and contemporary cultural theory. Its enduring object is the classical canon — Khushal, Rahman Baba, Hamid Mohmand — but its method increasingly engages global comparative practice, especially across the Pashto-Urdu-Persian triangle.