KAZIM KHAN KHATTAK
SURNAMED SHAIDA

KAZIM KHAN was the son of Muhammad Afzal Khan, chief of the Khattaks-and author of several extensive and valuable prose works in the Pashto language-who was son of the poet Ashraf Khan and hence Kazim was the great-grandson of Khushhal Khan, already noticed. He was horn some time during the five years subsequent to H. 1135 (A.D. 1722). On the death of his father, the chieftainship fell to Asad-ullah Khan Kazim’s elder brother, who, after a fashion too common in Eastern countries, considered it the safest and most prudent course to act with great severity towards his brothers and other near male relatives. Kazim, who was quite a youth at the time, could not brook this tyrannical treatment, and therefore separated from him, and even abandoned the jagir or grant of land, then in his possession. Asad-ullah, who appeared to have been rather more favourably inclined to Kazim Khan than to his other brothers, on becoming acquainted with the fact of his distrust, sent for Kazim, and used every endeavour to soothe his fears and set his mind at ease; and, the more effectually to bring this about, he conferred upon him an additional grant of land, and betrothed him to a daughter of one of their uncles. However, the suspicions and fears of Kazim-who doubtless had heard of the treatment the sons and grandsons of Khushhal had expe-rienced at the hands of his own father-increased, at all this extreme kindness, to a greater degree than before; and he secretly fled from his home. Some say that he had an antipathy to his young cousin as a wife; and that, at the time, he requested his brother not to betroth her to him, as he did not like her. This Asad-ullah would not listen to; and, according to the Afghan custom, named her as the future wife of his younger brother. Be this, however, as it may, Kazim took to a wandering life, and spent several years in Kashmir, where he acquired considerable learning. He subsequently lived a long time at Sirhind, in Upper India, but afterwards proceeded to the Afghan principality of Rampur, in that country, where he took up his residence; and there he passed the greater part of his life.

On several occasions his brother Asad-ullah sent many of his confidential friends to endeavour to induce him to return to his native country; but without effect. On one occasion the poet had gone as far as ljasan Abdal, a town some few miles east of Attak, in the Panjab, on a pleasure excursion, with some of his particular acquaintances, at which time a number of his relatives came to see him, from the Khattak country, beyond the Indus, and only two days’ journey distant; but, notwithstanding all their entreaties, he would not return home, and went back to Ramptir again.

When the gift of poesy was bestowed upon him, he took the poetical surname of “Shaida,” signifying “The Devoted” or “Lovelorn ;“ for he had now turned devotee, and had become the disciple of the holy men of Sirhind; and, according to the mystic doctrines of the sufis, considered himself devoted to the ]ove of the Divine. His poetry, like that of Mirza, is deeply tinged with the mysticisms of that sect.

The fame of Shaida’s poetry soon began to be noised abroad; and at length, Mi’an Mubammàdi, son of Mi’an Abdullah of Sirhind, who belonged to the family of Shaida’s spiritual guide, expressed a wish to be furnished with a copy, on which the poet sent him the, at present, only known copy-which now lies before me-bearing the impression of his seal. These poems were alpha-betically collected into this volume in the year H. 1181 (A.D. 1767), and, indeed, it is supposed to be the only copy that was ever made; for until shown to them by me, the descendants of his elder and other brothers, who dwell in the vicinity of Peshawar had never seen a copy of his poems, although so celebrated among them. This unique volume, which I procured at Lahore, is most beauti-fully written and illuminated, and contains a number of odes inserted on the margins of the pages.

Shaida’s poetry is highly polished, but deep and difficult; and approaches nearer to that of the Persians than of any other of the Afghan poets, whose simplicity is the chief charm of their writings. The poet also introduces a greater number of Persian and Arabic words.

Shaida’s first disappointment appears to have given him a dis-taste for matrimony; and he died unmarried, at Rampur, where he had dwelt so long. Soon after his decease, his relatives came and removed his remains, and conveyed them to the poet’s native country; and they found a resting-place at Sara’e, where the Khattak chieftains, and their families, have, for centuries past, been interred.