Khoshal Khan Khattak

Khoshal Khan fought in many battles of the period and also accompanied Sultan Murad Baksh, the son of Shah jehan, on his expedition to Badakhshan in 1645.



When Shah Jehan died and his son Aurangzeb succeeded him, Khoshal Khan continued to serve him but his enemies conspired against him, and he was arrested and imprisoned at the fort of Gwalior. He was kept there for seven years and during that time composed many poems, later on the recommendation of Muhabat Khan the Emperor freed him and he then accompanied Muhabat Khan, who had been appointed Subehdar of Kabul, to settle the affairs of the Peshawar region. The long imprisonment though had its adverse effect on him, after reaching his country, he retired within himself. He did not render any further help to the Emperor or his troops. In fact he now openly opposed the Mughal Emperor and along with his close allies the Afridis he fought a long war, over a period of seven to eight years, with the Mughals. His old foes the Yusufzais though held aloof from the conflict though Khattak had approached the personally. All the other tribes were drawn into the conflict that aimed at expelling the Mughals completely from Afghanistan. Unfortunately the tides of war turned when Aurangzeb himself appeared on the scene and seeing that valour was of little use against the brave Afghans turned to bribing the enemy, Soon many of Khoshal Khan's allies had deserted him, his closest allies had been killed and soon the valiant chieftain lost heart in the struggle.



He resigned the chieftainship of the Khattak tribe to his eldest son Ashraf, but his son Bahram who vied for the position managed to gain much support and a power struggle ensued, which resulted in many battles between the brothers, Bahram being the wilier of the two, finally betrayed Ashraf to the Mughals and so attained his goal. Ashraf was imprisoned and at the Southern Indian Fortress of Bijapur, for a period of ten years when he died, and his trials were immortalized in his poetry, for he too like his father, was a poet.



Bahram though conspired with the Mughals and continued to harass and persecute his father and Khoshal took up his residence in the Afridl country, and returned no more to the home of his fathers, which he loved so well. He died as he had lived, free, among the mountains of his native land, in the 78th year of his age. Before taking his de-parture from a world, in which he had drunk so deeply of the bitter cup of treachery and unfaithfulness, he particularly charged those few of his children and friends, who had remained faithful to him through all his trials and misfortunes, that they should bury him where-to use his own words-” the dust of the hoofs of the Mughal cavalry might not light upon his grave ;“ and that “they should carefully conceal his last resting-place, lest the Mughals might seek it out, and insult the ashes of him, at whose name, whilst in life, they quailed; and by whose sword, and that of his clansmen, their best troops had been scattered like chaff before the gale.” A third request was, that in case any of his faithful children should succeed, at any time, in laying hands upon Bahram the Malignant, they should divide his body into two parts, and should burn one half at the head of his grave, and the other at the foot. He was buried, accordingly, at a place named I-surraey, a small hamlet in the Khattak mountains, where his tomb may still be seen; and, according to his dying request, his last resting-place was kept concealed, till all danger of insult from the Mughals had passed away.



Khoshal Khan was a prolific writer and his numerous works in both Persian and Pashto consist of besides poetry, treatises on  Medicine, Ethics, Religious Jurisprudence, Philosophy, Falconry, etc., together with an account of the events of his own chequered life. Unfortunately much of this has been lost.



Many of Khoshal Khan's poems written during his time in India and whilst struggling with the Mughals contain a spirit of patriotism, and love of home and country.



Up to the time of Khoshal’s chieftainship, the bounds of the Khattak country were not well defined; that is to say, each family of the tribe had no fixed lands allotted to them. Khoshal caused a survey to be made of all available land; fixed the boundaries; entered them in a register; and, according to the number of each man’s family, assigned a corresponding quantity of land for cultivation. This arrangement is still in force, and hitherto has not, that I am aware of, been deviated from; and many small towers of stone, erected to mark the different boundaries, still remain.