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Ghani Khan is not only being deeply revered among the Pakhtuns because he was the son of the greatest Pakhtun national hero, Bacha Khan, but because he earned a splendid place for himself among the four greatest contemporary poets of the 20th century; the other two being Hamza Shinwari, Qalandar Momand and Ajmal Khattak. His poetry, prose, sculpturing and paintings manifest audacious expressions of his true, veracious and rather unorthodox feelings, which put him distasteful in the conventional, traditional and dogmatic religious strongholds. His philosophy regarding worldly pleasures, and heavenly allures, was in dire contradiction to the beliefs of the conservative class of the people.
Khan Abdul Ghani Khan also known as "Lewanay Falsafi" was born in January 1914 in village Utmanzai (Charsadda) situated in Hashtnagar. He was the eldest son of the legendary Pakhtun reformer and freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, alias Bacha Khan. His other two brothers Wali Khan, a noted politician and stepbrother Ali Khan, a distinguished educationist, also excelled in their respective fields. His mother Mehar Qanda belonged to the nearby Razar village, who was married to Bacha Khan in 1912. Ghani Khan was only five years old when his mother died in an epidemic.
Ghani Khan received his elementary education from an "Imam" of a local mosque, as was the practice in vogue at that time and then he was admitted in National High School Peshawar but when his illustrious father established Azad School in Utmanzai in 1921, Ghani was also admitted in this school.
He matriculated from Punjab University in 1927 and was sent to Delhi University for Islamic and Traditional Education, but when the Mullahs conspired against the moderate Amir Aman-ullah Khan of Afghanistan on the behest of Firingis, Bacha Khan took him out of the Delhi University in sheer disappointment from the role of the clergy. Ghani Khan was sent to England for getting western education at the tender age of 15 years. He was then sent to Louisiana (USA) for Specialization in Sugar Technology. Ghani Khan's sojourn to Europe and America left immense western and liberal imprints on his life and Personality. He was awfully handsome in appearance and masculinity, which often created inconveniences for him.
Bacha Khan was not pleased with his western adaptations and earnestly desired to instill in him indigenous love and affections for his soil and native culture, therefore he was sent to Jawahir Lal Nehru to U.P who generously accommodated him in the room of his father,Moti Lal Nehru for eight months. Nehru's most adored daughter Indra Pryadarshni took extra care to look after him during his stay in her house. She later rose to her zenith as a shrewd state-woman and Prime Minister of India for two terms, commonly known as Indra Gandhi.
Jawahir Lal Nehru admitted him and his daughter Indra, in an educational institute established by the Nobel Laureate Rabindernath Tagore in Bengal, where they studied journalism, in 1937. Ghani Khan was attracted, besides journalism, towards paintings and sculpturing under the patronage of the head of the Arts school, Nand Lal Bose. Ghani Khan admits that he rediscovered himself and the glory of his culture in this Institution. In December 1937, Ghani Khan met an elegant lady, Roshan, the youngest daughter of Nawab Rustum Jang of Hyderabad Daccan in Bombay and fell in immense love with her. They married on 24th Nov, 1939 and after six years of intense romance, Roshan embraced Islam. Ghani Khan kept her in high esteem, affection and passionate love throughout her life.
Ghani Khan had three offspring from his beloved spouse, two daughters, Shandana, Zarin and a son, Faridoon. Ghani Khan joined a sugar mill in the United Provinces and was promoted as Chief Chemist. Later he got employed in Frontier Sugar Mills Takht Bhai as a technical Manager but resigned in 1943. He was elected as the youngest member of the Central Legislative Assembly in 1945 and soon won acclaim as a good parliamentarian due to his oratory skills. The visitor's gallery used to be full to the capacity on the eve of his speech and the members of the assembly would rush to take their seats not to miss his wits.
He founded a semi military group in 1947, consisting of enthusiastic Pashtun youths, called "Zalmay Pukhtun", which watched discipline in the moots of the "Khudai Khidmatgar", a freedom movement launched by his father, Bacha Khan. He underwent imprisonment several times due to his political activities. He spent his first term of six years in jail from 1948 to 1954 under 40 FCR, which proved a blessing in disguise to arouse him to author his first poetic collection, "Da Pinjray Chaghar" (Chirping in The Cage), during his detention in the prison.
In literature, Ghani Khan is regarded like a deep ocean replete with wide variety of precious gems. His literary firmament displays a grand multitude of reflections, ranging from ecstasy, exhilaration, passion, carnal love, divine love, love for the soil and his people, yearning for gallantry, liberty, humanism, satire for hypocrisy, ridicule for mullahs and other philosophical allegory, the later being beyond the comprehension of a common mind.
He wrote a permanent comic column, "Gadde Wadde" under the assumed name of "Lewanay Falsafi", in the reputed "Pakhtoon" journal, which was published by Bacha Khan from 1928 to 1947 as a mouth organ of "Khudai Khidmatgar Movement". He held slavery and subjugation as the biggest curse on the earth. "Pakhtoon" carried his famous poem to this effect, permanently on its front cover; which goes as:
"Ka Khaazey shney me pa qabar wee walaare
Ka Ghulam mar yam, Razai Tokay pe Laare
Ka pa khpalo weno na yam Lambedale
Pa maa ma paleetaway da Jomat ghaare
Yaa ba daa benanga mulk baghe adan karam
Yaa ba kram da Pukhtano kosey Wejaare."
Ghani stands out a staunch Pakhtun from the realm of his ecstasy, fantasy, wine, women and mirth when he reaches the cross road of his true identity. Ghani Khan has immensely ridiculed and scorned hypocrisy, and religious dogma of pessimist mullahs, as he addresses, "Janab-e-sheikh", as under;
"Zra de duk de da khpal zana Pake zay nishta da Yaar
Dasay dak de da naiko na Laka dak da maro khaar
Dwara stargay de randey dee Da bal bud da zaan kha wayee
Tal aina ke zanta gorey Da yaar na weney singaar
Shunde sta uzgarey na dee Che siffat da ashna wakray
Da khpal noor qaseeday waye Pa koosa ke da dildaar".
Ghani Khan is outrageously excited when he sprouts his deepest hatred and skepticism for mullah as a symbol of inert mentality, as he says;
Raasha raasha saaqi raasha Darray darray mullah darray
Pa maa bande bade lagi sta pakhe pakhe khabaray
Ghata paga de sha khawray Ajeeba ta zanawar yee
Ta da meenay be-khabara Ta da husan na munkar yee
Daa mehfal de da randano Aakhwa aakhwa Laray laray
da sharabo da sko ba di Sta tarkhe shunde babaray
Sta awo wara janatoona Da dey yao da naz basaray
Sta salwaikht zara kitaba Da dey dwa khwage khabaray
Sta waade ogde da hooro Dalta sre shunde shakaray
Taa la qaraz jondoon darkram Daa rakayee pa malghalaray
mashoom na yam che janat pregdam sta da soor dozakh da yaray
Janana mekhana darkam, Wakhlum sta kandi kapary.
Ghani Khan like Omar Khayyam would prefer to enjoy the pleasures of this world than to aspire for the enjoyment of the next, as expressed in the following couplet;
"Some for the glories of this world,
and some sigh for the prophet's paradise to come
Ah, take the cash and left the credit go,
Nor heed the rumble of a distant drum!"
Ghani Khan has also juxtaposed eternal love, beauty and truth with his carnal feelings and worldly passions, which he has dwelt at length in his poetry. He has created three collections of Pashto poetry; namely "Da pinjray chaghaar","Latoon", "Palwashay" and "Panoos". His works have been amalgamated in 1995 in a voluminous book, "Da Ghani Kulyaat". He has also compiled a book in English, named, "The Pathans", which deals with the Pathan's ways of life.
This great expressionist and true aesthete died on 15th March 1996 and was buried the next day on 16th March, in his ancestral graveyard in Utmanzai. He greeted his death with bravery as he had predicted;
"Margay"
Margay de Raashi , Che kala ye wass wee
Gul ba me laas ke wee, Ao yaa ba uss wee
Yaa ba topak wee, Yaa ba qalam wee
Doob ba khanda kee Da dunya gham wee
Che sa me bakht wee, domra ba bass wee
Margay de raashi, Che kala ye wass wee.
Khan Abdul Ghani Khan also known as "Lewanay Falsafi" was born in January 1914 in village Utmanzai (Charsadda) situated in Hashtnagar. He was the eldest son of the legendary Pakhtun reformer and freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, alias Bacha Khan. His other two brothers Wali Khan, a noted politician and stepbrother Ali Khan, a distinguished educationist, also excelled in their respective fields. His mother Mehar Qanda belonged to the nearby Razar village, who was married to Bacha Khan in 1912. Ghani Khan was only five years old when his mother died in an epidemic.
Ghani Khan received his elementary education from an "Imam" of a local mosque, as was the practice in vogue at that time and then he was admitted in National High School Peshawar but when his illustrious father established Azad School in Utmanzai in 1921, Ghani was also admitted in this school.
He matriculated from Punjab University in 1927 and was sent to Delhi University for Islamic and Traditional Education, but when the Mullahs conspired against the moderate Amir Aman-ullah Khan of Afghanistan on the behest of Firingis, Bacha Khan took him out of the Delhi University in sheer disappointment from the role of the clergy. Ghani Khan was sent to England for getting western education at the tender age of 15 years. He was then sent to Louisiana (USA) for Specialization in Sugar Technology. Ghani Khan's sojourn to Europe and America left immense western and liberal imprints on his life and Personality. He was awfully handsome in appearance and masculinity, which often created inconveniences for him.
Bacha Khan was not pleased with his western adaptations and earnestly desired to instill in him indigenous love and affections for his soil and native culture, therefore he was sent to Jawahir Lal Nehru to U.P who generously accommodated him in the room of his father,Moti Lal Nehru for eight months. Nehru's most adored daughter Indra Pryadarshni took extra care to look after him during his stay in her house. She later rose to her zenith as a shrewd state-woman and Prime Minister of India for two terms, commonly known as Indra Gandhi.
Jawahir Lal Nehru admitted him and his daughter Indra, in an educational institute established by the Nobel Laureate Rabindernath Tagore in Bengal, where they studied journalism, in 1937. Ghani Khan was attracted, besides journalism, towards paintings and sculpturing under the patronage of the head of the Arts school, Nand Lal Bose. Ghani Khan admits that he rediscovered himself and the glory of his culture in this Institution. In December 1937, Ghani Khan met an elegant lady, Roshan, the youngest daughter of Nawab Rustum Jang of Hyderabad Daccan in Bombay and fell in immense love with her. They married on 24th Nov, 1939 and after six years of intense romance, Roshan embraced Islam. Ghani Khan kept her in high esteem, affection and passionate love throughout her life.
Ghani Khan had three offspring from his beloved spouse, two daughters, Shandana, Zarin and a son, Faridoon. Ghani Khan joined a sugar mill in the United Provinces and was promoted as Chief Chemist. Later he got employed in Frontier Sugar Mills Takht Bhai as a technical Manager but resigned in 1943. He was elected as the youngest member of the Central Legislative Assembly in 1945 and soon won acclaim as a good parliamentarian due to his oratory skills. The visitor's gallery used to be full to the capacity on the eve of his speech and the members of the assembly would rush to take their seats not to miss his wits.
He founded a semi military group in 1947, consisting of enthusiastic Pashtun youths, called "Zalmay Pukhtun", which watched discipline in the moots of the "Khudai Khidmatgar", a freedom movement launched by his father, Bacha Khan. He underwent imprisonment several times due to his political activities. He spent his first term of six years in jail from 1948 to 1954 under 40 FCR, which proved a blessing in disguise to arouse him to author his first poetic collection, "Da Pinjray Chaghar" (Chirping in The Cage), during his detention in the prison.
In literature, Ghani Khan is regarded like a deep ocean replete with wide variety of precious gems. His literary firmament displays a grand multitude of reflections, ranging from ecstasy, exhilaration, passion, carnal love, divine love, love for the soil and his people, yearning for gallantry, liberty, humanism, satire for hypocrisy, ridicule for mullahs and other philosophical allegory, the later being beyond the comprehension of a common mind.
He wrote a permanent comic column, "Gadde Wadde" under the assumed name of "Lewanay Falsafi", in the reputed "Pakhtoon" journal, which was published by Bacha Khan from 1928 to 1947 as a mouth organ of "Khudai Khidmatgar Movement". He held slavery and subjugation as the biggest curse on the earth. "Pakhtoon" carried his famous poem to this effect, permanently on its front cover; which goes as:
"Ka Khaazey shney me pa qabar wee walaare
Ka Ghulam mar yam, Razai Tokay pe Laare
Ka pa khpalo weno na yam Lambedale
Pa maa ma paleetaway da Jomat ghaare
Yaa ba daa benanga mulk baghe adan karam
Yaa ba kram da Pukhtano kosey Wejaare."
Ghani stands out a staunch Pakhtun from the realm of his ecstasy, fantasy, wine, women and mirth when he reaches the cross road of his true identity. Ghani Khan has immensely ridiculed and scorned hypocrisy, and religious dogma of pessimist mullahs, as he addresses, "Janab-e-sheikh", as under;
"Zra de duk de da khpal zana Pake zay nishta da Yaar
Dasay dak de da naiko na Laka dak da maro khaar
Dwara stargay de randey dee Da bal bud da zaan kha wayee
Tal aina ke zanta gorey Da yaar na weney singaar
Shunde sta uzgarey na dee Che siffat da ashna wakray
Da khpal noor qaseeday waye Pa koosa ke da dildaar".
Ghani Khan is outrageously excited when he sprouts his deepest hatred and skepticism for mullah as a symbol of inert mentality, as he says;
Raasha raasha saaqi raasha Darray darray mullah darray
Pa maa bande bade lagi sta pakhe pakhe khabaray
Ghata paga de sha khawray Ajeeba ta zanawar yee
Ta da meenay be-khabara Ta da husan na munkar yee
Daa mehfal de da randano Aakhwa aakhwa Laray laray
da sharabo da sko ba di Sta tarkhe shunde babaray
Sta awo wara janatoona Da dey yao da naz basaray
Sta salwaikht zara kitaba Da dey dwa khwage khabaray
Sta waade ogde da hooro Dalta sre shunde shakaray
Taa la qaraz jondoon darkram Daa rakayee pa malghalaray
mashoom na yam che janat pregdam sta da soor dozakh da yaray
Janana mekhana darkam, Wakhlum sta kandi kapary.
Ghani Khan like Omar Khayyam would prefer to enjoy the pleasures of this world than to aspire for the enjoyment of the next, as expressed in the following couplet;
"Some for the glories of this world,
and some sigh for the prophet's paradise to come
Ah, take the cash and left the credit go,
Nor heed the rumble of a distant drum!"
Ghani Khan has also juxtaposed eternal love, beauty and truth with his carnal feelings and worldly passions, which he has dwelt at length in his poetry. He has created three collections of Pashto poetry; namely "Da pinjray chaghaar","Latoon", "Palwashay" and "Panoos". His works have been amalgamated in 1995 in a voluminous book, "Da Ghani Kulyaat". He has also compiled a book in English, named, "The Pathans", which deals with the Pathan's ways of life.
This great expressionist and true aesthete died on 15th March 1996 and was buried the next day on 16th March, in his ancestral graveyard in Utmanzai. He greeted his death with bravery as he had predicted;
"Margay"
Margay de Raashi , Che kala ye wass wee
Gul ba me laas ke wee, Ao yaa ba uss wee
Yaa ba topak wee, Yaa ba qalam wee
Doob ba khanda kee Da dunya gham wee
Che sa me bakht wee, domra ba bass wee
Margay de raashi, Che kala ye wass wee.
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