Metaphors and figurative comparisons in the language of a Pashtun tribal chronicle

Abstract

The paper examines expressive stylistic tools (metaphors and figurative comparisons) in the texts of an Afghan tribal chronicle composed in the early literary Pashto language in the XVII–XVIII centuries and included in the historiographical work Tārīkh-i muraṣṣa‘ (“The Ornamented History”). The authorship of this work finished in 1724 is ascribed to the Pashtun tribal ruler Afḍal Khān Khatak (d. Circa 1740/1741). However, among the texts of the chronicle there are original records of his grandfather, the eminent classical poet Khūshḥāl Khān Khatak (d. 1689), as well as some accounts directly based on the Khūshḥāl’s lost diaries traditionally known under the title Bayāḍ (“A copybook”). Until now Tārīkh-imuraṣṣa‘ has not been thoroughly studied outside the Pashto-speaking academic circles in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and its only Peshawar edition by D. M. Kāmil (1974), obviously, lacks primary textological research. Regardless of the fact that the texts of the chronicle are badly structured and obscured by a number of incorrectly located passages, hidden lacunas, interpolations, textual recurrences, and even grammatically unfinished sentences, this part of Tārīkh-i muraṣṣa‘ is the most important in the book, for it contains only original and absolutely unique documentary and literary material in Pashto including genealogies, historical accounts, political declarations, letters, family stories, personal diaries and memoirs of the Khatak tribal rulers. To reach their literary as well as nonliterary ideological objectives the authors of the chronicle extensively employ various literary devices, including metaphors and figurative comparisons. In the present study these stylistic means are classified by their origin as being local, or author’s (e.g., ‘a bowl of food’ for ‘paltry dole’, ‘spell-bound cock’ for ‘helpless and resigned victim’, ‘Bengali magician’ for ‘shrewd man’), commonly used in vernacular speech (‘sister’ for ‘cowardly man’, ‘a piece of meat’ for ‘worthless person’, ‘carrion-eating birds’ for ‘base and greedy people’), and those derived from bookish, mostly religious sources (‘The Judgment Day’ for ‘hardships and troubles’, ‘snakes and scorpions from beyond the grave’ for ‘improperly obtained material wealth’, probably, ‘chess-game’ for ‘intrigues’). By motivation many metaphors and comparisons reflect widespread zoomorphic figurativeness (‘dog’ for ‘mean and rude person’, ‘monkey’ for ‘ridiculous person without any self-esteem’, ‘jackals and foxes’ for ‘insidious and corrupt people’), or everyday life realities (‘clouds of the Pashakāl season’ for ‘fruitless efforts’, ‘burned village’ for ‘deserted settlement’), or some socio-historical and cultural traditions (‘Muslim ritual of sacrifice during pilgrimage’ for ‘bloody battle’, ‘the throne of Delhi’ for ‘something very desired’). Lexical material collected and analyzed in the paper may also help to illustrate the process of formation of the written literary Pashto language in the XVII–XVIII centuries. Refs 14.

Keywords:

Pashto language and literature, literary metaphor, comparison, medieval culture of Pashtun tribes