Pashto literature and poetry
literature and poetry in the Pashto language
Pashto literature (Pashto: پښتو ليكنې) refers to literature and poetry in Pashto.
History
The history of Pashto literature spreads over five thousands years having its roots in the oral tradition of Tappa (Pashto: ټپه/لنډۍ). However, the first recorded period begins in 8th century with Amir Kror Suri (a warrior poet). Later, Pir Roshan (1526–1574), who founded his own Sufi school of thoughts and began to preach his beliefs. He gave Pashto prose and poetry a new and powerful tone with a rich literary legacy. Khair-ul-Bayan, oft-quoted and bitterly criticized thesis, is most probably the first book on Sufism in Pashto literature. Among his disciples are some of the most distinguished poets, writers, scholars and Sufis, like Arzani, Mukhlis, Mirza Khan Ansari, Daulat and Wasil, whose poetic works are well preserved. Akhund Darweza (1533–1615), a popular religious leader and scholar gave a powerful counterblast to Bayazid's movement in the shape of Makhzanul Islam. He and his disciples have enriched the Pashto language and literature by writing several books of prose.
Number of writers
Among the bibliographies and biographical dictionaries of Pashtun writers, an important work is Hamish Khalil's Da Qalam Khawandaan (A Directory of Pakhtoon Men of Letters) containing the profiles of over 3,000 Pashto-language writers in both prose and poetry who lived between 1800 and 1975.
“Pashto literature and poetry” enters the record as literature and poetry in the Pashto language. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Pashto, literature and poetry can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q253928. The Library of Congress control number is sh85109231. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1526, 1574, 1533 and 1615.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pashto literature and poetry” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.