Shayda

Shayda

 

(Kazimkhan Khattak). Born 1727 in Afzalabad, now in Pakistan; died late 18th century in Rampur, now in India. Afghan (Pashtoon) poet. Representative of feudal secular poetry. Great-grandson of Khushhalkhan Khattak.

Shayda traveled widely in India. Influenced by Sufism, he joined the Naqshabandi, a Sufi sect. The Indian style and especially the work of Mirza Abdulkadir Bedil had a distinct influence on Shayda’s poetry. For the first time in Afghan poetry, images, symbolism, and devices of the Indian style were widely reflected in Shayda’s Divan (1767).

The themes of Shayda’s poetry range from the intimate and lyrical to the philosophical and didactic. His works are exceptionally complex in form and abound in foreign vocabulary, mainly borrowed from classical Persian and Tadzhik poetry.

WORKS

Divan. Kabul, 1951.
In Russian translation:
[Stikhi.] In the collection Iz afganskoi poezii. Moscow, 1955.

REFERENCES

Gerasimova, A., and G. Girs. Literatura Afganistana. Moscow, 1963.
Pashtan shuara, vol. 1. Kabul, 1942.