Khattak


The Khattak tribe is a prominent Pashtun tribe located in the Khattak territory, which consists of Karak, Nowshera, Kohat districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

History

Origins

Multiple British Raj historians have identified the Khattak with the Satragyddae or Sattagudai, an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe inhabiting Gandhara. The Sattagudai were a people mentioned by Herodotus in connection to people under the influence of the Achaemenid Empire. According to Herodotus:
According to Sir Olaf Caroe:
In Nimatullah's 1620 work History of The Afghans, the Khattaks are amongst the oldest of the Afghan tribes.

Khushal Khan Khattak

A warrior poet by the name of Khushal Khan Khattak was once the chief of this tribe, and his contributions to Pashto literature are considered as classic texts. His life and times are one of the most chronicled and discussed subjects in Pashtun history, as he was active on the political, social and intellectual fora of his times. He was a most voluminous writer, and composed no less than three hundred and sixty literary works, both in the Pashto and Persian languages.
His poetry revolves around concepts of Pakhtunwali; Honour, Justice, Bravery and Nationalism and his works have been translated into numerous languages, English and Urdu being the primary ones.

Notables