The legend of Adam Khan and Durkhanai

Escape me?

Never —

Beloved!

While I am I, and you are you …

—Robert Browning (Life in a Love)

While researching for his book Warrior Poet: The Life, Times, and Legacy of Khushal Khan Khattak, the author Changez Jan came across the folklore of Adam Khan and Durkhanai. This legend, also known as the “Pashto Romeo and Juliet,” exists in many forms and versions, and was first recorded in heroic couplets in the 17th century. After travelling through the undulations of time, it resurfaced in later works such as The Bazaar of the Storytellers (1986). Jan decided to synthesis the multiple versions into The Legend of Adam Khan and Durkhanai, a novella that tells a tale of love and loss.

Adam Khan, the protagonist — a masterful warrior and the destined successor of his father, Malik Hassan Khan, the tribal chief — is also a redoubtable rabab player. His heavenly compositions and tappais, his blue eyes, full lips, and single dimple on the right cheek earned him the title of “Prince of Dreams” among the maidens of Bazdara (Swat). Nonetheless, this warrior-musician falls for the silhouette of a figure seen only in dreams: “In my dreams, she comes to me. When I see her, it feels as though she is real.”

He feels agony, anguish, and longing for this concealed, and perhaps imagined, beloved. But soon, he learns that his wishful mirages may not be entirely unrealisable. Through a lively visitor, Gulo Jan, he hears of Durkhanai — the daughter of Malik Taus Khan of Upper Bazdara. Malik Taus, who deeply loved his wife, lost her during childbirth, leaving behind the muse who would inspire Adam’s prosody.

Durkhanai was no ordinary girl. Despite living in a deeply patriarchal society, she was remarkably educated, reading not only the Quran but also Makhzan by Akhund Darwezah, a treatise by a disciple of Pir Baba written against the Sufi practices propagated by the Roshaniyya movement), and Daftar of Sheikh Malli, — the record of land distribution among the Yousafzai — both texts mentioned in Khushal Khan Khattak’s poetry.

This intellect and beauty, as envisioned by Adam and vouched for by Gulo Jan, with the mole on her left cheek, the faint scar on her forehead, and that electrifying grace, made Durkhanai the crème de la crème of damsels for Adam Khan. “If you take one look at her, you will be ensnared…” says Gulo, while meandering in the ocean of her top-notch beauty.

But Adam was not the only one captivated by her beauty. Tales of Durkhanai’s charm, even without experiential acquaintance, had already charmed Payo Khan — the young son of Malik Gul Khan, a wealthy and influential chieftain of Upper Bazdara. Wealthier than the fathers of both Adam and Durkhanai, and therefore more powerful, Payo Khan had already, through his father, betrothed Durkhanai, thus winning the competition for her hand, in the sense of traditional Urdu poetry,

What follows is an impasto of twists and turns, each ending in a fallout, tragic, haunting, but beautiful. The highs include a brief rendezvous — just a glance exchanged, and yet a fall so hard, born of the illusions of dreams — at the wedding of her friend who lived in Lower Bazdara, Baskai, Durkhanai’s childhood companion. There, our young rabab player was mesmerising the audience, and especially his beloved. “Durkhanai knew he was not there to celebrate the wedding; he was there to celebrate her!”

After the toll of the wedding and the physical affliction of the encounter, another enthralling moment follows: the first meeting of the two lovebirds, made possible through the assistance of Mirwais, one of Adam’s two best friends, the other being Bahlol. Mirwais distracted the household servants, allowing Adam to slip through the window toward his beloved. This little stint — a tender, romantic one — had an overwhelming and truly enchanting effect on the reader. Now, for Adam — the musical genius whose melodies could make birds sway like godly psalms — was now fully drenched and chained in his beloved’s clutches. For him, there were now only two divinities: “Yo Allah aur Yawa Durkhanai” [One Allah and one Durkhanai].

This created havoc in the grapevine, compelling Payo to prepone the wedding. Sadly, Malik Gul Khan and Adam, his father, and his friends became warring rivals. Adam’s descent began right from the very start, he lost his beloved, became deranged, joined the yogis, and ultimately met with his death. This tragic news devastatingly led to the immediate death of Durkhanai.

All of this unfolds in a remarkably intricate manner, especially through the use of a meta-story — the entire narrative being a story within a story — and through skillful use of similes, metaphors, and imagery, a notable feat for a first-time writer of a novella.

Further, beneath this linear storytelling lies a complex web of Pakhtunwali, the code of Pakhtun life and its guiding principles: hospitality, revenge, and sanctuary. These betrayals ultimately lead to tragedy upon tragedy and failure upon failure for the protagonist, his beloved, and even the raqeeb or archrival.

The principle of hospitality is breached when Mirwais exploits it for Adam Khan, posing as a guest in Durkhanai’s home. The principles of revenge and sanctuary are violated together when Adam Khan, his father, and Durkhanai seek Nanawatai which is a sanctuary or a Pashtun tradition in which the weaker seek refuge and protection from the powerful) in the house of Malik Mir Mai. Ultimately, Payo Khan, by offering wealth to Malik Mir, entices him to betray that sanctuary — allowing Durkhanai to be taken away from her home. This betrayal, axing both the codes of revenge and sanctuary, triggered a chain of chaotic events culminating in the tragic slaying of Bahlol.

The legend of Adam Khan and Durkhanai is a timeless meditation, at times reminiscent of Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha, on the human heart and its defiance, devotion, and destruction when pure love collides with the rigid codes of honour and tradition. In the shadow of muskets and bows, love rises tender yet rebellious, only to be consumed by the very forces it seeks to transcend.