During the 17th and early 18th century, three very prominent Pashto poets honoured what today is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan.

They were, in chronological order, Khushal Khan Khattak, Rahman Baba and Abdul Hameed Baba. They covered a period of about 120 years, from the birth of Khushal Khan Khattak in 1613 to the death of Abdul Hameed Baba in 1732.

To better understand the major influences on the poetry of these three poets, it is essential to place their work in the context in which they lived. During this period of the 17th and early 18th centuries, Afghanistan was trying to manage a political tugof-war between the Mughal Empire to the east that had seen better days, and the Safavid Empire in Iran which, while still powerful, had its own sources of internal dissensions and convulsions.

Next door was Russia, under the rule of Peter the Great, followed by Catherine I and Peter II. The country experienced significant expansion and modernisation under these emperors. During all this political and social upheaval, there was the emerging power of a major influence in India and Afghanistan, namely the British, spearheaded by the East India Company, established in 1600.

This was the setting in which these three illustrious Pashto poets lived and wrote their poetry. Interestingly enough, even though these poets were contemporaries, wrote poetry in the same language, and lived geographically in contiguous neighborhoods, they did not seem to have had much communication with one another.

One explanation could be that Khushal Khan Khattak`s life was spent either serving the Mughals or being in conflict with them. In between, he spent almost five years in incarceration at Ranthambore in Rajasthan. In the interim, Rahman Baba and Abdul Hameed Baba, very different to Khushal Khan Khattak by nature, were focused on poetry and mysticism.

Second, in Pashto, at least at the time of these poets, there was no concept of the mushaira. This would have been a good opportunity for these poets to communicate and share their poetry, as was done for example by Ghalib with his contemporaries Zauq, Momin, Hali and others.

Khushal Khan Khattak is one of the most distinguished Pashto poets of all time. He had a very versatile personality, contributing in verse to many varied disciplines as diverse as theology, statecraft, ethics, history, religion, jurisprudence, medicine and falconry. Apart from his diwan, he composed Baznama, Swatnama, Tibbnama, Dastarnama, Firagnama, Fazainama and Zanjirnama. Not surprisingly, Allama Iqbal was deeply impressed by him, calling him the hakeem [philosopher] and tabeeb [physician] of his country. All of his compositions except Dastarnama were expressed in verse.

By contrast, Rahman Baba was arguably the greatest Sufi Pashto poet and incontestably the most popular and most revered person, whose poetry is celebrated in the daily life of Pakhtuns.

His verses are enthusiastically recitedand enjoyed at public events. His diwan is treasured as a prized possession by young and old.

Rahman Baba turned away from the formalistic and repetitious duties of orthodox Muslims to the more adventurous, spiritual quest of the mystics. He became disillusioned with formal religion, withdrawing to become a hermit, dedicated to meditation and devotion. This solitary existence made him suspect in the eyes of some of his contemporary people, being seen as one who had shunned the mosque for the tavern. He declared openly:`I washed my hands of piety When the musicians picked up the rabab.

He added: `Rather than the unacceptable worship of the hypocrite I prefer to be drunk on the sagi`s wine.

There is evidence that, perhaps as a reaction to the growing antipathy toward him from the more orthodox members of his community, he ultimately reverted back to more formal religion. He explained why: `Look Rahman, do not get hanged like Mansoor Don`t speak of love so wanton and uncontrolled.

In his book, The Nightingale of Peshawar, Jens Enevoldsen wrote: `While there are many excellent Pashto poets, none of them has reached the universal popularity of Rahman Baba, and probably never will.

Several factors account for Rahman Baba`s popularity. First, there is his simplicity of style and the ease by which his poetry can be understood, despite its robustness in terms of content. Second, his mystical and religious messages, disarming humility and deep religious expressions made him popular with religious-minded readers. This is despite the fact that his poetry is studded with verses on temporal love [ishq-i-majazi], addressing dark tresses, the rose-like lips of the beloved and cups brimming with wine.

Third, his poetry has a deep element of egalitarianism in a society that deeply prizes this quality. He hailed from a well-off Malik family but preferred a simple, humble life. In other words, he simultaneously appeals to high academics as well as ordinary citizens.

Fourth, his verses are primarily crafted not to be read but to be sung and heard.

The hujra, or the gathering place of poets and musicians with their audiences, is the main location for Rahman Baba`s poetry. In such a setting, the Pakhtuns did indeed find their nightingale: `T hey are singing, dancing, laughing every hour To Rahman`s tune, the young ones of Peshawar.

Finally, Rahman Baba uses powerful, vivid and evocative imagery. Whether describing the beauty of the blooming flower or the flight of a soaring bird or the flow of a raging mountain stream, his poetry captures the essence of Nature.

The British missionary Reverend Thomas Patrick Hughes, who was known for his scholarship on Islamand his facility with languages, best summarised Rahman Baba`s poetry: `Wherever the Pashto language is spoken, the songs of this celebrated poet are sung.

Abdul Hameed Baba, the youngest of these three poets, has an uncanny similarity to the mediaeval Persian poet Sheikh Saadi. His poetry is studded with precious guidance and advice as in Saadi`s Gulistan and Bustan. He is rightly credited with introducing colour and passion into Pashto poetry, while retaining a very simple, easy-to-follow style. In Iran, he is referred to as `Hameed the hair splitter` [Sha`ir-iMooshagaf] because of his push for subtlety.

In a culture that is replete with romantic stories of Jalat Khan and Mahbooba, Sher Alam and Maimuna, Adam Khan and Durkhanay, Gul and Sanobar, and Musa Khan and Gul Makai, Hameed Baba deftly drew upon this rich history of romance.

Pashto poetry has a major element of romanticism,brought to the forefront by these three poets. Their poetry, like the romantic poetry in Europe, was a reaction against prevailing neoclassical ideas. This poetry was the product of emotion, as opposed to the previous poetry of intellect and reason. In addition, belief in the importance of imagination is a characteristic feature of these poets, similar to the poetry of Keats, Shelley and Coleridge in England, Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas in France, and of Pushkin and Tolstoy in Russia.

While other great Pashto poets have emerged in more recent times, such as Abdul Ghani Khan and Hamza Shinwari, the three poets mentioned above stand on a totally different and higher pedestal.

T he writer is an economist by profession who has held senior managerial positions with the World Bank and United Nations. More recently, he has developed a passion for literature, especially for Persian poetry