THE BOOK OF FALCONRY. By Khushal Khan Khattak. Translated by Sami ur Rahman.

2014 1st English translation. 8vo paperback (159 x 235mm). Ppxviii,152. Colour illustrations.

The poet-solider Khushal Khan Khattak was chief of the Khattaks, a Pashtun tribe of Afghanistan and what is now Pakistan. Khushal Khan Khattak wrote this book in Pashto, the main language of Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, and it is one of the greats of Pashto literature. The Book of Falconry is a manual of falconry written in verse, and is here translated into English by Sami ur Rahman. It "is a rare work in verse, surviving from the classical Mughal era. It covers the whole gamut of the field, including trapping, training, manning, colours, types, furniture, hatching, diseases, and medicine. The dark-eyed, known as the long-winged in the West, make for a large part of the text and the species discussed are the saker, the Altai falcon, gyrfalcon, shaheen, peregrine, laggar, and red-headed merlin. Among the yellow-eyed, or the short-winged, it is the goshawk, sparrowhawk, shikra, and besra, etc. Dealing with the subject matter in a concise, compact, and cogent manner, the poet gives the kingly sport an aesthetic and philosophical touch. The style and diction is down-to-earth and easy to follow. Apart from its historical and literary importance, this manual enjoys a great practical value, as some of the basic principles mentioned are as relevant today as they were three and a half centuries ago."