Book on folk tales from Hazara published

PESHAWAR: The Gandhara Hindko Board, Peshawar, has published a book of folk tales from Hazara division which offers a good reading to those attracted to intangible heritage.

An eminent academician and Hindko language writer hailing from Abbottabad district of the Hazara, Professor Basheer Ahmad Soz, has undertaken the task of collecting the folk stories, brought into fine print by the board that runs as well the Hindko Academy, under the public-private partnership.

Mohammad Ziauddin, a Hindko language scholar, has written the foreword to the book. He has praised the professor for his research-based work on various facets of the Hindko language.

“Professor Bashir Ahmad Soz” has enriched the Hindko by dwelling at length on different genres of the language literature. His work, particularly the book on folk tales, is a good step for educating the young generation about our rich cultural heritage which has reached us mostly through oral traditions,” says Ziauddin, who himself is the author of several Hindko language books and a former public servant specialising in documentation.

Reflecting on the book’s preface, the author, Prof Bashir Ahmad Soz, laments the negligence being shown towards the folk heritage. He says most of our folk heritage is either scattered or lost for a host of reasons.

He underscores the collective responsibility we bear in working for preserving and promoting our tangible and intangible heritage by engaging in dedicated research and publication efforts.Discussing the technological advancement of the West and other industrialised nations, he says that, no doubt, this progress is excelling but even then they (the developed nations) have fully preserved and promoted their heritage as well which should be immolated by us all.

Professor Soz has thanked the Gandhara Hindko Board for promoting the Hindko language, literature, culture and publishing his book and other publications in Hindko and other Pakistani languages.

This is not the first book by the author as he has to his credit upto 20 publications. Most of his work centres on the literature and culture of the Hazara division. He has been honoured with Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar Award, Justice Rustam Kayani Award, Sain Ahmad Ali Award and several other honours for his works.

His 123-page book under review, “Hik Aiha Raja Hik Ahai Raani — Hazaray Diyyaan Lok Kahaniyaan” features nine folk stories of varied lengths. The tales are from Haripur, Abbottabad, and Mansehra. At least one story is from the Gala area of the Swabi district as Hindko is spoken as well in a few parts of Swabi which share boundaries with Haripur and Nowshera districts.

The publication has a folk story related to the highly attractive Lake Saiful Malook, located in the Mansehra district of the Hazara division.Lying at the northern end of the Kaghan Valley near Naran in the northeast of Mansehra district of KP, the lake is ranked among the best tourist attractions of the country, and even described as heaven on earth for the greenish-blue crystal clear and freezing water.

Surrounded by giant glaciers, including Malika Parbat, it is the highest alpine lake of Pakistan sited at an altitude of 3,224 metres and 10,578 feet above the sea level. The author has devoted as many as 38 pages to the story ascribed to Prince Saiful Malook and Badee-u-Jamal.

Then we have “Darshi”, a folk tale related to Kishan Ganga area of the Kaghan Valley ofMansehra district; “Syeda Khanum”, a woman who symbolised modesty; “Maryam”, “Chitti Larhi” and others.

A particularly attention-grabbing story explores “Khota Qabar”, now renamed Muslimabad, an area located in the Abbottabad district. It makes an interesting reading due to its distinctive nomenclature which means “Donkey Grave” if translated into English.