Pashto Proverbs

پشتو متلونه

Topic: Bravery – بهادري

Admiration for physical courage is as innate in a Pathan as an Englishman. In a Pathans eyes a brave man must possess every virtue, but a coward can possess none. Though the moral tone of the maxims collected under the above heading is high and honourable to the people amongst whom they are current, and I believe most of them are so throughout the whole of Eastern Afghanistan, yet with all his gallantry and talk about brave deeds, the Pathan has no knowledge of "fair play", and would think an enemy, who practised it towards him, a generous fool. So foreign is the idea comprised in the above phrase to his mind, so difficult its conception even, that his language contains no equivalent expression, and, though there is a word of treachery (tagi), still it appears to him in most cases merely a skilful taking advantage of an enemy's mistake or weakness. Two instances of recent occurrence will suffice to illustrate what I have now stated. In June 1870, a sepoy guard was  butchered, the heads of the different Waziri clans settled in the District were summoned into Edwardesabad (Bannu) and it was explained to them that the revolted clan had committed an outrage of the blackest treachery. None of the assembled chiefs would regard it in that light, but held that, as the section was, or imagined itself to be, aggrieved, and had made up its mind to rebel, the blow was well and nobly struck. Again in the campaign of 1873, between the Darwesh Khel and Mahsud Wazirs, a large party of the former succeeded in surprising some shepherds belonging to the latter, and slaughtered them all, including a woman; and the victorious band, on their return to Bannu, exulted over their cowardly deed, as if it had been a glorious feat of arms. Those who think my remarks unfairly severe should call to mind the incidents of 1841 in Kabul. - S.S. Thorburn [Bannu - Our Afghan Frontier]

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• On his forehead is light, whose sword tip is red (with blood)
  ځه د توري ووزي ئي سور وي د هغه په ټنده نور وي
  That is, he who has killed his man is a fine fellow. Good looks and brave deeds accompany each other.
   

• One is equal to one hundred, and one hundred to (so much) earth.
  يو په سل، او سل په خاورو
  One brave man is equal to one hundred cowards.
   

• Either a brave man wields the sword, or one red from grief (i.e., desperate)
  توري يا با تور وهي، يا ئي له غمه سور وهي
   

• When the wolf gets red, he becomes an ugly customer.
  ليوه چه سور کيږي ګنده کيږي
  Bannuchis say this of Wazirs, but its general application is that a bad man, whom one has punished or injured, becomes all the more dangerous.
   

• Shoes are tested on the feet; a man in a row.
  پنړي په پښو کښي څرګنديږي او ميړه په بدو کښي بلنګ کيږي
   

• Against a sword assume a shield, against words a bold front.
  توري ته ګنډي نيسه ، خبرو ته تندي نيسه
   

• Desire a man's disposition, and a lion's heart.
  د ميړه خوي او د زمري زړه غواړه
   

• The sword's fellowship is sweet.
  د توري وروري خوږه ده
  One brave man admires another.
   

• Look at a man's deeds, not whether he is tall or short
  ميړه په عمل څيروه ، غټ او ووړئي مه څيروه
   

• The sword is wielded through family
  توري په پيډ و هلي شي
  That is, its use is almost natural to men of good family, or descended from brave men.

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