Khushal Khan Khattak, the renowned King of Kings(Pashto: خوشال خان خټک; Urdu, Persian: خوشحال خان خٹک; 1613 – 20 February 1689), also known as Khushal Baba (Pashto: خوشال بابا), was a 17th-century Pashtun poet, chief, and warrior.

He was the son of Malik Shahbaz Khattak from Akora, in the Mughal Empire (now in Nowshera District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan).

His grandfather, Malik Akoray, was the first Khattak to enjoy widespread fame during the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar.

After the death of his father Shahbaz Khan Khattak, Emperor Shah Jehan appointed him as the tribal chief and Mansabdar in 1641 at the age of 28.

[citation needed] Khushal followed the Sufi Saint Sayyid Kastir Gul, known as Sheikh Rahamkar or Kaka Sahib and was trained by him in islamic sciences.

[7] Shortly before Sayyid Kastir Gul passed away, he issued the following will of his: “in this age, no one can be as pious and virtuous as Khushal Khan is.

[12] His father Malik Shahbaz Khan Khattak was killed in a tribal clash against the Yusufzai tribe on 4 January 1641.

[citation needed] After his father's death, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan appointed him as the tribal chief and Mansabdar in 1641 at the age of 28.

Then Aurangzeb (the son of Shah Jahan) imprisoned his father and ordered the beheading of his brothers; so he made his way to the throne.

Nevertheless, the Mughals were not inclined to bear his aloofness and therefore he was challenged either "to be friend or foe" as the interests of empire knew no impartiality.

They were the Empire's northwestern defense from the threat bulwark in the North-West as well as the main fighting force against the rebellions of the Sikhs in the Punjab and the Marathas in the Deccan.

[citation needed] This attack provoked a reprisal, which triggered a general revolt by most of the Pashtun tribes.

Afghan sources claim that Aurangzeb suffered a humiliating defeat, with a reported loss of 40,000 Mughal soldiers and with only four men, including the Governor managing to escape.

[citation needed] After that the revolt spread, with the Mughals suffering a near total collapse of their authority along the Pashtun belt.

Switching to diplomacy and bribery along with force of arms, the Mughals eventually split the rebellion and while they never managed to wield effective authority outside the main trade route, the revolt was partially suppressed.

However, the long term anarchy on the Mughal frontier that prevailed as a consequence ensured that Nader Shah's Khorasanian forces half a century later faced little resistance on the road to Delhi.

People searched for him and found his dead body a number of days later with his sword and the carcass of his horse (known as "Silai" in Pashto, which means Wind).

[citation needed] At another place he commends Khushal in these words: I am tribal and am lost in the unity of nation.

To elevate the name of Afghans I love these young people who puts the halter on stars This son of mountains is never less than the Mughals O’companion!

He expected that his struggle will ultimately bring peace in the region and his own nation (Pashtuns) will get freedom form the Mughal emperors.

[citation needed] The above couplets make it clear that Khushal's war were not based on his personal greed or enmity.

His more famous books are Bāz-nāma, a manual of falconry, Swāt-nāma, a description of a journey to the beautiful Swat Valley, Fazl-nāma, a handbook on religious and social duties, Tibb-nāma, a book on homely medicinal recipes, Farrukh-nāma, a dialogue between the pen and the sword, and Firāq-nāma, a lament of his separation from his homeland during captivity.

[17] H. G. Raverty was the first translator of Khattak into English; Selections from the Poetry of Afghans (1862, Kolkata) has ninety eight poetic pieces.

Evelyn Howell and Olaf Caroe jointly translated and published The Poems of Khushhal Khan Khatak in 1963, from the University of Peshawar.

Another translation was that by Dr N. Mackenzie Poems from the Diwan of Khushhal Khan Khattak published from London in 1965.

Dost Mohammad Khan Kamil was the first Pashtun scholar to initiate research on Khattak along scientific lines.

Bellew in 1869 (Jail Press, Peshawar), the manuscript of which was provided by Sultan Bakhash Darogha, an employee of the British government.

Although orientalists have always given importance to Khattak in their findings but they have not ever presented a detailed life story of Khushal Khan.

The book in Urdu, published in 2009 i.e. خوشحال خان افغان قومی شاعر و فلاسفر gives extensive coverage to the Khushal's philosophical thoughts.

[25] Toward the end of his life, Iqbal became appreciative of his work to the extent of supporting his struggle against Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, that he once eulogized, writing in a letter that Khushal "was a versatile mind and he wrote on various subjects, such as poetry, philosophy, ethics, medicine" and that "throughout his poetry, the major portion of which was written in India, and during his struggles with the Mughals, breathes the spirit of early Arabian poetry - we find in it the same love of freedom and war, the same criticism of life.