Shinwari ka Sharrwai

A popular Pashto video of the singer Zarsnaga could be seen on some Websites.  It is a very old and famous song about the River Bara and Shinwari Lawangina.

The song is,   Pa de Barra ke Obo Gadday Wadday Zeena-  Sharrwahi Lanwangeena.

The actual  verse was probably composed by a lady who was filling her clay pitcher from the Barra (Badha) river.  She used the word, ” Shadh wahi”  (Sharr is the sound of the water and Wahi is a verb meaning to beat)   The word Sharr  is used in other forms as well, like Sharral, Ve Sharra, etc.  If you have been to a river and seen the waves of water hitting the banks and making a sound, that sound is ” Sharr” in Pashto language.

This famous Bara river flows through the land of the Afridi tribes in the mountains of Tirah and falls down to the planes of Momands. It joins the KabulRiverCanal from the Warsak Dam, and flows to the North-east joining the KabulRiver near Naushera.  No Shinwaris lived by its banks anywhere.

The Question is how and who changed Sharrwahi to Shinwari?  The Pashtoon singers are usually illiterate and very few had studied the literature.  Moreover, their composers do not have enough information about the language and its diction.

The Pashtoons love the rhythm and the beat of the music and care less for what is being sung.  If somebody tries to correct the mistake, it is dismissed.

I am sure some readers will object on this writing as well.  Is it a small matter?