Kings of Kafiristan

During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the mountains of Nuristan saw heavy fighting between Afghan guerrillas and Soviet soldiers. In the 19th century, the region was known as Kafiristan, a wild land beyond the frontiers of the Raj (the British empire in India), whose inhabitants were thought to descend from Macedonian soldiers left behind by Alexander the Great.

Rudyard Kipling used Kafiristan as the setting for one of his short stories: 'The Man Who Would Be King'. In the story, Daniel Dravot and Peachey Carnehan, two old India hands, strike out for the Hindu Kush and set themselves up as gods and kings of Kafiristan:

'One morning I heard the devil's own noise of drums and horns, and Dan Dravot marches down the valley with his Army and a tail of hundreds of men, and, which was the most amazing, a great gold crown on his head. "My Gord, Carnehan," says Daniel, "this is a tremenjus business, and we've got the whole country as far as it's worth having. I am the son of Alexander by Queen Semiramis, and you're my younger brother and a god too!"

Eventually the tribesmen realize that the two rogues are not gods and take their revenge. Dravot is hurled into a deep chasm, while Carnehan is tortured, then let go, crippled, quite mad, and carrying Dravot's head, still with crown attached, in a bag.

'Then they turned him out on the snow, and told him to go home, and Peachey came home in about a year, begging along the roads quite safe: for Daniel Dravot he walked before and said: "Come along, Peachey. It's a big thing we're doing."'

Harry Ricketts, in The Unforgiving Minute, a biography of Kipling, considers the story to be a critique of British rule in India: "having conquered, they had to govern; to govern, they had to act as gods; to act as gods was ultimately impossible". He suggests that Kipling presents imperial success as tragic failure.

For modern readers, 'The Man Who Would Be King' is a caution not just against imperial hubris, but also against ill-conceived and poorly planned foreign military expeditions. As Dan and Peachey find to their cost, getting in is easy, getting on and getting out is damned difficult.

Comments

[Alan]

I still have a rather old and torn copy of "The Jungle Book" in my bookshelf. 'Rikki Tikki Tarvi' was a great favorite of mine as a child.

[Kotare]

Hi Alan - my favourites were "Kaa's hunting" and "Her Majesty's Servants". I recently purchased a new copy, for my son to read when he is a little older.