Loyalty and Honor of Pashtun Women in Pashtu Landai: A Folkloric Analysis

Landai ([lʌnˈɖi]) is a Pashtu folkloric poetic genre composed of two lines with a total of 22 syllables: the first line has 9 syllables and the second line has 13. This paper explores how Landai poetry reflects the values of loyalty and honor among Pashtun girls and women. Using a descriptive-analytical method, selected Landais were analyzed to understand the psychological and cultural values embedded in them. The study finds that Landais serve as a powerful medium for Pashtun women to express their unwavering loyalty and commitment to preserving dignity in a patriarchal society where their voices are often suppressed in written literature. To learn more about Pashtun women poets, academics can go into Pashtu folklore. Because women could face persecution for writing poetry in Pashtun society, much folkloric poetry was created anonymously by female speakers, thus the focus is Landai under two major topics: Loyalty and Honor. Landai is the best piece of literature to explore Pashtun women discourse.