Abstract
Orientalism on the one hand contributed to the mine of information on the orient
and on the other it has created a subjective imagery of the ground reality. The
tournament of shadows (Balshaya Igra) or the Great Game was a struggle
between British India and Tsarist Russia for political ascendancy in Central Asia.
Many writers on both sides wrote about that shadowy war and gave a portrayal of
Central Asia and north-western periphery of British India. At the end of a long
tussle Central Asia was colonized by Russia and the borders of Afghanistan were
demarcated as a result of the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention benefitting both the
contending Empires. Arthur Connolly coined the term Great Game and Rudyard
Kipling fictionalized it in Kim (1901) In comparative perspective one can see
discourse on the virtues of the Russian Empire in Dostoevsky`s a Writer's Diary.
Victorian travelogues carry rich information about the natural and human
resources along the Durand line. These writings considerably influenced those
who wrote after them about the region. In the Victorian age of British history
many British writers visited the Durand Line Region. They wrote a lot about the
natural and human resources of the area. These writings are considered as the
first reference point about the terrain and its dwellers, and have thus helped in
creating a particular image of the region`s inhabitants. Some travel writings are
analyzed in this connection. The selected Victorian travelogues are Alexander
Burnes` “Cabool, being a personal narrative of a journey to, and residence in
that city in the years 1836-39”; James Atkinson`s “The expedition into
Afghanistan”; Henry Walter Bellew`s “‘Journal of the political mission to
Afghanistan in 1857”; Robert Warburton`s “Eighteen years in the Khyber 1879-
1898” and T.L. Pannell`s “Among the wild tribes of the Afghan Frontier.” The
paper argues that the notion of wild and uncivilized people of the area in the
western media is not just the product of contemporary political developments in
the region but also a corollary of the Orientalists colonial memories, primarily
acquired through the British Victorian travelogues in the context of the
tournament of shadows particularly the first and second Anglo-Afghan wars. To
augment the view, it also evaluated the portrayal of local folks in those
travelogues in the context of Hobson`s “the Eastern Origins of Western
Civilization”; J. M. Blaut, “the Colonizer`s Model of the World” and Edwards
Said, “Orientalism”.
Waqar Ahmad , Zahid Anwar. (2019) Orientalism And Depiction Of Muslims Of Pak-Afghan Region In Victorian Travelogues During The Tournment Of Shadows, Al-Azhāar, Volume 5, Issue 2.
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