XI
SOLDIERS OF VIOLENCE
versus
SOLDIERS OF THE SPIRIT
in striking contrast to the smiling Bannu plain is
the Talisil of Marwat. It is a vast sandy tract 1,198 square
miles in area, with Lakki as its headquarters. Gandhiji
visited it after a thirty-nine mile motor drive. An in-
teresting- feature of the programme at Lakki was a Khat-
tak dance that Badshah Khan had specially arranged for
him, The Khattak dance is based on movements involved
in sword play and is a very popular form of folk-dance
among the Khattak clan of Pathans whose land stretches
from Bannu through Kohat and along the Indus as far
north as Akara in the Peshawar District. Like many
other indigenous folk-arts, it was fast falling into desue-
tude, when the Khudai Khidmatgar movement which
stands for the revival of all that is best in ancient, indi-
genous Pathan culture, came to its rescue. The elemental
vigour and simplicity of its rhythmic movements that are
performed to the accompaniment of the music of the
drums and the surnais held one spellbound while the
sheer elan, with which the young and the old, including a
sprinkling of Hindus, participated in it, gladdened one's
heart. Particularly unforgettable was the performance of
a youthful " grand old man " who seemed to personify
perfectly the spirit of the old song "Happy is the
hall where beards wag all", and who nimbly popped in
and lit up the intervals between the more vigorous forms
by the snow-white glory of his beard and the irrepressible
exuberance and abandon of his movements which threw
even the most phlegmatic into roars of laughter,
As one watched the performance one was reminded
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