Do not attempt again to convince the Englishwoman to become part of your plans. We will play supplicant no longer, kiss their hands in gratitude for the favours they choose to bestow no longer. This is an elder brother’s command.
Your Lala
21 April 1929
V. R. Spencer
14 Doughty Street
Bloomsbury
London
Najeeb Gul
Peshawar Museum
Peshawar
21 April 1929
My dear Herodotus of Peshawar
If imagination can shape reality then it is you, not your invented Maya, who has placed the Circlet of Scylax beneath the soil of Shahji-ki-Dheri. I picture the boy you were circling the old excavation site, believing a miracle exists there, beyond your reach for reasons of mere finance. Having placed the dream in your mind myself, and understanding something of its grip, I see I have an obligation to at least ask: how much would it cost?
If the sum is not prohibitive I will gladly arrange for a transfer of funds and regard it not as a favour to you but as the spur to my long-held intentions to return to India. Perhaps in exchange you’ll accompany me to Taxila and Mohenjodaro, which I have a great wish to see?
Will you speak to the landowner yourself? If a financial agreement can be reached, I assume you’re in a position to obtain permission for excavating? I am unable to get away from London until early next year so if — I hasten to stress the ‘if’ — all this becomes possible let’s plan to excavate in the spring. What Pashto I had is largely gone but I will spend the months ahead returning to it (there is a man from Peshawar who works at the British Library — he insists his name is Durand, but of course it’s Durrani).
Yours
V.R.S.
28 May 1929
28 May 1929
To: VR SPENCER
DELIGHTED TO RECEIVE LETTER STOP COSTS FOR LEASE AND DIG TO FOLLOW STOP WILL ARRANGE EXCAVATION PERMISSION
NG
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12 JULY 1929
To: N GUL
RECEIVED FIGURES FROM SOLICITOR STOP ACCEPTABLE HAVE TOLD HIM TO PROCEED WITH DRAWING UP LEASE
VRS
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13 JULY 1929
To: VR SPENCER
HURRAH
NG
1 January 1930
1 January 1930
Lahore
Najeeb
I can’t describe to you what happened here yesterday at the Congress meeting on the banks of the Ravi River. Gandhi has called for complete independence from the English and Nehru hoisted a flag of three colours which will be the flag of a free India. My whole body went hot and cold when I saw it and I thought my heart would burst open. I am so proud to be among Ghaffar Khan’s Pashtuns here to celebrate this occasion — you should have seen us dance in celebration. Congress gatherings have never seen anything like it.
It is not all perfect. Many of the Congress Party believe with a certainty which might exceed that of the English that the Pashtuns are good for nothing except war and quick temper. They continue to express doubts that we will be able to follow the path of non-violent resistance when we are tested. But Ghaffar Khan tells us we must be patient and show through example that they are wrong. We will soon have the opportunity to do so. A resolution has been passed for civil disobedience which will go into effect before long. I am going from here with Ghaffar Khan to spread the word and build support for it through the Peshawar Valley — and in so doing, add to the numbers of the Khudai Khidmatgar. And what is this Khudai Khidmatgar, you will ask, you my brother who knows every coin unearthed in the Peshawar Valley and little else? Already I can imagine your distaste at the name. Yes, the Servants of God, Najeeb, we draw our strength from Him and will challenge any of the maulvis who claim Ghaffar Khan’s actions in allying with Gandhi are not those of a true Muslim.
But to explain: It is an unarmed army — you read that correctly — which will recruit unlettered men and bring them into our struggle. Ghaffar Khan says a conversation I had with him in which I talked of the great spirit of brotherhood and discipline in the Army helped him formulate the idea for the Khudai Khidmatgar, which pleases me more than anything else in life. I have said I will be part of the Khudai Khidmatgar. I would rather stand in formation with the unlettered men than sit in committees with men of learning. Though let me confess to you that our uniform of red-brown is far less appealing to the eye than the drab and green of the 40th. But what are we to do? Ghaffar Khan’s thoughts are of dye that is cheap and easily available, not of the vanity of his Yusufzai general. I am to be a general!
While I’m gone will you go to the orchards a few times to make sure Rahim is looking after everything? I trust him, but he can be lazy if he thinks no one is watching. You don’t have to pretend to understand much of farm life. It will be enough for you to go there and ask him how everything is.
Now to my final and most important point. Once this civil disobedience is launched there is no telling how the English will respond. It could become unpleasant — you have not seen the ways in which they attack those they see as an enemy, but I have and there is nothing in the world more cold and pitiless. So let me order, beg, plead one more time. Tell your Miss Spencer not to come.
I am following your instructions and not trying to convince you of the intentions and motives of the English when it comes to matters of archaeology. My point now is a separate one. This is not a time for an Englishwoman with no sense of today’s world to arrive in India. I know you think you understand the world better than your zealous brother, but I am speaking from my heart. Keep the Englishwoman away.
Your brother
Qayyum
15 JANUARY 1930
15 JANUARY 1930
To: N GUL
PASSAGE BOOKED PLEASE HIRE TEAM TO START DIG APRIL 5TH.
VRS
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16 JANUARY 1930
To: VR SPENCER
CONFIRMED AWAIT YOUR ARRIVAL
NG
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1 APRIL 1930
To: N GUL
SLIPPED AND FELL AT KARACHI DOCKS NOTHING SERIOUS BUT DOCTOR ADVISES AGAINST TRAVEL FOR A FEW WEEKS STOP CAN DIG BE DELAYED
VRS
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1 APRIL 1930
To: VR SPENCER
VERY SORRY TO HEAR UNWELL BUT DELAY IMPOSSIBLE
NG
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2 APRIL 1930
To: N GUL
OH BOTHER START WITHOUT ME WILL JOIN WHEN POSSIBLE
VRS
April 1930
The soil was dense, the work slow. From sunrise until mid-morning Najeeb and his team of men dug through history. A few feet down there was a face of bone, which made the men touch their cheekbones and noses, as if considering for the first time their own skulls. A coin from the early days of the Raj had either been placed in its eye-socket or had tumbled into it from another era. There were other small discoveries — a coin, a copper seal, a fragment of stone with a lion’s flanks carved into it — mixed in with the endless quantities of white powder and white-stone fragments.