Azerbaijani distichs in the context of socio-political events of XIX century

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Institute of Manuscripts named after Muhammad Fuzuli of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani distichs in the context of socio-political events of XIX century

Ismayilova A.Sh.

Abstract

The article analyzes the historical and political environment reflected in the content of the Azerbaijani distich of Northern and Southern part of the country in the XIX century. The article also summarizes the scope of ideas, ideological and artistic features and other issues of the distich with different content that occurred during mentioned period.

The purpose of the article is to study the specific features ofdistich, one of the main genres ofancient Eastern literature in the XIX century, its stand in the hierarchy of Azerbaijani literature genres, the dynamics of development of this genre by taking into consideration the realities of that period.

The topics, idea-content and artistic features ofall poetic texts in the form ofdistich-poem, letters and stories that expressed in verses, fables, poems dedicated to spring, elegy, mystic and secular love poems and other artistic examples were investigated in Azerbaijani literature. Separately, taking into account the available materials and researches, the distich of the 19th century were analyzed in the context of the social environment. The folklore and classical style traditions existing in these works were identified.

The following scientific methods were applied in the course of research: systematic and analytical analysis; comparative analysis; individual approach to the problem in a complex way; classification and comparison.

The article analyzes not only classical poems written in the 19 th century, but also rhyming fables, elegies and stories that expressed in verses were extensively and systematically investigated.

The study concludes that the distich authors, who lived and worked in the north and south parts of Azerbaijan, which was politically divided in the 19th century, preserved the idea of an indivisible homeland in their works.

Existing socio-cultural events of the XIX century, new literary trends in literature did not remain unaffected by the content of this form ofpoetry, resulting in epic and plot poems of various contents (satire, pamphlet, letters that expressed in verse, exhortations letter, pedagogical poems, etc.) appeared.

Key words: XIX century, distich, Azerbaijani literature, classical tradition, socio-political environment, actual genre.

Анотація

Ісмаїлова А. Ш. АЗЕРБАЙДЖАНСЬКІ МЕСНЕВИ ХІХ СТОЛІТТЯ, НАПИСАНІ

НА РІДНІЙ МОВІ У КОНТЕКСТІ СУСПІЛЬНО-ПОЛІТИЧНИХ ПОДІЙ ПЕРІОДУ

У статті аналізуються суспільно-політичні умови, що позначилися на змісті месневи літератури Північного та Південного Азербайджану XIX століття, написаних рідною мовою, розглядається їх тематичне розмаїття, ідейно-художні особливості та ін. питання месневи різного змісту описуваного періоду.

Мета дослідження полягає у вивченні специфічних особливостей месневи, що є одним із основних жанрів давньосхідної літератури XIX століття, її місця в ієрархії жанрів азербайджанської літератури, а також динаміки розвитку цього жанру на тлі реалістичного зображення дійсності досліджуваного періоду. У статті досліджено теми, ідейно-змістовні та художні особливості всіх поетичних текстів азербайджанської літератури ХІХ століття - поем, віршів та оповідань, байок, хвалебень, голосень, суфійських та світських любовних поем та інших художніх зразків, написаних у формі месневи. Також, використовуючи наявні матеріали та дослідження, було проаналізовано мес- неви XIX століття у контексті суспільно-соціального середовища та виявлено фольклорні та класичні стильові традиції у цих творах.

У ході дослідження використовувалися такі наукові методи: систематичний та аналітичний аналіз; порівняльний аналіз; індивідуально-комплексний підхід до проблеми; класифікація та протиставлення.

У статті до глибокого та систематичного вивчення були залучені не тільки класичні вірші, написані в XIX столітті, а й дворядкові римовані байки, віршовані оповідання та голосіння. У дослідженні робиться висновок про те, що автори месневи, що жили і творили як на півночі, так і на півдні Азербайджану, політично розділеного в XIX столітті, зберегли у своїх творах ідею батьківщини. Суспільно-культурні події XIX століття і нові течії, що виникли в літературі, не могли не вплинути на зміст і форму цієї поезії, внаслідок чого виникли епічні та сюжетні поеми різного змісту (сатира, сарказм, листи у віршах, настанови, педагогічні вірші та ін.).

Ключові слова: XIX століття, месневи, азербайджанська література, класична традиція, суспільно-політичне середовище, актуальний жанр.

Introduction. Azerbaijani literature has developed over the centuries, formed on the basis of national and international traditions, as a result of which at all stages of history appeared districh, containing innovative ideas, humanistic and earthly feelings, socio-philosophical themes.

Considering the problems of the topics and genre of the poetry of the XIX century, we can note that the Azerbaijani distich, one of the oldest units of genre and form of classical literature, was widespread in this period, regardless of the subject.

It is clear that as a result of political and historical events of the XIX century, our homeland was divided into two parts under the name of South and Northern Azerbaijan. However, the moral and didactic content, the idea of an indivisible homeland, national-moral values and mentality norms were reflected in both branches of Azerbaijani literature which show that the homeland has always maintained its unity in people's thinking. However, at the same time, especially in the poems of authors living in South Azerbaijan, the motives of grief, separation and languor are a clear proof that they miss their homeland.

In both parts of Azerbaijan, the indivisibility of the homeland was directly reflected throughout the activities of various authors. From this point of view, poets living in both the north and the south Azerbaijan were able to preserve our national mental values in their distich. Although there are common ideas in the distich of South and North Azerbaijani poetry, there are some differences in genres and themes due to the political regime in the north part. In Southern Azerbaijani literature, Molla Muhammad Hidaji, Muhammadbaghir Khalkhali, Muhammad Khalifa Ajiz, Abulhasan Raji, Mirza Mehdi Shukuhi and others wrote distich, lyrical and religious-philosophical poems and laments reflecting classical and folklore motifs in a limited literary framework. In the North Azerbaijani literature, Mirza Alasgar Novras, Mirza Hasan Garabaghi Hasanali Aga Khan Garadaghi, Seyid Azim Shirvani and others, benefiting from Russian literature, praised advanced ideas and wrote moral and didactic pedagogical distich.

The political, literary and cultural events that took place in Northern Azerbaijan in the 19th century had a serious impact on the topics of both northern and southern literature. A number of pieces in the literature that reflect national-moral and mental values have been suppressed by established censorship, and the study of these works has been restricted.

In the 19th century, the socio-political environment in the south of Azerbaijan was very tense. Throughout this period, the political picture of Iran, especially the “shah” regime, was reflected in the pieces of a number of our southern authors through allegory.

At the beginning of the 19th century in Northern Azerbaijan, as in the literature of Southern Azerbaijan, the tradition of writing pieces in Persian and appealing to classical themes still remained. Abbasgulu aga Bakikhanov's “Glad tidings”, “Mirror of a face” and “The flight of a dream”, “Waiting for a letter” by Mirza Shafi Vazeh, Mirza Fatali Akhundzadeh's “Oriental poem dedicated to Pushkin's death”, “Poem about the new alphabet” and other works are in among such examples. mesneve language ideological artistic

However, it should be noted that at that time the mother tongue played a key role in all directions and genres of both literatures. Gasim bey Zakir, Seyid Azim Shirvani, Mirza Alasgar Novras, Mirza Hasan Garabaghi, Mamo bey Mamai, Andalib Garajadaghi, Molla Muhammad Hidaji, Purgam, Dilsuz, Dakhil and other poets left an indelible trace on the literature with their Azerbaijani distich.

Main body

While studying the specific and developmental features of the distich genre in the history of Azerbaijani literature, it becomes clear that there is no specific poet in our literature who writes only distich. Each of the poets who is a successful author of distich, has written pieces of ghazal, ode, mukhammas (eastern poem of five lines), mustazad (eastern poem of twenty-forty lines) and other genres of classical poetry.

The Azerbaijani distich, which appeared in the 19th century, was closely connected with the classical style. In particular, the continuation of the Eastern literature traditions by the Azerbaijani distich makes it possible to compare the famous pieces of the Eastern literature with mentioned distiches.

When we say classical distich, first we remember “Khamsa” written by Nizami Ganjavi, a prominent thinker and poet of the XII century. It is known that many pieces, like Nizami's distiches, have been written in Azerbaijani literature. Although each of these pieces could not be as successful as Nizami's distiches, each of them is distinguished by its own artistic features.

According to the Kamil Adishirinov, researcher: “After Nizami Ganjavi”, 150 distiches like “Leyli and Majnun” and 86 pieces like “Khosrov and Shirin” were written in Eastern literature, each of these disiches has its own idea and variety of forms” (Adishirinov, 13). Of course, among the new views, there are works that stand on a higher level than the original. Mohammad Fuzuli's poem “Leyli and Majnun” is one of such Masnavi.

Of course, among these imitative poems there are some distiches that stand on a higher level than their original. For instance, Muhammad Fuzuli's poem “Leyli and Majnun” can be cited as a good example.

Alyar Safarli objected to some literary critics who considered the author of an imitative poem to be epigonists and called them imitators: In the literature of the Near and Middle East, it is not correct to understand writing of imitative poems as imitation in the field of distich. This was due to the artistic and poetic traditions and characteristics of Eastern poetry. The poets, in response to the work of any artist they loved and were inspired by, created the same piece in the same form. [Safarli, 11].

The tolerance, national-spiritual and multicultural values of the Azerbaijani people, the Islamic mentality are reflected in the examples of XIX century literature, including the Azerbaijani distich. However, most of these works, especially elegy literature, have long been outside the scope of literary investigation. However, in order to study the literary heritage of prominent poets Akhund Molla Hussein (Dakhil), Dilsuz, Purgam, Abulhasan Raji and others, it is very important to study the elegy poems, which are a key component of their pieces.

Alyar Safarli, a prominent researcher of the classical period, writes: “The distich form lasted mainly in Eastern literature until the 19th century, and from that century onwards it began to be replaced by prose stories, narratives, and novels, and gradually gave way to those genres” [Safarli, 1982: 24-25]. In our opinion, the scholar intends to compare the poems written in the form of distich, especially with the classical poems. Because at that time, the writing of classical poems has decreased, and this form of poetry has retained its relevance in stories that expressed in verse, letters, fables, and exhortative pieces.

Although the distich re-emerged in the 19th century compared to the 17th-18th centuries, the appeal to large-scale distich has declined at the mentioned period. Thus, from that period, the distich was reduced in form, concretized in subject matter and acquired a social content.

In Azerbaijani literary criticism, several scholars analyzed the study of distich poetry based on a special creative method and their specific features. For example, Alyar Safarli's” XVII-XVIII centuries Azerbaijani epic poetry”, Feyzulla Gasimzade's “History of XIX century Azerbaijani literature”, Kamran Mammadov's “Satire in XIX century Azerbaijani poetry”, Mustafa Mustafayev's “XIX century Azerbaijani realist poetry” and other works are valuable in the study and maintain their relevance as a source. Zaman Asgarli, Nadir Mammadov, Mati Osmanoglu and others, published in the 4th volume of the 6-volume book “History of Azerbaijan Literature” of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences. Scholars' articles and essays contain original and interesting information about the distich of various poets of given period.

Researcher Yolchu Piriyev deserves special mention when talking about the extensive analysis of distich-poems written in the XIX century. Yolchu Piriyev's book “XIX century poem genre in the Azerbaijani literature” can be considered the most fundamental source in the study of the distich of this period. The scientist investigated the poems that appeared in the XIX century, approached them from different perspectives and analyzed them in the context of the social problems of the time. Almost all the poems studied by Yolchu Piriyev were written in the form of distich.

In the book, the “Gisseyi - Leyli and Majnun” by Andalib Garajadaghi, “Dastani-Majnun and Leyli”, “Farhad and Shirin” and “Ganjineyi-adab”, written by Ismayil bey Nakam in analogy of Nizami's pieces, “Letters about monkey” “Shukuhi's first visit to Maragha in his youth ” by Mirza Mehdi Shukuhi, Muhammadbagir Khalkhali's “Letters about fox”, Chakari's “Leyli and Majnun” and other pieces were analyzed by author. The scientist compared his views about “Leyli and Majnun” of the XIX century to pieces written under influence of Nizami Ganjavi's and Muhammad Fuzuli's pieces.

Levend Agah Sirri, a Turkish researcher of the classical period, studied 18 distiches like “Leyli and Majnun” written by Nizami Ganjavi. In his research, in addition to the distich written in the Middle Ages, he referred to several poems written in the 19th century and provided a detailed analysis, comparing them only with the pieces of Nizami. The almanac “Southern Stars” compiled by Yolchu Piriyev together with Abulfazl Husseini attracts attention as one of the most important activities of the scientist [11]. Mirza Mehdi Shukuhi's distich and Muhammadbagir Khalkhali's “Letters about fox” were published in this almanac for the first time in Azerbaijan. The main advantage of the book is that the mentioned almanaccollection is the only source in modern times where some the XIX century southern poet's distich was published.

There is a wide range of topics of Azerbaijani distich in the literature of Northern Azerbaijan in XIX century. Throughout this period the distich as a more artistic form was a form of poetry that met the ideological and aesthetic requirements of the time. Stories ad letter that expressed inverse, advice and admonishment, fables, poems, elegy not only confirm the relevance of the form of distich poetry in the mentioned period, but this is also a clear proof that the XIX century was a productive literary stage for Azerbaijani literature.

In the first half of the century, shortcomings in the socio-political environment led to the creation of new satirical pieces. Gasim bey Zakir, Mirza Bakhish Nadim, Baba bey Shakir were famous for their serious social content satires, they also wrote fables, stories and letters expressed in verse as the distich form.

In Azerbaijani literature, the 19th century attracts attention as a stage in the formation of realism as a literary school, the emergence of social satire, the emergence and development of enlightenment and democratic ideas. The main goals of the poets of this period are the promotion of humanist ideas, the study of science, the call to enlightenment, the promotion of secular and divine love, the struggle against social inequality and injustice.

Distich's unique classical Eastern style began to weaken in the second half of the 19th century. Throughout this period, we come across the creation of “Khamsa”, writing of imitative poems and other classical traditions in the pieces of Ismail bey Nakam, Seyid Mir Hamza Nigari and others.

The development of enlightenment in the middle of the 19th century is remembered as a major cultural event. Prominent literary scholar Yashar Garayev writes: “Since the middle of the XIX century, all the influences of Sufism and pantheism on the national literary thought have been replaced by a complete ideology, ideological system - enlightenment and its influence” (Garayev, 23).

Due to the wide range of enlightenment and the opening of new schools, more textbooks were needed, and pedagogical, instructive, moral, and didactic distich appeared. During this period, literary relations developed extensively, which did not go unnoticed in the work of a number of poets.

The prevailing socio-political situation in the country did not remain unaffected on the study of the Russian language - the development of Russian-Azerbaijani literary relations. Pedagogical poets such as Seyid Azim Shirvani, Mirza Hasan Yuzbashov, Muhammad Taghi Sidgi, Hasanali Aga Khan Garadaghi, Mirza Alasgar Novras had a great sympathy for the Russian language and culture. Translating the fables of the Russian classic Ivan Andreyevich Krylov into their native language, they repeatedly stressed in their works the importance to learn Russian language.

In the XIX century, in the literature of South Azerbaijan we also witness the peculiar dynamics of development of the distich. This period is considered to be a difficult and contradictory one in southern Azerbaijan, as well as in northern Azerbaijan. South Azerbaijani poets expressed their strong protests against the Shah's regime, arbitrariness, bribery and unjust laws in their distich.

Mirza Mehdi “Shukuhi's first visit to Maragha in his youth”, “The boasting of the clothes seller merchant” completely reflects the negative environment of the second half of the XIX century. It is clear from Shukuhi's distich that starvation, poverty, theft, brigandage, and arbitrariness were widespread in South Azerbaijan at the mentioned time. Shukuhi feels disappointed for his nation by depicting the terrible picture of his homeland. The poet protest against the Iranian government's indifference to the life of the people in need of a piece of bread, arbitrariness in the country, robbery, criticizes the Shah's rule. In addition, to focusing on social issues in Shukuhi's distich, he wrote “Letters about monkey” and other fables, using allegory to express his democratic thoughts and ideas as a talented satirical poet.

Mammadbagir Khalkhali's “Letters about fox” is also a work that reflects the social problems of the mentioned time. The poet boldly criticized social inequality and arbitrariness, the miserable condition of the people, the pressure of despotic rulers on the lives of the people living in poverty. These works are enough to give a complete picture of the shortcomings and negative environment that existed in South Azerbaijan at that time. The distich written in Southern Azerbaijan did not only reflect sociopolitical and critical topics. At the same time, the classical tradition, especially the Fuzuli tradition, was dominant in epic works at that time. Mirza Mehdi Shukuhi's poem “Dialogue of Mind and Love” was written in the unity of classical and folklore traditions. In some respects, this piece is similar to Fuzuli's “Opium and Wine”, “Leyli and Majnun” and Assar Tabrizi's “Mehr and Mushtari” distich. In addition, the majority of written distich are dominated by religious and philosophical ideas, Sufism, secular and divine love. Muhammad Khalifa Ajiz and Mullah Muhammad Hidaji are considered to be the authors of such distich.

Muhammad Amin Dilsuz, Abulhasan Raji, Hussein Dakhil Maragayi, Abulhasan Raji became famous as the author of religious poems in the form of distich poetry. The main theme of the distich of these authors is the tragedy in the history of Islam that took place in the 7th century in the territory of present-day Iraq, Karbala. Although more than 100 years have passed since it was written, some of these poems are still recited at ceremonies and condolences on the anniversary of the Karbala event.

Conclusion

The separate study of the distich of 19th century Azerbaijani epic poetry reveals that these pieces are very precious in terms of their content and artistic features and the important pieces of the world literature. These poems should be studied and promoted as examples of culture and the moral value of the Azerbaijani people. In the second half of the 19th century, especially in the Azerbaijani literature, distich remained mainly relevant as an artistic form, and despite some differences in subject, content and topic, it did not undergo any structural deformation. Only a decrease in volume is observed. This genre has maintained its dominance as the most ideal poetic form that comprehensively expresses humanistic ideas that enrich the spiritual world of man. Distich, written for pedagogical textbooks, played an important role in the development of nativelanguage epic poetry, combining national-moral values, didactic, admonishing, and humanistic ideas within a multicultural literary environment. These distiches promoted humanist ideas, not religious and philosophical ideas, ignorance, and superstition and still retain its modernity today.

In other words, the prominent authors of the literature of the XIX century have successfully developed the existing methods and principles of Azerbaijani literature, mainly in the direction of enlightenment, realism, and public criticism. In addition to satire, fable, poem, and other genres, the distich form of poetry remained a popular form of expression for stories expressed in verse, pedagogical, and didactic exhortations, and for religious and smallvolume lyrical poems.

Although the tradition of classical poetry has retained its weak position in the pieces of a number of authors, new stories and fables, our admonishing and philosophical poems have become the main leading forms of poetry of the XIX century and have led to the spread of distich. These concrete examples helped to study the development of the distich in Azerbaijani literature, as well as to determine the position of the distich of the XIX century among the other genres.

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