Vahid Gazvini & His Divan in Turkish

Institute of Manuscripts, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

Pasha Karimov. Vahid Gazvini & His Divan in Turkish // J. of “Manuscripts Don’t Burn". Special issue, 2019, pp. 39-53.

Pasha Karimov Doctor of Science in Philology, Professor Institute of Manuscripts named after Muhammad Fuzuli, ANAS 26, Istiglaliyat Street, Baku E-mail: [email protected]

VAHID GAZVINI & HIS DIVAN IN TURKISH

Key Words: poet, historian, vizier, gazal, masnavi.

Imaduddovla Mirza Muhammad Tahir Vahid Gazvini was a prominent statesman, poet and historian of the 17th century. He lived up to 95 years old until the end of that century, served in the government during the rulings of five Safavi Kings, rose from the positions of Accountant and Palace Historian to the positions of Vizier and Grand Vizier. According to researchers, Muhammad Tahir was born in Gazvin in 1015 of the hegira calendar (1606-1607 of the current era) in the family of Mirza Hussein Khan who was a government servant of the middle class, and spent his childhood and young time there (14, p. 79). According to the information given by M.T.Nasrabadi in his memoirs, upon completion of his education, Vahid ‘was employed under supervision of Mirza Saleh, Head of the Pointing Office of Council of Scientists and was instructed to keep records in one of the official logbooks. After the death of Mirza Saleh, Muhammad Tahir was appointed to his position and soon started to work in the teams of King Safi (1629-1642), a prominent statesman of his time, who was also known as Sari Tagi, and Mirza Muhammad Tagi Etimadussaltana, who was the Grand Vizier of 2nd King Abbas (1642-1667).’ (13, p. 26) After the murder of Sari Tagi by high rank military commanders, Khalif Sultan was appointed to the position of Grand Vizier for the second time (1645) and he after some hesitations approved the position of Muhammad Tahir in the government. With the guarantee of Khalif Sultan, Mohammad Tahir was appointed to the position of Palace Historian. He was instructed to write the history of the period of ruling of 2nd King Abbas. During the ruling of 2nd King Abbas’s son King Suleiman (1667-1694), upon the death of Sheikh Ali Zangana, Vahid was appointed to the position of Grand Vizier of the King with the title of Imaduddovla in 1101 of the hegira calendar (1689-1690 of the current era). During the early years of the ruling of King Sultan Hossein (1696-1722), Mirza Tahir retired from the government works and died in 1112 of the hegira calendar (1700-1701 of the current era). Loutfali Bey Azer mentioned that Vahid was a very healthy person (1, p. 234). Mirza Muhammad Tahir was from an educated family. In his memories, Nasrabadi mentions the names of his elder brother Mirza Faseh, who was a Vizier of Etimaduddovla Mirza Talib Khan Ordubadi for a long period, his brother Mirza Yousif with nickname of Valeh, his another brother Mirza Ami with nickname of Asaf, who was the Vizier of Gandahar Province, and his another relatives (13, p. 27). A range of sources give information about Vahid’s literary heritage. According to Loutfali Bey Azer, he had a divan consisting of 90 thousand distiches, while Sheikh Muham- mad Hazin stated that his divan consisted of 60 thousand distiches. Nasrabadi writes in his memoirs: This mister’s divan consisting of Masnavis, Odes and Gazals includes about 30 thousand distiches. As he was the only expert in all fields of science, he choose the nickname

Journal of “Manuscripts don’t burn” / Special issue, 2019 of Vahid (The Only) for himself (13, p.27). Hazin called him Vahid Az-Zaman, that is, the only man of the time (11, p. 2197). Stating that Muhammad Tahir’s spheres of interest were very wide and covered History, Literature, Philosophy and Military Science, A.Rahmani also mentions his following works: Riyaz-At-Tavarikh (Garden of Histories). It is a historical work covering the period from the start of the Safavids’ ruling up to 1070 of the hegira calendar (1663-1664 of the current era). Abbasnama is the third and also the last part of this work. Munshaat is collection of letters written to various official and non-official persons of the time. Vahid is regarded a prominent literary stylist of his time. In Munshaaat, it is obvious that the author has an elegant, but a complex-grandiloquent style. This work was many times published in India in the 19th century (Calcutta, 1826; Laknau, 1844, 1868, 1873). The manuscripts of the poet’s large Divan in Persian is preserved in a range of libraries of the world. Vahid is also an author of a range of epics in Persian, such as Khalvati-Raz (Hidden Place of Secret), Nazu-Niyaz (Whims), Goulzari-Abbasi (Flower Garden of Abbas), Dar Vasfi-Houmayun Tapa (Description of Houmayun Hill), Dar Tarifi-Nard (About Acey- Deucy), Fathnameyi-Gandahar (About Conquest of Gandahar), Dar Zikri Va Masrafi Ada- vati-Jangi (Names & Use of Military Tools) (14, p. 81). A.Rahmani thinks that Vahid’s work ‘Abbasnama’ has a decent place in Historical Studies of the Safavid period as a historical source of the middle of the 17th century. Muhammad Tahir, who wrote that work upon instruction of 2nd King Abbas covered the key issues of the political, social-economic and cultural lives of great Safavid State over a period lasting more than twenty years. And the key aspect distinguishing this work from other historical sources written about the same issue is just this point. Besides these, at ANAS Institute of Manuscripts named after Muhammad Fuzuli, the manuscript of Muhammad Tahiri’s Textbook on Mathematics in Persian, which consists of 2 chapters, was discovered. The work covers pages 88b-124 b of the manuscript being maintained under code m-95 (iv). The work discusses mathematical operations in complete and fractional figures and rules for measurement of the areas of geometrical figures, and presents many examples for calculation. One copy of the collection of Vahid’s works is maintained in the treasury of manuscripts of Berlin State Library (3, p. 271). On 30 pages (1b-30a) of this manuscript consisting of 487 pages, which is maintained under code of Ms. Orient Fol. 3314, the poet’s Divan in Azerbaijani Turkish was written through Nastalig Transcription Style. This Divan consists of 1,842 distiches. In the fore part of the manuscript, there are two stamps belonging to the palace. In the colophon at the end (v.487b), there are these words: ‘Gad faraga min tasvidi-kulliyyati-divan min tasnifi vahidul-asr and farid-ad-dahr Mirza Muhammad Tahir Vahid betarikhe-shanzdahhom shahri-maharram alharam ahde-juluse-moubarak Bahadur shah moutabeg sanaye 1119 hijri’ (8, v.487b). (Translation: ‘Copying of the divan collection consisting of the works of Mirza Mohammad Tahir Vahid, the only personality of the century and the unique personality of the time, ended. On the 16th day of Maharram month of 1119 year in which King Bahadir came to the throne.’) From this, we find out that the manuscript was copied out on April 12, 1707. And the person who came to the throne was probably King Bahadur (1643-1712) known with the title of King Alam, who was a son of Baburi Ovrangzib who was a king in India. According to historical sources, he came into the throne on April 26, 1707, and regarded March 22, 1707, the date when he was informed about the death of his father, as the start date of his ruling (6, p. 220). The person who discovered this only copy known to us of Vahid Gazvini’s Divan in Turkish and presented Gazvini’s four poems in this Book ‘Pages from Our Literature History’ was Researcher Muhammadali Hosseini living in Germany (4, p. 119-125). In 2009, Pasha

Institute of Manuscripts, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

Karimov and Arif Ramazanov prepared the poet’s Divan in Turkish for publication in the full volume and published it (7). P.Karimov wrote a large foreword to the book. After reviewing Divan’s manuscript in detail we can come to this conclusion that the copy was copied out by a scribe not knowing Turkish. Not understanding many of the words, this person only ‘drew’ their pictures and made many distortions. The text that has become poor for this reason is hardly readable. We should mention that on 5 pages (v. 115 a-119 a) of V.Gazvini’s Divan in Persian, which consists of totally 192 pages and is maintained in Tabriz Central Library, the poet’s poems in Turkish were copied out (9). There are only 117 distiches in Turkish here. Unfortunately, many parts of this manuscript are also in an erased form. Vahid’s Divan in Azerbaijani Turkish starts with a Masnavi consisting of 140 distiches. In this poem titled Saginama (Text on Wine Waiter), the coming of spring and the revival and beauties of nature are described. The Poet communicates with a wine waiter and asks for a glass of wine from him on the occasion of the coming of the spring. While reading the work, we see that the flowers and various plants, of which beauty is described, belong to the garden of King’s Palace. The rose is compared to a Gizilbash (Red head), the violaceous is compared to a Janissary hiding his weapon, the lotus is compared to a person dressed in the European style, the red cherry is compared to a crow eye, and the apricot tree is compared to a chandelier. Vahid shows that the glorious and beautiful building of the King Palace and the pool at the yard made that place as the heaven. The Poet says that he is proud that the Spring Holiday is celebrated in his motherland and representatives of other nations are green with envy for this reason:

Ərəb qafillərindən bir yeganə, Demiş bir nüktə əlhəq arifanə Ki, bu bayram əgər mübhəm olaydı, Bir bayram sarayı kəm olaydı. Olaydı gər bu ay ilhamdan bədr Bizə bu gün olurdu leylətül-qədr (7, p. 47-48).

The first ode following the Masnavi was dedicated to the construction of a mirror hall in the King Palace. Talking about the beauty of the hall and saying that he is the architect of that hall there, Vahid also informs that the mirror walls of this hall got admired when seeing the King:

Güzgü oldu sınığı sər ta pa, Məhvdür şahə çeşmi-bidarı (7, p.50)

In one of the distiches in the poem, we find the real construction date of the hall:

Salıb əda başın dedim tarix: Ki, göz açmış təvilə taları (7, p. 51).

From the real date composed on the basis of this bait, we find out that the mirror hall was constructed in 1089 of the hegira calendar or 1678 of the current era. Two odes following it, which consist of respectively 50 and 27 distiches, were dedicated to praising of Juneitabad Settlement of Isfahan. In his odes, Muhammad Tahir compares Juneitabad to a beloved woman and spring for its beauty and says that it ignited the enthusiasm in his heart. The poet calls Juneitabad the key distich of the Book of Life and explains that this beauty is due to King’s mercy. Assessing the Settlement as a souvenir remaining from the King, the author mentions the

Journal of “Manuscripts don’t burn” / Special issue, 2019 names of 2nd King Abbas and King Suleiman with great respect. Vahid says that he regards Juneitabad as a doctor treating diseased people and compares it with the scientists and doctors valued greatly in the Moslem East:

Sənə vermiş yerini Əflatun, Sən xüm içrə həkimi-danasən. Tibdə qaimməqami-Calinus, Sani ərseyn İbni Sinasən (7, p. 52).

From page 4b of the Divan to its end (v.30a), the poet’s gazals, stanzas, poems and single-distiches were copied out not separately, but in an alphabetical order irrespective of their literary type. We should mention that the writing of replies by Govsi Tabrizi, a prominent poet of the 17th century to Vahid Gazvini’s gazals once again proves that V.Gazvini played an important role in the poetry of his time in the mother tongue. As is known, Govsi also wrote replies to gazals of several poets of his time, such as Vahid, Sahir and Agarazi, in addition to Fuzuli and Navayi and mentioned their names respectfully in the end distiches of his replies and gave verses from their poems. In the following replies that Govsi wrote to gazals of V.Gazvini, Govsi mentions his name:

Nə yaxşı söyləmiş, Qövsi, Vəhidi-pakgövhər kim: ‘Məni yandırdı bir atəş ki, düşməndən irağ olsun’ (15, p. 133),

Nə yaxşı söyləmiş, Qövsi, Vəhidi-aləmi-məni. ‘Nigahi-biməhabadır dilil-bitab dilmacı’ (15, p. 393).

Govsi also wrote replies to a range of other gazals of Vahid. In his memoirs, L.Azer explains that the praises said about V.Gazvini was due to his high rank (1, p. 234). However, we think that the poet’s works really deserve the mentioned praises, and Vahid’s poems in Turkish may be considered among the best examples of the Azerbaijani literature in the 17th century. When writing replies, Govsi selected only the poems that he liked and that had a high poetic value. The expressions like ‘Vəhidi-aləmi-məni’, used in these replies should not be understood as overvalued and insincere praises.

In one of his tarjibands, Govsi praises Mirza Tahir’s garden in Tabriz and its beauties:

Ol bağda ki, eylədi Mirzə onu zahir, Mirzə ki, onun Həqq ləqəbin eylədi Tahir. Ol bağda ki, ayineyi-dövr nümadır, Firdövs onunla olu rifətdə nə qadir (15, p.433).

Prominent Literature Researcher Salman Mourtaz writes about the attitude of Govsi to V.Gazvini: ‘The aim of the description that Govsi who did not know any fawning wrote about Mirza Tahir Vahid’s garden as a poem was not to get any benefit, but was only to show his inspiration to this great master and achieve Vahid to like his poems.’ (12, p. 103). As we mentioned, in Vahid’s Divan in Turkish, gazals, stanzas, poems and single-distiches were not given separately, but were arranged in an alphabetical order and copied out mixed. For some reason, at the end of the gazals here, the poet’s nickname is not given. In the poet’s Divan, there are 40 poems that fully meet requirements of the Gazal type in terms of topic and form. Other poems are verses, stanzas and single-distiches. At Vahid’s time, most of

Institute of Manuscripts, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

Azerbaijani poets used to write their works in two languages, Persian and Turkish. Professio- nal poets having a quit large number of works in Persian, such as Mourtazagulu Khan Zafar, Tarzi Afshar, Saib Tabrizi and Mazjoub Tabrizi also founded it important to write in the mother tongue. Muhammad Tahir who left a large literary heritage in Persian specially underlines in one of his poems in Turkish that he approached to exclusively Turkish speaking readers, and says: ‘Sarmaşur, əlbəttə, ey türkizəbanan, sarmaşur’ (7, p. 142). When reading the poems that Vahid wrote in the mother tongue, we see that he was an intellectual poet who read many books and had a good understanding of the works of his predecessors. The poet no doubt mainly learned from Fuzuli among classical poets for his poems in Turkish,, and was the fan of Fuzuli’s art. We can resolutely say that Vahid Gazvini was one of the most prominent representatives of Fuzuli’s literary school in the 17th century. Among the poems in his Divan which is available today, we recorded 88 replies to Fuzuli’s gazals, which is a significant number for the Divan of this scale. Among these replies, there are also gazals, poems and stanzas. V.Gazvini sometimes wrote several replies to individual poems of his great master. In addition to poets of his time, such as Zafar, Saib, Govsi and Tasir, V.Gazvini also wrote a reply to Fuzuli’s gazal with ‘At Sight’ radif (repeated word after the rhyme). Fuzuli talks about the beauty of his beloved woman in this gazal. He compares the figure of his beloved to a box tee and her lips to a flower bud, and decides that his beloved woman is much more beautiful than those. The gazal was written as addressing to the pretty woman in full. The largest reply written to this poem in the 17th century, which is known to us, is Gazvini’s reply. In first five distiches of his gazal, Vahid talks about the prostrated situation of the lover looking on his beloved, and compares the beauty of his beloved with nature and legendary characters in the following seven distiches. The first distich is closer to the first distich of the original:

Gözüm açılır qönçeyi-xəndanını görgəc, Dilim tutulur çeşmi-süxəndanını görgəc (7, p. 89).

In the first verse of his poem, Vahid wrote ‘My eyes get opened’ instead of ‘I get cheered up’, and instead of the words ‘disordered hair’ in the first verse of Fuzuli, Vahid used the expression ‘smiling flower bud’ in the second verse of the great poet’s that distich. The expression ‘speaking eyes’ in the second verse where Vahid used the expression ‘My tongue becomes speechless’ instead of ‘My speech becomes inactive’ is attractive with its poeticism. Saying ‘I stoop when seeing your petted cypress-like figure’ in the distich, Vahid creates contrast by comparing his curved figure with the pretty woman’s cypress-like figure. In the classic literature, the lover is generally compared to a nightingale and the beloved woman is generally compared to a flower. But in Vahid’s gazal, both the nightingale and flower saw the beautiful woman and got admired:

Bülbül açılır gül kibi sən yanə gəzəndə, Gül qönçə olur qönçeyi-peykanını görgəc (7, p. 90).

Desiring to express his thoughts more poetically, the poet uses the art of Takrir (repeating) in the second verse of the distich and uses the word ‘bud’ two times. It is said here that the flower becomes a bud when it sees the beautiful woman’s bud-like eyelashes. In one of the last distiches, the expression ‘Shirin’s face’ is used. It does not mean Shirin, but means the image of her face drawn on Bisoutun Mountain by Farhad. Although Fuzuli says ‘My heart, don’t give wine to every person looking like Shirin, drink it youself’ in one of his gazals (2, p. 192) and recommends not to love a lifeless face, however, Vahid uses

Journal of “Manuscripts don’t burn” / Special issue, 2019 the poetic figure of overstatement in his gazal and states that even a lifeless face will revive if it sees his beloved woman and will sacrifice itself for the sake of this beautiful woman:

Hərçənd ki, canı yoxdu, surəti Şirin, Can verdi sənin canın üçün canın görgəc (7, p. 90).

In this poem, the poet used the word ‘body’ four times and achieved to express his thoughts more impressively and poetically by creating quibble and alliteration from repetition of the consonant ‘b’ (in the words ‘body’ and ‘when seeing’). Let’s consider the meanings that the word ‘body’ has in the second verse: ‘gave its life’ – sacrificed its life; ‘for the sake of your life’ – for you; ‘when seeing your body’ – when seeing your face (this word’s such meanings as soul or heart may also be possible here). Although Vahid wrote many replies to Fuzuli, it would not be right to call Vahid imitator and we should mention that the poet played a specific role in the development of our poetry in the mother tongue. The reply is the sameness of a form. Although a range of Azer- baijani poets who lived and wrote in the 17th century demonstrate that they learned from the artistic characters of the works of great Fuzuli and benefitted from the treasury of his poems- art, each of these poets has a specific style. Becoming a professional artist by learning from the heritage of Fuzuli, V.Gazvini played some role in the development of the Azerbaijani poetry of the 17th century in Turkish. In Vahid’s poems, we can also see description of nature’s beauties, proverbs, and praising of the Prophet and the kings of his time. However, besides these, the key topic of the poet’s works is no doubt the lyrics of love. Similarly to Fuzuli, Vahid also regards the love as a power making one ideal and says that ‘Mind of love makes every madman clever.’ (7, p. 146) According to the poet, one not falling in love and not suffering from the pain of separation may not know the pains of his time:

Hər kişi kim, çəkməmişdir canı hicran acısı, Anlamaz, bilməz nədir dünyada dövran acısı (7, p. 211).

Although the poet sometimes complains against the troubles he experienced for his love and says by approaching his beloved woman ‘Who wants to be on friendly terms with you becomes an enemy of himself’ (7, p. 70), he states in most of his poems that the pain of separation is even more expensive than his life for him:

Dərdi, yarəb, can çıxan çağda canımdan çıxmasın, Dadlı candan dadlıraqdır bu qəmi-canan bənə (7, p. 73).

There are amorousness and love in the personality and essence of the lyric character of Vahid’s poems. As long as he lives, he is capable to think and feel and he will not forget the face of his beloved. In one of his poems, the poet says that as long as the candle of my conscience in my heart torch lights in this temporary palace, that is, the world, my beloved will live in my dreams and memory:

Bu sarayi-ariyətdə tirə olmaz xatirin, Gər sönməz könlümün fanusində şəmi-şüur (7, p. 103).

The reason for the sighing of the poet always is that he engraved the image of the hairs of his beloved into his heart:

Institute of Manuscripts, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

Etmişəm lövhi-dilə təsviri-zülfi-yarımı, Bu səbəbdəndir müdam ahi-pərişan çəkdigim (7, p. 176).

We can see Fuzuli’s literary logic in Vahid’s poems. While Fuzuli measures the severity of the love with the beauty of the beloved and says ‘The love is as much as the beauty is’ (2, p. 117), Muhammad Tahir states that he is proud of the deepness of his love by saying ‘My love is not weaker than your beauty.’ (7, p. 61) The character of lover in V.Gazvini’s poems first of all attracts attention with his self- devotion and preparedness for every trouble for the sake of love. The troubles that he faces in his love do not tucker him, but attracts him to them more. The poet considers it as blessing when his heart deliquesces when remembering the lips of the beautiful woman:

Türfə nemətdir ki, dil yadi-ləbindən ab ola, Dadmışam bu şəhdi-can, yaxşı əcaib dadı var (7, p. 154).

The lover is happy for the troubles he experiences, and although he is bond with his beloved, his heart is free:

Şaddır aşiq ki, qəmgindür cəfayi-yardən, Bənddədür öz qeyddən, əmma dili-azadı var (7, p. 148).

The heart of the lyric character of Vahid’s poems is as fragile as glass, but is resistant to any trouble. The poet calls himself ‘a strange being’ for this external contrast:

Dün Vəhidi gördüm, əlhəqq qabili-bidad imiş, Daş canlı, şişə bağırlı əcaib zad imiş (7, p. 166).

Although sometimes this lover experiencing troubles for his love complains that he is weak and asks for mercy, it is clear that the bearer of these troubles is not a weak person. His power is in the severity of the troubles he bears and in his endless resistance:

Dedim ki, gör zəifligim, rəhm qıl bənə, Dedi ki, kuhi-dərd çəkən natəvan degil (7, p. 173).

And the words that this invincible, resistant and devoted lover says about his loving heart also complete his own poetic character. The poet creates an interesting image where his door is a mountain and his chimney is an admiring eye and says that it is my heart and invites his lover to there:

Dağdır qapısıvü dideyi-heyran bacası, Gəl dilim xanəsinə, bacaludur, qapuludur (7, p.110).

One of the aspects stipulating the severity of the sorrow of the lyric character in great Fuzuli’s works is the inaccessibility of his beloved and impossibility of meeting. Similarly to Govsi, one of his time’s poets, Vahid also regards the meeting possible, but think that it is not enough to treat the trouble of love. According to the poet saying ‘If meeting with the beloved were possible, my longing would increase’ (7, p. 112), ‘A person who will give you to me is not kind’, the meeting increases the longing of the lover, as the lover knows that he will inevitably face the future sorrow of separation while the meeting, and therefore, worries in

Journal of “Manuscripts don’t burn” / Special issue, 2019 advance, wants to build a wall in front of the lips of his beloved to prevent her to promise a meeting and says ‘I want to build a wall in front of your lips to prevent you to promise a meeting.’ (7, p. 176) Alike separation, the meeting also makes the lover to suffer. However, despite all troubles he faces, the lyric character of Vahid’s poems does not want to give up. Stating that he is ready to even give up his religion and belief for this love, he says ‘Religion and belief should be given up for love.’ (7, p. 178) We cannot assert that a real love far away from the Islamic Sufism is discussed in all poems of V.Gazvini. In some of the poet’s poems, we can see expression of a real, secular love not masked with the Islamic Sufism. Therefore, if his beloved is in his arms, then his arms are a part of the heaven:

Sorursan gər xəbər cənnət bu cani-qeyd fərqindən, Qucaqda olsa gər canan, qucaq cənnət bucağıdur (7, p. 126).

The sorrow that the poet experiences in his love is very valuable for the poet, he pays a significant attention to his this misery and fuses over it day and night:

Bu pərişanlıq ki, zülfündən bənə olmuş nəsib, Titrərəm üstündə sübhü şam cəm’iyyət kibi (7, p. 209).

The love is such a trouble that its medication is itself, therefore, the poet approaches his beloved and says ‘The love will be a medication for me if you are my doctor.’ (7, p. 71) In his poems, Vahid pays a special attention to description of the situation and psychological state that his lyric character faces due to his love. The lover who becomes speechless due to the severity of his love says: ‘I become speechless from time to time due to my passion.’ (7, p. 68) The face of his beloved never gets out of his sight, he only sees his beloved everywhere he looks at:

Əksi –ruyi-yar çün çeşmi-tərimdən getmədi, Baxıram hər yanə, timsali-müsəvvərdür bənə (7, p. 70)

The situation of the lover is undetermined, he is neither sad nor happy: ‘I’m in charming situation, I’m neither sad nor happy. (7, p. 154). The poet recognizes that he is not capable to describe his situation accurately and writes:

Nə ölü, nə diri, nə məsti-layəqəl, nə hüşyarəm, Nə qəmginəm, nə xəndan yarsız, bilməm nə halimdür (7, p. 111)

He so much trembles like an aspen leaf due to his wail that the bird of sleep cannot land on his eyes, that is, he has lost his sleep:

Yuxu quşu gecələr aşiyani-didəmə qonmaz, Nəsimi-nalədən cismim nihani bəs ki, ləzzandur (7, p. 113)

The lover fallen from his beloved’s grace has become so weak that it has become difficult for painters to see him and draw his picture:

Düşmüşəm gözündən sənin, rəngim deyər əhvalımı, Zə’fdən nəqqaş həm müşkül çəkər timsalımı (7, p. 220)

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But his weakness and burning to ashes for the love increases his strength. Alike the rebirth of Salamander birds after burning to ashes, the lover also becomes stronger after losing his calmness and determination:

Dəxi oddan işimiz hər nə yandı, oldu xakistər, Tükəmməz çünki aranım, qərarım, taqətim artır (7, p. 112).

One of the specific features of Vahid’s poems is his candidness. In his gazals with the repeated words ‘To my surprise’, he approaches to the illusion of his beloved and inert items with the same candidness to prove the power of his love. All distiches of this poem in which literary questions and poetic figures of illiterate and literate men have been used more have been written as a question sentence:

Dağdar könlümü, ey bədxu, gülustan eylədin, Gülmədin, açılmadın, bu evdə mehmansan məgər? (7, p. 132).

The poet approaches his beloved and says that she turned his wounded heart to a rosary. Considering his heart as a home, the poet complains that his beloved who is the owner of this house does not smile and neglects him: Is she a guest here? In another distich of the poem, the author approaches a mirror that does not rest day and night (as it reflects everything in front of it). Maybe it also admires the face of the beautiful woman:

Gecəli-gündüzlü bir dəm xabü rahət görmədin, Ol pəri hüsnünə, ey ayinə, heyransan məgər? (7, p. 132).

Muhammad Tahir’s capability to professionally combine abstract and concrete de- finitions makes his speech more poetic and romantic. He calls his beloved who does not look like anyone as ‘my pretty coming as fortune and going as a soul.’ (7, p. 203) Coming of the pretty woman may change the poet’s life, therefore her coming looks like the fortune. And with her going she takes the poet’s soul with her, therefore her going looks like a soul. The poet describes the remembering his beloved as finding of the illusion of that pretty’s dream a way coming from mountains and entering his heart: ‘Her illusion found a way from mountains and entered my heart’ (7, p. 220) Vahid is a poet with a very strong fantasy. In his poems, he is fantastically able to use natural events and inert items as a professional painter and give them meanings to explain his thoughts to readers more visibly according to his purpose:

Səfheyi-əflak bəndən yarimə bir namədür, Dil dəvatü xun midadü dudi-ahum xamədür (7, p. 118).

The poet who uses a layer of the sky as a paper, his heart as an ink case, his blood as a pen and the some of his yell as a pencil and says that he is able to explain his love to his beloved also attracts attentions with his fantasy and the poeticism of his words. In one of his poems, the poet says that the parts of his heart flied to the sky and each of them has become a star. Finally, his beloved will see his heart separated to hundreds of parts:

Görünür axır sənə ləxti-dili-sədparəmiz Çün üruc oldu gögə hər biri bir ulduz olur (7, p. 119)

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Here, the poetic figure of Husn-i Talil was used professionally.

In the 16-17th centuries, there was a process of change of the poetic style in the poetry in Persian, and the Indian style started to expand. In his monography titled ‘Saib Tabrizi & Indian Style in Poetry in Persian, Masiaga Muhammadi also mentioned the name of Vahid Gazvini in addition to Saib Tabrizi among the prominent representatives of this style in the poetry in Persian. (10, p. 55) When looking through Vahid’s Divan in Turkish, we see the characteristics of the Indian style in also the poems that Vahid wrote in the mother tongue. Similar to other representatives of the new style, Muhammad Tahir also addresses to social issues in a range of distiches in which he used the poetic figure of fable, and expresses didactic thoughts. In one of his poems, a materially reach person is compared with a morally rich person in the example of a wallet and a heart:

Kisəvü dil-ikisi şişeyi-saətdür Ki, biri xali olan çağda birisi doludur (7, p. 111).

The wallet and the heart is compared to the two sides of a sandglass: when one side is full, the other side becomes empty. That is, the wallet of the person with a full heart is empty and the heart of the person with a full wallet is empty. This harmony described by the poet with assistance of a visual character clearly reflects the situation of his time and the unfairness in the society. We know that a range of Azerbaijani intellectuals, including poets left the motherland for various reasons in the 17th century for foreign countries. Some of them, such as Masihi and Saib Tabrizi returned back to the motherland. But some of them, such as Rahmati Tabrizi and Mirza Sadig Ordubadi died abroad. In one of his poems, Vahid writes about those who were far away from their motherland:

Naçar edər cəlayi-vətən cövri-çərxdən, Divani-şeirdən biri çün intixab olur (7, p. 135).

Those who get separated from the motherland complain about hopelessness. They should know that they are as a poem selected from a Divan, that is, they are distinguishing sons of the motherland. The poet professionally unmasks the love to high ranks and money by using the literary expression mean of fable. He compares those having crowns and high ranks to a candle lighting in a party. While they understand that they are burning, they don’t want settlement of this problem and change of the situation:

Cəhan bəzmində bənzər şəm’i-bəzmə sahibi-əfsər, Yanar, əmma deyər bu dərdə payan olmasun, yarəb (7, p. 75).

Alike a range of other progressive-minded poets of his time, Muhammad Tahiri’s attitude to fanatic religious men is also negative:

Yaman görməz gözü, əlbəttə, hər kim zahidi görməz, Yaman hərgiz eşitməz kim ki, vaizdən xəbər sormaz (7, p. 164).

Wise-didactic thoughts are not also rare in V.Gazvini’s poems. In his poems, the poet call people not to give themselves up to troubles of the life; to control their souls; to have their

Institute of Manuscripts, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences eyes open; and not to be pessimist. In one of his poems, Vahid says that if an accident happens, turning of believers away from it is profanity, as everything comes from God:

Qəzadan yüz çevirmək küfrdür, gər etiqadın var, Peyənbər kibi həqdür, çün gələn işlər Xudadəndür (7, p. 128).

Here, giving oneself up to the fortune is not promoted absolutely. It is only recommended to recognize that any accident is sent by God and to find a solution with discretion. Although the events taking place in the life saddens the poet and sometimes decreases his believe in humans, he does not get pessimist and also calls humans to be optimist. He thinks that only God may give those that a man wants from the life. ‘Whatever you want is given by God.’ (7, p. 114). But a pessimist man only sees bad things wherever s/he looks at: ‘A pessimist man always sees bad things.’ (7, p. 153) One century before Vagif, Vahid also recommended to accept both the bad and good times and both the gifts and troubles of the life in the same way, as both of them are the lifetime according to the poet:

Ömrümüzdən sayılır ruzi-səfidü şami-tar, Lütfilə qəhri-ikisi həm bərabərdür bənə (7, p. 71).

In the poems of V.Gazvini, we find wise thoughts about extremely various moments of the life. The poet calls those who become slaves of their passion weak. According to him, those who win through their passion are real brave ones:

Rəiyyət olmuşam nəfsi-xəbisə, olmuşam aciz, Əgər olsam müsəllət nəfsimə, sultanlığım vardır (7, p. 106).

In one of the distiches, the poet calls people not to neglect others. It uses the poetic figure of fable in the second verse and gives this example: If letters were separated from each other and don’t combine, words would not form:

Bu tənha gərduni biganə gəzmə, qalma biməni, Yapışmaz bir-birə ta hərflər, hərgiz kəlam olmaz (7, p. 163).

We can also find similar thought in the works of Saib Tabrizi, who is one of the most prominent representatives of the Indian style. Saib calls people to be close to each other, help each other, and to take an example not from birds flying on the sky, but from pomegranate arils: Gög fəzası nə məqami-pərü bal açmaqdır, Daneyi-nar kimi bir-birimizə qısılın (5, p. 22).

As we can see, both of these poets, who are representatives of a new style in the poetry distinguish with their unordinary vision about the life. They find a meaning in the reality, in the events taking place around, and in very different life facts, and relate them to their social and philosophical thoughts, which is a specific aspect of the Indian Style. Vahid criticizes collecting so much assets and says ‘Persons who have so much property are always restless’ (7, p. 134) and states that rich men cannot smile. He recommends his readers to be far from things making one disturbed in the life to have a pleasant and easy life:

Ömrünü gər istər isən kim, xoşü asan keçə, Özünü bu təngnayi-dəhrdən bir yanə tut (7, p. 85).

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The poet calls people to be alert, not to miss chances, and not to turn their backs to their enemies: Mərd əldən fürsətin verməz, əlbəttə, düşmənə, Tiğ tək ağzı olan arxa çevirməz düşmənə (7, p. 194).

Muhammad Tahir’s thoughts about the art of poem are also noteworthy. The poet paying a special attention to motives and characters that are new and may be seen strange and unordinary to readers as a representative of the Indian style, talks about the troubles arising in application of this in poems:

Məniyi-biganə tarac eyləmişdi əqlimi, Bir-birilən ləfzü məni olmamış məhrəm hənuz (7, p.165).

Using the strange character is in Vahid’s mind for a long time, but it is impossible to apply it without finding full consistency between words and meanings and making them close to each other. According to Muhammad Tahir, written literary works should be differed from each other, as there is very significant difference, from the ground to the sky, between poems:

Fərq şeir arasında vardur zəmin ta asiman, Bir şeirə biri dəgməz, biridir şeiri-süar (7, p. 134)

According to Vahid, a poet becomes valuable if he can express his troubles, sadness and problems in his/her works in a sophisticated literary form:

Bu nişandır ələmimdən ki, düşübdür dilimə, Şeir bəhri ki, sığa cədvəli-təngi-qələmə (7, p.198).

V.Gazvini values his works highly and compares his poems with halva due to their sweetness and states that bad men reading his works envy him and ‘swallow the bait of asto- nishment’:

Kəlamım şəhdini görən güman etmiş bəni həlva, Çü gördü, düşdü dami-heyrətə bədxah nişanımdan (7, p. 185).

More than one hundred single-distich poems included in Vahid’s Divan in the mother tongue draw attention with richness of their topics and with their literariness. There are both first distiches in which the verses have the same rhymes and separate distiches in which the verses do not have the same rhymes. Here, we find examples of the lyrics of love, fragments with social content, and didactic poems. In the single-distiches, we witness interesting poetical findings of the poet and the ability of the poet to create poetical pictures in this literary type which has limited options, as well as using of the capacity of the language by the poet professionally:

Rəhm et bənə heyranın olum, getmə nəzərdən, Göz işığısan, göz işığı gözdə gərəkdir (7, p. 156).

In one of his single-distiches, Vahid very professionally describes the history of a lover suffering from the love of his beloved for readers only with assistance of verbs:

Institute of Manuscripts, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

Gəldi, gördü, gözlədi, etdi, dolandırdı məni, Əglədi, əgdi, əritdi, bükdü, yandırdı məni (7, p. 217).

The description of the nature is also attractive in V.Gazvini’s these poems. In his poems dedicated to the spring, he visualizes the picture of nature’s beauties with assistance of comparisons, metaphors and overstatements. In his poem starting with the verse ‘The spring came, flowers opened their face scarfs again’, the poet compares the rainbow to the sides of the musical tool of drum and the lightning to angels playing on the sky:

Çənbəri-dəf kimi oldu cilvədən qövsü qüzeh, Oynadı xeyli pəri tək gögdə hər yandan şəhab (7, p.80).

In his poem with the repeated word ‘Dances’ after the rhyme, the poet says that all young and elder people automatically wake up with the coming of the spring, all the nature dances, and construes the flowing of waters splashingly as their clapping and dancing:

Gül üzlü novbaharın kəndi-kəndindən şeyxü şab oynar, Oxur gülşəndə sular, əl çalar mövcü hübab oynar (7, p. 143).

In his poems, V.Gazvini used elements of the live speaking language, bywords and proverbs. The poet says ‘with cut hair’ to his beloved who offends him with humor, and uses the bywords ‘Dogs wrangle with each other, but get separated when seeing a wolf’ and ‘Even blind persons know square meals’ adequately and professionally. In order to explain his thoughts to readers more effectively and poetically and make them memorable, Vahid successfully used the polysemy of the words in the mother tongue. Wanting to say ‘Don’t bear grieve, remove this sorrow from your heart’, the poet professionally benefits from the polysemy of the verb ‘bear’ in our language:

Çəkmə bu dərdi, könüldən bu yegani çək çıxar, Mey çəkəndə özgəsi çün sən çəkərsən intizar (7, p. 134).

Poetically expressing the thought that ‘Don’t grieve, remove this sorrow from your heart, While others drink wine (that is, have fun), you are anxiously waiting for another person’ in this distich, Vahid demonstrated that he spoke Turkish fluently. In order to increase the expressivity and emotionality of his poems, the poet also used synonyms and repeated words in the distiches and verses. One verse consisting of synonym words ‘There are disorder, escape, anarchy and theatre here’ (7, p. 149) describes the arisen turmoil very well. Vahid is capable to increase the impact of his works professionally with assistance of repeated words:

Öylə sərməstəm ki, hicranında bilməm şəb nədür, Ay nədür, ulduz nədür, əncüm nədür, kövkəb nədür (7, p.108).

Another example:

Açıl, açıl, açıl, açıl, ta ki, səhər açıla (7, p.199)

Or:

Kuyində Vəhidin dili-zarı necə oldu, Ey can, sölə, ey can, sölə ey can, sölə billah (7, p.202).

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In his poems, the poet paid a special attention to increase the impact of his words by using alliteration, that is, repetition of consonants of the same type. Here is one example for the repetition of ‘b’ and ‘g’ consonants:

Zahid, incitmə bəni, bən sərxoşü sən bidəmağ, Ya əlimdən çək ayağı, ya ki bizdən çək ayağ (7, p. 167)

We can see that Muhammad Tahir professionally used poetic figures in his poems. And here is an example for use of the literary expression mean of contrast:

Təzad bədii ifadə vasitəsindən istifadəyə misal: Könlümü daim yəman ol yaxsı baxışlı tutar (7, p. 115).

Vahid also successfully used the art of Talmih that is alluding any event. For example, when saying ‘I have seen your black hair and I want water of life’ (7, p. 178), he alluded the legend where Alexander the Great searched for the water of life together with Hizir in the dark world. Vahid Gazvini’s Divan in Turkish proves that he had a specific role in development of our poetry in the mother tongue in the 17th century.

References:

1. Azer Loutfali Bay. Atashkada. Tehran, 1337. 2. Fuzuli Muhammad. Works. In six volumes. 1st Volume. Baku: ‘Sharg-Garb’, 2005. 3. Heinz Wilhelm. Persisiche Handschriften. Teil 1. Wiesbaden: Frans Steiner, 1968. 4. Housseini M.A. Pages from the History of Our Literature. Baku: Nurlan, 2004. 5. Hosseini Muhammadali. Saib Tabrizi. Scientific Research Text of His Poems in Turkish. Baku: ‘Elm va Tahsil’, 2013. 6. Encyclopedia of Islam. 2nd Volume. Istanbul: National Education Press House, 1970. 7. Gazvini Vahid. Divan. Baku: ‘Nurlan’, 2009. 8. Gazvini Vahid. Divan. Manuscript. Berlin State Library. Code: Ms. Orient. Fol.3314. 9. Gazvini Vahid. Divan. Manuscript. Tabriz Central Library, No 2647. 10. Muhammadi Masiaga. Saib Tabrizi & Indian Style in the Poetry in Persian. Baku: Elm, 1994. 11. Muin Muhammad. Farhange-Farsi. V.6. Tehran, 1378. 12. Momtaz Salman. Sources of Azerbaijani Literature. Baku: Yazichi. 1986. 13. Nasrabadi Muhammad Tahir. Tazkireyi-Nasrabadi. V.1. Tehran, 1378. 14. Rahmani A.A. Muhammad Tahir Vahid’s Work ‘Abbasnama’ as a Historical So- urce. News of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan. Series of History, Philosophy & Law. 1974, No 2. 15. Tabrizi Govsi. Divan. Baku: ‘Nurlan’. 2005.

Institute of Manuscripts, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

Paşa Kərimov

Vəhid Qəzvini və onun türkcə divanı

XÜLASƏ

Açar sözlər: şair, tarixçi, vəzir, qəzəl, məsnəvi

İmadüddövlə Mirzə Məhəmməd Tahir Vəhid Qəzvini XVII əsrin görkəmli dövlət xadimi, şairi və tarixçisi olmuşdur. O, həmin əsrin əvvəlindən sonuna qədər yaşamış, təxmi- nən doxsan beş il ömür sürmüş, beş Səfəvi şahının hakimiyyəti dövründə hökümət idarəsində çalışmış, mühasib və vəqayenəvislik (baş verən hadisələri qeyd edən tarixçi) vəzifəsindən vəzirlik və sədri-əzəmliyə qədər yüksəlmişdir. Vəhid Qəzvinin maraq dairəsi çox geniş olmuş, tarix, ədəbiyyat, fəlsəfə, hərb elmini əhatə etmişdir. Onun Səfəvilər dövlətinin tarixinə dair “Abbasnamə”, rəsmi və qeyri-rəsmi şəxslərə yazılmış məktublar toplusu olan “Münşəat” əsəri geniş yayılmışdır. Şairin farsca iri həcmli divanının əlyazma nüsxələri dünyanın bir sıra əlyazma xəzinələrində saxlanmaqdadır. Bundan başqa o, farsca bir sıra poemalar da yazmışdır.

Паша Керимов

Вахид Газвини и его тюркский диван

РЕЗЮМЕ

Ключевые слова: поэт, историк, везир, газель, маснави

Азербайджанский поэт, историк, политический деятель XVII века Вахид Газвини является автором многочисленных стихов, поэм, исторических трудов на персидском языке. Недавно в Берлинской Государственной Библиотеке был обнаружен его диван- сборник лирических стихов на тюркско-азербайджанском языке. В этом диване, состоя- щийсья из 1842 бейтов собраны маснави, касыды, газели, кыты, назмы и текбейты по- эта. В этих стихах Вахида чувствуется сильное влияние великого азербайджанского по- эта Физули. Но вместе с тем в его произведениях можно увидеть новые тенденции ли- тературного процесса того времени.