For the non-linguist, accessing Mir 'Ali Shir is a sisypheaen task. As far as I am aware, only one of his works has been translated into English, the famous Mughamat al-Lughatain (composed AH 905/AD 1499), his treatise on the superiority of Chaghatay Turkic to Persian as a literary language. It's an interesting work, but imho has more novelty value than anything.
If it's critical and/or published editions of his other more substantial works you're after, you need to know one (or all) of the following: Russian, Turkish, or Uzbek. All Mir 'Ali Shir's works have been published in Uzbekistan as a 20-volume set, with the original Chaghatay Perso-Arabic script transliterated into Modified Uzbek Cyrillic. This has led to a few oddities and inaccuracies, but it's basically readable and fairly comprehensible if you have at least intermediate-level Uzbek [n.b. I'm writing for the benefit of non-native speakers, here].
Additionally, there are also several 'scientific-critical' editions, which usually consist of either a facsimile of an original ms. or re-keyed Perso-Arabic text, and introductory essays, annotations and comprehensive indexes. Of these, there's an excellent edition of the Majalis al-Nafa'is (897/1491-2), Mir 'Ali Shir's tazkirah (compilation) of poets' biographies, and a smart edition of Sab'a-i Seyyar (890/1485), the fourth poem in Nawa'i's Khamsa quintet.
The publication of accessible editions is something of a cottage-industry in Turkey. The notable Turcologist Kemal Eraslan has supervised scholarly editions of the Majalis al-Nafa'is - in two vols, consisting of a transliteration in Modified Latin Turkish script and a translation in Turkish with notes and indexes - and the Nasaoim al-Muhabbat (901/1495-6), Mir 'Ali Shir's Chaghatay rendition of Jami's tazkirah of sufi hagiographies, Nafahat al-Uns.
References
‘Alī Shīr Navā’ī, Majalis al-Nafa’is, ed. by Suyima G’anieva (Tashkent: Uzbek SSR Academy of Sciences, 1961).
Alisher Navoiy, Khamsa: Sab'a-i Sayyar, ed. by Parsa Shamsiev and Hadi Zarif, (Tashkent: Uzbek SSR Academy of Sciences, 1956).
Alisher Navoiy, Muqammal Asarlar To’plami [collected works], 20 vols (Tashkent: Fan, 1987–).
Ali Şîr Nevâyî, Mecâlisü’n-Nefâyis, ed. by Huseyin Ayan and others (Erzurum: Atatürk Ünīversïtesī, 1995).
Alī-șīr Nevāyī, Nesāyimü’l-Maḥabbe min Șemāyimi’l-Fütüvve, ed. by Kemal Eraslan, Türk Dil Kurumu Yayinlari, 608 (Ankara: Atatürk Kültür, Dil ve Tarih Yüksek Kurumu, 1996).
Alî-Şîr Nevayî, Mecâlisü’n-Nefâyis, ed. by Kemal Eraslan, Türk Dil Kurumu Yayinlari, 735, 2 vols (Ankara: Atatürk Kültür, Dil ve Tarih Yüksek Kurumu, 2001).
Mīr ‘Alī Shīr [Navā’ī], Muḥākamat al-Lughatain, trans. by Robert Devereux (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1966).
Showing posts with label Mir Ali Shir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mir Ali Shir. Show all posts
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Nawa'i MSS (1)
One of the main problems facing the researcher of Mir 'Ali Shir is that manuscripts of his works, whether copied during his own lifetime or after, are dispersed across innumerable countries. Naturally, some institutions have more mss than others; of particular importance is the manuscript collection at the Biruni (Oriental) Institute of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences in Tashkent. There are also important items at libraries in Kazan (Tatarstan) and St Petersburg (Russia).
Outside of the countries of the former Soviet Union, the Bibliothèque Nationale du France in Paris and the British Library in London are arguably of primary importance. It should be pointed out that Nawa'i's works exist in both Persian and Chaghatay Turkic, but because of my language training I am initially focusing on identifying and accessing mss written in the latter language.
There are two ways of identifying mss: 1) scholarship based on mss and published critical editions; 2) published catalogues. In terms of the latter, a limited list looks like this ...
Ethé, H., Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, repr. (London: India Office Library & Records, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1980).
Kut, G., Supplementary Catalogue of Turkish Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library: with reprint of the 1930 catalogue by H. Ethé, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
Meredith-Owens, G. M., Handlist of Persian Manuscripts [acquired by the British Museum] 1895-1966, (London: British Museum, 1968).
Parlatir, İ., Hazai, G., and Kellner-Heinkele, B., Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Oriental Manuscripts in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2 (Budapest: Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2007).
Rieu, C., Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1879-83).
—, Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum, (London: British Museum, 1888).
—, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, (London: British Museum, 1895).
Smirnow, W. D., Manuscrits Turcs de l’Institut des Langues Orientales [St Petersburg], Collections scientifiques de l’Institut des Langues Orientales du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, 7 (Amsterdam: Celibus, 1971).
Sobranie Vostochnykh Rukopisei Akademii Nauk Uzbekskoi SSR [catalogue of oriental manuscripts at the Uzbek SSR Academy of Sciences], 11 vols (Tashkent: UzSSR Academy of Sciences, 1952–1987).
Volin, S. L., ‘Opisanie rukopisei proizvedeniy Navoi v Leningradskikh sobraniyakh' [A description of Navoi manuscript items in the Leningrad collections], in Alisher Navoi, ed. by A. K. Borovkov (Moscow/Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1946).
Waley, M. I., Supplementary Handlist of Persian Manuscripts, 1966-1998, (London: British Library, 1998).
Outside of the countries of the former Soviet Union, the Bibliothèque Nationale du France in Paris and the British Library in London are arguably of primary importance. It should be pointed out that Nawa'i's works exist in both Persian and Chaghatay Turkic, but because of my language training I am initially focusing on identifying and accessing mss written in the latter language.
There are two ways of identifying mss: 1) scholarship based on mss and published critical editions; 2) published catalogues. In terms of the latter, a limited list looks like this ...
Ethé, H., Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, repr. (London: India Office Library & Records, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1980).
Kut, G., Supplementary Catalogue of Turkish Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library: with reprint of the 1930 catalogue by H. Ethé, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
Meredith-Owens, G. M., Handlist of Persian Manuscripts [acquired by the British Museum] 1895-1966, (London: British Museum, 1968).
Parlatir, İ., Hazai, G., and Kellner-Heinkele, B., Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Oriental Manuscripts in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2 (Budapest: Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2007).
Rieu, C., Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1879-83).
—, Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum, (London: British Museum, 1888).
—, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, (London: British Museum, 1895).
Smirnow, W. D., Manuscrits Turcs de l’Institut des Langues Orientales [St Petersburg], Collections scientifiques de l’Institut des Langues Orientales du Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, 7 (Amsterdam: Celibus, 1971).
Sobranie Vostochnykh Rukopisei Akademii Nauk Uzbekskoi SSR [catalogue of oriental manuscripts at the Uzbek SSR Academy of Sciences], 11 vols (Tashkent: UzSSR Academy of Sciences, 1952–1987).
Volin, S. L., ‘Opisanie rukopisei proizvedeniy Navoi v Leningradskikh sobraniyakh' [A description of Navoi manuscript items in the Leningrad collections], in Alisher Navoi, ed. by A. K. Borovkov (Moscow/Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1946).
Waley, M. I., Supplementary Handlist of Persian Manuscripts, 1966-1998, (London: British Library, 1998).
Monday, 7 December 2009
Notes on Mir 'Ali Shir (1)
The title of Mir (from the Arabic amir, 'Prince' or, sometimes, 'Commander') was not inherited, as is still regularly stated - for example, on the relevant wikipedia article - but awarded. The idea that Mir 'Ali Shir came by the title because he belonged to the aristocracy is erroneous - unfortunately, because this assertion was first made by the otherwise magisterial V. V. Bartol'd, it has stuck.
It is more likely Mir 'Ali Shir acquired the handle after being appointed an amir of the divan-i a'la, or turk divani, the branch of the state administration dealing with the Turco-Mongolian tribes and military affairs, in 876/1472 [Khwandamir, II, fol. 159]. Also known as the divan-i buzurg or tuvaji divani, this stood as a counterpart to the sart divani or divan-i mal, which dealt with the Persian (or Tajik) population [Subtelny, 'Bakhshi and Beg', p803].
Mir 'Ali Shir's origins were slightly more prosaic; he was from a family of Uighur scribes (bakhshis) that had faithfully served the Timurid dynasty for several generations [Dughlat, II, fol. 90]. Additionally, Mir 'Ali Shir shared a bond of foster-brotherhood (kukultashi) with Sultan Husayn Mirza 'Bayqara' (r. 873/1469-911/1506) of Herat [Subtelny, 'Mir Ali Shir', pp90-93].
References
V. V. Bartol’d, ‘Mīr Alī Shīr’, Four Studies on the History of Central Asia, trans. by V. and T. Minorsky, 3 vols (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1962–63), III (1962), 1-72.
Khwandamir, Habibu’s-Siyar: Tome Three, trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston, Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures, 24, 2 vols (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1994).
Mirza Haydar Dughlat, Tarikh-i-Rashidi: A History of the Khans of Moghulistan, trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston, Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures, 38, 2 vols (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1996).
Subtelny, M. E., ‘Alī Shīr Navā’ī: Bakshī and Beg’, in Eucharisterion: Essays Presented to Omeljan Pritsak on his 60th Birthday by his Colleagues and Students, ed. by I. Ševčenko and F. E. Sysyn, Harvard Ukrainian Studies, 3-4/2 (1979-80), 797-807.
Subtelny, M. E., ‘Mīr Alī Shīr Nawā’ī’, EI², VII (1993), 90-93.
It is more likely Mir 'Ali Shir acquired the handle after being appointed an amir of the divan-i a'la, or turk divani, the branch of the state administration dealing with the Turco-Mongolian tribes and military affairs, in 876/1472 [Khwandamir, II, fol. 159]. Also known as the divan-i buzurg or tuvaji divani, this stood as a counterpart to the sart divani or divan-i mal, which dealt with the Persian (or Tajik) population [Subtelny, 'Bakhshi and Beg', p803].
Mir 'Ali Shir's origins were slightly more prosaic; he was from a family of Uighur scribes (bakhshis) that had faithfully served the Timurid dynasty for several generations [Dughlat, II, fol. 90]. Additionally, Mir 'Ali Shir shared a bond of foster-brotherhood (kukultashi) with Sultan Husayn Mirza 'Bayqara' (r. 873/1469-911/1506) of Herat [Subtelny, 'Mir Ali Shir', pp90-93].
References
V. V. Bartol’d, ‘Mīr Alī Shīr’, Four Studies on the History of Central Asia, trans. by V. and T. Minorsky, 3 vols (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1962–63), III (1962), 1-72.
Khwandamir, Habibu’s-Siyar: Tome Three, trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston, Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures, 24, 2 vols (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1994).
Mirza Haydar Dughlat, Tarikh-i-Rashidi: A History of the Khans of Moghulistan, trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston, Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures, 38, 2 vols (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1996).
Subtelny, M. E., ‘Alī Shīr Navā’ī: Bakshī and Beg’, in Eucharisterion: Essays Presented to Omeljan Pritsak on his 60th Birthday by his Colleagues and Students, ed. by I. Ševčenko and F. E. Sysyn, Harvard Ukrainian Studies, 3-4/2 (1979-80), 797-807.
Subtelny, M. E., ‘Mīr Alī Shīr Nawā’ī’, EI², VII (1993), 90-93.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)