In one of my earliest posts I noted the lack of both critical text editions and translation of the works of نوائی. Therefore, I was very excited when I was in Tashkent back in August to pick up a copy of a recently-published Arabic-script edition of the نسایم المحبَه, his biographical dictionary of Sufi saints, based largely on three of the earliest known manuscripts: 1) Topkapi MS. Rivan 808; 2) St. Petersburg IVAN MS. 97a; and 3) Sulaymaniyya MS. Fath 4056.
These three MSS. are all copied in a small hand, with 27 lines on each page, so the editors have consulted a pair of later MSS. copied in a larger hand. Incidentally, The editors appear not to be aware of another MS. which arguably belongs to the older family, namely MS. Tk. 1069 III Coll., Asiatic Society of Bengal, Kolkata. This MS. of 116 fols, which I've been able to examine on microfilm, is copied in a small hand, with 27 lines on each page. Many parts of the text are obscured by water damage, but with a little patience and the power of Adobe Acrobat, it's mostly possible to read.
The publishing of (on the face of it) a reasonably reliable text edition will, I hope, make this important source of Central Asian hagiography available to a much wider audience. As I've found out to my delight on numerous occasions, it has a lot of valuable material not found in other sources. For example, according to a friend of mine working on Isma'ilis in Central Asia, it contains one of the earliest references to the traveller and poet ناصر خسرو in a specifically hagiographical context i.e. as a religious personality (p.371)
Most importantly, though, it contains one of the earliest outlines of the group of Turkish shaykhs (ترک مشایخی) 'from the time of احمد یسوی' i.e. the Yasaviyya. While earlier sources had alluded to the co-called 'Turkish shaykhs,' and یسوی was an important figure in the cosmology of Central Asian Sufism, it is only in this work of نوائی that we see the first a full-developed outline of the Yasavaiyya generations, based on initiatory and hereditary linkages.
Showing posts with label Nawa'i. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nawa'i. Show all posts
Friday, 12 October 2012
Friday, 7 September 2012
Q&A session
It was a busy summer: a couple of pre-dissertation research trips, one to the UK and one to Uzbekistan; a French readings class; work at the research institute; class preparation for the Fall; and reading for Quals. It was probably *too* busy, but I achieved a couple of major goals, namely finally fulfilling my coursework requirements, and then taking - and passing - my Qualifying exams, which means - paperwork aside - I am essentially ABD (all but dissertation).
This semester I'll be working with our professor of Persian literature on a study of نوائی's Persian divan, and specifically his responses (جواب) to the غزلs of, inter alia, جامی، خسرو دهلوی and حافظ. The responses usually fall within the categories of مخمس or تتبع, and I'm hoping that a deeper understanding of the mechanics and aesthetics of the جواب will help me understand نوائی's place within late-Classical Persian poetry and how it seeped into his Turkic work.
This in turn is part of my broader mission to investigate نوائی as a literary and intellectual phenomenon. Among North American and European historians of the Timurid period, the study of نوائی has tended largely to focus on his activities as a politician and patron of the arts, and his literary importance has become axiomatic, without actually being the subject of wide-ranging and deep scholarly investigation. It is, of course, a different story in Central Asia, where - because of his prominence as a culture hero - literary critics have long engaged with his works (though there too there are interpretive issues, largely deriving from the still strong influence of Marxist ideology, coupled with post-independence nationalist ideologies).
This semester I'll be working with our professor of Persian literature on a study of نوائی's Persian divan, and specifically his responses (جواب) to the غزلs of, inter alia, جامی، خسرو دهلوی and حافظ. The responses usually fall within the categories of مخمس or تتبع, and I'm hoping that a deeper understanding of the mechanics and aesthetics of the جواب will help me understand نوائی's place within late-Classical Persian poetry and how it seeped into his Turkic work.
This in turn is part of my broader mission to investigate نوائی as a literary and intellectual phenomenon. Among North American and European historians of the Timurid period, the study of نوائی has tended largely to focus on his activities as a politician and patron of the arts, and his literary importance has become axiomatic, without actually being the subject of wide-ranging and deep scholarly investigation. It is, of course, a different story in Central Asia, where - because of his prominence as a culture hero - literary critics have long engaged with his works (though there too there are interpretive issues, largely deriving from the still strong influence of Marxist ideology, coupled with post-independence nationalist ideologies).
Monday, 6 June 2011
Ongoing Research (1)
I've accumulated a short list of "to do" projects over the summer, which I need to somehow fit in around my Uyghur language programme; these include:
1) MESA conference presentation;
2) CESS conference presentation;
3) Revise and submit paper for publication.
Of these, the first two are green-lighted; the third is more of a shot in the dark, but since I'm working on my advisor's recommendation - and since I like to think that he wouldn't deliberately send me on a fool's errand - it shouldn't be a complete waste of time and, in any case, it might well end up in my dissertation.
For MESA, I'll be presenting a paper on a Naqshbandi shaykh in Herat in the second-half of the fifteenth century, and for CESS I'll be discussing the influnce of Nava'i's work on early nineteenth century poets in Central Asia. The paper I'll be attempting to get published is a discussion of Nawa'i's memoir of Jami, Khamsat al-mutahayyirin.
A busy summer in store, then.
1) MESA conference presentation;
2) CESS conference presentation;
3) Revise and submit paper for publication.
Of these, the first two are green-lighted; the third is more of a shot in the dark, but since I'm working on my advisor's recommendation - and since I like to think that he wouldn't deliberately send me on a fool's errand - it shouldn't be a complete waste of time and, in any case, it might well end up in my dissertation.
For MESA, I'll be presenting a paper on a Naqshbandi shaykh in Herat in the second-half of the fifteenth century, and for CESS I'll be discussing the influnce of Nava'i's work on early nineteenth century poets in Central Asia. The paper I'll be attempting to get published is a discussion of Nawa'i's memoir of Jami, Khamsat al-mutahayyirin.
A busy summer in store, then.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Nava'i Scholarship (2)
It is Spring Break Break. Let joy be unconfined. Wandering around campus and downtown today I am reminded just how wonderful Bloomington can be when a) the weather is mild, and b) most of the students have left. Lest I be accused of misanthropy or academic snobbery on account of the latter point, I should point out that I happen to think Bloomington fairly lovely - if not outright wonderful - most of the year. It's just that, like a good wine (wah-wah-wah) sometimes you need a little time and space to breathe in order to truly appreciate the, err, and here the metaphor dies .. pfft.
That said, I've been able to return to some projects that have had to go on the back burner while I've been focused on the Conference, work, and regular studying. One of these projects involves gathering older i.e. 19th century scholarship on Nava'i. I've mentioned (I think ...) Monsieur Belin before, who published a two-part survey of Nava'i and his works in the early 1860s.
In the same venue - Journal asiatique - he published his translation of Mahbub al-qulub, Nava'i's treatise on ethics and society. A little earlier, the Russian orientalist Mikhail Nikitskiy, under the aegis of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, also published a survey of the works of Nava'i, as well as descriptions of Mir 'Ali Shir from period sources (Davlatshah Samarqandi, Khondamir, Sam Mirza et al).
These materials I've either been able to download off teh interwebs, or scan to .pdf from the wonderful microfilm and facsimile collection of Central Asian scholarship held at the Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies - where I happen to work. Most convenient.
That said, I've been able to return to some projects that have had to go on the back burner while I've been focused on the Conference, work, and regular studying. One of these projects involves gathering older i.e. 19th century scholarship on Nava'i. I've mentioned (I think ...) Monsieur Belin before, who published a two-part survey of Nava'i and his works in the early 1860s.
In the same venue - Journal asiatique - he published his translation of Mahbub al-qulub, Nava'i's treatise on ethics and society. A little earlier, the Russian orientalist Mikhail Nikitskiy, under the aegis of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, also published a survey of the works of Nava'i, as well as descriptions of Mir 'Ali Shir from period sources (Davlatshah Samarqandi, Khondamir, Sam Mirza et al).
These materials I've either been able to download off teh interwebs, or scan to .pdf from the wonderful microfilm and facsimile collection of Central Asian scholarship held at the Sinor Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies - where I happen to work. Most convenient.
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Nawa'i Scholarship (1)
Part of the process of researching Nawa'i includes, of course, engaging with previous scholarship. It is an onerous task: major monographs and articles have appeared in Russian, Uzbek, Turkish, Persian, German, French, Tajik ... and so on. Curiously, little is available in English - it's a similar situation that alluded to in an earlier post, when I was bemoaning the paucity of English-language translations of Mir 'Ali Shir.
I've recently been loaned by my advisor a volume written by the Soviet orientalist E. E. Bertel's, simply titled Navoi: opit tvorcheskoy biografii [Navoi: An experiment in creative biography] (Moscow/Leningrad: Academy of Sciences, 1948). Bertel's was one of the leading Russian orientalists of the 20th century, despite the obvious political and philosophical constraints placed upon him by the Soviet system, which often required scholars to bend their conclusions to match the prevailing ideological trends.
Bertel's has made an attempt here at a scholarly biography, but with (on the face of it) a populist slant. However, I should refrain from making judgment until I've actually, well, read it.
Bertel's also wrote a similar work on Jami, and it's the relationship between Jami and Nawa'i that is the focus of the latest phase of my research. I'm also holding onto a volume edited by the late Uzbek scholar Asom Urunbaev, entitled Pis'ma-avtografi Abdarrahmana Djami iz "Al'boma Navoi" [Signed letters of Abdurrahman Jami from the "Navoi Album"] (Tashkent: Fan, 1982).
It consists of (Russian) translations from the Persian of letters written by Jami, taken from the so-called Nava'i Album' of collected letters (Ms. of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences, no. 2178). Some of these letters were quoted from in Nawa'i's composition Khamsat al-Mutahayyirin, his memoir of his friendship with Jami.
I've recently been loaned by my advisor a volume written by the Soviet orientalist E. E. Bertel's, simply titled Navoi: opit tvorcheskoy biografii [Navoi: An experiment in creative biography] (Moscow/Leningrad: Academy of Sciences, 1948). Bertel's was one of the leading Russian orientalists of the 20th century, despite the obvious political and philosophical constraints placed upon him by the Soviet system, which often required scholars to bend their conclusions to match the prevailing ideological trends.
Bertel's has made an attempt here at a scholarly biography, but with (on the face of it) a populist slant. However, I should refrain from making judgment until I've actually, well, read it.
Bertel's also wrote a similar work on Jami, and it's the relationship between Jami and Nawa'i that is the focus of the latest phase of my research. I'm also holding onto a volume edited by the late Uzbek scholar Asom Urunbaev, entitled Pis'ma-avtografi Abdarrahmana Djami iz "Al'boma Navoi" [Signed letters of Abdurrahman Jami from the "Navoi Album"] (Tashkent: Fan, 1982).
It consists of (Russian) translations from the Persian of letters written by Jami, taken from the so-called Nava'i Album' of collected letters (Ms. of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences, no. 2178). Some of these letters were quoted from in Nawa'i's composition Khamsat al-Mutahayyirin, his memoir of his friendship with Jami.
Sunday, 19 September 2010
The Historic Nawa'i (1)
part of my research ... well, *part* of it now - probably most of it in the near future - involves examining how successive generations of poets engaged with and responded to Nawa'i's literary legacy. Quite simply, it means reading reams of late medieaval Turkic poetry (Central Asian or Ottoman) and identifying occasions on which poets either responded directly to Nawa'i - usually through the medium of often through the poetic form known as mukhammas, a five-line poem usually written in response to another - or by alluding to him in their poetry.
An example of the latter can be found in the poetry of the noted Khorezmian historian Shīr Muhammad Mīrāb bin ‘Awaḍ Biy Mīrāb al-Khīwaqī (1192/1778-1244/1829), or simply (and more commonly) Mu’nis. Nawa'i's works are known to have been on the curriculum (such as it was) in Central Asian madrassas by the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Examples of Nawa'i's works copied by Munis himself today survive in Central Asian collections.
References
V. A. Abdullaev, O’zbek Adabiyoti Tarixi II: XVII asrdan XIX asrning ikkinchi yarimgacha [History of Uzbek Literature, II: From the 17th Century to the Second Half of the 19th Century], (Tashkent: O’qituvchi, 1967).
Q. Munirov, Munis, Ogahiy va Bayonining Tarikhiy Asarlari [The works of history by Munis, Agahi and Bayani], (Tashkent: Uzbekistan SSR Academy of Sciences, 1960).
Gerhard Schoeler and Munibar Rahman, ‘Musammaṭ’, EI², VII (1993), pp. 660-2.
An example of the latter can be found in the poetry of the noted Khorezmian historian Shīr Muhammad Mīrāb bin ‘Awaḍ Biy Mīrāb al-Khīwaqī (1192/1778-1244/1829), or simply (and more commonly) Mu’nis. Nawa'i's works are known to have been on the curriculum (such as it was) in Central Asian madrassas by the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Examples of Nawa'i's works copied by Munis himself today survive in Central Asian collections.
References
V. A. Abdullaev, O’zbek Adabiyoti Tarixi II: XVII asrdan XIX asrning ikkinchi yarimgacha [History of Uzbek Literature, II: From the 17th Century to the Second Half of the 19th Century], (Tashkent: O’qituvchi, 1967).
Q. Munirov, Munis, Ogahiy va Bayonining Tarikhiy Asarlari [The works of history by Munis, Agahi and Bayani], (Tashkent: Uzbekistan SSR Academy of Sciences, 1960).
Gerhard Schoeler and Munibar Rahman, ‘Musammaṭ’, EI², VII (1993), pp. 660-2.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Nawa'i MSS (3)
Earlier posts alluded to a) the lack of English translations of Nawa'i's works, and b) the production of scholarly editions in (mostly) Uzbekistan and Turkey. However, as libraries and archives get stuck into the arduous process of digitizing their collections, it is to be hoped that the manuscript copies themselves will become accessible online - preferably without having to pay for the privilege, but we can but hope.
One good example is the University of Michigan, which has made available for download (courtesy of the excellent Islamic Manuscripts at Michigan project)an early 19th-century copy of the Khamsa-i Nawa'i. Composed during 888-890 AH/AD 1483-85, this is a quintet of mathnawīs modeled on Persian works by Niẓāmī, Amīr Khusraw and Jāmī; Nawa'i's was the first in the genre to be written in Chaghatay Turkic. The five parts are:
I.) Ḥayrat al-Abrār
II.) Farhād va Shīrīn
III.) Laylī va Majnūn
IV.) Sab‘a-yi Sayyār
V.) Saddi Iskandarī
This particular copy comes from the Abdulhamid Collection at UM, so-called because it belonged to the Ottoman Sultan, Abdulhamid II (r. 1876-1909). The name of the copyist and the date of copying is given at the end of the text: Sahib Shaykh Khatib, 1245 AH (AD 1829/30).
I haven't had much of an opportunity yet to examine the ms., but on the face of it, it is a very good copy, made in a clear and tidy hand, with relatively few blemishes or major lacunae.
One good example is the University of Michigan, which has made available for download (courtesy of the excellent Islamic Manuscripts at Michigan project)an early 19th-century copy of the Khamsa-i Nawa'i. Composed during 888-890 AH/AD 1483-85, this is a quintet of mathnawīs modeled on Persian works by Niẓāmī, Amīr Khusraw and Jāmī; Nawa'i's was the first in the genre to be written in Chaghatay Turkic. The five parts are:
I.) Ḥayrat al-Abrār
II.) Farhād va Shīrīn
III.) Laylī va Majnūn
IV.) Sab‘a-yi Sayyār
V.) Saddi Iskandarī
This particular copy comes from the Abdulhamid Collection at UM, so-called because it belonged to the Ottoman Sultan, Abdulhamid II (r. 1876-1909). The name of the copyist and the date of copying is given at the end of the text: Sahib Shaykh Khatib, 1245 AH (AD 1829/30).
I haven't had much of an opportunity yet to examine the ms., but on the face of it, it is a very good copy, made in a clear and tidy hand, with relatively few blemishes or major lacunae.
Saturday, 4 September 2010
Nawa'i MSS (2)
Earlier this year I compiled for the purposes of a term paper an initial handlist of Nawa'i MSS worldwide. I identified over 680 copies of Mir 'Ali Shir's Persian and Turkic works in libraries and archives throughout Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia. The oldest dated from his lifetime (i.e. the 2nd half of the 15th cent.) and the most recent from just before WWII (1939, to be precise). As the focus of the survey was on handcopied mss, I excluded lithographic and printed editions of his works.
The survey revealed two trends: first, that his works rapidly spread as far afield as the Ottoman Empire, India and eastern Moghulistan (counterminous to modern-day Xinjiang) within a couple of decades of his death, facilitated by diplomatic and cultural exchanges between the Ottomans, Safavids, early Mughals and rulers of eastern Turkestan; abd second, that there appears to have been a huge increase in the copying of his works from around 1800 - or, to put it another way, we have more copies of his works made between 1800 and 1900 than were made between 1500 and 1800 put together.
I'm still working on the handlist, as I missed several major collections and archives in Turkey, and also did not cover India or China in my survey, so for the moment I'll offer up a few readings which explore the cultural exchanges between Central Asia and neighbouring regions from 1500 onward.
Suggested Readings
Beisembiev, T. K., ‘Farghana’s Contacts with India in the 18th and 19th Centuries (According to the Khoqand Chronicles)’, Journal of Asian History, vol. 28, no.2 (1994), pp. 124-35.
Birnbaum, E., ‘The Ottomans and Chaghatay Literature’, Central Asiatic Journal, vol. 20, no. 3 (1976), pp. 157-190.
Dale, S. F., ‘The Legacy of the Timurids’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, series 3, vol. 8, no. 1 (1998), pp. 43-58.
Foltz, R., ‘Cultural Contacts between Central Asia and Mughal India’, Central Asiatic Journal, vol. 42, no. 1 (1998), pp. 44-65.
Schimmel, A., ‘Some Notes on the Cultural Activity of the First Uzbek Rulers’, Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society, vol. 8, no. 3 (1960).
Soucek, P., ‘Persian Artists in Mughal India: Influences and Transformations’, Muqarnas, vol. 4 (1987), pp. 161-181.
Subtelny, M. E., ‘Art and Politics in Early 16th Century Central Asia’, Central Asiatic Journal, vol. 27, nos 1-2 (1983), pp. 121-148.
Tanindi, Z., ‘Additions to Illustrated Manuscripts in Ottoman Workshops’, Muqarnas, vol. 17 (2000), pp. 147-161.
The survey revealed two trends: first, that his works rapidly spread as far afield as the Ottoman Empire, India and eastern Moghulistan (counterminous to modern-day Xinjiang) within a couple of decades of his death, facilitated by diplomatic and cultural exchanges between the Ottomans, Safavids, early Mughals and rulers of eastern Turkestan; abd second, that there appears to have been a huge increase in the copying of his works from around 1800 - or, to put it another way, we have more copies of his works made between 1800 and 1900 than were made between 1500 and 1800 put together.
I'm still working on the handlist, as I missed several major collections and archives in Turkey, and also did not cover India or China in my survey, so for the moment I'll offer up a few readings which explore the cultural exchanges between Central Asia and neighbouring regions from 1500 onward.
Suggested Readings
Beisembiev, T. K., ‘Farghana’s Contacts with India in the 18th and 19th Centuries (According to the Khoqand Chronicles)’, Journal of Asian History, vol. 28, no.2 (1994), pp. 124-35.
Birnbaum, E., ‘The Ottomans and Chaghatay Literature’, Central Asiatic Journal, vol. 20, no. 3 (1976), pp. 157-190.
Dale, S. F., ‘The Legacy of the Timurids’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, series 3, vol. 8, no. 1 (1998), pp. 43-58.
Foltz, R., ‘Cultural Contacts between Central Asia and Mughal India’, Central Asiatic Journal, vol. 42, no. 1 (1998), pp. 44-65.
Schimmel, A., ‘Some Notes on the Cultural Activity of the First Uzbek Rulers’, Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society, vol. 8, no. 3 (1960).
Soucek, P., ‘Persian Artists in Mughal India: Influences and Transformations’, Muqarnas, vol. 4 (1987), pp. 161-181.
Subtelny, M. E., ‘Art and Politics in Early 16th Century Central Asia’, Central Asiatic Journal, vol. 27, nos 1-2 (1983), pp. 121-148.
Tanindi, Z., ‘Additions to Illustrated Manuscripts in Ottoman Workshops’, Muqarnas, vol. 17 (2000), pp. 147-161.
Saturday, 26 December 2009
Nawa'i in Historical Context (1)
Maria Subtelny at University of Toronto is supreme among English-language scholars who focus on this period. Her most recent work, Timurids in Transition: Turko-Persian Politics and Acculturation in Medieval Iran (Leiden: Brill, 2007), is effectively a summation of her life's work, combining both new and previously published scholarship on the latter years of the Timurid dynasty, with particular focus on the reign of Sultan Husayn Mirza and the socio-economic condition of Herat.
However, while it does a fine job detailing complex political machinations and interpreting the economic record - notably waqf (religious foundation) charters - it isn't overly concerned with Mir 'Ali Shir, at least not from the cultural perspective.
On a similar note, The Garden of the Eight Paradises: Babur and the Culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan and India (1483-1530) (Leiden: Brill, 2004), by Stephen F. Dale of Ohio State University, while ostensibly pre-occupied with the founder of the Mughal dynasty, has important points to make about the cultural significance of Herat and the flowering of Turkic literature under the benevolent gaze of Mir 'Ali Shir.
Maria Szuppe does a fine job analyzing political relationships, change and continuity at the beginning of the 15th Century in Entre Timourides, Uzbeks et Safavides: questions d'histoire politique et sociale de Hérat dans la première moitié du XVIe siècle (Paris: Association pour l'avancement des études iraniennes, 1992). Ultimately, her survey falls slightly - but only just - outside the period of interest, but her short survey on the main chroniclers of the period (Khwandamir, Vasifi et al) is invaluable.
Soviet and Uzbek scholarship on Nawa'i is voluminous, but for starters A. K. Borovkov's edited volume from 1946 - originally timed to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Mir 'Ali Shir's birth, but postponed due to a little unpleasantness involving Hitler on the USSR's western borders - contains several valuable articles, not least A. K. Yakubovsky's essay on the political, cultural and social milieu of 15th century Khurasan.
References
A. Yu. Yakubovskiy, 'Cherti obshestvennoy i kulturnoy jizni epokhi Alishera Navoi [some lines on the cultural life of the age of Alisher Navoi]', in A. K. Borovkov, ed., Alisher Navoi, (Moscow/Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1946), pp3-30.
Stephen F. Dale, The Garden of the Eight Paradises: Babur and the Culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan and India (1483-1530), (Leiden: Brill, 2004).
Maria Subtelny, Timurids in Transition: Turko-Persian Politics and Acculturation in Medieval Iran, (Leiden: Brill, 2007).
Maria Szuppe, Entre Timourides, Uzbeks et Safavides: questions d'histoire politique et sociale de Hérat dans la première moitié du XVIe siècle, (Paris: Association pour l'avancement des études iraniennes, 1992).
However, while it does a fine job detailing complex political machinations and interpreting the economic record - notably waqf (religious foundation) charters - it isn't overly concerned with Mir 'Ali Shir, at least not from the cultural perspective.
On a similar note, The Garden of the Eight Paradises: Babur and the Culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan and India (1483-1530) (Leiden: Brill, 2004), by Stephen F. Dale of Ohio State University, while ostensibly pre-occupied with the founder of the Mughal dynasty, has important points to make about the cultural significance of Herat and the flowering of Turkic literature under the benevolent gaze of Mir 'Ali Shir.
Maria Szuppe does a fine job analyzing political relationships, change and continuity at the beginning of the 15th Century in Entre Timourides, Uzbeks et Safavides: questions d'histoire politique et sociale de Hérat dans la première moitié du XVIe siècle (Paris: Association pour l'avancement des études iraniennes, 1992). Ultimately, her survey falls slightly - but only just - outside the period of interest, but her short survey on the main chroniclers of the period (Khwandamir, Vasifi et al) is invaluable.
Soviet and Uzbek scholarship on Nawa'i is voluminous, but for starters A. K. Borovkov's edited volume from 1946 - originally timed to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Mir 'Ali Shir's birth, but postponed due to a little unpleasantness involving Hitler on the USSR's western borders - contains several valuable articles, not least A. K. Yakubovsky's essay on the political, cultural and social milieu of 15th century Khurasan.
References
A. Yu. Yakubovskiy, 'Cherti obshestvennoy i kulturnoy jizni epokhi Alishera Navoi [some lines on the cultural life of the age of Alisher Navoi]', in A. K. Borovkov, ed., Alisher Navoi, (Moscow/Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1946), pp3-30.
Stephen F. Dale, The Garden of the Eight Paradises: Babur and the Culture of Empire in Central Asia, Afghanistan and India (1483-1530), (Leiden: Brill, 2004).
Maria Subtelny, Timurids in Transition: Turko-Persian Politics and Acculturation in Medieval Iran, (Leiden: Brill, 2007).
Maria Szuppe, Entre Timourides, Uzbeks et Safavides: questions d'histoire politique et sociale de Hérat dans la première moitié du XVIe siècle, (Paris: Association pour l'avancement des études iraniennes, 1992).
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Glossing Nawa'i (1)
In the absence of a Chaghatay-English dictionary/lexicon/glossary and so on, the reader of Mir 'Ali Shir is forced to consult a number of different reference sources to make either head or tail of his works which, transgressing on the territories of religion and poetry, often contain a lot of oblique or obscure words and phrases, many of them loans from Arabic and Persian.
A good starting point is that old warhorse, the Redhouse's [Ottoman] Turkish Dictionary. The English-Turkish/Turkish-English version is available in two editions (1856 & 1880), both out of copyright and both downloadable via Google books. The obvious advantage of Redhouse is that the Turkish is rendered in the Perso-Arabic script.
Good Arabic and Persian dictionaries are also a must. I have thus far relied on a compact paperback edition of The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (4th edn, repr. 1994) and Steingass, A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary (repr. 1975). Hans Wehr is arranged alphabetically by root, so a little knowledge of Arabic morphology is essentially because you often come across a word in Chaghatay that literally screams 'Arabic!'; words beginning 'muta-' fall into this category. Steingass is particularly useful when perusing Sufi texts inspired or based on Persian works.
Some Turkic works may be really archaic or obscure, so it's necessary to have one of Sir Gerard Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-thirteenth-century Turkish (1972) or Mahmud al-Kashgari, Diwan-i Lughat al-Turk (Compendium of the Language of the Turks) (Harvard, 1982-85) close to hand.
That's just the English-language materials. There are a couple of 19th Century French dictionaries by Abel Pavet de Courteille, Dictionnaire Turk-oriental (1870) and C. Barbier de Meynard, Dictionnaire turc-francais (1881). The former can be found on Google books and downloaded in its entirety.
A Russian curio is Budagov's Comparative Dictionary of Turco-Tatar Dialects (1869) and readers of Turkish, Uzbek, Uyghur and other Turkic languages may find contemporary dictionaries for those languages useful as well.
References
G. Clauson (Sir), An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-thirteenth-century Turkish (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972).
Abel Pavet de Courteille, Dictionnaire Turk-oriental (Paris: 1870) [download].
Mahmud al-Kashgari, Diwan-i Lughat al-Turk (Compendium of the Language of the Turks) trans. and ed. by Robert Dankoff and James Kelly, 3 vols (Cambridge, MA: 1982-85).
C. Barbier de Meynard, Dictionnaire turc-francais (Paris: 1881-86).
J. W. Redhouse, An English and Turkish Dictionary, in Two Parts, English and Turkish, and Turkish and English, (London: Quaritch, 1856) [download].
J. W. Redhouse, An English and Turkish Dictionary, in Two Parts, English and Turkish, and Turkish and English, 2nd edn (London: Quaritch, 1880) [download].
F. Steingass, A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary, repr. 1975 (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1975).
H. Wehr, The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern written Arabic, ed. by J. M. Cowan, 4th edn (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1994).
A good starting point is that old warhorse, the Redhouse's [Ottoman] Turkish Dictionary. The English-Turkish/Turkish-English version is available in two editions (1856 & 1880), both out of copyright and both downloadable via Google books. The obvious advantage of Redhouse is that the Turkish is rendered in the Perso-Arabic script.
Good Arabic and Persian dictionaries are also a must. I have thus far relied on a compact paperback edition of The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (4th edn, repr. 1994) and Steingass, A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary (repr. 1975). Hans Wehr is arranged alphabetically by root, so a little knowledge of Arabic morphology is essentially because you often come across a word in Chaghatay that literally screams 'Arabic!'; words beginning 'muta-' fall into this category. Steingass is particularly useful when perusing Sufi texts inspired or based on Persian works.
Some Turkic works may be really archaic or obscure, so it's necessary to have one of Sir Gerard Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-thirteenth-century Turkish (1972) or Mahmud al-Kashgari, Diwan-i Lughat al-Turk (Compendium of the Language of the Turks) (Harvard, 1982-85) close to hand.
That's just the English-language materials. There are a couple of 19th Century French dictionaries by Abel Pavet de Courteille, Dictionnaire Turk-oriental (1870) and C. Barbier de Meynard, Dictionnaire turc-francais (1881). The former can be found on Google books and downloaded in its entirety.
A Russian curio is Budagov's Comparative Dictionary of Turco-Tatar Dialects (1869) and readers of Turkish, Uzbek, Uyghur and other Turkic languages may find contemporary dictionaries for those languages useful as well.
References
G. Clauson (Sir), An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-thirteenth-century Turkish (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972).
Abel Pavet de Courteille, Dictionnaire Turk-oriental (Paris: 1870) [download].
Mahmud al-Kashgari, Diwan-i Lughat al-Turk (Compendium of the Language of the Turks) trans. and ed. by Robert Dankoff and James Kelly, 3 vols (Cambridge, MA: 1982-85).
C. Barbier de Meynard, Dictionnaire turc-francais (Paris: 1881-86).
J. W. Redhouse, An English and Turkish Dictionary, in Two Parts, English and Turkish, and Turkish and English, (London: Quaritch, 1856) [download].
J. W. Redhouse, An English and Turkish Dictionary, in Two Parts, English and Turkish, and Turkish and English, 2nd edn (London: Quaritch, 1880) [download].
F. Steingass, A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary, repr. 1975 (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1975).
H. Wehr, The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern written Arabic, ed. by J. M. Cowan, 4th edn (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1994).
Friday, 11 December 2009
Sources on Mir 'Ali Shir (1)
While we lack for accessible translations of Mir 'Ali Shir's works, there are no shortage of sources on him, his life and times available in English translation (and other languages). An obvious starting point is the Makarim al-Akhlaq, a panegyric written by Khwandamir in Mir 'Ali Shir's honor, listing his virtues and literary achievements. Significantly, it gives details of the institutions established by Nawa'i and the notable scholars and religious figures employed therein. Also by the Khwandamir is the Habibu al-Siyar, a general history that includes a lengthy section on Sultan Husayn Mirza, including at least 200 potted biographies of notable personalities from his reign.
Similarly, the Tarikh-i Rashidi of Mirza Huseyn Dughlat, the Bada’ya’ al-Vaqa’ya’ of Vasifi, and Babur's Baburnameh also include lengthy descriptions of Herat in the time of Sultan Husayn Mirza and Mir 'Ali Shir. Later, 16th-century tazkirahs by Fakhri Heravi and Sam Mirza add more detail to the picture. Excerpts from several of these sources have been collated in a nifty volme edited by B. Ahmedov.
References
Ahmedov, B., ed., Navoiy Zamondoshlari Xotirasida, (Tashkent: 1985).
Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, Bábar-Náma [facsimile of the Haydarabad Codex], ed. by Annette S. Beveridge, E. J. W. Memorial Series, I, repr. (London: Luzac and Co., 1971).
—, Bâburnâma: Chaghatay Turkish Text with Abdul-Rahim Khankhanan's Persian Translation, trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston, Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures, 18, 3 vols (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1993).
—, Bābur-nāma (Vaqāyi’): Critical Edition Based on Four Chaghatay Texts, ed. by Eiji Mano, (Kyoto: Syokado, 1995).
—, The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor, trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston (New York: Modern Library, 2002).
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).
Fakhri Haravi, Taẕkirah-‘i Rowẓat al-Salātīn, ed. A. Khayyampour (Tabriz: 1345/1966).
Khandamir, Makarimul Akhlaq, trans. by S. Mutallibov (Tashkent: OzFan, 1941).
Khwandamir, The ‘Makārim al-Akhlāq’: A Treatise on ‘Alishīr Navā’ī, ed. by T. Gandjeï (Cambridge, UK: E. J. W.Gibb Memorial Trust, 1979).
—, Habibu’s-Siyar: Tome Three, trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston, Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures, 24, 2 vols (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1994).
Sām Mīrzā Ṣafavī, Taẕkirah-‘i Tuḥfaḥ-‘i Sāmī, ed. by Rukn al-Din Humayun Farrukh (Tehran: 1384/2005-2006).
Zain al-Din Mahmud Vasifi, Bada’ya’ al-Vaqa’ya’, ed. by A. N. Boldyrev 2 vols (Tehran: 1970–72).
Similarly, the Tarikh-i Rashidi of Mirza Huseyn Dughlat, the Bada’ya’ al-Vaqa’ya’ of Vasifi, and Babur's Baburnameh also include lengthy descriptions of Herat in the time of Sultan Husayn Mirza and Mir 'Ali Shir. Later, 16th-century tazkirahs by Fakhri Heravi and Sam Mirza add more detail to the picture. Excerpts from several of these sources have been collated in a nifty volme edited by B. Ahmedov.
References
Ahmedov, B., ed., Navoiy Zamondoshlari Xotirasida, (Tashkent: 1985).
Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur, Bábar-Náma [facsimile of the Haydarabad Codex], ed. by Annette S. Beveridge, E. J. W. Memorial Series, I, repr. (London: Luzac and Co., 1971).
—, Bâburnâma: Chaghatay Turkish Text with Abdul-Rahim Khankhanan's Persian Translation, trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston, Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures, 18, 3 vols (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1993).
—, Bābur-nāma (Vaqāyi’): Critical Edition Based on Four Chaghatay Texts, ed. by Eiji Mano, (Kyoto: Syokado, 1995).
—, The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor, trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston (New York: Modern Library, 2002).
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).
Fakhri Haravi, Taẕkirah-‘i Rowẓat al-Salātīn, ed. A. Khayyampour (Tabriz: 1345/1966).
Khandamir, Makarimul Akhlaq, trans. by S. Mutallibov (Tashkent: OzFan, 1941).
Khwandamir, The ‘Makārim al-Akhlāq’: A Treatise on ‘Alishīr Navā’ī, ed. by T. Gandjeï (Cambridge, UK: E. J. W.Gibb Memorial Trust, 1979).
—, Habibu’s-Siyar: Tome Three, trans. by Wheeler M. Thackston, Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures, 24, 2 vols (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1994).
Sām Mīrzā Ṣafavī, Taẕkirah-‘i Tuḥfaḥ-‘i Sāmī, ed. by Rukn al-Din Humayun Farrukh (Tehran: 1384/2005-2006).
Zain al-Din Mahmud Vasifi, Bada’ya’ al-Vaqa’ya’, ed. by A. N. Boldyrev 2 vols (Tehran: 1970–72).
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Nawa'i Editions (1)
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).
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).
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.
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