Mir ʿAli Shir Nawāʾi

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Nawaʾi on a Soviet postage stamp

Mir ʿAli Schir Nawāʾi ( Persian مير على شير نوائى, DMG Mīr ʿAlī-Šīr Nawāʾī , born February 9, 1441 in Herat ; † January 3, 1501 ibid), actually Nizām od-Din ʿAli Schir , known by his poet name Nawā'ī ("the one with a harmonious sound"), internationally often simply written Nava'i , was a Persian politician of Turkish origin of Uighur origin , builder, Mystic , poet and, according to Babur, also composer and musician at the court of the Timurids in Herat. He is considered one of the most important poets of the Chagata language , which is one of the Turkic languages .

In Tajikistan and Uzbekistan , Nawā'ī is celebrated today as a folk hero, with the former mainly because of his work as a builder and art sponsor, with the latter because of his Chagataic poetry. He is considered by many to be the greatest Turkish-speaking poet of all time and is equated with poets like Yunus Emre .

biography

Childhood and youth

ʿAli Schir came from a wealthy and educated family of Uighur Bachschis (folk singers) in the Timurid capital of Herat. His father, Ghiyās od-Din Kitschkina, was a senior civil servant. He spent his childhood and youth alternately in Herat, Mashhad and Samarqand .

Nawāʾi as a civil servant and builder

Statue of Mir ʿAli Schir Nawāʾi in the Osh City Park

In 1469 he returned to his hometown of Herat after his long-time school friend Husayn Bāyqarā had been appointed the new sultan. Not much is known about Nawāʾi's literary activity prior to this period. He was interested in politics and the social coexistence of the people in Herat and the rest of the Timurid Empire from an early age. In Herat, therefore, he took over the previous position of his father and became a high civil servant under his milk brother Sultan Husayn Bāyqarā. During this time, Nawāʾi demonstrated above all his talent as a builder and town planner. He left in Khorasan about 370 schools, mosques, libraries, hospitals and charity houses restored or newly built. His most famous buildings include the Ichlāsiyya complex in Herat and the mausoleum of the Persian poet Fariduddin Attar in Nishapur . Herat in particular flourished during this time. The orientalist René Grousset wrote about Herat that the city was at that time "Persia's Florence of the Timurid Renaissance".

Nawāʾi as an artist and poet

In Herat, Nawāʾi increasingly occupied himself with painting, music and poetry. He became a member of the Naqschbandi Sufi order ( Tariqa ) as well as a student and friend of the famous Persian mystic Jami . In his honor he later wrote his Chamsat al-mutaḥirīn (خمسة‌المتحيرين- "The quintet of the astonished"). Nawā'ī was also close friends with the Indian historian Chwānd Mīr, with the Sufi musicians Qul Muhammad and Sheikh-e Nay'ī, and with the well-known Persian painter Behzād , whose works he greatly influenced. Nawā'ī first wrote in the Persian language - at that time, however, under the stage name Fānī (فانى- "the ephemeral"). Most of the poems deal with the classic themes of Sufism .

But what he is especially revered for today are his poems written in Chagataisch . As the first respected poet and statesman, Nawā'ī dealt systematically with this language, still known to him as “Turkish” - his mother tongue. In their defense he wrote his most famous work to date, the Muḥākimāt al-luġatayn (محاكمة‌اللغتين- “Comparison of two languages”), in which he compares his mother tongue with the then dominant cultural and literary language, Persian, and tries to prove (in his opinion) the superiority of this language over Persian. He urged the Central Asian poets, especially the Turkic-speaking ones, to write not only in Persian and Arabic, but also in Chagatai.

Nawā'ī was not the founder of Chagat poetry, but the first to systematically deal with the problems of this language in comparison to the established Persian poetry . With the work Mīẓān al-auẓān (ميزان الاوزان) he converted the typical Persian rhythm into Chagatai and thereby standardized the language, which previously differed from poet to poet and from city to city.

Nawa'i's Herater mausoleum (center) behind that Gauhar-Schads (left) and in front of the minarets of the madrasa of Husain ibn Mansur ibn Baiqara (right)

death

ʿAlī Shīr died on January 3, 1501 in his native city of Herat. Sultan Husayn Bāyqarā organized a large funeral service in which the whole city took part. Nawā'ī's mausoleum is located in Herat, near the Gauhar-Schad complex and the mausoleum of his mentor Jāmī.

Works

Nawā'ī left behind several well-known works, including four diwans (collections of poetry). In addition to Persian and Chagatai, he also composed verses in Arabic and Hindi . Chagataic was known in Persia and India as the Nawā'īs language long after Nawā'ī's death . In the Ottoman Empire , Turkish poets studied his works and were greatly influenced by his work.

His most important works include:

  • خمسۀ نوائى- Chamza (-e Nawā'ī) , consisting of 5 different stories, 50,000 verses; mostly Chagatan.
  • ديوان فانى- Diwān-e Fānī , written in Ghazal form; Persian.
  • فرهاد و شيرين- Farhād wa Schīrīn , a retelling of the Persian love story of the same name by Nezāmi ; part of the Chamza; Chagatan.
  • محاكمة‌اللغتين- Muḥakimat al-Luġatayn , a comparison between Chagataisch and Persian; Chagatan.
  • تاريخ ملوك عجم- Tārīch-e Muluk-e Adscham ( "The History of the Persian People" ); Chagatan.

Of his compositions, the pieces of music Gulzar ("field of flowers") and Lalazar ("field of tulips ") are known, which are sung about during the pilgrimage on the occasion of the New Year festival Nowroz in Mazar (tomb and blue mosque) in the capital of the province of Balkh . A song still sung today is called Bia ke berem ba Mazar Molla Mahmad Jan, Seyl e Gul e Lalazar wah wah Delbar jan . However, the song is also known in free form as a love story between Molla Mahmad Jan and Aeschia in Herat and is known in Turkestan , the Iranian highlands and the Arab world. In Afghanistan the song was played unanimously. The composer Anuschiravan Rohani arranged a polyphonic version of the piece . The American composer William Harvey wrote “westernized” instrumental versions for European instruments.

Web links

Commons : Mīr ʿAlī Schīr Nawā'ī  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ John Richardson: Dictionary. 1828. (books.google.de)
  2. ↑ Ebadollah Bahari: Bihzad , Master of Persian Painting. IB Tauris & Co., London a. a. 1996, ISBN 978-1-85043-966-0 , p. 36.
  3. ↑ Love story of Molla Mahmad Jan and Aeshia
  4. ↑ sheet music example
personal data
SURNAME Mir ʿAli Shir Nawāʾi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nava'i; Navoi; Nawai; Fani; Nizam ud-Din Ali Sher Heravi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Persian politician, builder, poet and mystic
DATE OF BIRTH February 9, 1441
PLACE OF BIRTH Herat
DATE OF DEATH January 3, 1501
Place of death Herat