Philological sciences / 8. Native language and literature
R.Z. Gulieva, V.Sh. Najafova,
S.S. Abdinova
Ganja branch of Azerbaijan
National Academy of Sciences
MIRZA
SHAFI VAZEH AND SACRED LAW
Mirza Shafi Vazeh was a successor to A. Bakikhanov and a predecessor to
Mirza Fatali Akhundov in the XIX century Azerbaijani Literature. Mirza Shafi
Vazeh gained reputation and fame with his lyrical and philosophical poems in
Western Europe and Russia. His lyrics which was written in the style of
O.Khayyam prepossessed and included him into the range of Eastern
classics. In order not to be found the originals of his Azerbaijani and
Persian verses, his lyrics could not spread out in the Near East and his
homeland Azerbaijan, though he gained glory in Europe and Russia (2, 44).
Mirza Shafi was born in 1794 in Ganja. His father Kerbelayi Sadykh
was an architect in the palace of Javad khan, the last ruler of
Ganja.Vazeh lost his father when he was young and lived Haji
Abdulla’s care. Kerbelayi Sadykh wanted his son to get
religious education. For a while, Vazeh got his primary education at the
madrassa. The clergy of Ganja refused to give him education, because
of his interest, sympathy for the Secular Sciences. So he had to
interrupt his education at a madrassa. Orientalist Adolf Bergé had
notes about these. After leaving madrassa he began to develop and elaborate his
knowledge and outlook. To know Persian well gave him an opportunity to read the
classic poets- Khayyam, Nizami, Sadi, Hafiz.
Mirza Shafi Vazeh was assigned as the clerk (mirza) due to manage the
possession and villages belonging to Javad Khan’s daughter with the help
of Haji Abdullah. That is why, he was called Mirza Shafi.
During the war between Russia and Persia in 1826 Pusta Khanum had to get
away with her brother Ugurlu Khan. Mirza Shafi became unemployed. Haji
Abdullah died then. Though Mirza Shafi was in trouble, he didn’t lose his
courage and began to practise calligraphy and teaching. He taught children to
write Nastaʿlīq script (one of the main calligraphic hands used in
writing the Perso-Arabic script, and traditionally the predominant style in
Persian calligraphy) in madrassa near Shah Abbas mosque in Ganja.
One of his students was M.F.Akhundov. In 1840 Vazeh moved from Ganja to
Tiflis. In November with the help of his former student
M.F.Akhundov, he secured the
position of Azerbaijani and Persian language teacher at a boys’ school
(school ¹ 73 in Tiflis now) . He lived in Tiflis till the end of 1846. After
leaving Tiflis he wrote “A Farewell to Tiflis” in Persian. In 1844 Mirza Shafi
Vazeh established a literary society “ Divani Hikmet”. First, verses were
read and then discussion began in “ Divani-Hikmet”. A.Bakikhanov, M.F.Akhundov,
poets Nejmi, Shole, Mirza Hasan, Haji Abdulla, Mirza Yusif, Vidadi, Haji Yusif
participated in this society. Due to the activity of this society Mirza Shafi
got to know many famous scholars.
Among the members of this society was Friedrich Martin von
Bodenstedt who was born at Paine, in the Kingdom of Hanover in
1819. His origin was Jewish. He studied at the best universities of
Gottingen, Munich and Berlin. He came to Moscow in 1841 and took care of
Prince Gallitzin’s children. In 1844 he came to Tiflis as a teacher with
General Neidtgart’s invitation - the Governor-general of Caucasus. He was also
Vazeh’s student, studing Azerbaijani and Persian. Mirza Shafi himself
became acquainted with Western Europe Literature. Bodenstedt returned to
Germany in 1846. From 1889 to 1890 Bodenstedt travelled through the US. He died
and was buried in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1892.
Mirza Shafi returned to Ganja in 1846 and began to work as a
teacher. At the same time , he versified. He got back to Tiflis in January,
1890 and taught Azerbaijani in the gymnasium of baronage, lived there till his
death. He died and was buried in Tiflis, November 28. His grove is behind the
Botanical Gardens.
The original forms of his lyrics in Azerbaijani and Persian which had
been printed in Russian and Western European languages have not been found yet.
Bodenstedt had brought the handwritings of his verses to Germany (4, I
Korinfs, 13: 1-10, 13).
Mirza Shafi caused Bodenstedt to write his verses after their
acquaintance in 1844, Tiflis. Moreover, Mirza Shafi presented his
Magazine consisting of lyrics to Bodenstedt. Bodenstedt himself
wrote: ‘ He presented me ‘ The Key of Wisdom’ . In the preface of the
magazine Mirza Shafi : ‘ I, Mirza Shafi, present my magazine consisting
of gasidehs, gazals, murabbaats and masnavis’.
Bodenstedt was one of the scribes and translated Vazeh’s poetry into
Germany. In his book ‘ A thousand and one day in the East’, most part of which
is devoted to Mirza Shafi and translation of his poems.
After ‘ A thousand and one day in the East’ F. Bodenstedt published the
translations in 1851 as a book named ‘ The songs of Mirza Shafi’.
The book brought fame to his author. Soon his poetry spread out all Western
Europe and was translated into English, French, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian,
Dutch, Danish, Polish and even the Hebrew language. These verses aroused
interest in Russia. N.G.Chernyshevsky’s friend poet Mikhail Larionovitch
Mikhailov translated ‘The songs’ into Russian. Later Mikhailov,
V.M.Marcov, M.Ramsh,N.Eyfert also translated M.Shafi’s poems. After reading
these poems, Leo Tolstoy transvalued, overestimated them. M.Shafi’s poems were
published 6 times in 1868, 12 times in 1876 and 169 times till 1922.
The book became popular, was published and translated into other
European languages. The unprecedented success infatuated F. Bodenstedt,
who after Vazeh’s death, denied Vazeh’s authorship and claiming that it was his
own verses and presented them as belonging to Vazeh in order to add an exotic
air to the book in order to enhance its popularity, and Europe believed him (1 , 3).
References:
1. Mirzə Şəfi Vazeh. Şerlər
məcmuəsi (Cüng), Bakı, 1987.
2. Mirzə Şəfi Vazeh. Nəğmələr.
Tərtib edəni və redaktoru F. Sadıqzadə. Bakı,
1961.
3. Mirzə Şəfi Vazeh. Qızılgül
ətirli nəğmələr. Tərtib edəni və
redaktoru R.Quliyeva. Gəncə, 2014
4. F. Bodenştedt. Mirzə Şəfi haqqında
xatirələr (”Şərqdə min bir gün”kitabından)
Alman dilindən tərcümə edəni Akif Bayramov Bakı,
1987.
5. İncil. Tərcümə edəni Mirzə
Xəzər Bibliya Tərcümə İnstitutu, 1995.