Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education
Literary and Artistic Sources of Azerbaijani Multiculturalism
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4.2. Literary and Artistic Sources of Azerbaijani Multiculturalism
Since ancient times peoples of many different ethnicities, languages, religions and beliefs have lived in peace and security, and enjoyed equality in Azerbaijan. Such a tolerant environment and historical multicultural situation is naturally reflected in the poetry and ideas of the Azerbaijanis, in their oral and written literature. Multicultural thinking can be seen in classical Azerbaijani literature in the following ways: 1. there is great esteem for peoples of different religions and they
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there is great reverence for the holy figures of other religions and their morals and behaviour are held up as examples; beautiful women of other races and religions are written about with feelings of sincere love, and the torments and pains suffered in order to win their love or get close to them are given artistic expression. The majority of poets and writers of classical Azerbaijani literature gave a prominent place to these spiritual values in their works, encouraging their readers to hold these values too. The Avesta can be considered the first ancient, precious religious scripture to reflect the multicultural way of thinking in Azerbaijani literature. It is the common scripture of a number of peoples in the Middle East including the Azerbaijanis, who once were fire-worshippers. The Avesta expresses interesting ideas based on multicultural values. For example, in the oldest part of the Avesta, entitled the Gathas, the Prophet Zoroaster appeals to Ahura Mazda, the highest god: ‘ I raise my hands and pray... I need your help to make all the people follow the right way.’ In this part of the Avesta, the author of which is definitely Zoroaster, it becomes apparent that there have never been ethnic conflicts in the territory of ancient Manna, i.e. the present-day territory of Azerbaijan, and that the inhabitants of this country lived in peace and security. The following examples in the Avesta also distinctly express multicultural values: ‘I shall try with all my strength and ability to show people the right way of religion to follow. This true religion will unite them and lead to kindness.’ ‘The absence of hostility in the world means happiness.’ ‘Do not restrict the freedom of people, because freedom leads to friendship and love.’ ‘Let water flow unhindered in the channels. Let friendship and honesty reign among the people.’ A number of interesting moments in terms of multicultural values can be found in the heroic epic of Azerbaijan, the Kitabi Dada Qorqud (The Book of Dada Qorqud). The epic dates to the 7th century CE, but the roots of some of the episodes are thought to go much further back. For example, one of the stories in the epic concerns the daughter of the king of the Christian principality of Bayburt, who falls in love with Beyrak, a Muslim of the Oghuz tribe who has been captured by her father. She releases him from captivity because of her love. Beyrak swears to marry her, but breaks his promise, and as a consequence, he is treacherously murdered. This creates a strong association in the epic – it is the punishment for breaking a promise. Another Oghuz warrior in Kitabi Dada Qorqud, Qan Turali, marries the daughter of the head of Trabzon province who is of a different religion. This shows the positive attitude of the Oghuz towards people of other religions since ancient times. Kindness and respect towards other peoples are seen in the behaviour of the heroes of the epic such as Salur Qazan and his son Aruz. Other examples in Azerbaijani folklore, such as the love epic Asli and Karam and the legend Sheikh Sanan, feature genuine love between Christian girls and young Muslim men. It is to the point to note that the legend Sheikh Sanan was written in rhyming couplets by the lesser known Azerbaijani poet Molla Jamal Ranji in the 17th century. Several manuscripts of this poem are kept at the Fuzuli Institute of Manuscripts of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. In the poem Sheikh Sanan, who is no longer young and has 50 murids, or disciples, falls in love with a Christian girl whom he saw in a vision. The poem depicts love and equality among people of different religions. Although Sheikh Sanan changes his religion for love, he is not permitted to marry the Christian girl. At the end of the poem the Christian girl falls in love with Sheikh
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Sanan, adopts his religion and the couple throw themselves off a cliff.
Many exponents of classical Azerbaijani literature experienced multicultural values in their own lives. The mother of the famous 12th century poet Afzaladdin Khaqani Shirvani was a Christian who adopted Islam. The poems of Khaqani clearly show that the great poet knew the rules of Christianity very well and respected them. Mujiraddin Beylaqani was a student of Khaqani, and his mother was also a Christian. The fact that the great Azerbaijani poet Nizami Ganjavi married Afaq, a Christian, who was sent to the poet as a servant, demonstrates his multicultural outlook. After the adoption of Islam classical Azerbaijani literature was traditionally written in three languages – Arabic, Persian and Turkish, and this tradition continued until the 20th century. Some Azerbaijani poets of the 9th century wrote in Arabic. The qasidas (odes) written by the mystic, dervish poet Khuraymi in Arabic clearly demonstrate the idea of the equality of different people. Khuraymi writes in one of his poems: Yüklə 2,25 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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