THE DEVELOPMENT of POETRY AND PROSE İN THE QAJARS’ EPOCH

Abstract

The Kajar dynasty is one of the well-established tribes that played an important role in the founding and development of statehood traditions of the Azerbaijani people. The fearless and noble sons of this dynasty created the honorable pages on the history of military and their talented and intelligent representatives played a major role in the enrichment of the literary-cultural environment of the 19th century. Kajar rulers such as Fath Ali Shah (r. 1212-1250/1797-1834) and Nasireddin Shah (r. 1264-1313/1848-1896) both wrote poems. Among the sons and grandchildren of Feth Ali Shah, there were plenty of talented and intelligent poets and writers. Feth Ali Shah was especially interested in the literary soul of the Kajar dynasty princes. The prinses who mastered at the perfect poetry classes showed interest in writing poems from their youth years. Many poets were appeared from the Kajar’s dinasty and the historian of the Kajars’ court Rzakulu Khan Hidayat mentioned thirty-two Kajars’poets in his book “Macma-ul-fusaha” ve and gave examples of their poems. Numerous poets and writers belonging to the Kajar dynasty are the main representatives of the literary personality in this period. Their literary heritage are important sources for analaysing the history of the Kajars’dynasty, the political activities of outstanding statesmen, and many political events related to the history of Iran and the Caucasus. Among the works of the Qajar princes are Mahmud Mîrzâ’s “History of Sakhibkiran”, “Merate-Muhammedi” and “Safinat ul-Mahmud”, Jahangir Mîrzâ’s “The New History”, Bahman Mîrzâ’s “Tazkireyi-Muhammedshahi”, Farhad Mîrzâ ‘s “Jami-jam”, “Sefername” , Jelaleddin Mîrzâ’s “Nameyi-Khosrovan”, Ahmet Mîrzâ Ezoduddulla’s “Tarixe-Ezodi”, Nadir Mîrzâ’s “History and geography-Darussaltaneye-Tabriz”, Imamkulu Mîrzâ’s “Nasebnameye-ile-Kajar” are the works of historical importance. One of the Kajar princes Muhammedbaghır Mîrzâ Khosrovi Kirmanşahi (1850-1919) was the first novelist and the founder of the historical novel in Iran. His novel “Shams and Tughra” which he wrote in 1909, talks about the events during the reign of Abesh Hatun who was daughter-in-law of Hulaki Khan’s and daughter Persian Atabek Sad ibn Abubekr, and the occupation of Iran by the Mongols in the 13th century. This novel is considered the first attempt in literary-historical Persian literature and is highly regarded by literary critics. In the nineteenth century, literary-cultural progress in Iranian territory was influenced by the Caucasus, as well as Northern Azerbaijan, and writers and poets from the Kajar dynasty were succeeded in this progress.