About historical issues of research of medieval heritage of Ganja city

On the basis of heritage of the genius thinker and poet Nizami Ganjavi in this scientific article has been investigated the comparative characteristics and some features of cultural life in Ganja during the middle Ages in his poems as an important historical-literary source. Some contemporary academic issues about study of historical past of Ganja city were researched based on the different springs such as manuscripts, archive materials, also the main medieval period scientific works of various foreign and local researchers.

Key words: Ganja, historical investigation, literary heritage, Azerbaijan, academic issues, medieval sources

Genius poet and philosopher later known as Nizami Ganjavi, whose works would profoundly impact the literary school through awakening the spirits and thoughts of mankind for centuries, was born. Nizami Ganjavi long ago became more than a descendant of Azerbaijan. His timeless verses rank among the most valuable wealth of mankind, while he himself reached the pantheon of history’s most exalted descendants.

Not one, but eight, centuries have elapsed since then, yet the vitality of Nizami reaches beyond the temporal borders of his clairvoyance, leading the way to eternity. All sources indicate Ganja as Nizami’s place of birth.

Nonetheless, the greatest Nizami critics, most notably the famous Russian orientalist Evgeny Bertels, acknowledge the falsehood of this couplet, averring that Nizami was born in Ganja and lived there all his life. Meanwhile it is hardly accidental that we mentioned this contentious couplet relating to the place of birth of Nizami. Throughout history, along with those seeking to claim ownership of many Azerbaijani values and territories, there have also been people attempting to appropriate the genius descendants of Azerbaijan, and such attempts are happening to this day.

During Nizami’s era, two languages — Arabic and Persian — dominated science and literature in the near and Middle East. All scientific works were written in Arabic, while poets from a diverse range of nationalities in Central Asia, the Caucasus, Iran and India crafted their literary heritage in a single language — Persian. With clear command and knowledge of information in the most varied fields of science reflected in his works, Nizami demonstrates that he is a highly-educated person. His earliest known verses indicate his high poetical techniques. And this is evidence of Nizami’s engagement in poetry not as an amateur but as a genuine professional, someone who perfectly mastered the theoretical basis of this art from the very beginning. The canons of that age necessitated, first of all, perfect command of Persian and Arabic in order to master such a wide range of universal knowledge. Nizami wrote his seminal works «Divan» and «Khamsa» in Persian. Referring to the observations of the prominent Iranian scholar Saeed Nafisi, in spite of his fluency in and perfection of Persian, Nizami does not belong to ethnic Persian Nizami’s verses.

Nizami was made Nizami as such by his «Khamsa», composed of 5 masnavis-poems which enshrined him in literature. «The Treasury of Mysteries» («Makhzan ul-Asrar») written in 1178, «Khosrow and Shirin» written 1180, «Leyli and Majnun» dedicated to love story and completed in 1192, «Seven Beauties» («Haft paykar») written in 1197 and «Iskandername» consisting of two parts — «Iqbal-name» and «Sharaf-name», completed in 1202. In fact Nizami combined these five works under a single title. Nizami’s poems embody an encyclopedia of the XIIcentury. «Khamsa» can be perceived as one of the most reliable sources for acquiring knowledge on the mode of thinking, social and political atmosphere, architecture, art and economic life of that period (Ganjavi, Nizami 1947).

Even the most preeminent Nizami critics have failed to discover all the semantic layers of the poet’s hemistiches, something they openly confess. There are infinite semantic hues to Nizami’s words, and, were an exhaustive annotation required, it would inevitably be an entire Khamsa for each masnavi of «Khamsa». Nizami was a genius who projected his humanism beyond national borders, as clearly evidenced by his choice of main characters of his masnavis. His hero can be Persian, Arabian and Greek. The aim of Nizami is not captured by the nationality of the hero or character. The purpose is to find the supreme literary solution of the idea. However, neither the choice of main characters nor the representation of dozens of nationalities throughout his poems is unintentended. Nizami does so intentionally. Thus he once more demonstrates that he writes about and for human beings, and that the readers of his works should be not one nation but many nations. And consequently it happened exactly that way. Nizami is one of the most widely-translated classics in the world. What’s more, ever newer languages will join the ranks of these languages. Through his works Nizami not only founded a literary pattern to be repeated over centuries, but also the pattern for building ideas, nations, morality and states.

Along with other world genius who served a kind of global school, Nizami has clear stake in the overall progress attained by mankind from Nizami’s time until now.

We have not yet attained Nizami’s desired world or the above-mentioned days. Nevertheless, humanity has always longed for such happy life, both eight centuries ago and millennia gone by. Therefore, there is today, and will remain tomorrow, the need for the light of Nizami’s word and candle. Each compatriot of Nizami — each Azerbaijani-is in need of this light. Each compatriot of Nizami — each resident of earth and each citizen of the world — is in need of this light (Ganjavi, Nizami 1947).

Nizami Ganjavi, a person embodying the wishes of everyone, belongs to all. He is eternal because he belongs to everyone. Nizami will always be one step ahead of us, navigating towards a serene future (Khamsa of Nizami. 1543).

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