Medieval uzbek historiography

The founder of the dynasty of the Sheibanids , Muhammad Sheybanikhan , was a patron of the arts and gathered around him poets, scholars and historians. His work is devoted to many historical works, some of which are written in Turkic. The most popular of these is the book of the famous poet Muhammad Salih (1455-1535).

Muhammad Salih, a native of the Uzbek Bilkut tribe, the grandson of Emir Shah Malik, an approximate Shahrukh of Mirza and Mirza Ulugbek , was born in 1455 in Khorezm . His father Nur Saidbek was a large emir and served first to Mirza Ulugbek and then Abu Said Mirza ; in 1464-1467 was the governor of Khorezm , in 1467 executed by order of the Sultan Abu Said Mirza . Muhammad Salih lived and studied in Herat for a long time, from 1494 he was in service with the Samarkand emir Darvish Muhammad Tarkhan. From 1500 he served Sheybani Khan . After the death of Sheybani Khan (1510), until the end of his life, he was the secretary of Ubaidullahan. He dedicated Sheibanikhan biographical poem "Sheibaniname". The narration in the book begins with the birth of Sheybani Khan and is brought to 1505. Two copies of the work have been preserved, one is stored in Vienna, the other is in the library of St. Petersburg University .

The book called “Sheibaniname” in Persian was written by Kamaluddin Binai. Another author, Mulla Shadi, wrote a poem that also tells about the life of Sheybani Khan, called Fathnameh.

Anonymous chronicle “Tavarih-i guzida nusratname”, compiled between 1502-1505, is devoted to Sheybanihan.

At the court of Sheybani Khan , translations into Turkic of historical works in Persian were made. Thus, by his order, Binai translated from Arabic into the Turkic book “Ajayib al-makhlukat wa garayib al-masnuat”. Under Sheybanikhan’s successors, these traditions continued. One of the famous Sheibanid historians is Abdullah Nasrullahi. Full name is Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Ali Nasrullahi. Born in Balkh . For a long time he served the son of Hussein Baykar Badizuzaman Mirza. After Herat was busy with Sheybanihan (1507), he entered his service. After Sheibanikhan’s death, he was under the tutelage of Suyunch Khojahan, and then his son Sultan Muhammad. In 1525, on his instructions, compiled the chronicle " Zubdat al-asar " ("Selected Chronicles").

In 1519, in Bukhara, on the orders of Kuchkunchikhan, Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi was translated into Uzbek “Zafarname” ^[2] .

The first known chronicle written in Khorezm is Utemish-haji "Chingizname". The author is Utemish-haji ibn Mawlana Muhammad Dosti came from an influential Uzbek family who served in Ilbarskhan (1512-1525). His only known work, “Chingizname”, was written in 1558 on the instructions of Sheibanid Ish-sultan (killed 1558) ^[3] . The merit of the book is that it is not a compilation, which is typical of most Muslim annals, but is based on the oral traditions that existed among the nomadic Uzbeks. The author traveled around Khorezm and Dashty-Kipchak a lot, therefore his story is largely based on eyewitness accounts. V.P. Yudin included the book in a number of written works based on “steppe oral historiography”. He includes other works of the XVI-XVII centuries: “Jami at-tavarih” by Ali Hassan Jalayir and “Tavarih-i Guzid” ^[4] .

Apparently, the “Genghisnam” manuscript that has come down to us is incomplete, since the narration is interrupted at Tokhtamysh Khan (1380-1395).

The Chronicle of Utemish-Haji served as an important stage in the formation of the Khiva historiographic school. We can assume that at that time in Khorezm there was already a tradition of writing historical facts in writing, there were chronicles or historical records. Utemis-Haji himself refers a lot to the chronicle and “daftary” (notebooks) of Dost-Sultan, the elder brother of Ish-Sultan ^[5] .

In 1556, on the direction of the governor of Urgench Ali Sultan (? -1565), the historian Salyr-Baba translated, according to his instructions, from the Persian language “Djami at-tavarih” Rashid al-Din. Due to this, the educated layer of the local Turkic-speaking population got the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the first world history ^[6] .

The achievement of Uzbek historiography of the highest professional level is associated with the work of the Uzbek historian, poet, politician, connoisseur of Oriental medicine, Khiva khan Abulgazi Bahadur (1603-1664). He lived through difficult years in the midst of political events, at the end of his life he withdrew from politics, and, handing over the throne to his son Anush-khan (16631687), devoted his last years to science. The main scientific heritage of Abulgazihan is the essay "Shadzhara-i Turk vogul" ("Genealogy of the Turks and Mongols"). The book consists of 9 big chapters, 7 of which describe the mythical history of the Turks, the history of Genghis Khan and his heirs, and are a compilation of “Jami at-tavarih” by Rashid ad-Din and “Zafarname” by Ali Yazdi. The last 2 chapters are devoted to the Sheibanids of Maverannahr and Khorezm . These chapters are original.

Abulgazihan died of a serious illness, without having finished the last chapter of the Genealogy of the Turks. He was able to bring the story to 1644. A continuation of the 9th chapter, covering the events of 1644-1663, was written on the instructions of Anushakhan by another historian, Mahmoud ibn Mullah Muhammad Urgenchi. The same historian rewrote 1-4 chapters of the book ^[7] .

The meaning of the “Pedigree of the Turks” for Uzbek literature is that it is written in the common vernacular of Uzbeks, without applying the high style of the Chagatay written tradition. The author himself wrote: “In order to understand everything, noble and simple, I wrote this story in Turkic, but I wrote in Turkic so that a five-year-old child would understand; so that it was clear, I did not add a single word from Chagatai-Turkic, Persian and Arabic. ” According to AK Borovkov , “Here, as you can see, we are talking more about the struggle of styles - the simple style of the historian and the high style of“ Chagatay ” ^[8] .

The "genealogy of the Turks" became very popular in Europe in the 18th century. In 1726 it was translated into German and French, in 1770 - into Russian, in 1780 - into English. In 1897-1913 The book was translated into Turkish by Riza Nur. In 1935 a Persian translation appeared. The German translation of the book was published by G.Ya.Kyor , the Turkish - by Ahmed Vefik-Pasha , the French - by P.I. DeMason (1871-1874), the Russian - by Y.O.Yartsev and G.S. Sablukov (1906) ^[9] .

In addition to the “Turkoman Pedigree”, Abulgazihan wrote the book “The Shadzharai Tarakim” (“Pedigree of the Turkmens”) on the history of the Turkmen, and the medical treatise “Manafi al-Insan” (“The Good to Man”).

Another Khiva historian - Shermuhammad Munis Khorezmi (1778-1829) was a native of the Uzbek family Yuz ^[10] . Munis is best known as an outstanding Uzbek poet and translator ^[11] . In 1806, by order of Iltuzarkhan (1804-1806), he began work on the historical chronicle of the Khiva khanate under the name “Firdavs al-Iqbal” (“Garden of Eden”). However, Munis did not have time to bring it to the end. It was ended by his nephew, the largest Uzbek historian Muhammad Riza Irniyazbek-oglu Agakhi (1809-1847).

One of the greatest Uzbek poets, the talented translator Agakhi, not only finished the chronicle of Muniz , but also wrote 5 more historical works, covering in great detail the entire history of the Khiva khanate : “Riyaz ad-davala” (“The Gardens of the State”), “Zubdat at-Tavarih” (“Selected Chronicles”), “Jami al-Vakiyat-i Sultani” (“Collection of Stories about the Sultan”), “Gulshan al-Davlat” (“The Flower Garden of the State”), “Shahid Al-Iqbal” (“Witness of Happiness”) ^[12] .

Very little is known about his contemporary, another Khiva historian Khudaiberdy ibn Koshmuhammad. We know that he studied in one of the many madrasas of Khiva and was a student of Muniz . In 1831-1932 he created the book "Dili Garayib" ("The Amazing Soul"). The book is largely an imitation of Persian-language works - Bahr al-Asrar by Mahmud ibn Wali and Ajayib at-tobacco by Muhammad Tahir, and is compiled, like them, in the form of a geographical description of various regions with a brief historical excursion. Three copies of the essay are kept in the library of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan ^[13] .

Muhammad Yusuf ibn Babajanbek Bayan (1858-1923) was a continuer of the Munis and Agakhi traditions. Descended from the Uzbek kind Kungrat . His grandfather Babadzhanbek was the grandson of Khiva's khan Iltuzar (1804-1806). The following historical works are known: “Shadzhara-i Khorezmshah” (“Khorezmshah dynasty”), describing events from ancient times to the Kungratov dynasty, and “Khorazm tarihi” (“History of Khorezm”), dedicated to the social and political circumstances in the Khiva khanate in 1910 -1918 biennium ^[14] .

In contrast to the Bukhara and Khiva khanates, in the Kokand Khanate for a long time in the 18th century and in the first half of the 19th century, most historical annals were written in Persian. Historians such as Ali Kary Kunduzi (1786-1858), Khakimkhan Tura (1802-?), Niyaz Muhammad Hokandi (1803-?), Muhammad Salih Tashchendi (1830-) wrote their chronicles in this language. There are few Uzbek translations of the Persian chronicles.

Only in the second half of the XIX century, large historical works appeared in the Uzbek language . These books are mostly devoted to the history of the struggle of the Uzbek people against the expansion of the Russian Empire. These include the book of the historian Mirza Alim ibn Mirza Rahim Tashkendi "Ansab as-salatin v tavarih al-havakyn" ("The Origin of the Sultans and the History of the Khakans"), covering the years 1842-1875. The historical chronicle of Mullah Alim Makhdum Khoja "Tarihi Turkistan" ("History of Turkestan") has a similar theme.

Extremely popular among the people was Mingbashi Alimkul - Kokand military commander, who led the troops in the fight against Russian soldiers. Kokand poets and historians dedicated many works to him, among them Alimkul zhangnomasi (Alimkul’s Military Book) Mulla Halbek ibn Musa Andijani and Dzhangname-i Alimkul Mingbashi (Almbhuli Military Book of Alimkul) Muhammad Ynus.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Uzbek poet, teacher and enlightener Iskhakhan Ibrat Turakurgani wrote a book “Tarihi Fergana” (“The History of Ferghana”) in Uzbek, describing the history of the Kokand Khanate from ancient times.

Amedov B. Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Tarihi Manbalari. - Tashkent: “Kituvchi”, 2001.

• Abulgazi Bayadur Khan. Pedigree story about the Tatars (inaccessible link)
• Ogy. T.V. Tarihiy asarlardan parchalar. - Tashkent: Adabiyot va Sanat Nashiёti, 1878.
• Ibrat Far'ona tarihi.