Photo: Dosseman, CC BY-SA 4.0

Manzume 92 — Yine nagmâyı âgâz itdi bu saz

Amasya05 Editorial Board • Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk • 01 October 2026 • Updated: 14 October 2026 • 3 min reading

Music for a new reign: Murad takes the throne at Bursa and, once Mehmed Çelebi's body is seen, the lords of İzmir and Menteşe stir and are calmed by envoys.

Contents 4

1Original Ottoman Turkish Text
2In English
3Literary and Historical Commentary
4Bibliography

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Yine nagmâyı âgâz itdi bu saz
Nevâ vü zengüle rehâvî şehnâz

Giderdi perdeyi 'âlem yüzinden
Bu köhne nev 'arûs gör ne ider nâz

Cihân kim inkılâb atına bindi
Hareket kamusı oldı servâz

'Ayân olmak diler bil şûr u şerler
Tavuklar şahinem dir ister o kaz

Açıldı sahrâ var oldı sarâylar
Yıkıldı kapular bozuldı dîvâr

In English

1. This saz has once again begun its melody: Nevâ, Zengûle, Rehâvî, Şehnâz.

2. It lifted the veil from the face of the world; see how this old new bride plays the coquette.

3. When the world mounted the horse of change, every movement became unruly.

4. Know that tumults and evils wish to show themselves; hens say "I am a falcon", and the goose wants the same.

5. The plain opened, palaces came into being; gates were thrown down, walls were broken.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Accession and Unrest

Mehmed Çelebi's body has been hidden for forty-one days; in the eighty-first chapter Murad Han comes to Bursa, takes the throne, and the sermon is read in his name. Mehmed's body is brought to Bursa. The author says: "As soon as the body came into view, tumult and evil and strife began to spread in the world." The lord of İzmir stirs on one side, the lord of Menteşe on the other; the surrounding lords begin to move. Envoys are sent to each, they are consoled, and the lords grow calm.

Modes and a Bride

Nowhere else in the work are musical terms so dense. In the first couplet four names of modes are listed: Nevâ, Zengûle, Rehâvî and Şehnâz. The saz has begun to play again; that is, a new reign begins like a new melody. In the second couplet the world is called "köhne nev 'arûs", an old new bride: she lifts her veil and plays the coquette. This image describes the world that presents itself like a new bride to every new ruler but is in fact old. The fourth couplet mocks the stirring lords: hens say "I am a falcon", and the goose claims the same. In the fifth couplet the opening of the plain, the coming into being of palaces and the throwing down of gates and walls paint a picture of disorder. The rhyme rests on "-âz": saz, şehnâz, nâz, serfrâz, kaz; the last line departs from the rhyme with "dîvâr".