Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Hem saltanatını vü şevketini
Diñle ki diyem ü heybetini
Kandan yörüyüp ne ile vardı
Vardugı ili ya neçe aldı
Ne itdi ol ile ol han u şâhlar
Kim oldı cihânda pâdişâhlar
Ma'lûm ideyin biñde birin
Añla ki ne dir bu 'ışk pîrin
Kim neseb ü neslüm bu âl-ıla togdı
Hem toganumuz bu âlı gördi
Zâhir ü bâtın du'âcılaruz
Hizmet işiginde nâcîlerüz
Nesl ü nesebüme Âl-i 'Osmân
'Âşıkî diyüp iderler ihsân
'Âşıklaruz kadîm du'âcı
Bil du'â olur güneh ilâcı
Evvel bu âle du'â idelüm
Andan menâkıbı zikr idelüm
Hem du'âm ola kabûl-i mutlak
Zâhir olına çü şems-i işrāk
Feth-i kelâm-ı bâb-ı evvel
Esmâ-yı neseb olına i'lâl

In English

1. Listen also to their rule and their glory; let me tell of their majesty.

2. Whence they set out and with what they arrived, and how they took the land they came to.

3. What those khans and shahs did with that land, and how they became sovereigns in the world.

4. Let me make known at least one in a thousand of it; understand what this elder of love says.

5. For my lineage was born together with this house; our forefathers too saw this house.

6. Openly and in secret we pray for them; we are those who hope for salvation at the threshold of their service.

7. The House of Osman bestows favours on my lineage, calling it "Âşıkî".

8. We lovers have prayed for them of old; know that prayer is the cure for sin.

9. First let us pray for this house, then let us recount the legends.

10. May my prayer be wholly accepted; may it shine forth like the rising sun.

11. Let the opening of the discourse be the first chapter; let the names of the lineage be set out in order.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Witness of a Family

The published Mesnevi 1 consisted of the six couplets in which the author says he is eighty-six and which end "Neden oldı anı beyân ideyüm". These eleven couplets are the part of the same mesnevi that follows immediately; after them the author passes straight to "Bâb 1", the genealogy of Osman Gazi traced back to the prophet Noah. The last couplet states the transition plainly: let the discourse begin with the first chapter and let the names of the lineage be listed. The weight of the passage lies in the fifth and seventh couplets. The author says that his family was "born together" with the Ottomans, that his forefathers saw this house, and that the Ottomans honour his line with gifts, calling it "Âşıkî". Yavuz and Saraç turn to exactly these couplets when they describe Âşıkpaşazâde's attachment to the dynasty, and recall that his great-grandfather Âşık Paşa stood beside Osman and Orhan as a spiritual mentor. Âşık Paşa was a poet and sheikh who lived in Kırşehir; Elvan Çelebi was his son, and Âşıkpaşazâde was born in the village of Elvan Çelebi in Mecitözü, in the province of Amasya.

The Pen Name Âşık

"'Âşıklaruz", we lovers, in the eighth couplet points both to the author's pen name and to the family name that comes down from Âşık Paşa; the same word returns in the fourth couplet as "'ışk pîri", the elder of love. Prayer is called the cure for sin, and the ninth couplet fixes the order of writing history: first prayer for the dynasty, then the legend. This order is kept throughout the work, and many chapters close with a couplet of prayer.

Bibliography

  • Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, pp. 320-321 (transliterated text, introduction).
  • Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, "Önsöz" and "Hayatı ve 'Tarih'iyle Âşık Paşazade", in Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, pp. 25-48.