Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: fā‘ilātün / fā‘ilātün / fā‘ilün

Muḫliṣān menkūb idi maḥzūn idi
Vāżıḥā şimden girü artuḳ şük(ü)r
Bir mübeşşir geldi tārīḫin didi
Ḥaḳḳī Paşa oldı ıṭlāḳ çoḳ şük(ü)r (1240)

In English

1. His devoted friends were in misfortune and grief; O Vâzıh, from now on, abundant thanks.

2. A bearer of good news came and spoke its chronogram: "Hakkı Paşa has been set free, many thanks."

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

It is a two-couplet chronogram in a short pattern of the remel metre, "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The couplets end with the refrain word (redif) "şük(ü)r" (thanks); the rhyme falls on "artuḳ" and "çoḳ". Babaarslan introduces the poem as a chronogram for the ıtlak, that is, the release, of Hakkı Paşa. In his list of chronograms he gives its year as 1239, but in a footnote he states that this poem gives "the year 1240 with ta‘miye"; in the text of the edition, too, the year is shown as 1240. The year 1240 corresponds to 1824-25. Özçakmak, for her part, mistakenly confused the poem with the Osman Paşa chronogram dated 1244.

A chronogram (tarih) gives the year of an event through a phrase or line whose letters, added up by their numerical values (the ebced system), yield that year; ta‘miye is adding a number to this total or subtracting one from it. Written as "حقی پاشا اولدی اطلاق چوق شکر", the last line gives "Ḥaḳḳī" 118, "Paşa" 304, "oldı" 51, "ıṭlāḳ" 141, "çoḳ" 109 and "şükr" 520; the total is 1243. To reach the 1240 Babaarslan mentions, three must be subtracted. We could not determine with certainty by which word the poem signals this subtraction. The calculation is ours.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

Like the Osman Paşa chronogram just before it in the Dîvânçe, the poem is a scene of glad tidings and opens with the same words ("menkūb idi maḥzūn idi", were in misfortune and grief). This time those who suffered are the pasha's "muhlis" (devoted) friends. Addressing himself, the poet says "from now on, abundant thanks"; the refrain "şük(ü)r" repeats the poem's mood of joy and gratitude in every couplet. The word "ıṭlāḳ" means the release of a person from a restriction such as imprisonment, exile or compulsory residence.

Historical Context

Hüsameddin's records explain the background of the poem. According to him, Hakkı İsmail Paşa of Amasya was made vizier in 1237 and appointed governor of Sivas, and in Receb 1239 he came to Amasya to investigate the "Janissary-Student" clash that had broken out in the city. Complaints were made about the severity he showed in the affair; in Şevval of the same year he was dismissed, stripped of his vizierate and ordered to reside in Amasya. When the gravity of the incident was reported to Istanbul, his severity was understood to be excusable, and in Safer 1240 his vizierate was restored and he was appointed governor of Van. Vâzıh's chronogram celebrates Hakkı Paşa's release from this compulsory residence in Amasya, and the year 1240 agrees with the date Hüsameddin gives. According to Hüsameddin, Hakkı Paşa died of grief in 1245 after being defeated and taken prisoner at Ahıska during the Russian war.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

  • Giyasi Babaarslan, "Amasyalı Vâzıh ve Dîvânçesi", Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi, 5(4), 2021, pp. 1922-1984 (text of the poem: p. 1982; Mustafa Vâzıh, Dîvânçe, Ankara University, Department of Manuscripts, Mustafa Con A 495/III, fol. 76a). https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/akaded/article/993264
  • Giyasi Babaarslan, "Amasyalı Vâzıh ve Dîvânçesi", Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi, 5(4), 2021, pp. 1924-1930 (life and description of the Dîvânçe; chronograms and the ta‘miye note: pp. 1929-1930). https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/akaded/article/993264
  • Fatma Özçakmak, "Mustafa Vâzıh Efendi ve Dîvânçe'si", Kesit Akademi Dergisi, 7(26), 2021, pp. 255-278, p. 275.

Online sources