Kul Hasan was an Alevi-Bektashi minstrel who, according to local accounts, lived in the village of Harız (today Gümüştepe) near Merzifon between the second half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth. There is no firm document about his life; what we know rests on what is told in the region and on the book of Ali Cem Akbulut, who collected these accounts. He is remembered as a legendary figure who, though the child of a wealthy family, became the village shepherd, lost five children at intervals of a week, and stood up to the kadı of his day. His name appears in the lists of Gaziler Ovacığı minstrels, and he is one of the regional minstrels named in the site's article on the minstrel tradition in Amasya.

Life

According to information taken from Akbulut's book Gazilerovacığı Âşıkları, published in 2010, and quoted on a site that collects deyiş, there is no certain information about Kul Hasan's life; local accounts, however, present him as someone who lived in the village of Harız between the second half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth. He became a minstrel at about the age of fourteen. Although he was the child of a wealthy family, he left his home and served as the village shepherd; he often did this work without expecting any payment and lived a modest life in his village.

What kind of education he received is not known, but he is said to have stood out for his religious knowledge and skill, to have held cem gatherings and to have met many minstrels of his time. He lost five of his children at intervals of a week and went through very hard days because of it. The people of the region embraced him as a legendary figure, and Kul Hasan played a unifying role around him. In particular, the resistance and wise bearing he showed towards the kadı of the day who came to inspect the village made him still more respected; the details of this event are not given in the account. Kul Hasan died in his village and was buried there.

His Tie to Amasya

That Kul Hasan lived and died in the village of Harız rests on local accounts and has been recorded by Akbulut. Harız is also the village of Sıdkî Baba, who came from Hacıbektaş and settled here in 1894, and of his son Ali Bâkî Gül; the village's Alevi-Bektashi poetic tradition shows a continuity running from Kul Hasan to Sıdkî Baba and Ali Bâkî. The name "Kul Hasan" also appears in the list of the minstrels of Amasya published by Haluk Yücel in 2018 and in the list by Şerife Özer and Mustafa Topal based on the book Dünden Bugüne Gümüşhacıköy.

His Poetry

Three of Kul Hasan's deyiş, included in Akbulut's book and quoted from there on the compilation site, are given in this category on separate pages: "Biz de şu dünyaya geldik han gibi", which says that the world is an inn and life a mill; "Devredip de şu âlemde gezerken", built on a dialogue with a ruin; and "Veren geldi emanetin götürdü", the lament of a father who has lost five sons. The line "one by one the sons who left have come to five" in the last deyiş agrees with the local account that he lost five children. All three are in koşma form and in the eleven-syllable metre. Since Kul Hasan died in the first half of the nineteenth century, his poems are not under copyright protection.

The State of the Sources

All the information on Kul Hasan rests on local accounts, and its dates are approximate; we have not been able to see Akbulut's book directly. "Kul Hasan" is a pen name used by many minstrels in Alevi-Bektashi poetry; he should therefore not be confused with poets of the same pen name from other regions. The appearance of the name Kul Hasan twice in the list quoted by Özer and Topal may suggest that there was a second minstrel with this pen name in the region; but the list gives no explanation of either name. It is known that Hasan, the son of the Merzifon minstrel Dervişoğlu, was also a minstrel, but no record has been found that he used this pen name.

Chronology

Second half of the eighteenth century to the first half of the nineteenth: According to local accounts, lives in the village of Harız.

2010: His life story and three of his deyiş are published in Ali Cem Akbulut's book Gazilerovacığı Âşıkları.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Books

Online sources