Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Kime feryād ideyüm ben sen büt-i bī-dāddan
Kim ḥaẕer ḳılmazsın aṣlā nāle vü feryāddan
Gūyiyā ḫāl-i siyāhuñ çeşmüñ öñinde senüñ
Düzd-i Hindū-beççedür kim raḥm umar cellāddan
Hīc ḫūnī gözlerüñden göñlüm itmez iḥtiyāṭ
Bes eceldür murġı bī-bāk eyleyen ṣayyāddan
‘İlm-i siḥri n’ola yeg bilse gözinden ġamzesi
Şimdi m’oldı yegrek olmaḳ bir şagird üstāddan
Sen büt-i şīrīn-dehān içün bugün cān virmede
Ḫüsrevā billāh Münīrī kem midür Ferhāddan

In English

1. O cruel idol, to whom shall I cry out against you, since you take no heed at all of moaning and lament?

2. The black mole before your eye is, as it were, a little Indian thief begging mercy from the executioner.

3. My heart takes no care at all against your bloodshedding eyes; for it is the destined hour of death that makes the bird fearless of the hunter.

4. What if his glance knows the science of sorcery better than his eye; is it only now that a pupil has turned out better than the master?

5. O Khosrow (O sovereign), tell me by God: in giving his life today for the sweet-mouthed (Şîrîn-mouthed) idol, is Münîrî any less than Ferhad?

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and twenty-seventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 227). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is the suffix "-dan" (from); in the list of redifs in his introduction (p. 9) Ersoy places this ghazal among those with the redif "-dan". The rhyme rests on "-ād": bī-dād, feryād, cellād, ṣayyād, üstād and Ferhād. The ghazal is found in all three divan manuscripts (VT 151b, VY 127b, Ü 49b); the edition records no variant readings. It is not known for whom or when it was written.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The subject of the ghazal is the beloved's cruelty and the lover's helplessness before it. The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "bîdad" as unjust, cruel, and as injustice, cruelty, and "büt" as idol and, figuratively, a beauty, the beloved. In the opening couplet the word "feryād" (lament) is repeated both in the rhyme and in the first line; the lover can find no authority to cry out to, because the cruel beloved takes no heed of lament. The second couplet is a simile (teşbih) built on colour and role. The Kubbealtı Lugatı records that "Hindû" in older literature means a mole on the face or the body, and that "düzd" means thief. The black mole before the eye is likened to a small dark thief awaiting mercy before the executioner; the bloodshedding eye stands in the executioner's place. In the third couplet the heart's failure to guard against the beloved's eye is likened to a bird's fearlessness of the hunter, and its cause is traced to the destined hour of death. The line is built like a wise saying; it can be counted an irsal-i mesel (use of a proverbial saying) (our observation). There is a congruence of images (tenasüp) among eye, blood, bird and hunter.

In the fourth couplet a master-and-apprentice relation is set up between the eye and the glance. In the couplet the eye is imagined as a master of the science of sorcery and the glance (ġamze) as its pupil; it is no wonder that the pupil should surpass his master in the science of sorcery. There is a contrast (tezat) between master and pupil, and a congruence of images between sorcery and eye and glance. The couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) rests on the story of Khosrow, Şîrîn and Ferhad. According to Nurettin Albayrak's entry "Ferhad ve Şirin" in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, the protagonists of this story are Şîrin and Khosrow and Ferhad, who love her and are rivals to each other. The Kubbealtı Lugatı records that the epithet "kûh-ken" (mountain-digger) was used of Ferhad. Münîrî uses these names as double entendre (tevriye). According to the Kubbealtı Lugatı "hüsrev" means ruler, shah; the address "Ḫüsrevā" can be read both as "O sovereign" and as "O Khosrow". "Şīrīn-dehān" likewise means both "sweet-mouthed" and "Şîrîn-mouthed". The poet measures himself, in giving his life for the beloved, against Ferhad, who gave his life digging through the mountain. In the same entry Albayrak writes that in the folk version of the story events unfold in Amasya, and that Şîrîn's other lover, Khosrow, is the son of Hürmüz Shah, ruler of Amasya. Whether this folk version was known in Münîrî's time, however, is uncertain.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "bîdad", "büt", "Hindû", "düzd", "kûh" (kûh-ken) and "hüsrev – husrev". https://lugatim.com/s/hindû

Online sources