Original Ottoman Turkish Text

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

Ey hizebr-i evliyā ser-leşker-i meydān Ḳoyun
Abdalān-ı Rūma hem ser-ḫayl ü hem çopān Ḳoyun
Nerre-şīr-i çarḫ-ı pīr ürkerdi dāyim vehm idüp
Ṣalduġınca gāh u bī-geh her yaña çevgān Ḳoyun
Bunca cāh u ḥaşmet ile rūşen iken gün gibi
Perde-i ġayb içre ḳılduñ kendüñi pinhān Ḳoyun
Çoḳ zamāndur kāyināta gelmedi mis̱lüñ gibi
Şimdiki dem sensin el-ḥaḳ ḥāṣıl-ı devrān Ḳoyun
Çün kemīne çākerüñdür āstānuñda Münīr
Ḳılma lüṭfuñdan ferāmūş anı ey sulṭān Ḳoyun

In English

1. O lion of the saints, commander of the field, Koyun; both troop leader and shepherd to the Abdals of Rum, Koyun.

2. Whenever you swung your staff in every direction, in season and out, the male lion of the aged heaven (the constellation of the Lion) would always grow anxious and take fright, Koyun.

3. Though you were as bright as the sun (in plain sight to all) with so much rank and majesty, you hid yourself within the veil of the unseen, Koyun.

4. For a long time no one like you has come into the universe; at this present moment you are truly the fruit of the age, Koyun.

5. Since Münîr is the humblest servant at your threshold, O sultan Koyun, do not let him slip from your favour.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a five-couplet Turkish ghazal, the two hundred and thirty-seventh of the Turkish ghazals in the edition (tg 237). The metre is "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün". The redif (refrain word) is "Ḳoyun"; Ersoy too gives the redif of this ghazal as "koyun" in the redif list of his introduction. The rhyme rests on "-ān": meydān, çopān, çevgān, pinhān, devrān and sulṭān. The ghazal is found only in the Vienna manuscript (VY 152b).

The heading in the edition says for whom the poem was written: "Berāy-ı Ḳoyun Baba Raḥımehullāh" (For Koyun Baba, may God have mercy on him). In this respect the ghazal is a poem of praise addressed not to a beloved but to a saint. The name in the redif is repeated in every couplet like an address.

Meaning and Figures of Speech

In the opening couplet Koyun Baba is called "hizebr-i evliyā". The Kubbealtı Lugatı explains "hizber – hizebr" as lion, and figuratively a brave man. That the saint whose name is "Koyun" (sheep) should be called a lion sets up a contrast (tezat) that runs through the whole ghazal. In the same couplet the words "ser-ḫayl" and "çopān" stand side by side. The Kubbealtı explains "hayl" as a herd of horses, mounted troops and, figuratively, a company; "ser-ḫayl" is a troop leader. The word "çoban" (shepherd) also forms a congruence of images (tenasüp) with the name "Koyun": the saint named Sheep is the shepherd of the Abdals.

The second couplet carries this contrast into the sky. The Kubbealtı explains "nerre" as male and gives the phrase "nerre şîr" as male lion. "Çarḫ-ı pīr" is the aged heaven; the lion of heaven calls to mind the constellation of the Lion, which the Kubbealtı records in its entry "esed burcu" (our observation). The "çevgān" that Koyun Baba swings in every direction is, according to the Kubbealtı, a staff with a curved end, and also the stick of the ball game played on horseback. The lion in the sky taking fright at the staff of a "sheep" joins hyperbole and contrast.

The third couplet tells how the saint, though bright as the sun, hid himself in the veil of the unseen. The Kubbealtı explains "pinhan" as hidden. Read together with the prayer "raḥımehullāh" in the heading, these words may point to the saint's death (our observation). In the fourth couplet Koyun Baba is praised as the "ḥāṣıl" of the age, the ripest fruit that time has brought forth. In the couplet bearing the pen name (mahlas) the poet presents himself as the humblest servant at the threshold and, addressing the saint as "sultan", asks for his favour.

Historical Context

Koyun Baba was a Kalenderi dervish who lived at Osmancık in the fifteenth century. According to the entry "Koyun Baba" in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, what is known about him rests largely on the anonymous Vilâyetnâme-i Koyun Baba, probably written down in the sixteenth century. According to the inscription on his tomb he died on 25 Muharram 873 (15 August 1468). The same entry writes that, as the Vilâyetnâme tells it, Mehmed II visited him on his way to campaign against Uzun Hasan, that Koyun Baba asked the sultan for a bridge over the Kızılırmak, and that this task fell to Bayezid II. Drawing on Evliya Çelebi and Kâtib Çelebi, it also reports that his tomb was built by Bayezid II. That Münîrî took part in the Amasya gatherings of Bayezid II is stated in Ersoy's introduction; but there is no source showing that this ghazal had any connection with that circle or with the building of the tomb.

The words "Abdalān-ı Rūm" in the first couplet of the ghazal are the name of a historical group. In the second part of the TDV entry "Abdal", Orhan F. Köprülü, following Fuad Köprülü, writes that the Abdals of Anatolia (abdalân-ı Rûm) were one of the four social groups named, together with the gazis, the ahis and the bâciyân-ı Rûm, in the founding of the Ottoman state. The same entry relates that in the work Vâhidî completed in 1522 these dervishes are described as carrying "the club of Baba Şücâ‘" in their hands. A link may be drawn between the "çevgān" of the ghazal's second couplet and this club (our observation).

In the text published in Ahmet Taşğın's study of the Koyun Baba hagiography, a voice from God addresses him as "Âşık çoban, arif çoban" (lover shepherd, gnostic shepherd); elsewhere Koyun Baba, to escape the progeny of Satan who are seeking him, enters a poplar tree and becomes "hidden" (nihan). In the hagiography the saint is also called "Koyun Baba Sultan". The correspondence of the words "çopān", "pinhān" and "sulṭān" in the ghazal with these narratives is striking; but there is no record that Münîrî knew this hagiography (our observation).

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

  • Kubbealtı Lugatı (Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük), entries "hizber – hizebr", "hayl", "nerre", "esed burcu", "çevgân – çevgen – çevkân" and "pinhan". https://lugatim.com/s/hizber

Online sources